NOT THERE YET N.D. PLAYS WITH, BUT CAN'T BEAT, LONG BEACH POLY LONG BEACH POLY 31, NOTRE DAME 21.Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News. Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian. Staff Writer LONG BEACH -- There had been a lot of talk in the days and weeks leading up to this year's Southern Section Pac-5 Division playoffs that Notre Dame Notre Dame IPA: [nɔtʁ dam] is French for Our Lady, referring to the Virgin Mary. In the United States of America, Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks did not belong. Sure, the Knights had dominated against lesser foes in Division III
Division III (or DIII) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association of the United States. , won 45 of their past 46 games and climbed to a lofty perch in the state rankings. Impressive, but stacked Stacked is an American television sitcom that premiered on Fox on April 13, 2005. On May 18, 2006, Stacked was cancelled, leaving five episodes unaired in the United States. The last episode aired on January 11, 2006. alongside the three undefeated seasons and five Southern Section Division I titles Long Beach Poly (language) Poly - 1. A polymorphic, block-structured language developed by D.C.J. Matthews at Cambridge in the early 1980s. ["An Overview of the Poly Programming Language", D.C.J. Matthews, in Data Types and Persistence, M.P. Atkinson et al eds, Springer 1988]. 2. has won since 1996, it falls somewhere in between ``not bad'' and ``ho-hum.'' Friday night, top-seeded Notre Dame finally got its long-awaited chance to show it could play with the big boys as it traveled to Long Beach for a Pac-5 quarterfinal quar·ter·fi·nal adj. Of or relating to one of four competitions in a tournament, whose winners go on to play in semifinal competitions. n. 1. quarterfinals A quarterfinal round. 2. A quarterfinal match. showdown with the Jackrabbits. Unfortunately for the Knights, that might have been the wrong question. Notre Dame left little doubt it could hang with the Long Beach Polys of the world, scoring three times against a defense that hadn't allowed more than one touchdown in a game in more than two months. It just couldn't hang onto the ball. The Knights had two costly turnovers in the second half and the Jackrabbits took advantage on their way to a 31-21 victory Friday night in front of an estimated 8,000 fans at Veterans Stadium. ``It just all comes down to turnovers and when they come,'' said Notre Dame senior receiver Shane Horton, who finished with six catches for 102yards and a touchdown. ``We had momentum going into the half, but they came up with the big plays tonight. Their strength is their defense and they got the turnovers when they needed them.'' It was the first time Notre Dame had two turnovers in a game since the first game of the season, when the Knights rallied to beat Canyon 18-17. Both of the Knights' second-half turnovers on Friday night led to touchdowns for the Jackrabbits. Poly tied the score 14-14 on a 1-yard run by Gabriel Thomas after Notre Dame fumbled inside its own 15-yard line midway Midway, island group (2 sq mi/5.2 sq km), central Pacific, c.1,150 mi (1,850 km) NW of Honolulu, comprising Sand and Eastern islands with the surrounding atoll. Discovered by Americans in 1859, Midway was annexed in 1867. A cable station was opened in 1903. through the third quarter. Poly extended the lead to 21-14 on a 13-yard run by Johnny Toloumu with 9:48 to go in the fourth quarter after Notre Dame quarterback Dayne Crist threw an interception. Still, despite the miscues, Notre Dame had a chance to win late. Crist found Shane Horton on a 68-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 28-21 with 5:31 remaining. ``We came out and got after it tonight,'' said Horton, who finished with 111 yards and a touchdown on four catches. ``We just couldn't make the big plays when we needed them.'' Notre Dame drove down inside the 31-yard line on its final drive, but had already used its three timeouts and the clock expired following a 5-yard reception by Stanton. ``They were a good team,'' Poly defensive lineman Lineman or linesman may refer to:
``We didn't know how good they were going to be. But they were a lot better than we expected and we had to step up and shut them down to win it.'' ramona.shelburne@dailynews.com (818) 713-3617 CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) Long Beach Poly running back Ricky Johnson runs in for a touchdown against Notre Dame on Friday. (2 -- color) The Long Beach Poly High sideline sideline See on the sidelines. erupts after the Jackrabbits score a field goal. The Jackrabbits went on to defeat Notre Dame. Kevin Chang/Staff Photographer |
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