Flight School

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Everything about Long Beach Poly’s weekend in Ohio -- especially the football --went well. It was the getting there and leaving that caused all the problems.

Long delays and flight troubles grounded the Jackrabbits (1-0) far more than Cleveland Glenville did, as Long Beach Poly won, 21-13, in its game at the Burger King/Kirk Herbstreit Challenge, which pitted teams from eight other states against Ohio schools. Long Beach Poly and Mission Viejo were the only California representatives.

Before arriving, the Jackrabbits’ flight had a stopover and was delayed 1 1/2 hours because of lightning. Then the team’s return flight to Los Angeles was delayed on the runway by engine trouble, prompting a change of planes. The wait for that stretched nearly three hours.

‘It was ugly,’ Coach Raul Lara said. ‘Everything else was great, but the flights were terrible. I think the adults were going more crazy than the kids, though.’

- Lauren Peterson