Poly hangs on by a hare, 2-0, in Pac-5 victory over Orange Lutheran

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Long Beach Poly put up a valiant goal-line stand at the end of the first half. Asking the Jackrabbits to do the same at the end of the game seemed like too much.

It wasn’t.

On second down at the one-yard line, Herman Davidson recovered an Orange Lutheran fumble with 17 seconds remaining to give Poly a 2-0 victory over last season’s Pac-5 Division champion at the Home Depot Center.

Lutheran had driven from its 32 to the Poly one and seemed poised to upset the top-seeded Jackrabbits. But the handoff was never delivered from backup quarterback Bobby Wheatley. The ball lay on the turf, and Davidson emerged with it, giving Poly an opportunity to win its 17th Southern Section title next Saturday against Crespi.

It’s the second year in a row these teams played a semifinal down to the wire. Last year, Orange Lutheran won, 23-22, when an errant snap foiled a game-tying point-after attempt in the final moments.

-- Martin Henderson