We play our first playoff game at Vets. Who cares if we're technically Away?
After we remove Los Al from the scene, Poly plays the winner of Servite/San Clemente. San Clemente is good, but they ain't that good. Oh, how I bet our guys want another chance at Servite!
The CIF gods done good.
Not only that, they agreed with me on eight of sixteen seeds. Our differences were slight, indeed. In six seeds we were one place apart. The other two seeds, we diverged by two places. We swapped 10 and 12.
Our most significant disagreement was 4th and 5th. I had Bishop Amat in 4th and Lakewood 5th. The gods reversed them. Honestly, I was on the fence with that call myself. Lakewood had the better record with one loss, but a weaker schedule. I opted for Bishop Amat's two losses because one of those losses was by only one point to St. Bonaventure.
I'll confide I think the gods did a better job. Next time, maybe I'll research. Cause if there's a rule that says CIF must pretend the wild card is the worst seed, they smashed it in pieces. Mebbe there just ain't no such rule. O' course this also means they shafted Poly last year, by pairing the top seeded 'rabbits against wild card Bishop Amat in the first round. Last year, Bishop was not the weakest team we could have played.
Nonetheless, I'm a happy boy this morning.
Top Bracket 1. Edison (Sunset 1st) 16. Millikan (Moore 4th)
9. Orange Lutheran (Trinity 2nd) 8. Dana Hills (South Coast 2nd) ___________________________
5. Bishop Amat (Serra 1st) 12. Mater Dei (Trinity 3rd)
Bottom Bracket 3. Servite (Trinity 1st) 14. San Clemente (South Coast 3rd)
11. Poly (Moore 2nd) 6. Los Alamitos (Sunset 2nd) _____________________________
7. Notre Dame (Serra, 2nd) 10. Fountain Valley (Sunset 3rd)
15. Wilson (Moore 3rd) 2. Mission Viejo (South Coast 1st)
So, we'll see each other at least one more time at Vets Stadium. This Friday. Kickoff is 7:300 PM.
All together now:
Go Poly!
Alan Tolkoff
Can you hear me now?
The phone company is makin' me crazy. And it's hurting the team. The direct line between me and Coach Lara has been down for days. The poor man has not been able to call for advice.
For the same reason, I can't give you my usual informative, insightful analysis. It's gonna be tough explaining the reasons underlying the team's, umm, performance(?) last Friday.
If not for Ma Bell, I could tell you why, in some ways, Poly looked better in its first game -- against powerful Servite -- than it did recently against winless Cabrillo.
With normal communications, I would have the data to explain how the Jackrabbits/Cabrillo score was 0-0 with less than 10 minutes to play. Is this the same Jackrabbit team that owned mighty Narbonne and was beating Lakewood at the half, 14-7?
"Alan, I hate tables. Will you please, for heaven's sake, just summarize?"
No prob. Lakewood and Wilson are the best two teams in the league. Lakewood is one of the best in southern CA. Poly played Lakewood straight-up and squashed Wilson. Lakewood and Wilson both crushed Cabrillo. So why should Poly struggle against Cabrillo, especially since the Jaguars are one of the worst teams in the area?
It's perplexing. How can this team play so well against good teams and exhibit such incompetence against mediocre teams? Perhaps the 'rabbits play to the level of their opponents. Or maybe they just take weak teams too lightly. Do they do well once and then think they're super studs, that all in their path will collapse at their feet? Could be it's a combination of factors.
At game's beginning, Poly's starting offense appeared to be the same players who bulldozed over Wilson. Yet, they didn't do the job against Cabrillo. While near the Jaguar's goal line our receivers dropped three consecutive accurate passes, and Poly lost the ball on downs. Later in the half, we couldn't throw accurately. Poly's first 13 passes were incomplete. Poly did manage to get near the goal line, but couldn't score touchdowns. So, the 'rabbits tried to kick field goals. And missed.
We even misused the clock and our timeouts. After a penalty, we had third down on Cabrillo's 12 with roughly 30 seconds to play. With two of our time outs left, we easily could have run two plays. The refs restarted the clock. I guess we missed the restart, because we didn't call timeout until 3 seconds remained. Forced to kick a field goal on 3rd down, Poly missed.
End of half. No score.
If we'd used our first timeout sooner, we could have used 3rd down to attempt a TD or to move the ball closer to the end zone. If we had missed the TD, then we could have called the last time out. Then we could have decided whether to go for the TD or the field goal.
Don't get me wrong. Our defense and special teams looked good in the first half. D Block held Cabrillo under 50 yards total offense. Our punt return team usually got us the ball around Cabrillo's 40. Our punt team often pinned the Jaguars near their own goal line.
But hold the phone, isn't Poly supposed to do that against the likes of Cabrillo?
The third quarter was a replay of the first half, with two exceptions. First, like alchemists trying to synthesize gold, the coaches were making offensive substitutions, searching for a working formula. Second, Cabrillo's offense, encouraged by Poly's weakness, began to gain yardage. We started seeing long runs from scrimmage. These carried through well into the fourth quarter, when Poly's 15-0 lead forced Cabrillo to pass.
Finally, Poly did strike gold…thanks to the defense. Salamo Fiso intercepted an underthrown pass and dramatically ran it back to the Cabrillo one. Poly scored on the next play. This was the second of three Poly interceptions, all in the second half. After quarterback Chris Leachman's sneak, it was 8-0, Poly.
I hafta admit. Before the game began, I never would have thought our first score would have been with just over nine minutes remaining.
Then the coaches found a winning offensive combination. Leachman at quarterback. (Chaiyse Hales started the third quarter.) Kaelin Clay was switched from wide receiver to running back. For an entire drive, nearly every play was a handoff to Clay, until Clay scored Poly's only other touchdown. I have questions.
It seemed to me that running backs who'd played effectively earlier this season, saw little or no action. What's up? Are they hurt? I know Cory Westbrook is. Are some of the other guys out for disciplinary reasons?
Why was Poly calling so many passing plays when we were having such trouble with the passing game? Apropos of passing, I think Leachman shows genuine talent as a roll out quarterback. Great form, and so quick! We rarely saw roll outs last year. I appreciate the coaches' flexibility.
"Alan, quit it with the jargon, willya? All's I know about roll out is it's a deodorant applicator."
Uh, that would be roll-on. A roll out contrasts with the drop back. Both are used to set up for a pass. In the roll out, or sprint out, the quarterback takes two steps back and diagonally. Then he races on an arc toward the sideline while looking downfield for his receivers. For right-handed passers, like Leachman, it's easier to roll out to the right. His left shoulder is facing downfield as he sprints toward the sideline; so he's better positioned to throw.
In Poly's offensive scheme, Leachman often rolls to his left – a much tougher challenge. I've noticed that Leachman does not set up properly – in my opinion – before he releases the ball. Thus: inaccurate passes. I'm thinkin' that, after he rolls left, young Mr. Leachman should square his shoulders to his receiver just before he throws.
Geez, I am, like, so over my target word count. Odds are, no one has read this far down. So I guess it won't matter if I don't have a scintillating transition. Hooray! No more thinking!
Since nobody's reading, I'll end with something I've never done before.
Go Poly!
Alan Tolkoff
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
I finally figured it out. The Poly football team, that is.
I've been ceaselessly preaching Poly is an inexperienced team. They needed to learn necessary skills. Poly's younger players vs. bigger, more mature kids. Crucible of playing the state's toughest early schedule. They'll be good by the playoffs. Et-cet-ter-ah. Et-cet-ter-ah. Et-cet-ter-ah.* Wrong. All wrong.
Truth is, the players have not been practicing for football. It's all been for Halloween. The guys' costume was Mr. Hyde. We fans never knew if we were gonna see the good Dr. Jekyll Poly players or the bad Mr. Hyde players.
How else do you explain Poly beating Narbonne? Narbonne, a California top 10 team, was supposed to grind up Poly. Didn't happen. That's because the Dr. Jekyll Jackrabbits showed up.
Same thing with Lakewood. Dr. Jekyll, definitely.
The Mr. Hyde guys lost the Millikan game. Had to be Mr. Hyde. Hyde was all over the Oceanside contest, too. Poly was expected to lose that one, but it could – and should – have won. Which brings me to Wilson. And Halloween. All the players' hard preparation would culminate on this night. The players would perform the transformation from Jekyll to Hyde not before the game, but DURING the game.
Dr. Jekyll owned Wilson during the first half. Our Jackrabbits scored a TD each time they got the ball – even without our best running back. The offense attacked with a balanced running and passing game. D Block contained poor Wilson to a mere 43 yards. Did the Bruins even get a first down? And the 'rabbits forced two turnovers. It was 27-0 at the half. Poly approached perfection.
Then they drank the potion.
Right from the start of the third quarter, Mr. Hyde let Wilson dominate the line of scrimmage. The Bruins began to gain yardage. Poly did not. In fact, Poly scored only once more. I contend this touchdown happened because Kaelin Clay's potion was defective. The Mr. Hyde-type pass was properly thrown behind Clay. Yet he managed to get back to catch it. Then he wove around several defenders and outraced them to the end zone. It was a spectacular solo effort. Clearly, Clay's Mr. Hyde potion was working erratically. And the penalties! Eighteen for 140 yards. Ugh.
Wilson's two touchdowns occurred late in the fourth quarter, against our substitutes. They played their starters throughout the game. I could not determine if our subs drank the Hyde potion.
Some might say that Poly's players simply relaxed in the second half. These people might say that Poly doesn't play like a championship team, because it failed to sustain intensity for the entire game. They question why seniors have not shown more leadership. They wonder why the players who were on one or both of the last two years' sectional champion teams have not demonstrated the necessary attitude and consistency. Others might say Poly was out-coached during half-time. They'll claim that Wilson made better adjustments than Poly did.
These people don't know football as well as I do. Always remember, I'm the expert. And I say it's Jekyll and Hyde. Now that Halloween is over, I hope these kids settle down to just playing football instead of just playing around. Playoffs start in two weeks. and Poly has yet to qualify.
Go Poly!
Alan "Bob Stevenson" Tolkoff
*You'll only appreciate this if you've seen Yul Brynner in the "The King and I". First, you have to be young enough to know who Yul Brynner is. He's older than Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
