Many people glancing over the CIF boys’ soccer bracket might dismiss this afternoon’s semifinal between the Millikan Rams and the host St. Francis Golden Knights as a mismatch—after all, the Rams come into the game as the tournament’s number two seed, while St. Francis comes out of the unseeded heart of the bracket, as the fourth-place finisher in the Mission League. Overlooking St. Francis, however, would be a mistake. The Knights are a very experienced club whose coach, Glen Appels, has led them to three CIF titles in the last fifteen years, albeit at lower division levels.
There’s also the matter of home field advantage. “Anything can happen when you’re away from home,” says Millikan coach Rod Petkovic. “They’re going to have a crowd, they’ll be excited.” They’ll also be riding the momentum of a 3-2 win over Jordan last week, with the winning goal giving them their first lead of the game five minutes into overtime—the Knights looked a lot like the Rams that day, doing exactly what it took to win, even when it wasn’t pretty.
They match up well, though the Knights are more of an offensively oriented team than the stonewalling Rams. St. Francis has posted 10 shutouts in 25 matches to Millikan’s (school-record) 19, but the Knights have some players on the front line that could definitely cause havoc in the Rams’ backfield. “They have some forwards,” says Petkovic, “[Senior Amir] Moore is very quick, so we’ll be concerned with them.” Moore scored the overtime winner against Jordan after hassling them all game, and in addition to his relentless motor, he’s also stocky and muscular enough to withstand the strength of Millikan’s defenders, which (along with the play of keeper Jorge Becerra) has been key in the Rams’ ability to wall off the opposition.
It is possible that the road trip will yield some advantages, as St. Francis’ field is a state-of-the-art turf setup with plenty of room to run—it could allow Millikan to use their possession game and accurate passing ability to control the tempo of the game. “We know if we touch the ball well on the ground we have a good chance against anyone,” says offensive leader Jose “Chicken” Torres.
Petkovic has been through plenty of CIF matches, and knows that the plan the coaches put in place is secondary to his team’s execution. “If the kids can fulfill their assignments, then I’m comfortable with whatever the result will be.” If the Rams can keep up their defensive intensity, and use Torres, Manuel Espinoza, and Jonathan Garcia to take advantage of whatever St. Francis gives them, that result should make Petkovic and the Rams very comfortable indeed.
The forecast calls for 64 degrees and partly cloudy, so we should get a dry, fair contest out in La Canada—below are Google driving directions from the Pyramid. The game starts at 3pm, and Millikan will need all the local fan support they can get, so don’t be late!