Long Beach Poly gets back to State Bowl game

Look who is back in the State Bowl finals? And look what section is opposing them.

Long Beach Poly (Long Beach, Calif.), a storied program that has produced more NFL players than any high school in the nation, received nearly 200 yards rushing from Manusamoa Luuga and Gerard Wicks in a 28-7 win over Clovis North in the CIF South Regional Division I finals at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Wicks rushed for 100 yards and Lu'uga 95 as Poly moves into next week's State Bowl finals against Granite Bay at the Home Depot in Carson.

The only time Poly made it to the State Bowl game was in 2008 when it lost the Open Division title game to Grant (Sacramento) 25-20. That victory helped not only put Grant on the national stage but the Sac-Joaquin Section

Granite Bay is also from the SJS and it is coming off a superlative 45-17 regional finals win over St. Ignatius on Friday.

Poly (12-3) wasn't particularly sharp offensively, but it had more than enough to knock of Clovis North.

The game was tied at 7-7 before Tai Tiedemann fired a fourth-down 25-yard touchdown pass to Brock Meekelborg early in the fourth quarter.

Poly then killed the clock by running the ball — largely out of the wildcat formation.

Wicks made it 21-7 with a 2-yard touchdown run, capping a 16-play, 90-yard drive with 10:31 remaining. The way Poly was playing defense, the score was more than enough for the Jackrabbits, who had trouble early mustering much offense.

Poly didn't record a first down on its first three possessions.

But Jackson fired a 9-yard pass to Smith on fourth down to tie at 7-7. That came after a 4-yard touchdown run by Clovis North's Bolu Olorunfunmi. North had numerous chances to take the lead but missed field goal tries of 23, 37 and 27 yards.