A certain level of toughness and grit is required to play any sports, but every year an athlete or two catch our eyes and distinguish themselves as having found another gear. That’s true of both of this year’s honorees, who played through injury and led their teams both emotionally and in terms of production. Sone […]
All City
All-City Tribute of the Year: Long Beach Poly Football and Keith “Slice” Thompson
One of the special aspects of the Long Beach sports world is how community-based it is, and how many programs feel like a family. The Long Beach Poly football team has always been one of those teams, and that’s been evident in how the program has grieved and remembered Keith “Slice” Thompson, the beloved longtime […]
All-City Best Youth Team: Long Beach Patriots 11U
After an unforgettable high school football season in Long Beach, perhaps the most memorable moment came from a group of middle schoolers playing on one of the sport’s biggest stages. The Patriots 11U team out of Long Beach got the chance to play at SoFi Stadium for their Snoop Dogg Super Bowl XVI championship, dominating […]
All-City Freshmen of the Year: Jovani Ruff, Jillene Wetteland
The All-City Freshmen of the Year award has been a great predictor of success the last two years, with previous winners Camille Lindsay, Maya O’Dea, Jason Parra, and Sammie Hamilton all continuing to dominate the Moore League this year (all four won Moore League Player of the Year or individual championship honors in 2021-22). We […]
All-City Spirit of Long Beach Award: Gabriel Tyler
Each year we present the Spirit of Long Beach award to a person or group of people that’s inspired us over the course of the school year. We’ve never spent less time deliberating the award than we did this year, in deciding to present it to Long Beach Poly junior Gabriel Tyler. We’ve known Gabe […]
All-City Multi-Sport Athletes of the Year: Nico Colchico, Jackson Cryst
As athletes begin to specialize in a sport or even a position within a sport at earlier and earlier ages, the era of the multisport star has largely come to a close. It’s no longer the norm for the city dominant high school athletes to earn Player of the Year consideration in multiple sports the […]
Long Beach Sports Top 10 Moments Of 2021-22: Four Long Beach Football Teams Make CIF Game
NUMBER ONE It’s hard to imagine a Long Beach high school football season to go better than it did at the end of 2021 when Long Beach Poly, Jordan, Compton and St. Anthony all reached CIF championship games. Poly was moved down to Division 4 but its 20th CIF football championship didn’t mean any less […]
Long Beach Sports Top 10 Moments Of 2021-22: Jordan Track & Field Wins CIF
NUMBER TWO Against the odds, the small yet hungry group of Panthers made history with their CIF-SS Division 2 championship this year. The Panthers were led by super sophomore Jordan Washington and hurdler Darryll Stevens–who each scored in multiple events–but few would have imagined that J-Town would be able to knock off D2 favorite Mater […]
Long Beach Sports Top 10 Moments Of 2021-22: Poly Boys’ Water Polo Wins CIF Title
NUMBER THREE It had been a few years since the Long Beach Poly boys’ water polo team had claimed a CIF-SS championship–92 years, to be exact–but the Jackrabbits got it done under coach Ish Pluton with a 14-11 win over Crespi in the Division 4 championship. “This means so much to us, it means so […]
Long Beach Sports Top 10 Moments Of 2021-22: St. Anthony Softball Wins CIF State SoCal Regional Title
NUMBER FOUR The Saints showed impressive resiliency on their way to making school history, winning the school’s first ever CIF State SoCal Regional title with a 2-1 win at Temple City. St. Anthony suffered a tough 9-1 loss in the CIF-SS semifinals at Tesoro, but took full advantage of the state tournament that followed. After […]