LONG BEACH-Worlds collided when Long Beach Poly met up with Crenshaw High School at Long Beach’s Veterans Stadium to help officially kickoff the high school football season in a nonleague game.
Known as the home of scholars and champions, Poly’s national reputation as one of the more storied football programs in the nation is irrefutable.
The Jackrabbits have put out more NFL players than other high school in the country. Crenshaw entered the game as the iconic symbol as the dominant force in the Los Angeles City Section. Crenshaw was not swayed by Poly’s reputation.
The Jackrabbits came out wanting to send a message to the Cougars that this was their home turf. This game was definitely the classic CIF Southern Section versus Los Angeles City Section matchup that needed no pregame hyperbole. Something had to give. And it did.
After going toe-to-toe and hit-for-bone-cracking-hit for much of the game, Crenshaw’s defense wilted under the weight of Poly’s mammoth offensive line and the Cougars came up short in a 28-15 defeat.
Crenshaw, which is always loaded with a whole host of supremely talented athletes on its roster, also discovered that John “JuJu” Smith is no joke.
Smith is rated as one of the best players in the nation as a wide receiver and defensive back. He can also run the ball pretty well, too. It was Smith’s playmaking abilities on both sides of the ball that eventually made the difference in the ballgame between the two hard-hitting teams.
Crenshaw had just gathered momentum on its side after tying the game up at 15 early in the fourth quarter when Smith decided to put an end to the Cougars’ roll and put Poly back in the driver’s seat.
Smith, playing tailback, ran through and past Crenshaw defenders on Poly’s next series, driving the Jackrabbits into the redzone after a couple of carries.
Smith’s runs put a halt to all of the momentum that Crenshaw had just built up and set in motion for quarterback Tai Tidemann to connect with Christian Pabico for two fourth quarter touchdowns to seal the deal for Poly.
“If JuJu (Smith) wasn’t playing tonight, we’d probably have lost the game,” Poly coach Raul Lara said afterwards. “I think the turning point was kind of me putting JuJu in at running back and that kind of changed everything. We’ve got some young running backs that need to learn how to run the ball.
“I know JuJu can do that. But we’re trying to put him in other spots and we’re trying to get the young guys going. Hopefully, the young guys are seeing this.”
When asked by a reporter about what Smith means to the team, Lara gave emphatic answer.
“He’s the guy,” Lara said.
Though he’s now being heavily recruited in other areas, playing running back is nothing to new to Smith. All he did was perform to what he does naturally. But he knows by Lara inserting him in the running back spot the move would be beneficial for the team, Smith said.
“It was a real big difference,” Smith said. “When I was growing up, I played running back for five or six years, so I’m used to it. But for me, it feels good.”
Dominating Crenshaw skill players had to feel pretty good for Smith, who caught passes, lined up for punt returns, ran the football and delivered several bone-thumping hits. However, Smith and Poly weren’t the only ones sending out hit shoutouts.
Crenshaw got in their licks as the game progressed into a playoff-like contest with all of its hard hits and intense physical play on the line of scrimmage. Smith said Crenshaw was ready to play.
“When teams play Poly they play their hardest,” Smith said.
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com
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