SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA'S SEA OF GREEN
Teams: St. Bonaventure Seraphs (4-0) vs. Long Beach Poly Jackrabbits (4-0)
When: Friday, 7 p.m. (PDT)
Where: Veterans Stadium, Long Beach City College
National rankings: No. 6 Long Beach Poly, No. 11 St. Bonaventure
State rankings: No. 1 Poly, No. 3 St. Bonaventure
Points for/against: St. Bonaventure 139-62, Poly 101-24
Team statistics: St. Bonaventure, Long Beach Poly
Notable Poly alums: Cameron Diaz (actress), Snoop Dog (artist), Billy Jean King (tennis), DeSean Jackson (Eagles), Tony Gwynn (baseball HOF), Willie McGinest (Browns).
Claims to Poly fame: No school in country has produced more NFL players. … Most CIF Southern Section football titles (17).
Notable Bonny alums: Darrell Scott (Colorado), Lorenzo Booker (Eagles), Whitney Lewis (Mr. Football 2003).
Claims to Bonny fame: Seraphs have not lost a league game since 2002. … Has won six CIF titles since 1999.
Video page for St. Bonaventure: Click here.
Video page for Long Beach Poly: Click here.
By Mitch StephensMaxPreps.com LONG BEACH, Calif. — Long Beach Poly football coach Raul Lara put away the video tape early this week. No scouting of St. Bonaventure (Ventura, Calif.) was needed.
“When I watch them, we’re mirror images,” Lara said. “Both teams have great defenses. Both teams run multiple sets. Both have two outstanding running backs. We’re basically the same team.”
Two good ones to be sure.
According to MaxPreps, the Jackrabbits and Seraphs are two of the top 11 teams in the country and on Friday they collide at Long Beach City College for a 7 p.m. non-league battle royale.
St. Bonaventure is the defending CIF Southern Section and State Division III Bowl game champion.
Poly won a Southern Section 17th title with a Pac-Five championship but was not invited to a Bowl Game.
“We’re very similar in that we both live and die with defense and we both live and die with the run,” St. Bonaventure coach Todd Therrien said.
Their team green and gold colors are even alike.
The winner of this one, however, will have an inside track to a state bowl game berth, said Los Angeles Times columnist Eric Sondheimer, who has seen both teams this season.
“It’s going to be a defensive battle,” he said. “Both teams have great athletes on great defenses. Whoever scores two touchdowns probably wins.”
Poly (4-0) has given up just three of them all season and that’s largely because it features a front and intermediate wall similar to Fort Knox.
“Their front seven is as good as I’ve ever seen at the high school level,” Therrien said. “The key for us seems to be impossible – to run the ball. No one has established the run against them.”
The Jackrabbits return all three linebackers from last year – George Daily-Lyles (5-foot-11, 225 pounds), Matthew Jones (6-0, 200) and Kenny Tuiloma (5-11, 220) – who have combined to make 84 tackles thus far.
Their most visible recruit is Iuta Tepa, a relentless and physical 6-2, 215-pound senior defensive end who already has four sacks among his 22 tackles. He leads a fantastic defensive line and a defense overall that didn’t allow a touchdown in Pac 5 semifinal and championship games against nationally-ranked teams.
“This kid is the total package,” Poly defensive coordinator Jeff Turley told Sondheimer in this feature on the team's defense. “He’s got the desire to make a play every single snap. His motor just doesn’t stop.”
Also a standout volleyball player, Tepa has already committed to Hawaii. His speed, leaping ability and general athleticsm gives opponents – and his own team - fits. Lara said it’s tough to get his offense much work during practice because Tepa is constantly disrupting things.
“It’s a good problem to have,” Lara said.
Offensive. Lara apologizes to no one for the primarily one-dimensional attack that features at least two Division I running backs in Melvin Richardson (65 carries, 547 yards, 7 TDs) and Daveon Barner (60-447-5).
The Jackrabbits have run the ball 149 times for 1,031 yards compared to just completing 16 of 40 passes for 236 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions.
“When you have two backs like we have why pass?” Lara said. “We can do both if we really needed to, but we haven’t needed to.”
The Jackrabbits have put the stranglehold on foes right from the get-go including a season-opening 29-7 victory at Northwestern (Miami, Fla.), which was the defending national champions according to some rankings.
Lara said Poly was hoping to start the season against another Southern Section power Centennial (Corona), which got the nod over the Jackrabbits in the Division I Southern California Bowl selection.
Poly wanted to decide that debate on the field — sure enough Centennial is ranked 10th nationally again this season — but according to Lara, Centennial officials didn’t get back to the Jackrabbits soon enough.
Lara saw another opportunity in Florida and took it.
“Centennial was taking forever so we went to Miami,” Lara said. “Turned out to be quite a team. We grew up fast, our kids were well behaved and we beat a great team pretty handily.
“The thing is this is a real close-knit group that works hard,” Lara said. “They do what their asked and they do it right.”
Same could be said of the Seraphs, who lost first team All American running back Darrell Scott and many of it’s huge offensive linemen, including All-American tackle Vaughn Dotsy (6-5, 350).
St. Bonaventure has responded seamlessly, replacing Scott with blue-chip athlete Patrick Hall, a 6-1, 195-pounder headed to USC, and plugging in the vacant holes with superb line play.
“Our biggest concern was our offensive line but they’ve really come together,” St. Bonaventure coach Todd Therrien said. “The seniors who were expected to step up truly have.”
Hall has averaged better than 12 yards per carry with 297 yards in 24 tries with four TDs. The Seraphs haven’t really needed him offensively until their last game, a 31-14 throttling of then nationally-ranked Crespi (Encino) on Sept. 26. Hall had 155 yards rushing on just five carries including an 82-yard TD jaunt in that one.
As good a game-breaker he is on offense, Therrien think his future is likely on defense.
“Wherever they train him at the next level is where he’ll play,” he said. “Personally I think he’d be better served when he tackles people as a safety.”
Hall already has 22 tackles and two interceptions thus far.
With Hall taking offensive breathers, St. Bonaventure doesn’t drop off one bit with Devon Blackledge (45-347-3 TDs) and Isaiah Burton (13-178).
Where the Seraphs appear to have an advantage over the Jackrabbits is their passing game as 6-1, 210-pound junior Logan Meyer has advanced further and faster than most expected.
He’s completed 50 of 87 passes for 687 yards and five touchdowns. His favorite target has been Drew Gibson (13 catches, 244 yards, four TDs), who caught a key TD pass in last year's state bowl championship game.
“They’re a great team with great players and outstanding coaches,” Lara said. “It will take our best game of the year to beat these guys. We’re looking forward to it.”
E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com. Look for Mitch's game report and 10 Takes along with a photo gallery and video report from Dijon Bishop shortly after Friday's game.
