New Millikan coach has ‘tough act to follow’
When Jeff Schofield considers the magnitude of what he’s stepping into, he can’t help but be awed. Replacing a legend isn’t easy, and there aren’t many coaches as legendary as Rod Petkovic, whose 38 years in charge of Millikan’s boys soccer powerhouse closed with his retirement a year ago.
When Schofield, a mid-1990s midfield star at Lakewood and longtime Marina head coach, considers the possibilities for the program as it enters uncharted territory — with the kind of skill the Rams perennially possess and a gleaming new field that will enable them to play the stylish soccer they’ve longed to play — he can’t help but be thrilled.
“There’s no doubt the program has had talent. The program had talent when I was at Lakewood,” Schofield said as his team worked toward Thursday afternoon’s opener to this COVID-delayed season, at home against Los Alamitos. Moore League play begins March 16. “It’s always been one of the top places to go and play. They’ve always had a ton of success . ...
“The interesting part about (taking this step) is, as we start talking about it, naturally, you feel the pressure. And I was, like, ‘Oh, man, this is going to be a tough act to follow,’ which it is, for sure. But I’ve been coaching a long time. I’ve coached high school, club, college. I’ve coached a ton of big games. Once you get back into it, when you’re coaching and enjoying it with the kids and getting in the heat of the game and stuff, that kind of goes away.”
Schofield joined the program last season as Petkovic’s handpicked successor, guiding the Rams’ JV team to a 19-0-1 record. It was a pivotal year, enabling him to get to know the Rams and their Moore League rivals, see how things operate, witness Petkovic’s work ethic and how that informs the program, and begin rolling out the tactical revolution designed to bring the Rams into the modern game.
Petkovic, who started the program in 1982, had three CIF Southern Section championships, 23 Moore League titles and a California-record 759 victories. He began talking to Schofield about the Rams’ future about five years ago.
The key was moving Schofield, a PE and weight-training teacher, from Lindbergh Middle School to Millikan, and a post opened ahead of the 2019-20 school year.
“He was a teacher in the district, easy to transfer over to Millikan, and that was my goal,” said Petkovic, who retired as a teacher in 2015. “I did not want to have a walk-on coach take over the program, because there’s not longevity or security in that.”
The mandate is to continue the tradition, and Schofield aims to do so through greater tactical sophistication, possible on the new flat, quick, artificial surface that has replaced the clumpy grassand-mud field that limited the Rams’ options all these years.
“This gives us more freedom to play,” senior midfielder Jesus Moreno said. “We can play the way we always wanted to but couldn’t because of the field. Now we can move the ball around; we can knock it side to side. We can pretty much do anything on that field for us to be successful.”
“(Our work is) a lot more on the technical side, I would say,” said junior midfielder Pierre Khoury, who last season played for the JV team and occasionally trained with Petkovic’s group. “A lot more passing, a lot more technical work, where with Coach Petkovic, it leaned more toward the athletic side.”
It’s another pillar upon Petkovic’s foundation, one built on hard work, accountability and tradition. The Rams have long played with uncommon swagger, the sort of arrogance that great programs often possess, and that’s a vital legacy, too.
“You never know what to expect until you’re in there,” Schofield said, “and the two things that I said I need to make sure that these stay: the level of fitness and that attitude. They expect to win every game. That’s the expectation, no matter who they played, in preseason, regular season, playoffs, tournament. It didn’t matter. They go expecting to win.”
The Rams expect to win this year, and they have the makings of a special side.
Moreno, Khoury and returning holding midfielder Cristian Palacios are part of a deep and talented midfield that added club standouts Heath Pablico and Samani Villanueva, both able to play following CIF’s decision to allow simultaneous club/prep participation.
Other keys are outside back Noah Scott and wide forward Anton Moore, who made impacts as sophomores last year, top JV striker Christian Becerra, and senior center backs Alex Salazar and Julian Ribas, who anchored the JV defense that allowed just one goal in 10 league games last year.
“(Winning is) what Millikan is about, what they’ve done since Rod has been there, for the past 40 years,” Moreno said. “We want to keep that tradition going: winning league, trying to go far in CIF, getting a ring. We always want to be the best.”