Long Beach Poly overwhelms Carson

Jackrabbits dominate at the line of scrimmage from start to finish in a 38-9 rout of the struggling Colts.

By John Klima
Daily Breeze Staff Writer

The positive things that Carson managed to do defensively against a very fast, highly athletic opponent got buried somewhere in the facemasks of the Long Beach Poly linemen.

And when it was over, buried was a fitting term to describe the aftermath of Carson's 38-9 loss to host Long Beach Poly in an intersectional game Friday night at Veterans Stadium.

It also, perhaps, proved that Carson isn't quite ready to outrun mistakes against a team that thrives on making others pay for them.

The results weren't pretty. Two quarterbacks combined to throw four interceptions on 10 attempts. The offensive line couldn't open holes for running back Jack Sula and was manhandled for four sacks. Carson committed six turnovers and could only muster 33 passing yards.

It was not exactly the offensive performance Carson (1-2) was looking for. The final score wasn't close to what the Colts had hoped it would be.

The game also left questions for Carson, namely, just who will be the quarterback.

Dominique Blackman and Daniel Torres each played, though neither of them had enough room to take a breath.

Carson coach Mike Christensen said that it is not a disciplinary issue with Blackman, but a practice issue instead.

"It's a week-to-week thing," Christensen said. "It's going to be determined by competition during the week."

But Christensen said that it wouldn't have mattered on Friday night.

"Not tonight," he said. "It wouldn't have made a difference. (Long Beach Poly) dominated us up front. We could have had Joe Montana playing quarterback and it wouldn't have made much of a difference."

Long Beach Poly's Vaughn Telemaque recorded three of the Jackrabbits' four interceptions. He intercepted Torres on Carson's second possession, leading to a 43-yard field goal by Jonathan Heinze.

Telemaque intercepted Blackman on Carson's next possession, leading to Ricky Johnson's 13-yard run that gave Poly (3-1) a 10-0 first-quarter advantage.

The struggles continued for Carson on its next possession. Torres, with lineman Luta Tepa in his face, had the ball swatted down by Tepa and returned to the Carson 25-yard line.

Only an interception by Carson's Darren Lipsey prevented further damage.

Carson forced another fumble on Poly's next possession, but it had to punt.

Blackman was intercepted again by Telemaque late in the second quarter, and one play later, Cory Westbrook raced for a 55-yard touchdown, a play that broke Carson's back.

"We watched a lot of film and knew the things Carson would do in certain situations," Telemaque said. "We all did a good job, defensively, of reacting to them."

Carson gave up 21 points in the third quarter, with its sixth turnover of the game costing the Colts the final touchdown.

Lineman Jurrell Casey returned a fumble 40 yards for a touchdown that built a 38-0 lead.

"Our defense is playing awesome," Poly coach Raul Lara said. “If there’s one thing I’ve told everybody all summer long, was that we lost a lot of great players on defense, but these guys have really stepped up. They’re playing great.

"Our defensive line is getting tremendous penetration and our secondary is sitting back and playing center field, getting picks left and right."

Despite the score, Christensen found things he was happy with. He knows he has a younger Carson team and he wanted the Colts to experience a game against a fast opponent.

"I thought defensively we played fantastic in the first half," he said. "We gave up one long run. Other than that, I was very happy with how we played. Unfortunately, we were on the field too long. They were controlling the line of scrimmage and we weren't doing a lot to help ourselves on offense."

That might be the understatement of the night.

Carson did get its points because of its defense. Kenny McRoyal caused a quarterback fumble and Daniel Perez recovered the ball at the Poly 25-yard line to set up Kevin Lane's 18-yard run.

Another forced fumble and recovery led to Juan Sanchez's 33-yard field goal.

Sula rushed 19 times for 61 yards. Blackman completed 3 of 10 passes for 26 yards and two interceptions. Torres completed 1 of 7 passes for 7 yards and two interceptions.

Westbrook rushed six times for 109 yards.