Football: For Long Beach Poly, it’s all about the offensive line

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The summer passing season is pretty much over, and I’m declaring Long Beach Poly the best team in seven-on-seven based on winning tough tournaments at Dana Hills and Edison, along with the Saugus tournament. Yes, Alemany won four tournaments, but Poly has played better opponents and we’re not going to have a Poly-Alemany game the rest of the summer.

But now comes the hard part for Poly. The team has not performed at the high standards of Poly teams of the past over the last two seasons because of an inability to run the ball. Coach Raul Lara hired a new offensive line coach this season, and it’s clear an improvement in the blocking is a must for the Jackrabbits.

Certainly, the skill position players are plentiful. There’s experience at quarterback, though it’s still going to come down to finding a way to run the ball effectively to take the pressure off the quarterback.

Lara knows what needs to happen. If the Jackrabbits don’t have a better offensive line, then Servite, Alemany, Mission Viejo, Santa Margarita or Mater Dei will be ready to beat the Jackrabbits in the playoffs after Poly wins the Moore League.

So until the pads come on in August and everyone gets to see what kind of line Poly has, it would be wise to withhold judgment on how good Poly will be.

-- Eric Sondheimer