<\/div>\nA battle-worn Millikan team was outplayed and out-muscled by visiting Redondo Friday night, 31-16, to move to 1-2 on the season. Without star playmakers Silver Vaifanua (mild concussion) and Jonathan Sanders (deep calf bruise), the Rams relied heavily on WR\/DB Alden Darby, who met the challenge but could not overcome an effective Redondo offense that controlled the ball and capitalized on opportunities.<\/p>\n
Darby ran for 125 yards on 11 carries – including a 44-yard 3rd quarter touchdown run – and caught five balls for 47 yards – despite dislocating a finger in the third quarter and finishing the game after brief medical attention on the sideline. <\/p>\n
“[Darby] just plays hard every night,” said Millikan head coach Kirk Diego of the dynamic 5’11” wideout\/cornerback, moved to the slot on offense and safety on defense to fill holes. “It’s really nice to see that he’s already becoming a leader, as a junior. He really picked up the slack. We put a lot on Darby’s shoulders and he delivered.”<\/p>\n
Senior Joseph Morales added 74 rushing yards and a touchdown on just eight carries, but Millikan’s offense was otherwise hampered without its top two targets – in a fast-paced attack that relies heavily on its versatility, the Rams struggled to find consistency from the passing game. Quarterback Jake Holtz completed just 9 of 21 passes for 117 yards, a far cry from his first two games after successful outings against Gahr and Bellflower.<\/p>\n
“Wins and losses are what show up, but the effort we gave and the attitude that we showed in practice this week, that’s the important thing,” said Millikan head coach Kirk Diego. “[Redondo] just did a better job tonight.”<\/p>\n
But the losses of playmakers Vaifanua and Sanders are just two of the setbacks suffered by the Rams in this young season.<\/p>\n
“We’ve been thin all year. With grades, guys quitting during the summer, and having to suspend some kids… it’s been a lot,” said coach Diego, who looks forward to getting Vaifanua and Sanders back next week at Downey, as well as two offensive linemen that haven’t seen action yet this year. “That’ll just make us better, because some of the guys that have had to go two ways won’t need to anymore.”<\/p>\n
Several players have had to pull double-duty on offense and defense – often thrown into unfamiliar positions to fill a need. The entire line has had to play both sides of the ball, with little prior experience. Next week, for the first time, different players will be available for offensive and defensive line positions, which should especially help a D-line that has looked tired and vulnerable. Redondo’s rushing attack racked up 206 yards and two touchdowns on 38 carries, converting on key third and fourth downs late in the game to squash any hope of a Millikan comeback. <\/p>\n
In one telling sequence, Redondo faced a 3rd and 7 on the Millikan 31 yard-line, nursing a 17-10 lead and looking to put the game away. Stopping the Sea Hawks would have put the Rams in prime position to mount a scoring drive and tie the game. However, the Millikan defense allowed a 6-yard rush, and on 4th and 1, Redondo quarterback Chris Mares snuck over the line for a four-yard gain that kept the drive alive. The Sea Hawks would reach the endzone a few plays later. During a later drive, Redondo faked a punt with a direct snap that resulted in a 22-yard first down to the Millikan 11-yard line – again resulting in a Sea Hawk touchdown. The inability to stop Redondo’s running attack when they most needed to was an obvious sign of wear and tear on Millikan defensive linemen and linebackers. Many of Mares’ 166 yards passing (18-26) came from screen passes and running back dump-offs that the first two levels of the Ram defense were unable to contain.<\/p>\n
Falling to 1-2 on the season, Millikan looks to even its record at Downey next week – with more of its team intact. The Rams can be expected to lean heavily on Alden Darby again, but with Vaifanua and Sanders back in the lineup, the no-huddle offense will be more effective. Expect quarterback Holtz to put up better numbers than he did last night – with limited weaponry. With Alden Darby, the Rams have a dynamic runner who is a threat to score everytime he touches the ball. Next week, they’ll have two more just like him. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Without two stars and most of their offensive line, the Millikan Rams were unable to stop the visiting Redondo Sea Hawks when they needed to most, losing 31-16.<\/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-5577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5577","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=5577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5577\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5577"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=5577"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}