The562’s football coverage for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Long Beach Poly alums Wendell “WoWo” Moe, Jr. & Tyson Ruffins.
The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
The Lakewood football program is no stranger to road games. Each of the last two years the Lancers have started their playoff journey making a bus trip to take on their opponent.
That will be the case again on Friday as the Lancers (6-4) head to Whittier to take on La Serna at California High to open play in the CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoffs.
Last year, the Lancers leaned on their running game as they blew past Valencia for an opening-round win and that will be key for Lakewood as they look to kickstart the offense after two tough offensive performances to end the regular season.
If Lakewood’s rush attack can get going with Jordan Montgomery, space should open up downfield for senior quarterback Kade Casillas to find his playmakers in Tiwan Jones, Kenny Niumatavaelu, Jayden Moore and Kai Boikanyo.
Jones has proven to be a threat in all phases of the game and will put pressure on La Serna including on special teams where he’s been a terror for opponents on kickoff and punt return.
For Lakewood, the big question is how mobile will Casillas be after tweaking his hamstring against Millikan. The Lancers are at their best when he’s able to keep defenses guessing what he’s going to do when he gets the snap.
However, La Serna (7-3) is no stranger to the playoffs and was the runnerup in the Division 5 bracket last year and the 2024 Division 4 champion and State Division 2-AA champion.
The La Serna Lancers had a tough schedule with seven of their 10 opponents making it to the playoffs. They also picked up a 23-21 win over Edison – who beat Lakewood early in the year. La Serna will also be well rested after having a bye week following their league finale against Whittier on Oct. 24.
Junior Grady Long is the captain of the offense and has thrown for 1,728 yards and 25 touchdowns, but defenses have been able to get him to make some turnovers as he’s thrown six interceptions.
Long’s No. 1 target is junior receiver Landon Armenta who has nearly 900 yards and 15 touchdowns. La Serna has a running back by committee as they like to show different looks including a make-shift Wing T formation and has seven rushers with more than 100 yards and three guys who have scored at least three touchdowns with Jordan Bonilla, Elias Huerta and Aiden Casillas.
For the Lancers to advance to the second round for the second straight year, they will need to get things going offensively and rely on their swarm defense to limit La Serna’s big-play ability.
