Long Beach Poly passes Bakersfield for most all-time football wins in California history
There is a new career king of California high school football.
With a 56-0 victory over Compton on Friday, Long Beach Poly surpassed Bakersfield as the winningest in the state, according to records kept by Cal-Hi Sports.
The Jackrabbits (9-0 this season) now have 807 career wins to break a tie at 806 with Bakersfield (3-6), which dropped a 46-43 game to Ridgeview-Bakersfield on Thursday night.
In Poly's win, Darius Curry completed 14 of 20 passes for 261 yards and six touchdowns as the Jackrabbits led 42-0 at halftime and cruised. Jadyn Robinson had four catches for 71. yards and two scores.
Long Beach Poly, No. 4 in the SBLive California Top 25 rankings, has steadily gained ground on the Drillers over the last two decades, going a combined 85-32 from 2012 to 2021, when Bakersfield went 77-41.
From 2004 to 2011, Poly went a combined 85-18 while the Drillers compiled a 77-24 record. Both schools have been playing football for a long time — Bakersfield since 1896 (it transitioned from rugby to football early in the 1900s) and Poly since 1904.
The third most-winning football program is another Central Section power Dos Palos with 676 wins.
The Jackrabbits are heavily favored to defeat Jordan in next week's regular-season finale before making a push in the Southern Section's loaded Division I playoffs. Bakersfield closes at state power Liberty-Bakersfield and has outside shot to make the Central Section playoffs.
Long Beach Poly has won 20 CIF football titles in its illustrious history.
The school has produced more NFL players (60) than any other non-prep school in the nation. The only school to claim more is Fort Union (Va.) Military Academy with 67 but that includes post-high school graduates.
Current NFL players from Poly include Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, Green Bay Packers tight end Marcedes Lewis and New England Patriots cornerback Jack Jones.
According to Cal-Hi Sports, Long Beach Poly is also the state boys basketball leader with 2,127 victories to 1,807 for Berkeley at No. 2.
