Chris Lewis Leads Long Beach Poly, 47-21

Long Beach Poly fans have been watching sophomore quarterback Chris Lewis mature all season, and Friday night he showed St. John Bosco just how far he has come.

Lewis completed 18 of 32 passes for 296 yards and five touchdowns as Poly spotted the Braves (9-2-1) a 10-point lead before storming to a 47-21 victory at St. John Bosco in the quarterfinals of the CIF Division I playoffs.

Long Beach Poly (9-3) and will play Mater Dei next Friday.

“He just keeps getting better and better,” said Ken-yon Rambo, Lewis’ favorite target, who accounted for 164 receiving yards. “This is not a bad team we played tonight, and look what he did.”

A fumbled punt by Rambo and an interception by Lewis in the first quarter led to Eric Ayers’ touchdown run and a Brave field goal, but then Lewis and Rambo atoned for their mistakes many times over, as Poly (9-3) scored 27 unanswered by halftime and 47 by the end of the third quarter.

First Rambo rebounded. He drew a face-mask penalty on a five-yard reception and on the next play caught a 37-yard pass to the Braves’ 33. Two plays later, Sequan Phair made it 10-7 with a 30-yard scoring run.

After St. John Bosco fumbled at its 35, it was Lewis’ turn. He completed a 12-yard pass to Phair and then a 23-yarder to Kareem Kelly for touchdown and a 14-10 lead.

Poly running back Herman Ho-Ching capped a 10-play, 64-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown with 3:22 left in the half. And after forcing St. John Bosco to punt, Lewis completed passes of 18, five, 17 and nine yards before throwing for nine more yards and a touchdown to tight end Greg Saints with 33 seconds left for a 27-10 halftime lead.

During the 27-0 run, Lewis was 11 of 16 for 152 yards.

At the start of the second half, Lewis passed to Rambo on a slant and he turned it into a 95-yard touchdown play. Two possessions later, Lewis lofted a pass to Larry Croom, who scored to make it 40-10.