High school football: Long Beach Poly vs. Serra tops Week 1 hot list

Michael Huntley checks the temperature of the Long Beach area high school football scene, looking for anything that’s hot — from players to games to recruits. If it’s hot, he will find it — if it’s not, he’ll let you know.

Hot Game: Serra vs. Long Beach Poly

Serra and Long Beach Poly have met each of the last six seasons and each of those games has been decided by six points or less.

The teams met twice last season, once in the regular season (Week 1) and then in the playoffs (CIF Southern California Regional Division 1-A championship game). Serra won both times by a combined total of five points.

Long Beach Poly earned a dominant 56-7 win over Clovis last week to open the 2022 season. Junior quarterback Darius Curry completed 23 of 30 passes for 358 yards and four touchdowns. USC commit Jason Robinson caught six passes for 114 yards and a touchdown.

USC commit Dylan Williams led the Jackrabbits defense with 11 tackles and defensive lineman Phoenix Tusa had a pair of sacks.

Serra lost to Orange Lutheran last week after leading 20-3 midway through the third quarter. The Cavaliers are led by junior running back Cincere Rhaney, who has offers from Georgia and Utah among others.

Poly was a few plays away from winning both games between the two teams last season. Last year, Serra had the best player on the field in quarterback Maalik Murphy, who now plays at the University of Texas. With Murphy gone, Poly has the better team this year and should be able to leave Veterans Stadium with a win Friday.

Hot Team: Millikan

Millikan scored early and often in a 62-13 rout of Santa Ana last Thursday week at Santa Ana Stadium. It was a revenge win for the Rams, who lost to Santa Ana in its 2021 season opener.

The Rams got outstanding performances from some returning stars and some new faces. Quarterback Myles Jackson put up numbers that looked like they came from a video game — 414 passing yards and six touchdowns while completing 81 percent of his passes. The junior also ran for 75 yards and a touchdown.

Angelo Miranda led Millikan in receiving with 121 yards on six catches with a touchdown. Returning receiver Matthew Martinez added two touchdowns.

Millikan’s Nygel Osborne (28) goes into the end zone for a touchdown during a non-league football game between Millikan High and Santa Ana High at Santa Ana Stadium in Santa Ana CA on Friday August 18 2022.(Photo by Michael Goulding, Contributing Photographer)

Los Alamitos transfer Nygel Osborne had two touchdowns on the ground for Millikan, and Warren transfer Jordan Anderson had 88 yards receiving with a touchdown.

Millikan has a lethal offense and will try to carry the momentum over to its home opener Thursday against Cathedral.

Hot Player: Malachi Nelson, Los Alamitos

Los Alamitos quarterback Malachi Nelson kicked off his senior year with an outstanding start against Garces Memorial of Bakersfield. He completed 14 of 15 passes for 345 yards and five touchdowns in the first half.

The USC commit threw long touchdown passes to Gavin Porch of 41 and 50 yards, respectively. He also threw touchdowns of 51 and 66 yards to Ethan O’Connor.

This week Nelson will lead Los Alamitos down to Florida to take on a tough American Heritage team that is led by Ohio State commit Brandon Inniss at receiver.

Hot Recruit: Hunter Nowell, St. John Bosco

St. John Bosco defensive back Hunter Nowell announced his commitment to San Jose State last week.

The 6-foot-2, 195-pound safety also had an offer from UNC-Charlotte and took an unofficial visit to Arizona this month.

Nowell appeared in three games for St. John Bosco last season after transferring from JSerra.

Hot prediction: Downey rights the ship this week against El Toro

Downey began its season on a tough note with a road loss to a very good Corona del Mar team.

The Vikings will travel to Orange County again this week. They’ll play El Toro, which was co-champs of the Sea View League last season but lost its season opener to La Mirada at home.

Downey struggled to move the ball last week against the Sea Kings and relied mostly on quarterback Aidan Chiles to provide offense. Chiles threw for 105 yards with a touchdown and rushed for a team-high 77 yards.

El Toro lost a lot of talent from last season’s team and is nowhere near as good as Corona del Mar, which is ranked No. 7 in the Orange County Register’s top 25 poll. I expect Chiles to have a big game and leave Orange County with a win Friday.