Poly’s football team is no stranger to change; however, this season has been particularly eventful. This year marked Poly’s return to 8-man football after twenty years of 11-man and after a few lackluster seasons (3-7 in the ’24 season, 4-6 in the ’23 season, and 1-8 in ’22). With the new format, Poly football is showing that it’s capable of victory. With an overall record of four wins and three losses this year, Poly is ranked by maxpreps.com as 31st out of 116 8-man football teams in California.
The transition to 8-man football wasn’t easy, but the squad has managed to steadily improve as they adapt to the new format. Head coach Scott Bello, who is also the Director of Athletics, said, “Even though we went through some transition this year, it’s actually been an extremely positive experience. The group has really embraced the changes, and it hasn’t felt challenging at all.” He added, “If anything, it’s brought everyone closer together and created a strong sense of purpose and energy in the program.”
The team adopted a “one game at a time” approach, which helps prevent momentary setbacks from bringing team morale down.
In Poly’s first game of the season, the team suffered a brutal 41-0 loss against Flintridge Prep; however, the team rallied for a 52-22 victory over Francis Parker in the next game. Sophomore utility player Mark Hiddleson said, “Moving on was the best way to motivate our team after our first loss. There was nothing we could do to change the results of what happened, so we needed to put our heads down, ignore the naysayers, and work hard enough so that future results would reflect our strengths as a team.”
After the start of the season, Poly suffered two more losses. Their tough match against Chadwick, with a final score of 50-6, especially motivated them to turn their season around. After this crushing defeat, the team decided it was time for a change. They rotated the starting lineup positions and started practicing with more intensity and determination. Their hard work clearly paid off, as they dominated New Designs University Park 38-0 on Oct. 31 to cap off their regular season with a 3-3 record.
The Panthers carried this momentum into their first playoff game against the Southland Christian Eagles on Saturday, Nov. 8. Down at the half, Poly refused to give up, rallying together and pulling off a 32-28 comeback miracle.
Unfortunately, Poly was not able to come through in the second round of playoffs, losing to Lancaster Baptist 40-20 in a hard-fought battle. However, looking back, Poly’s journey through this season was about much more than the final record. Sophomore Clive Chao has goals for the next season,
stating the team plan is to “build off of the momentum and success of this season to push for a title.”
