The smell of popcorn and laughter of joyous students filled Birmingham High School. Students swarmed the carnival booths, indulging in the Homecoming carnival and its festivities. Students crowded the Israel booth created by students at the Homecoming carnival where they participated in meaningful activities, including writing letters for Israeli soldiers in both Hebrew and English.
While the carnival was amusing, the football game itself was exhilarating. Although tension increased in the Milken community due to anti-semitic comments at the football game against Noli-Indians High School, the attendance at Milken’s Homecoming was higher than ever, as the Milken community unified as a result of last week’s incident. Milken administration also heightened security, allowing for the community to have a safe and fun night. The attendance, later recorded to be just over 1,200 people, is the highest showing from a Milken crowd for any sporting event in school history.
Due to a string of defeats, including Homecoming in 2021, the football team often receives a bad rep. However, the team, created as a student initiative in 2011, has done marginally better this season in contrast to previous years, including a total score of 375 points this season rather than the 226 points from last year. The earliest sign of this was their win against Faith Baptist, the highest ranking opponent according to Max Preps (https://www.maxpreps.com) , a Milken football team has ever beaten. The team also has record-breaking players: captains Akiva Mosse ‘24, Connor Klein ’25, and nationally ranked wide receiver Ethan Gabayan ‘25. This feat is no coincidence, as the 2023-2024 Milken Wildcats football team has been one full of landmarks for our school.
Homecoming was merely a reflection of this as the Wildcats took an early 12-0 lead over Southlands Christian with the help of an early Akiva Mosse touchdown off of a screenpass, followed by a Connor Klein rush. Southlands Christian battled back with an 11-play drive that ended in a passing touchdown, followed by a two-point conversion to put them within four points. The Wildcats extended their lead as they continued to score three unanswered touchdowns to create a comfortable gap.
It would be wrong to say Southlands Christian went down without a fight, scoring a total of 28 points. Regardless, Southlands was no match for the ferocity of the Wildcats offense led by Gavin Vogel’s leadership at quarterback, Akiva Mosse’s athleticism at receiver, and Connor Klein’s strength at running back, which allowed the team to put up an impressive 62 points in total. The big game would end in a final score of 62-28 Wildcats, taking a convincing victory in front of the home crowd.
The win against Southlands Christian signified much more for the football team. In theme with their record-breaking season, the win broke Milken football records, including solidifying the longest win streak in Milken football history of six games. Secondly, the Wildcats broke the record for the highest CIF playoff seeding in the history of the program. With semi-finals on the horizon, it is without a doubt that there is something significantly different about the team this year.
Explaining the shocking results, the team’s offensive coordinator Coach Jason Welsh, said “It starts with the buy-in from a majority of the team……Everybody on the team works really hard for each other, you can’t be successful in football without that.” The “buy in” that Coach Welsh mentions does not exclusively include during the football season itself. He goes on to state that as a football player you have to “live in the weight room during the offseason.” Although an extreme example, this highlights the vast amount of work that our Milken football team has put in year-round to make this incredible season possible.
When asked about who helped shape the Milken program over the last three years to come to this point, Welsh said, “The entire coaching staff, and our athletic trainers in the athletic department are, you know, some of the hardest working people that I know and everybody just wants to see the guys succeed.” A turn in form as drastic as this cannot only be attributed to the players, but the coaches and supporting staff, including the athletic trainers Dr. Caitlin Romero-Sanchez and Smadar Bezalel, who work around the clock taping up injured players while dealing with soreness and cramps which nearly the whole team experiences.
The football program as a whole has gone through a rocky road. The last playoff appearance in 2019 ending with a first round exit. The accomplishments of the football program this year have been monumental, but the Wildcats made it as far as the State Semifinals where they unfortunately fell to the Faith Baptist team they had defeated months earlier.
Still, the Homecoming game against Southlands Christian was a remarkable performance from the football team and our Milken community, but it is just a spotlight on a groundbreaking season from the Milken Wildcats. In the words of Coach Welsh, “Football is all about overcoming the mental ceilings that people give themselves.” And the 2023 football team has done just this, shattering their ceilings.
