LONG BEACH — Travon Patterson has fond memories of playing high school football at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Long Beach.
The stadium opened in 1950 and has long been the home of the Long Beach City College and Long Beach Poly football programs.
“It meant a lot to us,” Patterson recalled. “Coming into Poly, prior to coming to Poly, matter of fact, I used to go to the high school games seeing Long Beach Poly play at Veterans Stadium. Then coming to Poly, understanding that in order to play at Veterans Stadium, you had to play varsity. So it meant a lot for us to play at Vets.”
Those sentiments are part of the reasons why the 37-year-old is back as Long Beach Poly football’s new head coach.
The Jackrabbits (1-0) will host their last game at Veterans Stadium against Yorba Linda (1-0) on Friday, Aug. 28, before the stadium is torn down so that Long Beach City College can renovate its athletic complex and build a new football stadium.
“I’m feeling good,” said Patterson, who graduated from Poly in 2006 and went on to play receiver at USC. “Excited that we get to go into Vets one last time. Bittersweet moment, right? We don’t want to leave Vets. We want to play all our home games there, but unfortunately they have to do the reconstruction, so we understand.”
The tentative opening for the new stadium is mid-2029, according to LBCC.
Long Beach Poly junior quarterback Ace Fa’agata made his first start in a non-league game and season opener for both teams on Friday August 21, 2026. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Meanwhile, Poly is coming off a 24-7 victory at Downey on Aug. 21. Coach Patterson said he liked how his team played in the season opener, which was his first game as head coach. The Jackrabbits’ offense, which junior quarterback Ace Fa’agata led, amassed 338 yards of total offense (180 passing, 158 rushing).
“They fought until the end,” Patterson continued. “After halftime, we spoke to the guys, talking about finishing strong. This is pretty much going to be the identity of our program moving forward, and they lived up to the level of expectation we have for them.”
A quality opponent will once again test the Jackrabbits in Yorba Linda, who are coming off a 34-21 victory at Laguna Beach on Aug. 21.
“We are excited,” Patterson explained. “Week in and week out, we know we are going to have a tough match, but I think we’re ready and prepared for it. That Downey game brought a lot of confidence to our kids, so they’re confident going into this game as well. All we have to do is play Poly football, eliminate the turnovers, eliminate the penalties, and we will be alright.”
Poly will play the remainder of its home games at Cabrillo High this season. They will host Carson in a nonleague game on Sept. 11 and Moore League games against Lakewood on Oct. 2 and Wilson on Oct. 10.
Long Beach Poly football head coach Travon Patterson reflects on his team playing for the last game at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Long Beach before it is being torn down so that Long Beach City College can build a new $250M athletic complex that will have a new football stadium… pic.twitter.com/lNHVevtn2C
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) August 28, 2026