Millikan coach Jared Weckerly had a simple message for his team ahead of their rematch against Wilson – “We have nothing to lose.”
With that energy, the Rams played loose and let the shots rip as they scored the first seven goals of the game as they’d defeated Wilson 11-7 Thursday night at Wilson. With the win, Millikan can clinch a co-championship with the Bruins if they defeat Long Beach Poly on Monday.
“Play loose,” Weckerly said was his message to his team. “It’s now or never. If you don’t make a shot, we’re going into the playoffs probably not in a good seed. You only get one chance. So play loose, have fun and take advantage of their weaknesses.”
From the opening minute the Rams dominated possession as they played fast and aggressive. Cameron Whitcomb started the scoring less than a minute into the game and for the next five minutes four Rams scored as Jackson Thome, Dylan Balis all scored. Garrett Bruhl scored two goal in the frame as Millikan kept Wilson on their back foot.
Edgar Bejero and Thome wrapped up the scoring as the Rams took a dominating 7-0 lead.
“We got punched in the face the first game of the season,” Bruhl said of the team’s first game against Wilson. “That hit hard for us. We came into the season with great hopes, going undefeated, and honestly, we were doubting [Wilson]. But they came in and punched us in the face, and showed us something we weren’t expecting. We wanted it more this time. We were feeling kind of bloodthirsty on this one.”
Wilson didn’t back down and started to get into their style of play in the second quarter as they played shorthanded. Ivan Van Divort got the Bruins on the board and Ty Kernan followed as Wilson shutout the Rams and slowly started to chip away at the Rams’ lead.
That momentum continued into the second half as Van Divort scored his second goal and goals from Kaden Wright and Easton Dickey suddenly cut Millikan’s lead to 7-5 with 6:09 remaining in the third quarter.
However, Millikan got back to their game as Bejero scored back-to-back goals and an empty net goal by Cameron Whitcomb pushed the Rams lead to 10-5 heading into the fourth quarter.
““It was definitely hype,” Bejero said. “We knew that we had to keep it going throughout the whole game. It was barely the first quarter when we scored seven, so it was like, we’ve got to keep it going, keep the momentum. We were just hyping our boys up.”
Bruhl’s fourth goal of the night capped the scoring for the Rams as they pushed the lead to 11-5 a minute into the final period. Wilson responded with a 2-0 run, but it wasn’t enough as Millikan came away with the win to give themselves a chance to be co-champs.
“We came out slow and distracted,” Wilson coach Erick Bear said. “And we let them get seven goals in the first quarter. I don’t know how you can possibly win a game when you give up that many. So, the better team won today.”
While Wilson’s Moore League season is over, the Bruins will cap the season next week when they take on St. John Bosco on Wednesday.
