Poly Football to Play in L.A. Memorial Coliseum

Poly will play in the historic L.A. Memorial Coliseum Stadium in South Los Angeles on Thursday, October 21 at 7 p.m. The game will be especially momentous after a previous year with limited spectators and an abbreviated season. The Panthers look forward to taking on La Cañada High School under the lights of the storied stadium.

“Last year we had the very exciting opportunity to play in the Rose Bowl,” said Head Football Coach Chris Schmoke. “I’m from Michigan, and the Rose Bowl has a mythical aura to it. The Coliseum is also one of the quintessential stadiums in the world and to have the opportunity to play in it in less than a seven month span is really exciting for us.”

The game will also be an important one for the Panthers as they are now part of the Rio Hondo League, a competitive league where they have faced San Marino and Monrovia thus far. The team is preparing for the game by watching opponent La Cañada game footage and getting lots of practice in. 

“This game is important to us because we are in a new league,” said senior Matthias O. ’22. “It is important for us to prove our worth, especially being a small school.”

Matthias added that it’s exciting to anticipate playing in a stadium that “our idols” played in. “A lot of football is the crowd. It keeps the energy up and was a part of the game we were missing. Now that spectators are back we’re excited to continue to play well.”

“We are excited to get the Poly community together in a special and different way,” said Meghan Stimmler, president of the Panther Club. “We celebrate all sports at Poly and it’s exciting for us to host the game at the historic Coliseum, a first in our school’s history.”

During the pandemic, the Panther Club funded live streaming of sporting events and will live stream the Coliseum game for the Poly community near and far. Folks can purchase swag from the Panther Store in advance online and it can be picked up at the reception. Wednesday is the deadline for online merchandise orders. Please write in the notes for the order “coliseum delivery.” There will also be items available for purchase at the game. 

Register for the game here. We look forward to what promises to be a momentous game for Poly!