Long Beach -- There were plenty of storylines heading into Friday's first-round CIF Southern Section Pac-Five Division matchup of unseeded clubs Long Beach Poly and Los Alamitos.

Both schools call Veterans Stadium in Long Beach home, but in this one the Griffins were considered the host club. Poly was also motivated coming into the post-season after enduring its worst regular season since 1991 and having to face Los Alamitos quarterback Dylan Lagarde.

Lagarde was Poly's starting quarterback to begin the season. After being replaced under center following a 1-3 start, he transferred to Los Alamitos, but was unable to lead his new team past his old one as the Jackrabbits' defense constantly pressured Lagarde and did a good job of containing dangerous tailback Nick Richardson to record a 24-7 playoff victory.

 

Poly junior defensive end Corey Waller recorded two sacks of Lagarde, one of which led to a safety, and blocked a punt that was converted into a touchdown. Poly also got a big lift from all-purpose standout Kaelin Clay, who rushed for 174 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries to lead the offense. 

"Even though we struggled on offense a bit, defense...that's how you do things," remarked Poly head coach Raul Lara to his team in its post-game huddle. "And special teams, too," he added in a strained voice over the cheerful rants of his players.

After all the pre-game hoopla died down, it was a classic case of two rather solid playoff teams trying to establish a running game and not make mistakes. Poly (6-5) made the first mistake when quarterback Chris Leachman was picked off by Los Al's Haven Fielding at his own 43-yard line and took it all the way back to the Jackrabbits' two-yard line. Three plays after the turnover, Lagarde made the first completion of the night count, as he hit tight end Mike Collins on a short fade to give Los Alamitos (8-3) a 7-0 lead with 4:09 remaining in the first quarter.

After Lara laid into his offensive unit and assistant coaches for not being focused to start its offensive drive after the Griffins' touchdown, Clay broke Poly's first big play of the game when he cut back against the grain and high-stepped 74 yards down to the Los Alamitos 20-yard line. Three plays later, Clay capped the scoring drive with a nine-yard run up the gut, breaking a tackle in the process and tying the game at a touchdown apiece with 1:12 remaining in the first quarter.

The best scoring opportunity for the Griffins the rest of the way was snuffed out when Richardson fumbled near the goal line after a clean hard hit by junior defensive back Dabness Atkins. The fumble was recovered by two-way lineman Ryan Edwards and returned to the 16-yard line.

That turnover did not result in a score for Poly, but a blocked punt near the end of the first half by senior defensive back Ryan Goforth did. He blocked the punt inside Los Al's 10-yard line, it rolled backwards six inches in front of him, continued to dribble towards the back of the end zone. When he couldn't scoop it up or fall on it, the ball finally went out of bounds for two points.

Leading 9-7 following the safety, Poly went for the kill right before halftime, but Leachman's bomb following the free kick was picked off by Los Al defensive captain Josh Barut, the Griffins' most impressive player in this game. 

The Jackrabbits took control in the second half behind the nifty running of Clay, who can catch, run between the tackles, make defenders miss in the broken field, and cause the opposition nightmares on special teams. He can even throw the ball, and Lara called his number on a toss sweep left with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter. Clay looked down field, stutter stepped, saw an open cut back lane, skirted up field and bowled over a defender with outstretched arms in the end zone to complete a serpentine 14-yard touchdown run.

"We were going to throw it, but they had it covered," said Clay, who came into the game averaging 19 yards per reception on 23 catches. "So I brought it down, turned it up and got what I got. Luckily it was a touchdown. Coach (Lara) looked at me on the bench and that's when I knew it was time (to impact the game)." 

Corey Westbrook, the starting running back, contributed 61 yards on 14 tough carries to compliment Clay's spectacular outing out of the backfield. Richardson gained 101 yards on 19 carries, but 36 of those came on his last carry late in the game when the outcome was long decided. Poly out-gained Los Alamitos in rushing yards, 279-67, and in total yardage, 312-148.

"They were more physical than us on both offense and defense," said Los Alamitos head coach John Barnes.

Poly blew the game open with its second big special teams play of the game, as Waller blocked a punt with just under two minutes remaining in the third quarter. On this one, Poly was able to turn it into six as junior linebacker Josh Fasavalu scooped it up inside the 10-yard line and ran untouched into the end zone. Poly led 22-7 after an unsuccessful two-point conversion.

There was no denying Poly's sideline was fired up to face its old quarterback. Waller punctuated Poly's disposition when he blindsided Lagarde on a clean hit near the Los Al five-yard line. The football was dislodged and again rolled into the end zone. Poly again was unable to corral it, but the damage was done even if Waller's play led to two instead of six points.

"All week, from our first practice to our last, we (the defense) stayed late and worked on extra stuff," Waller explained. "Oh yeah, I was fired up. It was like watching Dwight Freeney on Sunday nights, that's how I felt (about the sacks)." 

After defeating the team that was led by its former quarterback, next week Poly will face the same Servite of Anaheim team that got its season off to a rough start. For now, Poly feels as if its won-loss record is 1-0, not 6-5, and motivation will again play a factor for a team that feels its season turned around after its convincing victory over Compton to close of the regular season. 

"That looked like the Poly defense I'm used to watching," Lara concluded.

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