Poly preparing for a title fight in Division 1 playoffs
LONG BEACH ❯❯ Poly senior linebacker Dylan Williams is not shy about his team's lofty goals. Whenever Williams speaks, he's confident that his high school football team has everything necessary to compete for a championship in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.
“We're not even preparing for Moore League like that,” said Williams, a fourstar recruit who committed to Oregon in July. “We're really just thinking about the main goal, winning the Division 1 playoffs.”
Poly coach Stephen Barbee agrees with Williams' mindset.
“Ultimately, we have to have a mindset of, we are looking to play the top teams in Southern California and ultimately we have to be able to practice at that level,” Barbee said.
For Poly (7-1, 4-0) to reach its full potential, Barbee said Williams has to be the standout player that he's touted to be.
“He's going to have to play at the level that he's been touted at to be quite honest,” Barbee said. “If we're looking to win what we want to win, not only him but all of our other players are really going to have to play at a championship level.
“It's something we talk about. It's something we preach about. We talk at length about the Long Beach Poly football standard, what it means to be a part of it, and I think it's something that this team has really taken to heart. Not only are they looking to be at that standard but to continue to uphold it and possibly raise it.”
After last week's 50-6 win at Cabrillo, the Jackrabbits have two games left in the Moore League, against Compton (3-5, 1-3) today and at Jordan (6-2, 2-2) on Oct. 26.
The Jackrabbits' defense has given up six points in the team's past two games, including a 43-0 win against rival Wilson on Oct. 6.
“I just want to go out of Moore League with a bang,” Williams said. “These are my final two games. The time really flew.”
Williams, a 6-foot-3, 217-pound linebacker who also plays tight end, said it is important to keep his team's defense engaged and focused with two games left in the regular season. Last season, Poly beat Compton and Jordan by a combined score of 119-0.
“The main focus is really competing in practice,” Williams said. “We know we're not playing the best competition right now, but where we're heading to is it's looking like we're going to be in the Division 1 playoffs, so right now we're really preparing for the playoffs.”
As a sophomore, Williams was a starter who finished the season with 48 tackles, two sacks and 11.5 tackles for loss. That Poly team won the CIF-SS Division 4 championship, which was the team's 20th in school history.
As a junior, Williams was his team's second-leading tackler with 79 tackles, 25.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks and one interception as Poly went 10-1 and lost 52-42 to Los Alamitos in the D1 quarterfinals.
As a senior, his primary focus is on making backto-back appearances in the Division 1 playoffs, something he sees as paramount to continuing to restore Poly's storied football legacy.
“It would truly be a blessing, because my sophomore year, nobody really respected us at all,” Williams said. “We were a Division 4 team and nobody had any respect for Poly so just knowing how hard me and my guys worked to bring things back. I know some of them are not here anymore but it would just mean everything to me to do everything for my guys that are not here anymore.”
Williams said during the program's 2021 D4 title run, he learned that you will always win and lose as a team.
“We all have to buy in together to be a championship team,” Williams said. “Maybe before to get us to Division 4, we weren't really locked in. We came together as a team and decided we were going to buy all in and do our thing and ever since then, we locked in our sophomore year and we took off.”
“We all understand it takes all of us,” Barbee added.
Meanwhile, Williams is cherishing his role as a leader, along with teammates like senior running back/linebacker Joshua Cason, the team's top two-way player, and senior quarterback Darius Curry (Colorado State commit).
“Me and Darius had a long talk about it and we feel like it's on us, nobody else is going to step up and take over our team,” Williams said. “We have a team full of young guys, so me and Darius had that talk and we let each other know that it's just time to step up and it's time to lead our guys.
“This is our Poly team. People are going to look back and remember Dylan Williams and Darius Curry. It's our Poly team so we're just trying to step up and lead the way. Little things like practice, we're not letting little things slide anymore. We're on everybody, finishing through the lines, jumping offsides for instance, we're on all the little things. We want to perfect everything because we know going into the Division 1 playoffs, none of that is going to fly. We're going to have to play some perfect games.”