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The562’s football and Poly coverage for the 2026-27 school year is sponsored by Long Beach Poly alums Wendell “WoWo” Moe, Jr. & Tyson Ruffins.
The Long Beach Poly football team (1-3) will get a special treat this week as the Jackrabbits take the field at SoFi Stadium–the team they’re facing will be anything but a treat, however. Inglewood (3-1) is off to a strong start this year and loaded with talent–they’ll also be playing their first ever game at SoFi after watching programs from all over SoCal take that field before them.
Poly coach Travon Patterson said his team was fired up about the opportunity to take the same field that the NFL’s Rams and Chargers play on, just two years after their first game there in 2024.
“They were hyped,” he said. “They were excited about the opportunity to go out and play at SoFi. They’ve been practicing hard the last couple of weeks, going extra after practices, just ready and excited to keep getting better.”
It’s been a mixed start for the Jackrabbits, who have a bad record at 1-3 but who have played some good football against highly-ranked teams in the CIF Southern Section. The Jackrabbits defense has given up just three touchdowns in three games to Tustin, Downey and Carson, two of whom are highly-ranked.
Poly’s strong defensive start has been hampered by a sluggish offense, which has scored a touchdown for the wrong team each of the last two weeks on sack fumbles returned for a touchdown, and which has been turnover prone as well.
The big challenge for the Jackrabbits’ offensive this week will be blocking four-star defensive line stars Myels Smith (Texas A&M commit) and Elija Harmon (Oklahmoa), who are both 6-3, 300lb monsters.
Defensively they’ll need to slow down QB Lincoln Jahn, who carries several Division 1 offers.
“Inglewood is very good, we have a lot of respect for them,” said Patterson. “We’ve got to play our game and execute on both sides of the ball and special teams.”
Poly will travel to Rancho Cucamonga next week before beginning Moore League play the following week.
