Football: Mission Viejo-Long Beach Poly Showdown Tix on Sale

In a meeting of two of the preeminent public school football programs in the Southern Section, second-seeded Mission Viejo will play host to Long Beach Poly on Friday in the second round of the Southern Section Pac-5 playoffs.

Advance tickets for the game are on sale Wednesday and Thursday, 4-6 p.m., at the Mission Viejo ticket booth.

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Mission Viejo (11-0) is ranked No. 4 in the state. Poly (8-3) is unranked after falling to 1-3 with successive losses to Gardena Serra, Harbor City Narbonne and Bakersfield.

This is the first meeting between the schools since 2004, when Mission Viejo defeated the Jackrabbits, 41-14, behind current New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez. Mission Viejo went undefeated that season, won the Southern Section Division II championship, and was ranked No. 3 in the nation by USA Today; Poly went 13-1 and won the Division I title and was ranked No. 10 in the nation by Maxpreps.

General admission tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students. Game time is 7 p.m.

The Moore League champion, Poly has won seven in a row including last week's 40-25 victory over La Puente Bishop Amat in the first round of the playoffs. It was only the second time during their winning streak that the Jackrabbits have allowed more than six points.

Mission Viejo, which has reached the section semifinals the past three seasons, has averaged 48.8 points behind quarterback Ian Fieber and running back Alex Suchesk.

The winner will advance to the semifinals against the winner of the game pitting Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (8-3) at third-seeded St. John Bosco (7-4); all of Bosco's losses have been by forfeit for using an ineligible player. Bosco is ranked No. 1 in the nation according to the Maxpreps computer-based Freeman Rating; Mission is No. 4.