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.
There was some uncertainty around the Lakewood football program following a playoff run last year as they entered the season with a new coach and without some notable pieces from their roster.
But with a senior core that stayed together, the Lancers kept their heads down and made history as they won the Milk Bucket and Hamilton trophies and were right back in the playoffs. However, after entering the CIF Southern Section Division 5 bracker for the second straight season, Lakewood’s season came to an end in a tough 7-0 loss to La Serna on Friday night at California High.
“I’m just proud of my seniors,” Tiwan Jones said. “I’m just really proud of my seniors for pushing through. Everybody has been doubting us since the end of last season. So, we had a lot of people transfer. And I just thanked them for sticking it out and just working hard because it’s days where people didn’t want to come. Everyone gets those days. Everyone is human. We just had adversity. And I’m proud of it, man. Like, no matter what. We put it all on the line.”
Lakewood (6-5) started the game on offense and went three and out. However, the Lancers defense responded as they forced a fumble and recovered it inside their own 30.
Kade Casillas got the pass game going, leaning on the short game to chip their way down the fied as he’d find Jayden Moore and Jones. But, after getting to the 25 there was an incomplete pass and Lakewood lined up for a field goal.
Looking to catch La Serna off guard, Lakewood goes for the fake and it’s stopped as La Serna gets the ball back.
Both teams traded empty drives as they remained scoreless heading into half. The Lancers laid their hats on defense and special teams on Friday and on the kick off to start the third – Lakewood forced a fumble and recovered it to give the offense the ball inside the La Serna 25 yard-line.
However, after Casillas finds Jones for a gain – the drive stalled and they line up for a field goal. But on the kick attempt there’s a botched snap and Aidan Kautsky scrambles to find an open guy downfield and he’s picked off on the pass attempt to give La Serna the ball back.
That was just what La Serna needed as junior quarterback Grady Long got loose for a 48-yard run to set his team up at Lakewood’s 16-yard-line. La Serna got pushed back 5 yards but that’s not a problem as Ayden Contreras got loose on the next play for a 21-yard touchdown and La Serna struck first to take a 7-0 lead.
Lakewood got things going on their next drive as they went on a 21-play drive that ate up nearly eight minutes of time. However, at the La Serna 11-yard-line, Lakewood came up short on fourth down.
“You know, going into this, we were told, don’t have any regrets,” Casillas said. ”Keep everything on the table. I could probably say I left everything, gave everything to this team.”
Lakewood Lancers continued to fight on their last and with time ticking down, Casillas scrambled and wasn’t able to find anyone as the final pass fell short. Jones had eight catches for 94 yards.
“It was a tough one to take,” Lakewood coach Mario Morales said. “At the end of the day, you know, our offense just couldn’t get going, and our defense played their hearts out. We thought we had some there, and then they made some plays when they had to, and overall, it was a heck of a game.”
