LONG BEACH — Moore League coaches are aiming for respect across the Southern California high school football landscape ahead of the upcoming season.
With 60% of the regular season now being played against non-Moore League opponents, coaches like Millikan’s Romeo Pellum and Wilson’s Raudric Curtis, whose teams have won the last two league titles, are looking for more notoriety for their programs.
Curtis believes several Long Beach teams have the potential to rise to prominence and lead the Moore League to once again being regarded as a premier public school league, as soon as this season.
Wilson went 9-2 last season. The Bruins’ only losses were to Dana Hills in a nonleague game and to Paraclete in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 4 playoffs.
“Can Moore League match the athletes with the fantastic football composition on and off the field in their structures,” Curtis said. “You start doing that, and I think you’re going to find whoever wins Moore League is probably going to Division 2 or Open (division). And I think that’s the reality even now with some of our (nonleague) schedules. If whoever comes out of Moore League is winning and winning Moore League, I think they’re going to be ready for the top bracket.”
Curtis said that will only happen if teams can consistently win during the regular season and playoffs.
“It’s up to us to show what we’ve got in preseason, against each other and playoffs,” said Curtis, who in 2025 led Wilson to its first league title since 1991.
Curtis said he has spent most of his time coaching in the now-defunct Suburban League, but he has long regarded the Moore League as the premier league in Southern California.
“I think last year it was parity, and I think this year, everybody is elevating,” Curtis continued. “Everybody is elevating on this panel right here. The coaches are stalwart. The athletes are incredible, from every end of Long Beach, so it’s up for us to show what we’ve got in preseason, against each other and in playoffs.”
The Moore League went 0-3 in the CIF-SS playoffs last season as Wilson (Division 4), Lakewood (Division 5) and Millikan (Division 5) each lost in the fist round.
“We feel like we prepare to be the best and we want to play against the best,” said Pellum, who led Millikan to an outright league title in 2024 for the first time since 1973.
The Rams finished 3-8 last season. They had to forfeit nonleague victories against Foothill and Newbury Park due to playing an ineligible player.
Pellum said Millikan runs a college-like program, with morning workouts, weight room sessions, film and position meetings and study halls. He believes that’s the formula to prepare student-athletes for success in college.
“I think that we’re in a good place,” Pellum said. “We had a lot of young talent, a young quarterback who is returning, and I think we have to find a way to win in November. I have to find a way to win in November, it’s not a secret. But I think with where our league is now, getting more competitive, it will help us in the long run. Not only having a tough game against one opponent but having multiple games against tough opponents in our league will help all of us in the long run. Because at the end of day, we’re all competitors, we’re all going to compete when we play each other. But when Moore League is over, we’re all rooting for each other and want to help each other win in the long run, because it’s all about Long Beach. It’s about the Moore League and our city.”
Long Beach Poly first-year coach Travon Patterson is leading a powerhouse program that has won 20 CIF-SS titles but withdrew from CIF-SS playoff consideration last season due to an internal investigation regarding player eligibility.
Patterson, who previously served as an associate head coach, said he is focused on retaining players and getting Poly back to prominence through trust.
“The most important thing is building relationships with the kids, so they can trust you,” Patterson said. “Like Romeo said, building an atmosphere where they feel like they can come into your program and learn and be prepared to go to college. That’s the main thing we’re trying to do at Long Beach Poly, is make sure that we develop our kids and get them to the next level and make sure they’re prepared.”
The full, raw and uncut news conference from Moore League Media Day at Millikan High in Long Beach, California.
It was the Moore League’s second annual media day and the first featuring five teams, after Cabrillo and Compton moved to the newly formed Hub City League.
Long… pic.twitter.com/ZkfGJCKgGl
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) August 5, 2026
