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 73 minutes it looked like the Long Beach Poly and Wilson boys soccer programs were heading for a tie.
But, after a foul set up a set piece for the Jackrabbits, Carlos Casillas Jr. sent in a cross to the middle of the box and James Alonso went up and got his head on it that deflected off a Wilson defender and rolled into the goal to lift Poly to a 1-0 win.
“I was just trying to get a goal,” Alonso said. “Trying to contribute to our team.”
The win puts the Jackrabbits in second place just two points behind Millikan for the top spot and two points in front of Lakewood.
In the opening minutes of the game, Wilson had the first two shots by Manny Alonso and Andres Rocha in the 17th and 18th minutes. Rocha’s shot was the closest of the two and was off the post. But Poly’s defense was able to withstand the attack.
Poly got their first opportunity in the 20th minute after a foul and on the free kick Damian Gonzalez’s shot was off the mark as the team continued to come up empty handed.
The Bruins continued to apply the pressure with shots by Rocha and Andres Joya – but Wilson couldn’t convert. The two teams went into the half scoreless.
“We dominated possession with the ball on their end,” Wilson coach CJ Brewer said. “A lot of the stats that you want that you’d think would result in a result that you want.”
“We talked to our players about not making mistakes,” Brewers added. “And I feel like we did very good defensively. It was just one set piece that was a decision in the game, and that’s soccer.”
Wilson came out on their front foot in the second half and continued to pressure the Jackrabbits’ defense, but Poly held off the Bruins as they continued to fire off shots. Poly got a few shots in the second half, but the set piece that Alonso netted was the best opportunity that the Jackrabbits had on the night as they avoided another tie.
“It’s always a big game and they want to win,” Poly coach Carlos Casillas said of their rivalry game against WIlson. “We want to win and I just always expect a hard game. But it was a great game today.”
Poly will be back in action when they take on Jordan on Monday while Wilson takes on Cabrillo. It’s the final week of Moore League and a couple spots can start to clear up as teams gear up for the playoffs.
“Our goal is to always win the Moore League,” Casillas said. “Our is to get to CIF. Right now we’re fighting for it. Of course we depend on some scores but at the end of the day we look forward to it.”
