Long Beach Poly football, QB Shea Kuykendall eye playoffs with high hopes
LONG BEACH, Calif. (BVM) 鈥� The Long Beach Poly football team is rolling.
With five consecutive wins and 40-plus points scored in each of them, the Jackrabbits are heating up at the perfect time. Senior quarterback Shea Kuykendall is leading the charge and chalks the winning streak up to a competitive atmosphere at practice.
鈥淲e鈥檙e just trying to continue to get better, competing with ourselves at practice and trying to win every practice rep,鈥� Kuykendall said. 鈥淭hat translates over to the game, quite honestly, and there鈥檚 just a want to get better every day.鈥�
Long Beach Poly鈥檚 most recent win didn鈥檛 come without some adversity. The team found out days before its game at Jordan High School that it would be moved up to Thursday because of an ongoing referee shortage. Then as if the short week of preparation wasn鈥檛 enough, the Jackrabbits would be without their offensive coordinator, Rene Medina, who had a prior engagement.
With head coach Stephen Barbee calling plays, Kuykendall and company took care of business. The senior quarterback completed five of his six passes for 109 yards and three touchdowns in a dominant first half that gave Long Beach Poly a 35-0 lead at the break. Barbee opted to rest his starters for the running-clock second half.
Check out this touchdown from Shea Kuykendall to Tyson Bordeaux in the win at Jordan tonight
— The562.org (@562sports)
The Jackrabbits had a similar outing the week before, routing Compton 42-0 for their fourth straight win as Kuykendall went 8-of-10 for 162 yards and three touchdowns to three different receivers. It鈥檚 the diversity of weapons that make this offense so lethal, and Kuykendall鈥檚 job much easier. Junior running back Devin Samples has racked up more than 800 rushing yards while four different receivers have at least 15 catches on the season.
Senior Tyson Bordeaux is who Kuykendall believes is 鈥減robably the easiest guy to throw to鈥� with his 6-foot-5 frame. 鈥渋s always able to run past defenders like nothing鈥� alongside Titus Bordeaux, Nick Kelly and USC commit , each of whom Kuykendall calls great route-runners with elite speed.
As complimentary as Kuykendall is of his teammates, the QB has put together quite the high school career himself.
The 6-foot-1 signal caller has amassed a 25-5 career record as the Jackrabbits鈥� starter with 62 passing touchdowns and 11 rushing scores. Despite his on-field success, high football IQ and high-end accuracy, Kuykendall has just three Division I football offers: Dayton, Valparaiso and William & Mary.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 like the term slept on; I feel like a lot of people say that when they鈥檙e just not working as hard,鈥� Kuykendall said. 鈥淚 know the circumstances with recruiting right now with Covid and everything so it鈥檚 hard for everyone right now. I鈥檓 just thankful for anything and everything I get.鈥�
With the state playoffs right around the corner, there鈥檚 plenty of opportunity for Kuykendall and his Jackrabbit teammates to improve their college stock. In fact, the next few weeks might be the most important of all considering there鈥檚 one thing coaches at the next level value above all else: winning.
鈥淐olleges want a winning quarterback and obviously the best way to get recruited for anyone on the team is to go win a state title and win playoff games,鈥� Kuykendall said. 鈥淭hat鈥檇 be great for our team especially if we can go out and win a CIF title.鈥�
Long Beach Poly (6-3) closes the regular season Friday night at Lakewood (3-6) before gearing up for the postseason. The Jackrabbits will likely enter the tournament as one of the hottest teams in CIF-SS with goals as lofty as they come.
鈥淚 see (us) winning it all, quite honestly,鈥� Kuykendall said. 鈥淎ll it鈥檚 going to take is believing in ourselves and knowing that it鈥檚 us versus us every game at the end of the day. There鈥檚 no option to lose, it鈥檚 win or win. That starts with practice and the little things, getting everything right in practice so that when it鈥檚 game time, it鈥檚 just like practice but this time it鈥檚 against the other team.鈥�
8 Game Highlights 馃幆
* HS Career *
25-5 as a Starting QB
All 4 yrs @ THEE Long Beach Poly
62 Passing TDs
11 Rushing TDs
6'1.5 207 – 4.3 GPA
Strong, Accurate, Mobile— Shea Kuykendall (@KuykendallShea)
