Since its inaugural season, the Compton boys lacrosse team has been building a program that could compete with the rest of the Moore League. The Tarbabes showcased that growth Thursday afternoon in a gritty 7-6 double overtime victory over Long Beach Poly.
With a chance to put the game away, senior Noe Perez found freshman Damian Gonzalez in front of the cage and the first year delivered, scoring the game-winning goal to clinch a third-place finish for Compton.
“I was surprised,” Gonzalez said about scoring. “I thought I wasn’t gonna catch it, but I caught it, and made a score.”
Long Beach Poly didn’t make it easy for Compton as they came in looking to get some redemption after the Tarbabes defeated the Jackrabbits in the first round of league action. Poly scored the first two goals of the game as they took an early 2-0 lead with 7:47 remaining in the opening period.
However, Perez did what Compton has come accustomed to as he got the Tarbabes on the board before John Magsby tied the game with 3:44 remaining in the first quarter. Perez gave Compton their first lead with his second goal as the Tarbabes took a 3-2 lead after the first quarter.
Poly continued to battle as they tied the game a minute into the second period, but the Tarbabes offense went to work as Ahmahd Carreathers scored and Perez completed his hat trick as Compton scored two goals in the final minute of the first half to take a 5-3 lead.
Magsby’s second goal put the Tarbabes up 6-3 heading into the final period, but Long Beach Poly had another run in them. In the fourth quarter, Christshawn Dearmon, Roman Leonor and Kieran Lundy all found the back of the cage as the Jackrabbits forced overtime as they mounted the comeback.
“I really am super proud,” Long Beach Poly coach John Gabriel said of his team’s effort. “I’ve never been not happy, but so satisfied after a loss. I eman we lost to Compton 15-7 earlier in the season and then to come back and play a bunch of games and improve and work really hard to come back and lose 7-6 in double overtime – the boys did everything they needed to.”
While Compton didn’t have their best performance, coach Keith Parkman was happy with how the team responded after Poly started to make their comeback.
“It’s been a roller coaster,” Parkman said. “We know we have the skills and we know we have the talent. It’s just really been fighting that mental battle of what’s the next step mentally as we get better as a team. And we’re still figuring that out, which is great, because we’re also a pretty young team and we have a lot of young guys.”
Compton and Poly will both be in action on Monday to close out Moore League play. The Tarbabes will host Lynwood, while Poly will try to play spoiler when they take on Millikan.
