{"id":3112,"date":"2009-10-10T08:24:00","date_gmt":"2009-10-10T08:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/sports\/football-wilson-tops-millikan\/"},"modified":"2009-10-10T08:24:00","modified_gmt":"2009-10-10T08:24:00","slug":"football-wilson-tops-millikan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/football-wilson-tops-millikan","title":{"rendered":"Football: Wilson Tops Millikan"},"content":{"rendered":"


Photo by Stephen Dachman<\/span><\/p>\n

Two gutty, crosstown rivals battled under picture-perfect football weather in a game that many believed would decide third place in the Moore League this year, as Wilson outlasted Millikan at home in a physical contest that was closer than its 33-7 final score.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Sophomore quarterback Brett Harper and senior Ezell Ruffin each ran for two touchdowns, stepping in for injured tailback Brandon Robertson after a Millikan player stepped on his foot in the first quarter.\u00a0 Ruffin\u2019s second score \u2013 a 46-yard off-tackle footrace down the sideline \u2013 put the game out of reach at 27-7 with 5:18 remaining.\u00a0 The larger Wilson offensive line proved too much for the Millikan defense as the game wore on.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThey were too strong up front for us,\u201d said Millikan head coach Kirk Diego, who noted that he was surprised at the size of Wilson\u2019s players.\u00a0 \u201cBut I\u2019m proud of the kids. They hung in there, blocking kicks and making goal line stands.\u201d<\/o:p><\/p>\n

True, the game might have been much more lopsided if not for hustle plays from the limping Rams, who have lost several key defenders to injury this season (and may lose quarterback Paul Slater for a few weeks with a shoulder that was reinjured in the first quarter). Millikan has shuffled players in and out of their normal positions all season, but the best thing that can be said about the Rams \u2013 and, come to think of it, the Bruins as well \u2013 is that they are mostly made up of football players rather than position players.\u00a0 The gritty Rams were able to block both a field goal and an extra point, stopped Wilson from scoring on a 4th & Goal and immediately responded with a 91-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI respect Diego and Millikan football a lot,\u201d said Wilson coach Mario Morales. \u201cWe know they\u2019re always going to play hard, and tonight that\u2019s exactly what they did. It was a physical game; you can tell by all the injuries.\u201d<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Senior receiver\u00a0 – and generally, all-around playmaker \u2013 Alden Darby stepped in at quarterback for the Rams, and threw for 94 yards and an interception on 11-18 attempts, while also running for 29 yards (including the Rams\u2019 only score on that long second quarter drive). He accounted for 132 of Millikan\u2019s 199 yards.\u00a0 Senior receiver Silver Vaifanua also caught ten balls for 73 yards.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But Wilson ultimately dominated, taking advantage of Millikan mistakes and proving too formidable down the stretch.\u00a0 Ruffin rushed for 141 yards and the aforementioned two touchdowns on just 17 carries in Robertson\u2019s absence, while Harper found the large target of receiver Josh Bell five times for 110 yards.\u00a0 On defense, the Bruins were able to successfully contain Darby and limit Millikan\u2019s hurry-up offense to their side of the field.\u00a0 Coach Morales singled out senior safety Phillip Wilson as a defensive catalyst.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWe started out well, went into a funk and then finished strong,\u201d Morales said, praising his team\u2019s ability to fight through a difficult period in the third quarter.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s part of the resiliency. We were just kind of shuffling guys. We were scrambling, but overall the kids stepped up when they had to.\u201d<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Wilson moves to 3-2 overall (1-0 in league) and will travel to Compton High next week, while Millikan falls to 4-2 overall (1-1 in league) and will host Jordan next week.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In their league opener, the Bruins proved they were a little more fit\u2014and a little less injured\u2014than the Millikan Rams, as the Bruins notched a 33-7 win.<\/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-3112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3112","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=3112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3112"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=3112"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}