Millikan goalie Kirby Sheets (1) keeps the ball out of the net as the Rams take on Long Beach Poly in Long Beach, CA, on Monday, January 26, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach Poly’s Alfaro Salvador (9) and Millikan’s Ivan Cervantes Vega (4) battle for the ball in Long Beach, CA, on Monday, January 26, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Millikan’s Bernardo Torres (10) wants a foul called as teammate Grant Johnson (23) goes down while battling Long Beach Poly’s Jonah Gershenson (16) for the ball in Long Beach, CA, on Monday, January 26, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach Poly’s Marcel Markaryan (19) and Millikan’s Grant Johnson (23) battle for the ball in Long Beach, CA, on Monday, January 26, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Millikan’s Grant Johnson (23) tries to kick the ball away from Long Beach Poly’s Benito Quezada (11) in Long Beach, CA, on Monday, January 26, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach Poly’s Anthony Iscoa (7) keeps the ball from Millikan’s Brody Cleven (20) in Long Beach, CA, on Monday, January 26, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Millikan’s Ethan Weinman tries to hype up the crowd after the Rams scored a goal against Long Beach Poly in Long Beach, CA, on Monday, January 26, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach Poly’s Benito Quezada (11) tries to keep the ball from Millikan’s Sebastian Vega (7) in Long Beach, CA, on Monday, January 26, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Millikan’s Matthew Resendiz (19) tries to keep the ball from Long Beach Poly’s Christopher Sotelo (3) in Long Beach, CA, on Monday, January 26, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach Poly’s Alfaro Salvador (9) breaks through Millikan’s Matthew Resendiz and Dario Garcia (6) in Long Beach, CA, on Monday, January 26, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Millikan’s Ivan Cervantes Vega (4) and Long Beach Poly’s Roger Juarez (21) battle for the ball in Long Beach, CA, on Monday, January 26, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Millikan’s Sebastian Vegas (7) celebrates with Dario Garcia (6) after Garcia scored for the Rams in Long Beach, CA, on Monday, January 26, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
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Millikan goalie Kirby Sheets (1) keeps the ball out of the net as the Rams take on Long Beach Poly in Long Beach, CA, on Monday, January 26, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
LONG BEACH — At the halfway point of play in the Moore League, Millikan boys soccer coach Jeff Schofield asked his team what goals they had for the remainder of the season.
The answer: Beat the two league teams — Wilson and Long Beach Poly — they tied in the first round of league play.
Millikan has done that.
Three days after they defeated Wilson, the Rams beat Poly 2-0 on Monday to claim the top spot in the Moore League standings.
Millikan (15-3-2, 6-0-2) now has back-to-back 2-0 victories over Poly (8-7-5, 4-1-3) and Wilson, which they defeated Friday.
The Rams earned their sixth consecutive win and fourth straight shutout. But they came into the game trailing Poly by one points, 18 to 17, in the league standings.
A win was necessary Monday for Millikan to take the top spot. A tie or a Poly win would have meant the Jackrabbits would control the Moore League race.
The two teams previously met on Jan. 7 in a match that resulted in a scoreless draw.
It was a tightly-contested battle Monday through most of the first half. Millikan had two scoring opportunities with headers from captain Ivan Cervantes Vega and Matthew Resendiz but both failed to connect.
With just under five minutes remaining until halftime, disaster struck for Poly when freshman defender Xavier Delouth inadvertently turned the ball over to Millikan’s Ethan Weinman, who drove the ball toward the penalty box.
Poly junior goalkeeper Mekiah Twal managed to save two shot attempts, from Weinman and senior Rodrigo Macedo. The ball ricocheted to the legs of Dario Garcia, who softly rolled the ball into the left corner of the net, catching Twal off guard.
“Xavier has been big for us all year,” said Poly head coach Carlos Casillas. “He’s a freshman, so he’ll learn from that. I had a talk with him, ‘let it go, you’re on varsity for a reason’. He’s a great kid.
“We take from it and we learn from it. That’s why we play the game.”
About 10 minutes into the second half the Rams were able to score the second goal of the game.
Sophomore Grant Johnson set up a low-arching header inside the box directly into the path of teammate Jesse Torres, who blasted the ball into the net for a 2-0 lead.
“I knew I could shoot it, I had done it a lot in practice, and I just took the shot,” said Torres. “We have to do what we have to do to win Moore League.”
With the win, Millikan controls first place in the Moore League with 20 points, three ahead of Poly.
The last time Millikan conceded a goal was in a win against Lakewood on Jan. 12.
“Obviously when you had that many shutouts defending is a big part of it. We have really good defenders, our goalkeeper is very good, so I think that stuff is great,” said Schofield. “Our ability to press from the front makes a big difference in those shutouts.”
Millikan has four Moore League opponents left on its schedule – Jordan, Lakewood, Compton and Cabrillo. The Rams defeated all four of those teams in the first round of league play.
Poly has two games left in the regular season, against Wilson and Compton, respectively.