The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
With a new system and a new coach, the Long Beach Wilson football team continued to get better Friday night.
The Bruins dominated in all phases of the game on their way to a 37-14 win over Marina.
“I thought we improved in many aspects of the game,” Wilson coach Raudric Curtis said. “That was a tougher team, they really brought it. They didn’t leave a lot of room, so we had to make play with guys handing over us. We had to throw under pressure.”
Mack Cooper then went to work after Wilson received the opening kickoff as he found Kyle Harris for a 12-yard first down and dropped a dime to Thomas Jones for a 41-yard gain to put the Bruins inside the Vikings’ redzone.
The Bruins (2-0) couldn’t convert with the field position and settled for a Jones 26-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead with 9:39 left in the first quarter.
Daelan Foster and Luis Castro then came up with a big tackle for loss to pin Marina (1-1) at their own 20 before forcing a punt.
Wilson then turned right back to Cooper has he found Brooklyn Vega for a 12-yard gain and then sophomore Jemel Grigsby broke off a 28-yard run. The Bruins capped that drive with a touchdown when Cooper found Jones for a 9-yard touchdown to take a 10-0 lead.
“Last year we didn’t have the best start,” Jones said. “But to get back here this year and to finish what we started is good. The teams really come together, and we have a lot of chemistry.”
Marina’s dual-threat quarterback Francis Saporito went right to work for the Vikings as he 3-for-3 for 62 yards including a 14-yard touchdown to Carson Hunnicutt to cut Wilson’s lead to 10-7 with 11:20 left in the second quarter.
Wilson responds right away as they drive right down the field with a short field and Kohagura is in the right spot after a fumble rolls into the end zone and he recovers it for the touchdown to push the Bruins lead to 16-7.
Marina responded and drove right into Bruin territory thanks to a 37-yard completion as Saporito found Hunnicutt to put the Vikings deep in Wilson territory. However, the Bruins defense comes up with a big stop to force a turnover on downs.
The Bruins defense goes right back to work as Zackariah Salcedo comes up with back-to-back tackles for loss as the Vikings were forced to punt.
With the short field, Cooper has two completions and a touchdown as he found Kohagura for a 15-yard touchdown to put Wilson up 23-7. Cooper finished the night with 224 yards passing and three touchdowns.
Marina eventually cut the lead to 23-14 in the third after Saporito found Noah Valadez for a 32-yard touchdown.
Wilson drove right back down the field thanks to two big carries from Scott, including a 40 yard run, but they’d go for a field goal and it wasn’t.
With the Vikings looking to cut into the lead, they drove right down the field thanks to two big runs by Ben Ramos and then a big completion to Valadez. But, sophomore Jemel Grigsby came up with a big interception and covered 93 yards to put Wilson up 30-14 with 9:37 left in the game.
“It was a crazy moment,” Grigsby said. “We were in Cover 3 and I saw No. 1 was their guy, he was going across and I said I have to go get it. Ball went up and I came down with it, ran my blocks and took it to the house.”
After Wilson forced another turnover on downs, Cooper found Jones who made a couple guys miss and scored a 90-yard touchdown to put the Bruins up 37-14. Jones finished the game with two catches for 99 yards and two touchdowns.
Wilson will be at home next week for their home opener against Sunny Hills.
