The562’s coverage of aquatic sports in Long Beach in 2025-26 is sponsored by Watersafe Swim School.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Former Jackrabbits Wendell “WoWo” Moe, Jr. & Tyson Ruffins.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
For one period the Long Beach Poly and Wilson boys’ water polo teams showed why you can toss records and rankings out the window when the two rivals faced off on Tuesday night.
The Jackrabbits tied the match twice in the first period before Wilson took a 5-2 lead. After that it was all Bruins as Nico Tramontano scored seven goals to lead Wilson to a 22-5 win at the Poly natatorium.
“Mentally going into this one it’s a league championship,” Tramontano said. “Got to play hard. Tried to get the younger kids in to play this game like we were preparing for a big NorCal tournament this weekend.”
Wilson took a 1-0 lead after Samson Casem found the back of the cage, however, Poly’s Townsend Kato responded with a goal for the Jackrabbits to tie things up 1-1. Tramontano’s first goal gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead, but Aiden Greenwood tied it up when he drew a foul and converted a penalty shot to tie the match 2-2.
“(Wilson) is an open-level team this year,” Poly coach Ishmael Pluton said. “And when you’re playing a team like that we’re going to go into it with the mindset of ‘Hey, we’re going to set some goals and we’re going to try to achieve them and work from there.’”
For the Bruins, they started to lock in defensively and got things going offensively as they pulled away to take a 5-2 lead after one and extended it to 9-2 heading into halftime.
Tramontano scored two times in the frame while Casem, Keegan Abing and Fernando Rejon all found the back of the cage.
“This is our last game – a little head-to-head game before our tournament this weekend up in Northern California,” Wilson coach Zac Polmanteer said. “So it’s important that our foot’s on the gas pedal.”
Wilson pushed their scoring run to 11-0 with goals from Rejon, Tramontano and Wyatt Sprenger. Poly’s Jeremiah Estrada-Ramos stopped the Bruins’ run and cut Wilson’s lead to 14-3.
However, the Bruins scored three more times in the period to take a 17-3 heading into the final period. Poly scored two more times in the final period with goals from Charlie Peck and Ryan Oatey, but the Bruins scored five more times to take the 22-5 win.
“Regardless of the score it was a fun game,” Pluton said. “Fun game, fun game to be a part of.”
For the Bruins, Abing scored four goals and Rejon had three as Wilson prepares to head up north this weekend as they prepare for an Open Division playoff run. The Bruins are currently ranked No. 7 in the CIF Southern Section.
“This game is a great simulation or opportunity for us to play in the most difficult circumstance,” Polmanteer said. “It helps us prepare for some of these teams that are stronger than us, that are faster than us. I try to put as much difficulty on ourselves as possible.”
After their tournament, the Bruins will close out Moore League play against Jordan before wrapping up the regular season against Mira Costa.
Poly takes on Sage Hill on Wednesday before they finish Moore League action against Lakewood on Tuesday.
