By Matthew Robinson
NORTH HOLLYWOOD – Poly Parrots senior running back King Exudus entered Friday night’s game against the North Hollywood Huskies with under 30 yards receiving on the season. But after the game, he was the author of five catches for 101 yards and three scores. Exudus, known for his running game exploits, showed the Poly varsity football family (players, coaches, and fans) as well as the San Fernando Valley media that he can be a force to be reckoned with as a receiver too. Exudus’ three scores spread over the second, third, and fourth quarters helped the Parrots knock off the Huskies 26-15 on the road. This win gives the Parrots their sixth straight win since Week One of the season, an 18-0 win over the San Fernando Tigers back on August 28th.
With last night’s victory, the Parrots extend their overall record to 6-1 and 4-0 in the East Valley League; they are tied for first place in that league with the Arleta Mustangs. If the Parrots win their last three games, which include a Week 10 season finale showdown with the Mustangs, the Parrots will capture their first East Valley League crown since 2010 when they went 6-0 in the conference. Meanwhile, the Huskies drop to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in the East Valley League. The Huskies are amid a two-game losing streak, but their remaining schedule includes three teams that the Huskies can beat: Grant (1-7), Arroyo (1-6), and Fulton (3-4). The Huskies need to go 2-1 or 3-0 within their remaining schedule to get a decent playoff seed in early November.
The Parrots have been beating teams with their running game, but Friday night showed that the Parrots are willing to embrace the passing game, giving them another way to confuse and aggravate opposing defenses. Granted, the Parrots will still run the ball on most of their plays for the rest of this season, but this passing game wrinkle could help the Parrots be a serious contender for one of the Los Angeles City Section Championship berths (Divisions II or III) come late November.
Parrots senior quarterback Alijah Ochoa, for the first six games of this season, has been known as the guy who hands off the ball to Exudus or any of the other Parrot running backs. But he, too, after the game, made a name for himself. Ochoa went eight for 12 for 153 yards and three scoring passes against the Huskies. He was never sacked in his 12 dropbacks last night. After having a quiet first quarter, he and Exudus, and other receivers, went to work on the Huskies’ defense from the second through fourth quarters. There were short passing gains, then big passing gains, and then out of nowhere scoring passes to Exudus.
Poly first-year Head Coach Boo Williams (his government first name is Broderick, but he prefers to go by Boo) was happy to see the passing element of his offense flourish like it did last night against the Huskies. No head coach likes to see their offense be one-dimensional and Williams expounded on that statement in his post-game interview.
“It [Ochoa’s passing success last night] showed that we can come out here and pass the ball and we don’t always have to be in the Wing-T [an old-school offensive system where running the ball is stressed],” Williams said.
Another Parrot offensive player who stepped up was senior tight end and/or H-Back Stephen Boyd. The athletic Boyd caught two passes for 39 yards from Ochoa, with both of those catches helping the Parrots get deep into their own scoring territory. Just think, the Parrots have been hiding Exudus’ receiving talents as well as Boyd, who may be one of the better receiving tight ends in the Valley area. Boyd also collected eight tackles on defense (three solos and five assists), one sack, and 1.5 tackles for loss.
Poly has another talented offensive player that is very well known to their team and fans and that’s junior running back Justice Brown. He shaked, baked, and annoyed the Huskies’ defense with his supreme athleticism and field vision. He carried the ball 15 times for 116 yards and one score. Brown also had three tackles on defense (two solos). If Poly keeps feeding Brown the ball and letting him cook, he could be an All-LA City selection in December, as could Exudus and Boyd.
Williams has been appreciative since the offseason because of what the trio of Ochoa, Exudus, and Brown have contributed to his program.
“Man, it felt real good [to see Ochoa, Exudus, and Brown perform well against North Hollywood]; they [have] put in the work every day,” Williams said.
The Parrots accumulated 290 yards of total offense, but the big story of the Parrots’ offensive night was that 53 percent of their offensive yards came from the passing game: 153 yards. On the other hand, the Parrots gained 137 yards rushing on 22 carries with two scores.
On defense, the Parrots didn’t make a lot of big plays or memorable plays, but the Huskies knew that the Parrots’ defenders were around. It’s hard to make many big plays on defense when one is going against a team running the triple option and where it’s hard to get tackles for loss when the Huskies offensive line on every down lines up in extra tight quarters, making it hard for a defender to get into the backfield as well as see who is getting the ball on any given carry.
Junior defensive back/outside linebacker Javier Lopez (seven tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and one sack) had his best defensive game of the season. He helped out against the run, dropped into pass coverage, and provided some pass rushing. The biggest defensive play of the game was made by him. Near the 8:50 mark of the fourth quarter and on third down at the Poly nine-yard line, he came rushing off the right side and chased Huskies QB Logan Grant until finally dropping him at the Poly 20-yard line for an 11-yard quarterback sack. That play led to a fourth-down field goal that was botched because the snap was bad and the holder couldn’t get ahold of the live ball. Williams was very happy that Lopez made that huge defensive play because it not only helped keep the Huskies out of the end zone, but the sack gave the Parrots the impetus to go ahead and put the Huskies away (the Parrots scored on their next offensive drive not too long after that botched field goal to go up 26-7).
“That [Lopez’s sack] sealed the game,” Williams said matter-of-factly.
Not to be outdone was sophomore linebacker Anthony Reyes, a fiery and passionate player who could be one of the best linebackers that have played at Poly in recent memory by the time his career is done at the school after the 2028 season. He was in on a team-leading ten tackles last night (two solos, eight assists) with one tackle for loss (minus two yards in losses). Senior safety Montrell Long was in on six tackles (one solo, five assists) with 0.5 tackle for loss. Sophomore defensive end Damir Peraza checked in with seven tackles (three solos, four assists). Senior defensive lineman Marvin Pineda, who is a potential All-East Valley selection, as is the before mentioned Peraza, was in on eight tackles. And senior defensive lineman Erick Garcia added four tackles, with one of those tackles (he had two shared tackles for loss, or being credited for 0.5 tackle for each of those tackles) for a loss. Garcia was happy to beat the Huskies because the Parrots before last night’s game hadn’t won a game in this series since 2023.
“Every single time I look at this core, I just feel pride in my heart,” Garcia expressed. “I just feel happy winning the trophy back after four years [it was actually three years].”
As for the Huskies on offense, all they really had Friday night was senior running back Brandon Del Toro, who carried 12 times for 85 yards and no score. The 5-foot-5-inch, 160-pound athlete is pretty much the best player the Huskies have, and they used him every way they could: as a ball carrier, a decoy back, and as a pass receiver. He also caught one pass for 17 yards. The aforementioned Grant didn’t get many chances to show off his passing arm because, as mentioned earlier, the Huskies are a triple option running team. Grant went three for six for 73 yards and one scoring pass on the night, and he was sacked twice. When Grant did get a chance to throw the ball, it was usually on third down and when the Huskies were in dire straits.
On his first official offensive play of the game (their first two plays were dead-ball penalty instances), Brown showed the Huskies’ defense what they were going to have to put up with for the rest of the game. He took an Ochoa handoff and then ran forward; then the speedy back cut back to his right, finding an open hole. Later in his run, he cut back again, this time to his left where he found open space in front of the Poly sideline. From there it was all him and his speed because he wasn’t caught until he was ushered out of bounds at the Huskies 15-yard line by Del Toro. Brown’s 59-yard run set up his own 10-yard scoring run down the left side. Brown’s two-point conversion run was no good, but the score moved to 6-0 with 8:05 left in the first quarter.
The Huskies countered that Brown scoring run with one of their own, with Grant taking the snap and then running behind a few of his offensive linemen into the end zone from one yard out. The point-after kick by senior Arthur Tutuyan was good, so the Huskies took a 7-6 lead with 11:15 left in the second quarter. Little did the Huskies know that their slim one-point lead would be their last lead of the game.
Exudus scored his first touchdown of the game when he leapt into the air and then extended his arms to catch Ochoa’s pass right in front of Huskies defensive back Hayden Crawford for a 10-yard right corner of the end zone scoring play. The two-point conversion pass on the next play was no good, but the Parrots had their lead back at 12-7 with 7:38 left in the second quarter.
Near the end of the third quarter, Exudus seized another chance to annoy the Huskies’ defense. This time he got behind the Huskies’ defense for a 40-yard scoring play. That’s two straight touchdown plays in which Exudus victimized Crawford. On the two-point conversion play, the run attempt was no good, so the score stood at 18-7 with 2:13 left in the third quarter.
The Parrots put the game away late in the fourth quarter when Ochoa took the snap from junior center Dexter Palomeque, then the signal caller looked to his right where he found Exudus struggling to get separation from Huskies junior cornerback Ryder Shepard. But when Exudus saw the ball in the air, he quickly ditched Shepard and caught Ochoa’s pass, then turned around and ran virtually untouched to the end zone, completing a 50-yard scoring play. Exudus’ and Poly’s last touchdown of the game, coupled with the successful two-point conversion run by Exudus, gave the Parrots a commanding 26-7 lead with 5:54 left in the contest.
The Huskies were pretty much cooked after that Exudus scoring catch, but someone forgot to inform Huskies senior wide receiver, Max Bates. On the play, Grant took the snap and then play faked to Del Toro. The quarterback then ran to his left, where he let go a Hail Mary-like pass that ended up in the hands of Bates in the end zone against double coverage from Lopez and Boyd. The impossible odds of that catch (let alone that Bates scored on the play) gave the Huskies a sliver of hope. The two-point conversion run by Del Toro was good and the score moved to 26-14 with 3:09 left in the game.
The Parrots were in no mood to let the Huskies mount a rally using two runs by senior athlete Alejandro Ojeda (one catch for 13 yards), a six-yard run by Lopez, and an Ochoa kneel-down to help salt away the game clock.
The Parrots will host the 2-5 Monroe Vikings next week on Friday, October 16th at 7:00 PM, while the Huskies will travel to Grant High School for a 7:00 PM meeting with their long-time neighborhood rivals.
