Photos by Bill Sampson
Well. That’s one way to kick off a season. The Millikan Rams rode a whopper of a seesaw in Cerritos against the Gahr Gladiators on opening night, and thanks to the heroic efforts of several players on their small roster, they ended the game on a high note, in a thrilling 35-34 victory. In fact, we’re going to ask that you take a few minutes off of reading this article to go watch our highlight from the game, if only so that you’ll believe everything we’re telling you. Seriously, go ahead.
Now then, to begin from the beginning. The Rams, who start almost literally their entire roster both ways, and who dressed about as many kids as you’ll find in your average high school classroom, opened the game looking absolutely unstoppable, with a new spread option offense that seemed to have the Gladiators confused. In four minutes, with nine plays, none of which were for a loss despite all of them being runs, the Rams marched 76 yards downfield and promptly into the end zone, capped off by starting quarterback Paul Slater’s 16-yard touchdown slash, which he punctuated by bulling over a Gahr defensive back. Millikan missed the extra point.
Gahr got the ball back and drove quickly into Millikan’s red zone. Whereas the Rams were only running, but getting passing yardage out of it, Gahr only threw the ball—but averaged just a few yards per completion. Still, it looked like Casey Nielsen was going to get the Gladiators on the board, until the Rams’ Alden Darby made it very hard to believe he’s only 5’9″, as he leapt into the air and pulled down an interception in the end zone. Millikan took advantage of the turnover, driving 80 yards for the score, a touchdown off 2-yard run by Silver Vaifanua (who finished with 6 carries for 33 yards). The Rams attempted the extra point, but a bad snap forced Slater to scoop the ball and run—he headed towards the left sideline, where he found Josh Brown in the back of the end zone, connecting with him on a shovel pass that put Millikan up 14-0.
And at this point, the good news for Rams fans ceases for a little while, as the Gladiators answered Millikan’s 14 points with 28 of their own. They evened the score lightning fast, as Nielsen got his impressive receiving corps rolling—first he hit Delshawn McClellon for a 47-yard touchdown, and then, just two minutes later, he hit Emanuel Wyatt on a seam route for a 55-yard score. Nielsen, who inherits the starting QB role from his brother, was just an absolute dynamo all night, and his stat line made it obvious his team is planning on relying on him all year—at the end of the game he was 30/44 for 418 yards, 5 TDs, and 4 INTs.
After Millikan’s onside kick to open the second half failed, Nielsen made them pay, hitting Wyatt again, this time for a 24-yard strike to take a seven point lead. They would have scored again on their next drive, but another Ram came down with the end zone pick, this time it was senior Jerrell Bradford. Millikan still couldn’t muster anything offensively, either through the air or on the ground, and Gahr opened the lead up to 14 on a 35-yard TD pass from Nielsen to Shaan Johnson, just before the end of the third.At that point, things looked bleak for the Rams—Slater and Darby had both come off the field with injuries, the whole team looked exhausted (remember, they almost all play both ways), and with 28 unanswered points, it seemed like Gahr was rolling unstoppably.
Fortunately for Long Beach fans, Millikan didn’t get the memo. Junior running back Darius Handy, who had an incredible night (finishing with 24 carries for 186 yards), made his presence felt to open the fourth with a 52-yard bolt up the middle of the field to score; three plays later, Slater jumped on a Nielsen out pass and ran the pick back to the house, tying the score at 28. The Rams held Gahr at midfield, and then pounded Handy, as the junior took five consecutive carries to bring Millikan to Gahr’s twenty, where Darby took over, making a spectacular tip-toe run down the right sideline and into the end zone, giving Millikan their first lead, and twenty-one unanswered points of their own.
After a long coach’s conference, Gahr decided to go for two, to end the insanity. On the deciding play, Nielsen rolled right, and evaded one would-be tackler. “When I saw him get away,” said Millikan coach Kirk Diego, “I thought, ‘Oh no. Somebody’s going to be wide open.'” Nielsen did have an open receiver, but he threw the way he was rolling…and Bradford grabbed his second end zone interception of the night, this one to win the game. James Sagbigsal made a great grab on the onside attempt, Slater took two knees, and the Rams were 1-0 to start the year.
“I’ve been coaching for 31 years, but that’s up there as one of the wildest,” said Diego after the game, as his team celebrated. “They believe in each other, and they’ve shown it—they don’t want to let each other down. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this game.”
Slater, who finished 12/20 for 125 yards, a rushing TD, and INT TD, and a 2 PC conversion, said it all comes back to their coach. “We just don’t quit,” he said. “We get hurt, we got right back in.”
“It was a battle all game long,” said Darby, who finished with 192 yards total production as a QB, RB, WR, and kick returner. “But we had to fight through it—in the past, I don’t know if we could have done it. But this is Millikan football this year.” If he’s right, you can bet the next nine weeks are going to be pretty fun for Rams fans…if not quite as exciting as the first game was.