The562’s football coverage for the 2026-27 school year is sponsored by Long Beach Poly alums Wendell “WoWo” Moe, Jr. & Tyson Ruffins.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
It was a matchup destined for fireworks at Ron Yary Stadium between Wilson and Mayfair to kick off the season on Friday night. With familiar faces on both sides, the Bruins found themselves on the wrong end of a back-and-forth thriller as they fell 41-40 to Mayfair in their season opener.
Wilson was just a couple of plays away from a different outcome, including a handful of missed extra points and a potential game-winning drive in the final two minutes that fell just short. After the game, second-year Wilson coach Raudric Curtis shook hands with the Mayfair coaching staff, where he previously coached before taking the job at Wilson.
“I expected nothing but the best out of this game. We saw two very similar teams tonight, and it just came down to a break,” Curtis said. “One way or another, I expected nothing less. For us to score 40 points is a sign that we can get in the end zone, but we just need to play in all phases and get some stops.”
Wilson saw a handful of players go down with cramps and minor injuries, including three-star running back Jemel Grigsby, but got most of its production from wide receiver Kyle Harris. Despite the loss, Harris finished the evening with nearly 100 yards of offense and found the end zone on four different occasions. The junior returned a pair of kicks for touchdowns while also hauling in a pair of 20-plus-yard touchdown grabs.
Harris started the evening with the first touchdown of the game after Wilson forced a punt on the Monsoons’ opening drive. From there, starting quarterback Logan Trafas orchestrated a quick three-play drive, sparked by a 36-yard rush from Grigsby and capped by a 26-yard score from Harris on a bubble screen. Wilson took a 6-0 load after missing the PAT.
Mayfair then found its offensive rhythm, leaning on its run game with senior running back Braxton Johnson before finding the end zone through the air. Junior quarterback Lukasz Shriver dropped back and found fellow junior Chace Driscoll on the right side of the end zone to take a one-point lead.
The two teams then traded another pair of touchdowns, as Harris returned the ensuing kickoff for his second touchdown of the day, followed by a failed Wilson two-point conversion. Mayfair then went on an 11-play, five-minute drive that ended in a touchdown rush from Jeromy Powell to give the Monsoons a 14-12 lead.
Wilson was forced to punt after that before Mayfair capitalized with a nine-play drive that ended in a Christopher Milla field goal. From there, Wilson found another special teams touchdown from Harris after the Monsoons attempted a squib kick that got through to him, allowing Harris to take it the distance again and regain the lead for Wilson. Johnson then scored the final touchdown of the half for Mayfair, giving the Monsoons a 24-20 lead at halftime.
The scoring continued out of the break, as Wilson found the end zone following a botched punt that set the Bruins up at the Monsoons’ 20-yard line. Wilson capitalized on the short field with three carries to Grigsby, including a touchdown from five yards out. Grigsby suffered a lower-body injury on the play and didn’t return to the game.
Mayfair would again march down the field in response before kicking a field goal to tie the game at 27 apiece, but Wilson had another quick reply near the end of the third quarter. A quick drive from the Bruins was aided by a defensive penalty before Trafas found Harris for a 50-yard score down the field to give Wilson a 34-27 lead.
The two teams would trade another pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter, as Mayfair capped a drive with a touchdown pass from Shriver to Powell. Wilson responded with a touchdown pass from Trafas to senior Hudson Dickey. Another missed PAT left Wilson with a six-point lead with 10 minutes remaining.
Despite the deficit, Mayfair decided to work some clock from there and did so to a tee. The Monsoons ran the ball 11 times on a 13-play, eight minute drive that ended in a touchdown rush from Shriver. The extra point gave Mayfair a 41-40 lead.
Wilson received the ball with 1:58 left to play and had a chance to drive down for the game-winning score. Facing fourth down in Bruins territory, Trafas dropped back and found Harris across the middle, who took the ball near the 30-yard line with 26 seconds left on the game clock.
From there, Trafas dropped back and found senior Brooklyn Vega in the end zone, but the celebration on the field was quickly halted at the sight of a penalty flag. Vega was called for offensive pass interference, backing Wilson up into its own territory for the final play of the game. Wilson went to Harris on a short dump-off on the final play, but he was tackled along the left sideline to seal the Mayfair win.
“For me, when we lose, I see it as a ton of information that we can take and adjust moving forward,” Curtis said of the loss. “This was a team very similar to us. A break for them, and they’d be on the other side, so I’m not chasing after a loss like that. We need to find ways to get better and just be better than yesterday. We didn’t play a bad game, we just have to focus on the little things and stick to our process.”
