Lakewood Football

The Lakewood Lancers are a high school American football club based in Lakewood, California. The Lancers compete in the Harry J. Moore League as a member club of the CIF Southern Section football division. The purpose of this newest web site is to bring to the forefront the proud tradition and history of Lancer football and its strive for excellence. Founded in 1957, they played their first preseason game on September 27, 1957, as a charter member of the Moore League.
The inaugural season for the Lakewood Lancers took place in the fall of 1957, as they became new members of the Harry J. Moore League. After a sluggish start to the varsity squad, and the emergence of legendary John T. Ford
History
Texas born and bred, Coach John Ford presented Lakewood a vast amount of high school and university football experience. Before arriving at Lakewood, he served as a coach at several schools including Rotan High, Hardin Simmons University in Texas, the University of Arizona at Tuscon, Long Beach Jordan and Downey High.
In 1966, Ford led the Lancers to their first Moore League championship in school history. It was also the first time the Lancers had defeated Wilson by a convincing 33-28 final score in front of over 17,000 screaming spectators at Veteran's Memorial Stadium. Later that season, the Lancers went on to play in the CIF semi-finals. At the end of the season, Ford was elected to head the south's team in the California North-South All Star Football game in 1967.
Lakewood had yet another banner season under the command of Coach Ford as the Lancers won their second Moore League crown and faced the Anaheim Colonists in the quarter finals of the CIF playoffs. The Lancers saw more action in the semi-finals of the 1969 playoffs when they faced the Blair Vikings and fell short of advancing to the final. It wasn't until the 1970 season when Lakewood marched all the way to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the CIF finals where they fell to Bishop Amat by a single point. The final score in that contest was 18-17.
Coach Roy Woolbright was another Texan breed with tremendous all-around athletic ability. He earned All League honors in football, basketball and baseball to name a few from his impressive resume. A star performer at Rice University, Woolbright led the Owls to the 1954 Cotton Bowl. Upon completing his career at Rice, Woolbright served as an Army officer before returning to the gridiron as a high school coach in Texas. Sunny, Southern California was his next stop where he served as a line coach at Long Beach Poly.
Known for its tradition of championship caliber teams, Poly lost an integral part of its coaching staff as Woolbright packed his bags and headed to Lakewood in 1963. In just three years following Ford's and Woolbright's arrival at Lakewood, the Lancers went from a dismal 3-5 record to a respectable 7-1 mark in the 1965 season with key wins over Poly and crosstown rival Millikan. It was a match made in heaven as the two coaches joined forces to assemble some of the greatest teams to ever set foot on the playing field at Lakewood. Coach Ford retired in 1979 from Lakewood and went on to coach at LBCC.
Early Years
Sept. 27, 1957 — Football clubs from Lakewood and Millikan, which appeared to be "mostest" and "leastest" in the Milk Bowl last Friday night, go their separate ways tonight. Lakewood, which encountered a rough going in its first night of football, travels to Riverside to meet Ramona. Millikan, which blanked two rivals in the Carnival, treks to Torrance to face North High. Lakewood coach Chuck Toy has shuffled his lineup in an effort to get better speed and strength into the forward wall. Former quarterback Phil Gonzales will start at end, and Ted Barstine moves to tackle and Bill Avery and Jules Canute take over the starting guard spots.

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