The562’s coverage of Millikan Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Brian Ramsey and TLD Law.
On the heels of an impressive win over Newbury Park in last week’s home opener, the Millikan Rams have their eyes set on a 3-0 start to the season. This Friday’s opponent will be the Loyola Cubs, making the trip down from Los Angeles for a 7 p.m. kickoff at DeHaven Stadium.
Millikan is 2-0 for the first time in the Romeo Pellum era, and they haven’t started a season with three straight wins since 2014.
The offense was humming last week against Newbury Park, as the Rams scored touchdowns on all five of their first-half possessions and cruised to a 49-20 victory.
Senior QB Ashton Pannell was nearly perfect, going 9/11 for 333 yards and four total TDs in his first home start for Millikan. He said he’s been itching to get back on the field to keep that momentum going and keep the points flowing.
“I’ve been saying to myself all week, I gotta get back on the field and just do the same thing I did on Friday,” said Pannell, who posted a perfect 158.3 passer rating in the win. “But at the same time, I’ve gotta stay poised, stay calm, study film, and make sure I’m up to date on all that stuff–that really helps me.”
Pannell will also have some added motivation as he faces his former school. Pannell was at Loyola before transferring to Millikan this season, and said he’s excited to go against his former teammates.
“It’ll be a fun game. Probably a lot of chirping back and forth, to be honest, but it’s just friendly,” Pannell explained. “I can’t wait. I know it’s gonna be a fun game.”
The Rams played better in their second game than in their first, and will look to keep that upward trend going. They expect starting linebacker Aisa Taeleifi to make his season debut, which will be a big help. However, there are still a handful of key players on both sides of the ball out injured or awaiting CIF transfer clearance.
Millikan’s defense had four takeaways in last week’s win, and have collected six sacks through the first two games of the season.
Loyola enters the contest after a 36-14 loss to Cathedral in last week’s season opener. The Cubs fell behind 29-0 and scored their two TDs late with the game out of reach.
The Cubs had a pretty even split in their play-calling, throwing it 30 times and rushing 27. Sophomore QB JC Rising was 17/28 for just 160 yards with a TD and an INT.
Junior Kane Casani was the biggest playmaker on the Loyola offense, rushing five times for 90 yards and a score. He also led the Cubs’ defense with 14 tackles in the loss.
Cathedral’s QB had more than 300 total yards of offense and scored 5 TDs, so if the Rams are able to execute how they did against Newbury Park, it could be another fun day at the office for Pannell.
The Millikan-Loyola matchup almost occurred during last year’s CIF-SS Division 3 playoffs, so Friday’s meeting could end up as a postseason preview.
