Prep Impressions: Sept. 17, 2021
CORONA – The Long Beach Poly vs. Corona Centennial varsity football game on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021, was about as lopsided a final result as there will be in CIF-Southern Section this season.
For Long Beach Poly, it was a lot of four-letter expletives and downright disappointment after walking in with a ton of confidence. The Jackrabbits scored on a brilliant pass play in the first quarter and looked dangerous early, only to be stymied by Centennial’s defense. Poly was completely unable to run the ball or stop Centennial from running the ball, and did not break a play longer than 20 yards until late in the fourth quarter when the game was already out of reach.
Long Beach Poly head coach Stephen Barbee: “I felt like in the first quarter we forced them to go down and make play after play and drive, and we were able to go down and do the same. It all boils down to execution and having those lapses definitely hurt us. We’ve played three very good teams in our preseason – this one was Top 5 in the state – and it’s definitely an eye opener on where we’re at. We do have a veteran group of leaders and they understand what’s in play. Right now our focus and turn all our attention to the Moore League and moving forward on whatever CIF division in which we get placed. We missed a lot of tackles. We had the ball carrier tackled and then allowed him to gain one or two yards after contact, and ultimately those are the 3rd-and-2 (or) 4th-and-2 and they’re able to get those yards. That’s the difference.”
For Corona Centennial, it was a performance so good that Matt Logan almost forgot it wasn’t another shutout. After all, the Huskies had not allowed an opponent to score in more than six quarters until Friday night. And following Friday night? Well, Logan’s team has allowed only seven points over its last 10 quarters. And the Huskies’ offense? Stellar as usual.
Corona Centennial head coach Matt Logan: “We did a good job. We were able to work all week, and they gave us a lot of different fronts so it was good work for us this week. Jayson (Cortes) runs the ball really hard, and Hatcher did a great job, and the lineman did, too. That’s a team with some great athletes, and to be able to contain those athletes and not give up anything cheap or any big plays is huge for us. We didn’t get the shutout but the secondary helps a lot of things. (Jaden Mickey) is another weapon. It the fastest way to score in the game and if we can do that it’s awesome. We stayed with the first group for two drives in the third quarter and then we got everyone in, so we take a lot from it. We got good work and we executed, and we were 6 for 6 for scoring drives with the first offense so we’re super happy about that. The defense, aside from the one touchdown early, pitched a shutout so it was good.”
LB Poly – 7 – 0 – 0 – 0 — 7
Centennial – 14 – 21 – 14 – 3 — 52
First quarter
C – Cortes 1 run (Angeles kick), 8:26
P – Bordeaux 18 pass from Kuykendall (Michel kick), 2:44
C – Mickey 92 kickoff return (Angeles kick), 2:26
Second quarter
C – Cortes 1 run (Angeles kick), 4:56
C – Hatcher 40 run (Angeles kick), 1:01
C – Pritchett 15 pass from Conklin (Angeles kick), 0:09
Third quarter
C – Carter 33 run (Angeles kick), 8:58
C – Jimenez 4 pass from Conklin (Angeles kick), 3:23
Fourth quarter
C – Angeles 34 FG, 2:55
Team statistics
Total plays – LB Poly 51; Centennial 60.
First downs – LB Poly 8; Centennial 16.
Penalties – LB Poly 4-24; Centennial 11-90.
Turnovers – LB Poly 1; Centennial 0.
Individual statistics
Rushing – LB Poly: Kuykendall 7-31, Samples 5-16, #20 1-(minus-4), Curry 6-(minus-18); Centennial: Cortes 22-120, Hatcher 5-57, Carter 3-49, Jones 4-25, Conklin 1-10, Barela 1-7, Lauderdale 1-(minus-10).
Passing – LB Poly: Kuykendall 9-15-0-105, Curry 8-14-1-45; Centennial: Carter 5-7-0-76, Conklin 7-10-0-71, Hutchins 0-1-0-0, Barela 0-1-0-0.
Receiving – LB Poly: #12 2-56, Robinson 5-34, #4 3-27, Samples 2-16,#15 3-15, Jackson 2-2; Centennial: Denham 2-55, Jimenez 5-44, Young 2-22, Pritchett 1-15, Kennybrew 1-7, Riley 1-4.
Interceptions – LB Poly: None; Centennial: Thomas 1-(minus-3).
INLAND FIELDHOUSE 