The562’s coverage of Cabrillo Athletics is sponsored by the Cohn Family.
In the midst of the World Cup, soccer has been on the forefront of everybody’s mind. For the Cabrillo Jags, the game has been on their mind since long before kickoff for the summer’s professional tournament.
Cabrillos’ Drone Soccer team — the Flying Jags — have been ready to reclaim their 2024 National Championship title all year. In May, the team traveled to Florida and faced off with some of the best teams in the country to come out on top as the 2026 U.S. Drone Soccer National Champions.
“We came to Florida to win but we also came to have fun,” senior Daniel Cerda said. “Winning just brought so much joy and enthusiasm to our team, and it brought a whole share of emotion that I don’t think we’ve ever felt before. I’ve never been more proud of people in my life because it was such an astounding moment.”
Cerda was part of a powerful senior class for the Flying Jags. Although Cerda was only part of the team for one year, many other seniors were returners for the Flying Jags, and they remember exactly how it felt when Cabrillo won in 2024.
On the path to a national title, the team also remembers how hard they have to work to get to the top.
After claiming the national title two years ago, the Flying Jags were runner-ups in 2025, falling to familiar foe Sato Academy of Mathematics and Science. This year, Cabrillo was fighting to return to the top.
“They just came back with vengeance in their hearts,” Coach Marco Flores said. “It started off as ‘let’s just do this,’ and it was really good to see the team come together this year.”
Luis Olivares is one of these returning seniors who has been on the team since he was a sophomore. While leading the Flying Jags to the 2026 championships, Olivares said the team dedicated most of their time to consistent training, knowing it was going to take hours of effort to even qualify for the national tournament.
“We didn’t win by just coming in a couple hours for only two days of the week,” Olivares said. “We had this roadblock [in season] and were not improving. We were getting frustrated, but what brought us closer was our communication got better — everything overall did — and I feel like that played a big part in being able to win the national championship.”
This roadblock Olivares mentioned was in part due to Cabrillo’s tough schedule throughout the year. Not only was the team working toward the tournament in Florida, but they were also juggling hours of school work and other extracurriculars.
“This group was way more dynamic — a little bit different — they were way more involved with other things here at Cabrillo High School,” said Kenneth Fisher, lead teacher of Cabrillo’s Engineering and Design Career pathway. “It was a really different, unique style of training this time compared to what it was in 2024, so the journey was completely different.”
One of the major steps in this journey was a change in position midseason, Fisher said. Drone Soccer typically operates in a 5v5 format with a co-ed team of three defenders, one striker and one goalie, and this year, the Flying Jags entrusted the striker position to first-year flyer Joshua Poli.
The team quickly recognized Poli’s talent as a striker and consistently saw him improve throughout his first year. Fisher said his Flying Jags came to him and asked Poli to be promoted to the varsity team.
“Josh is a very dynamic, different kind of flyer — one that we’ve never seen before,” Fisher said. “He moved side to side, not just forward and back. He sees things in a way I don’t.”
While Poli’s presence was a huge part of Cabrillo’s success, Fisher said the team’s talent is high across the board. Each of the Flying Jags played a role in capturing the national title while staying focused on their grades and other commitments.
“It’s a great achievement for me personally because I feel like not many people get to say they were able to participate in something such as drone soccer and place first in nationals with a team of friends,” senior Destiny Montes said. “We had a good team morale, everybody was happy. Overall, I feel like for me personally, just being champions and graduating was definitely a highlight of my high school journey.”
The Flying Jags constantly pointed to the 2024 team and their national win, saying it paved the path for their own championship this year.
“[The national championship] is honestly an honor because it’s not just for us, but for the school and for the kids who will also be coming in the future,” Montes said. “When our other team won first, they were able to bring more opportunities to us. So with us winning, we hope it will give the newer kids that will be coming into [drone soccer] an even better chance than what we had.”
One of the biggest contributions that came out of the 2024 national championship was sponsorships. This year, the Flying Jags were supported by Marathon Petroleum, Port of Long Beach “the Port of Choice”, Hydroform USA, Matson Navigation and AVID Promotions.
The team said these sponsorships help the club upgrade their equipment, allow them to dedicate more time to practice and even help bring the team closer together. Now with the 2026 title under their belt, the Flying Jags hope even more sponsorships will continue to help future teams.
After their 2026 title, the Flying Jags will be losing a majority of their roster who were graduating seniors. As they prepare for a new set of drone soccer players to step up, the team said they hope to spread the sport throughout the city for future flyers.
The Flying Jags said they already host a summer camp to bring more players into drone soccer, but they want to expand this involvement, especially with such a powerful group of seniors moving on to the next level.
“Something we always wanted to implement is to get into the local middle and elementary schools to actually teach the children to fly, so that later on when they’re in high school, they already know of the program, they really want to fly and potentially become a national champion,” senior Arturo Vergara said.
Cabrillo will be losing 10 senior flyers throughout their drone soccer program. Despite the change the Flying Jags will see over the next year with a new team coming in, Cabrillo knows the weight of defending their national title.
“This means that there’s more eyes on us now,” Olivares said. “Drone soccer is not really known, a lot of people are still asking, ‘What is that?’ But I’m really hoping that in future years, people begin to research and see the previous winners of national championships, and hopefully, they just see pictures of us.”
Fisher shares this feeling of utmost pride with his team. Drone Soccer is a continuously growing sport with thousands of teams competing each year.
“To be the best in the nation, especially for Cabrillo High School here on the West Side of Long Beach, it’s just an incredible opportunity for us to be recognized here,” Fisher said. “It’s a lot of work and energy and the kids give us all their time and effort to make it work. It’s a very proud moment for me as a mentor, teacher, coach to see that occur nearing the end of my career.”
