{"id":86,"date":"2018-09-20T10:57:09","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T17:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/?p=999919344"},"modified":"2018-09-20T10:57:09","modified_gmt":"2018-09-20T17:57:09","slug":"high-school-football-rivalry-poly-wilson-millikan-lakewood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/high-school-football-rivalry-poly-wilson-millikan-lakewood","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s football rivalry week: Poly takes on Wilson; Millikan against Lakewood"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"High School Football Rivalries: Long Beach Poly vs. Wilson, Millikan vs. Lakewood\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ouxf8-VcKaA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">It\u2019s Rivalry Week in Long Beach, with local teams having potential to write new chapters amid decades of history with cross-town foes.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Long Beach Poly will play Wilson, and Millikan takes on Lakewood. For breakdowns of <span tabindex=\"0\" data-term=\"goog_1078283145\">Friday<\/span> night\u2019s matchups, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/the562.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/the562.org&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1537542962035000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHTf5TtsGnN4wC2BiK_O5lD6T8poA\">the562.org<\/a> for previews.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Here, we break down the history of these longtime grudge matches.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Long Beach Poly @ Wilson, 7 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The oldest rivalry in Long Beach is also one of the oldest continuous football rivalries anywhere in America. The Jackrabbits and Bruins will play for the 87th time <span tabindex=\"0\" data-term=\"goog_1078283147\">on Friday<\/span>, a rivalry dating back to 1932, more than 30 years before the Super Bowl began and just 10 years after the NFL\u2019s oldest rivals (the Bears and Packers) met for the first time.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Poly\u2019s football team has been around since 1908 and Wilson\u2019s since 1926. The two teams, however, didn&#8217;t play against each other for six years.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">According to legendary Wilson coach Skip Rowland, the reason the two teams didn\u2019t meet until then is that school officials were afraid of potential unruliness. Turns out, they were right; the first game ended in a scoreless tie, sparking an on-field student riot, which lasted until a wise school official turned on the sprinklers and played \u201cThe Star Spangled Banner.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Quickly the rivalry became known around Long Beach as \u201cthe Big Game,\u201d even though it was often dominated by Poly. Wilson didn\u2019t score its first touchdown against Poly until 1936, and didn\u2019t win until 1943, when the famed Wilson \u201cJinx Busters\u201d team beat Poly 37-7. The players and their fans marched up and down Second Street, in and out of Long Beach\u2019s theaters, holding an all-night impromptu victory parade.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In the 1930s and 40s the game grew in size and reputation, frequently being held at the Rose Bowl before crowds of more than 30,000. Special trolley routes were set up to bring the Long Beach fans to and from the bigger stadium.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">One phenomenal game between the two happened in 1950, when the Jackrabbits and Bruins met in the first game played at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Wilson was coached by Poly alum Jim Lineberger that year; Lineberger was one of the Poly and Wilson servicemen who wrote a letter from overseas during World War II, begging the city to build a football stadium in honor of the war dead from among Long Beach\u2019s ranks. In the Vet\u2019s first game, Lineberger\u2019s Wilson squad beat his alma mater, 13-12.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The late \u201850s and early \u201860s were the golden period for Wilson, with the Bruins winning its only back-to-back Moore League titles in \u201960 and \u201961. Non-league champions rarely advanced to the CIF Southern Section playoffs, which often left second-place Wilson out of the fun.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cBy today\u2019s rules, I\u2019m pretty sure we would have played (Wilson) for a championship,\u201d said Mike Giers, an All-American lineman for Poly in that era.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Poly re-established its dominance in 1980 with a CIF-SS title won, and it\u2019s been more or less all Jackrabbits since. The last time Wilson beat Poly on the field was 27 years ago\u2014although a Poly forfeit in 2015 gave Wilson its first league title since that 1991 season.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Wilson hasn\u2019t hosted the game since that 2015 contest due to construction of its new stadium, but will host the game <span tabindex=\"0\" data-term=\"goog_1078283148\">this Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span tabindex=\"0\" data-term=\"goog_1078283148\">T<\/span>he Bruins are expecting a sellout.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Lakewood @ Millikan, 7 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">This year\u2019s Hamilton Trophy rivalry game will be played at DeHaven Stadium at Millikan, but it almost may as well be at John Ford Stadium at Lakewood. The schools were built one year apart, in 1956 and 1957, and the Long Beach Unified School District saved money on an architect by using the same blueprint for both campuses.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In the 60-plus years they\u2019ve been playing against each other, the teams&#8217; rivalry has developed. The Lancers have won 36, the Rams have won 23, and they tied once.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The game awards a perpetual trophy, the Donice Hamilton Trophy, named after a teacher and administrator who worked at both schools until her tragic death in a car accident.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Millikan won the first Hamilton Trophy game, 33-13, but Lakewood has dominated this century, winning 15 in a row from 2002 until 2016. Last year the Rams broke the streak with a 34-31 slugfest win last year.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">That game was interrupted a few times last year by a few scuffles, with personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on both teams. A fight broke out after the final whistle, and police officers separated the teams before the handshake line.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThat\u2019s your Lakewood and Millikan rivalry right there,\u201d Millikan first-year coach Justin Utupo said. He played at Lakewood and was All-CIF as a senior in 2009 before going to Notre Dame. \u201cI\u2019m excited for our boys,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been 16 years. We\u2019ll enjoy it and hope to build on this year in, and year out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">If the Rams can win this year\u2019s game, it will be their first win streak in the rivalry in this millennium. Casting the result into question are a slew of injuries to both teams that could force younger players to step into the spotlight in the two schools\u2019 biggest showcase game.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cWe\u2019re excited about it,\u201d said Utupo. \u201cI know when I was at Lakewood and I know now that I\u2019m at Millikan, nobody needs to give any big speeches for this one. Everyone knows what week it is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Long Beach Poly will play Wilson, and Millikan takes on Lakewood. Here, we break down the history of these longtime grudge matches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":16438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","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":[42],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-86","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-high-school-football","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86","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\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=86"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=86"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}