The562’s high school soccer coverage for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Long Beach Poly soccer alum Kennedy Justin.
The562’s coverage of Millikan Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Brian Ramsey and TLD Law.
As Millikan and Paramount struggled to crack the scoresheet during their CIF-SS Division 2 first round matchup on Wednesday, one of the youngest players on the field was the most confident.
“I got it in pens,” said Millikan sophomore goalkeeper Kirby Sheets. “I promise, I got it in pens.”
Sure enough, after 100 scoreless minutes of soccer at Paramount High, it came down to that penalty shootout. And under the spotlight, Sheets delivered a pair of crucial saves–one to his right, and one to his left–to help guide Millikan to an impressive 4-1 win on penalties, sending them to Friday’s second round.
“You know, it’s been interesting. He hasn’t had a ton to do through the league season,” said Millikan head coach Jeff Schofield of his goalkeeper. “Today, he stepped up big time. He made some really good saves, handled the ball well in the box, and then of course, in the PK’s. He’s just such a big, imposing figure … So if you’re a shooter and you see him, it psychologically plays on you.”
Sheets used his 6-foot-3 frame to save two of the three penalty kicks he faced during the shootout. That’s all he saw, because his Millikan teammates went 4-for-4 from the spot, earning them the convincing win. Ivan Cervantes Vega, Pablo Lica, Vonnae Ocegueda, and Jesse Torres each stepped up in order to put the Rams through.
“We’ve been practicing PK’s for a couple weeks now,” Schofield explained. “Yesterday was the worst we’ve done at practice. Today, they went 4-for-4.”
The game was remarkably even between the two sides, with each offense generating a few compelling chances to score over the regulation and the two overtime periods.
Paramount held a narrow 13-12 edge in shots, putting six on target, but none of which could get past Sheets.
It was a physical contest that took a lot out of both squads, with several players on both sidelines battling cramps and various knocks picked up throughout the night. Schofield praised his bench players who were called into action after not playing much recently. Their ability to spell Millikan’s starters while continuing to put pressure on Paramount was key.
Millikan’s back three did a great job in front of Sheets, led by junior Kai Temple in the middle. He consistently won balls in the air, and had a key intervention late in the second half to clear away a rebound that came off Sheets hand after a tough save.
“The whole back line has been so good,” Schofield said. “They’re so good in individual 1v1 situations. And Kai had a tough assignment. Both guys that were up there against him, No. 21 and No. 20 were a handful, and he did a good job. Those guys’ movement was really good, and so Kai won a ton of headers, he was decisive with his decision-making. So I was pretty proud of him.”
Once the penalty shootout arrived, Millikan went first and sent Cervantes Vega to put Millikan up 1-0. After Paramount’s Angel Huerta equalized, the Pirates would not score again.
Lica thumped his shot just inside the left post, and Ocegueda blasted a shot that kissed in off the crossbar. After each of their made attempts, Sheets was there for a save.
“It felt good, because I knew that we were going to score,” said Sheets of getting his first stop, diving to his right and then slapping away the rebound as it dribbled slowly behind him. “So if I made one save, I knew we had it.”
But he didn’t stop there, laying out to his left at full stretch to deny Paramount’s Manuel Hernandez in the third round. That meant all Torres had to do was score and the Rams would win it. The lefty pulled his shot to the right side of the goal, under the dive of replacement keeper Nathan Meza, and into the back of the net.
The Rams will now look to rest up and prepare for their next match on Friday at 5 p.m. Millikan will host El Dorado after their 2-0 victory at Los Osos in round one.
