Long Beach Poly (Calif.) at Bakersfield (Calif.)
Tai Tiedemann and Long Beach Poly will match their run game against Bakersfield's rumbling attack.
Photo by Louis Lopez
After upsetting then-No. 8 Centennial (Corona) last week, what will Poly (2-1) do for an encore? The Jackrabbits were 35-28 winners against a Centennial squad that scored 129 total points in its first two games. The biggest key to neutralizing the Huskies' offense was knocking the legs out from under running back Tre Watson. The California recruit went from rushing for 466 yards and seven touchdowns in Week 2 to gaining just 64 yards with one touchdown on 24 carries against Poly. Senior dual-threat quarterback
Asauni Rufus will probably need a big game in order for Bakersfield to beat Poly for a second-straight year. Rufus is averaging 135 rushing yards per game and has accounted for half of the Drillers' (2-1) 18 touchdowns this season.
Just the facts: Bakersfield and Long Beach Poly rank first and third, respectively, on the all-time list for CIF section football championships. Bakersfield has won 35 titles in the Central Section and Long Beach Poly has 19 in the Southern Section. De La Salle (Concord) is in second place with 28 from the North Coast Section. … Long Beach Poly is one of 18 high schools nationwide that had at least four former players on NFL rosters at the start of this season.
Mitch Stephens: Long Beach Poly 21, Bakersfield 20
Kevin Askeland: Long Beach Poly 28, Bakersfield 20
Jamie DeMoney: Long Beach Poly 23, Bakersfield 10
Stephen Spiewak: Long Beach Poly 35, Bakersfield 34
Leland Gordon: Long Beach Poly 28, Bakersfield 25
Colin Ward-Henninger: Long Beach Poly 24, Bakersfield 13
