The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
The Wilson Bruins hosted their spring game Wednesday afternoon, giving their players a competitive atmosphere as they put a close to their Spring ball season. The Bruins broke into two teams (Cardinal vs Gold), getting reps at both offense and defense with a mixed look of starters and backups on each team. Wilson’s newly built team looks to take advantage of all the practice they can get under third year head coach Scott Meyer.
“The competition is always great,” said Meyer. “I think this is just a fun way for these guys to finish up the Spring. It’s such a different game when you get all the guys in there but it was a really good way to end the Spring.”
The Bruins welcome up an assortment of underclassmen to starting spots on their roster, but still retain a core duo in brothers Ian and Andrew Bond. Quarterback and soon-to-be senior Ian Bond flashed his arm a couple times during the game, as his two-way twin brother Andrew also left an impact on both sides of the ball. The Bond brothers look to lead this new group for the upcoming season.
“It’s a brand new offense so we’re still learning,” said Meyer. “Overall I think our skill is solid. Solid in the first group on both sides of the ball with some solid back up guys. So hopefully it shows through when we start in August.”
The game resulted in a tie as time ran out, but the result was much less important than the players’ practice with one another. Each team was filled with a variety of starters and backups, forcing each group to adjust and play alongside different teammates. Meyer said after the game that the mix of players allowed for good competition.
“We try to mix it up and get the teams as even as possible. We had some starters on each team and some backups on each so it could be competitive. It’s so guys can learn to play with different guys on the field because you never know in the fall. It’s always the next guy up,” said Meyer.
Meyer and his Bruins will conclude their spring ball with the Los Angeles Chargers 11 on 11 event on June 17th at Long Beach Poly before they start back up later in the summer.
“I told them to finish up with their grades first,” said Meyer on his message to the team. “We got to finish up in the classroom. We’ll be at Poly for the Charger event in a week and then when we come back on July 5th it’s a whole new mentality. It’s gonna be a real quick summer before the pads come on and we play our first game so we gotta come back with a different mentality and really go to work in July.”
The Bruins official season kicks off August 25th at Redondo Union.
