The562’s coverage of football and Long Beach Poly Athletics for the 2026-27 school year is sponsored by Former Jackrabbits Wendell “WoWo” Moe, Jr. & Tyson Ruffins.
The Long Beach Poly football team has felt all year that they have a special group in their locker room. They believed that through a frustrating non-league schedule that saw several one-score losses, and through a lopsided run through the Moore League when they weren’t tested with four running-clock wins. Friday night they got to see what they have as the Jackrabbits hit the road to No. 2 Norco in a CIF-SS Division 3 playoff opener—and they sure liked what they saw in a dominant 39-17 victory.
“We needed to get that one, you can see how focused they were and how excited to lock in and play,” said first-year Poly coach Travon Patterson. “As soon as the brackets came out we were getting texts from them about how excited they were and they lived up to that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday—they had relentless focus and they played great today.”
Poly’s defensive starters gave up just 10 points to a high-octane Norco offense, while scoring a touchdown themselves and taking the ball away three times.
“Our defensive coaching staff does a great job, and they all played really hard tonight,” he said.
Patterson also complemented the job his offensive and defensive line did in battling Norco’s strongest units to a standstill on both sides of the ball.
“It shows the work they’ve put in with our strength coach Gregg (Washington),” he said. “We couldn’t be more honored to have him a part of this program and bring that tradition back that we had when we were winning championships. We have that same strength coach back now and you can see it paying off in the trenches.”
That effort was typified by junior leader Sammy Timu, who played virtually every snap on both sides of the ball—coming up with two fourth-down sacks on defense at defensive tackle and then battling on offense, including sliding over to center for a time after injury.
“I train for this,” said Timu. “After not getting to play in the playoffs last year all my brothers were excited for this game.”
In the first half the Jackrabbits defense came out with their ears pinned back, putting a stamp on the game immediately. On the opening drive of the game Poly DB Logan Kirk jumped a pass and picked it off, then ran it back down the sideline for a score, putting the Jackrabbits up 7-0 early in the game.
On Norco’s next drive, the Cougars were able to establish the run and drive it down to the Poly 23 yard line. But then a pass was tipped up into the air, and defensive lineman Elijah Day came down with the ball for Poly’s second takeaway of the night midway through the opening quarter.
The Jackrabbits’ first offensive drive stalled out at midfield, and after a nice punt by Jonas Mendoza, Norco took over on their own 17. They proceeded to go on a six minute drive that saw them do something no other team has done since Sep. 25: score points against the Jackrabbits. Poly’s defense was able to stand up and force the field goal after Norco had driven to their 15, but it was converted to make it 7-3.
In need of an answer drive, the Jackrabbits got one as sophomore QB Trevor Scott hit Jayden Coley for a couple nice gains, then ran it for 25 yards to move the Jackrabbits into the red zone, where he threw it to Coley on a quick route that Coley took into the end zone. The Jackrabbits then converted a two-point conversion on a run by Jeron Johnson to make it 15-3.
Poly’s defense didn’t give up any real ground from that point on, while their offense was able to move into field goal territory and score on a 30-yard kick by Mendoza. After some back-and-forth at the end of the half, the Jackrabbits took an 18-3 lead into the locker room.
The second half opened with a Norco onside kick, which they appeared to recover—but it was called back after a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit by the Cougars drew a penalty flag. Poly’s drive would be cut short, however, after Scott threw his second interception of the season.
Notably, several Poly players came to talk to Scott on the sideline to make sure he didn’t get down on himself after the rare mistake.
“They were telling me to be level headed and don’t let it get in my head,” he said.
It’s just one bad play. It feels great to have their support—I’ve built a bond with all of them, those are like my brothers and I’ll go to war with them any day.”
UCLA commit JuJu Johnson had his QB’s back and picked off a pass to end Norco’s drive, but on Poly’s ensuing drive, Scott fumbled running towards the end zone to turn it over. Poly’s Sammy Timu came up with a sack to end Norco’s next drive, and then punt returner Landon Perkins broke the game open.
He fielded the ball on the bounce and ran to his right before cutting back, breaking outside the contain, and running it all the way back for a touchdown. That put Poly up 25-3 midway through the third quarter.
Norco’s next drive was aided by some Poly penalties including a face mask that helped to set up a Cougars touchdown, the first given up by Poly in six weeks.
The Jackrabbits didn’t wait long to answer, as Scott found Zion Anderson for a 78-yard score on the second play of the next drive, making it 32-10.
The Poly coaches started celebrating the touchdown almost before the ball was snapped as they were able to key in on a matchup they wanted with Anderson.
“We’ve got some really good coaches and sometimes they see what’s coming before it even happens,” he said with a smile. “They called that play and in my head I could already see it happening, too.”
Norco’s next drive was a long one as well, but they turned it over on downs on another Timu sack. Poly capped their scoring with another highlight-reel touchdown connection between Scott and Anderson that made it 39-10 with five minutes left.
After a lengthy injury delay while Sili Tuliauli was being looked at and ultimately taken off in an ambulance (which preliminary reports were was a precautionary move), the game resumed. Poly had pulled their starters at that point, and Norco was able to take advantage to put one last score on the board with less than a minute left.
Poly was led by Zion Anderson’s five catches for 150 yards and two touchdowns, five catches for 46 yards and a score by Coley, n and Scott going 11/16 for 196 yards, three scores and an interception.
On defense they got interceptions by Kirk and Day, sacks by Ray Umi, Timu, and Day. Sevelino Tuliauli had three tackles for a loss.
Poly (7-4) will host Edison in the CIF-SS Division 3 quarterfinals next week, most likely at Cabrillo High.
