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It’s taken a few weeks for Long Beach Poly (3-7, 3-0) to find its stride, but the Jackrabbits were firing on all cylinders on Monday night against Lakewood (5-7, 2-1).
In a battle of the top two teams in the Moore League, the host Jackrabbits showed their championship pedigree with an impressive 41-0 victory over the Lancers.
The 41 points are far and away a season high, and it was also the first shutout of the season for the Poly defense. It’s no surprise that head coach Rob Shock agreed it was his team’s best performance of the 2026 season.
“We made great adjustments overall,” said Shock of his team’s performance. “I thought we played well, and I was happy. Our girls just kept it on. The biggest thing for me was I wanted to make sure we scored in the second half. We were having problems in the past not continuing to score in the second half. We did that. And I didn’t want to put the brakes on because I wanted them to feel that chemistry and that energy together.”
The energy was flowing early and often on the home sideline as the Jackrabbits were able to score on each of their first three drives of the evening, taking a 19-0 lead midway through the second quarter–an advantage they would maintain at the break.
To Shock’s delight, they continued to put points on the board in the second half, getting out to a 41-0 advantage with more than 11 minutes left to play.
Sophomore Neveah Johnson got the start at quarterback and took full advantage of the opportunity. The Jackrabbits have rotated four different players at that position this year, but with injuries to half of those options, it was up to Johnson to stabilize the position.
All she did was throw for four touchdowns, and collect a pair of interceptions on defense to help Poly secure its best win of the season.
“It felt amazing,” Johnson said. “It felt great to come out on top. I feel like I really got a chance to show what I could do, and just make my team look great, make all of us look great.”
Half of her TD throws went to senior Brooklyn Richardson, who also stepped in at QB and tossed a touchdown pass of her own to Maia Stefen in the second half.
Johnson also connected twice with senior Julie Lopez for scores–one in each half of play. Lopez is a transfer from Los Al who missed the first part of the season, but is fitting in nicely to the Poly lineup on both sides of the ball. Lopez also had an interception late in the first half.
Poly’s defense also had a consistent pass rush, which Shock said was a key in the matchup with Lakewood. Sophia Hernandez and Marley Barajas each had a pair of sacks for the Poly defense.
The Jackrabbits added their final score on a rush by sophomore running back Amai’a Johnson, who was key on short-yardage situations throughout the night.
It was a tough night at the office for Lakewood as they looked to build off their impressive win over Millikan their last time out. Zoey Faagata was a standout performer for the Lancers with a few nice catches and an interception on defense.
Lakewood will visit Wilson on Wednesday while Poly’s next league game will be at home against Jordan on Monday of next week.
