{"id":2959,"date":"2009-10-31T05:45:00","date_gmt":"2009-10-31T05:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/sports\/football-millikan-magic-runs-out-against-lakewood\/"},"modified":"2009-10-31T05:45:00","modified_gmt":"2009-10-31T05:45:00","slug":"football-millikan-magic-runs-out-against-lakewood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/football-millikan-magic-runs-out-against-lakewood","title":{"rendered":"Football: Millikan Magic Runs Out Against Lakewood"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo by Bill Sampson
\u00a0<\/span>
They took two very different paths to get there, but the Lakewood Lancers and Millikan Rams found themselves center-stage in one of the Moore League\u2019s most anticipated matchups on Friday night. <\/p>\n

Lakewood has been heralded as one of the best teams in Southern California, still riding a high from their first victory over the Poly Jackrabbits in 26 years. Millikan, on the other hand, has successfully played the underdog card to surprisingly contend for a playoff position, themselves defeating Poly last week in a double-overtime thriller. It would have been a colossal upset for Millikan to defeat Lakewood, but we\u2019ve learned to expect the unexpected in all forms this season.<\/p>\n

However, there would be no improbable finish on this night, as the Lancers simply outmuscled the Rams, rushing for 280 yards and six touchdowns \u2013 while successfully containing Millikan playmaker Alden Darby \u2013 on their way to a 60-7 home victory. Lakewood remains atop the Moore League standings while Millikan falls to 3-2 in league, but remains in third place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought our defense looked great tonight,\u201d said Lakewood coach Thadd MacNeal. The Lancer defense allowed just 121 total yards from the Millikan offense. The gameplan was to contain speedy quarterback Alden Darby, who did score on an electrifying 90-yard kickoff return but was limited to just 23 yards rushing and 54 yards passing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had some sleepless night thinking about Darby,\u201d MacNeal smiled. \u201cOur defensive coaches came up with a great plan for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the offensive side, Lakewood\u2019s line overpowered their opponents to create excellent protection for quarterback Jesse Scroggins and huge holes for a slew of running backs to run through. The USC-bound Scroggins threw for 180 yards and 2 touchdowns on 7-18 attempts. Explosive junior Rashad Wadood led the rushing attack with 110 yards and 3 touchdowns on seven carries, while senior Terrance Woods racked up 74 yards and junior Alley Long notched 73. Both Woods and Long scored a touchdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so happy our running game got going, and we had no turnovers,\u201d said MacNeal. \u201cWe were real efficient. I\u2019m proud of our guys. Man, we played hard tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Millikan will host Compton next week, in a winnable game that the Rams need in order to make the playoffs. It\u2019s been a tale of polar opposites for the team, which improbably knocked off Poly last week and just couldn\u2019t match the size and skill of Lakewood this week. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rams never quit, we just ran into a buzzsaw tonight,\u201d said coach Kirk Diego, with the unlimited grace that has become his trademark. \u201cWhat we try to get across is that we get to play every week, and not everybody gets to do that. You play this game long enough, you\u2019re going to win some like this and you\u2019re going to lose some like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Millikan playmakers Silver Vaifanua and Darius Handy combined for just 6 yards on one reception and 7 rushing attempts. Senior Brian Malone notched 59 yards on 9 carries as time wound down on the lopsided game. Millikan\u2019s team speed was rendered useless as the offense fought to gain every inch on offense. Next week\u2019s game against Compton may be more successful for the Rams, who remain a dangerous foe for any Moore League opponent.<\/p>\n

Lakewood jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter behind two fast, rushing-heavy drives. Darby was visibly upset after throwing an interception that led to the second touchdown, and responded by taking the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for a thrilling touchdown run that left many just simply shaking their heads and smiling.<\/p>\n

But 14-7 was as close as the Rams would get, as Scroggins then hit receiver Kevin Anderson for a 62-yard bomb down the sideline to give Lakewood a 21-7 lead as the first quarter came to a close. Second quarter touchdowns from Woods and Wadood brought Lakewood into the half with a 35-7 lead. Anderson finished with an impressive 112 yards and a touchdown on four receptions. The game quickly got out of hand, and Lakewood now heads into a bye week before closing their league schedule at Wilson, while Millikan enters their must-win game with Compton.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to come back and commit to each other,\u201d Diego said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Lancers exploded on offense and played suffocating defense in a 60-7 win at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-2959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2959\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2959"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=2959"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}