The Long Beach Poly Legends 7-on-7 Invitational fit the billing on Saturday as some of the top teams in Southern California convened at 1600 Atlantic in Long Beach. The inaugural tournament saw the host Jackrabbits go undefeated until the championship where they lost to Mater Dei, 12-7.
The Monarchs run included bouncing back from two early losses in pool play to Inglewood and Poly, before winning four straight contests against Mayfair, Muir, Inglewood and Etiwanda. That set up the rematch against Long Beach Poly in the title game.
“I told our guys here last year and this year now, we don’t really go through adversity as much,” Mater Dei coach Raul Lara said in his return to his alma mater. “And I thrive on it, meaning that’s where we learn the most. And today with us being 0-2 and them kind of turning it around a lot. I’m really proud of the kids.”
For Poly, the day was all about improving after a tough outing at Edison during the Battle at the Beach. The Jackrabbits started the day against Mayfair where they scored on their first drive to take a 6-0 lead.
Deuce Jefferson then connected with his top target of the day, Jaden Hernandez, for two touchdowns as Poly defeated the Monsoons 21-6.
“We went into this week with a kind of chip on our shoulder knowing we can be better than what we were, holding ourselves to a higher standard,” Jefferson said. “Coming into this week our preparation was very good. Offense pushing defense, and defense pushing offense.”
In game two of pool play, the Jackrabbits found themselves in a close contest as the defense came up huge in a 13-12 Poly victory. Deon Jackson and company came up with big play after big play throughout the afternoon.
“We just wanted to minimize our mistakes from last week,” Jackson said. “And come together as a team more. After this last tournament, it’s helmets and pads. We just have to come together and get our minds right. We’re trying to make it to the championship this year. We’re trying to rebuild what Poly really is and let everyone know who we really are.”
With the top spot in Pool 1 up for grabs, the Jackrabbits were able to defeat Inglewood 19-13 thanks to a last-second touchdown as Jefferson found Hernandez in the endzone.
After coming away with the top spot in their pool, the Jackrabbits went on to defeat St. Monica, 21-14, to punch their ticket to the title game.
Poly coach Justin Utupo was thankful to all the teams that participated and made the inaugural tournament a success.
“Great event, great teams, great coaches,” Utupo said. “Great community, and that’s what it’s all about. Celebrate the legends that have walked these grounds, players and coaches. It was great to have coach Raul Lara here. He’s a legend here. We got some good work against them in pool play but when we have the opportunity, we have to take advantage when it matters most. Hats off to Mater Dei and all the other seven teams that came today.”
For Lara, walking onto the Poly campus was a walk down memory lane, where he graduated and went on to coach the Jackrabbits to five CIF-Southern Section Division 1 titles during a historic head coaching tenure.
“Coming here, with all the years that I coached and all the players and the administration and the teachers, everybody I met here – it brings back a lot of memories,” Lara said, “The thing that’s funny to me is walking on the campus and seeing (this turf field) you know, we didn’t have this. I’m pretty excited for the school because it seems like they’re doing a lot of reconstruction and remodeling and I’m excited to see what they’re going to have.”
