| | | Late Saturday night, when most of the New York Giants are snug in their
beds at a suburban New Jersey hotel thinking about Sunday's opponent, the
Washington Redskins, Amani Toomer and Omar Stoutmire will be burning up the
phone lines. Forget about Tony Banks, LaVar Arrington and Stephen Davis --
Toomer, a starting wide receiver, and Stoutmire, a backup safety, will be
focused on the exploits of, uh, Matt Gutierrez and Marcedes Lewis, among
others.
|  | | Sometime next week, Amani Toomer might be modeling a green and yellow Long Beach Poly sweat suit. |
That's because their high school alma maters, the nation's No. 1 and
No. 2 ranked football teams, clash in a widely anticipated
irresistible-force-meets-immovable-object contest back in California.
Football fanatics, we give you Amani Toomer, De La Salle Class of '92,
and Omar Stoutmire, Long Beach Poly Class of '93. The smack going back and
forth in the Giants locker room this week has been, well, rather thick.
"All day long, all day long," Stoutmire said Wednesday after the
Giants practiced in East Rutherford, N.J. "Who's going to win, who's not.
Who's got the players, who doesn't. It's given us a lot of fun around the
locker room."
According to Toomer, the two have been discussing this game for several
years -- long before the match was even made.
"Oh, yeah," he said from his car phone. "We've been going at it
pretty good."
ESPN and Student Sports have Concord's De La Salle No. 1 and Long Beach
No. 2. USA Today has the order reversed. De La Salle comes in with a
staggering winning streak -- the Spartans have won a national-record 116
consecutive games. Long Beach Poly has a modest streak of 30-0-1 going, the
third-longest active streak in California, but the Jackrabbits have sent 29
players to the NFL, more than any other high school.
"There is so much talent there right now," said Stoutmire. "There
are at least 13, 14 Division I prospects. I know -- I worked out with them
over the summer."
Said Toomer, "The winning streak they've put together is really
amazing when you think about it. There's only loss in the '90s ... that's
special."
Oddly enough, Toomer's last game at De La Salle represented that lone
loss in the 1990s. The Spartans fell to Pittsburg in the 1992 California
Class 4-1 championship game.
The two players say they have no cash riding on the outcome of the
game -- "We're not going that far," reported Stoutmire -- but there is
something far larger on the line:
|  | | Omar Stoutmire's Long Beach Poly Jackrabbits have sent 29 players to the NFL. |
Abject humiliation.
"If De Salle wins -- which is fat chance -- I'm going to wear Amani's
high school jersey," Stoutmire said. "At the same time, if we win – uh,
when we win, he's going to wear a [green and yellow] Poly sweat suit
for a whole day."
Toomer has already called his mother and asked her to send
his green and white high school jersey, ASAP.
"I think it's going to look good on Omar, I really do," he said.
"When we win, I'm going to have some fun with it."
Despite their shared California roots -- De La Salle is outside Oakland, while Long Beach is near Los Angeles -- the two Giants teammates never crossed paths in high school, even in all-star games. Sometime next week, though, they'll sit down together and watch the game on tape. While the game at Long Beach's Veterans Stadium can be seen at 10:30 p.m. on Fox Sports Net 2 or DirecTV channel 653, the Giants' hotel doesn't have a satellite feed.
This is not to say they won't know the result as soon as it's official.
Stoutmire said he will be in constant touch with Long Beach Poly defensive
backs coach Dakari Moye, a former teammate.
"He'll be right on the sidelines," Stoutmire said. "I'll be calling
him for updates. Me and Amani will both know the score."
Toomer plans to listen to the game via the Internet. He'll have his
laptop plugged in the whole time.
"I won't miss a play," Toomer said.
The Redskins will just have to wait.
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