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The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
Any great era of a football team is bound to face games of growing pains. For Wilson, Friday night was one of those games. The Bruins were unable to find their footing in their Senior Night matchup against visiting Marina in a 27-13 loss.
“Adversity happens and you gotta be able to fight through it,” said Wilson first-year coach Travis Clark. “Kids were making mistakes and I get it, a lot’s happening. It’s Senior Night, it’s week two, they’re still living off of all of that glory [from last week] and then they come out week two against a team that’s ready, prepared, and coached well with a very good game plan. I just thought we should have put ourselves in a better position to at least challenge them. I thought that we were as talented as them but they just executed better.”
The Bruins came out sluggish after the opening kickoff pinned them at their own 14-yard line before going three and out. Their next three drives resulted in a punt, a turnover on downs, and a lost fumble.
“Honestly we just came out flat,” added offensive coordinator Desean Jackson. “We just weren’t there getting any momentum. You know it’s gonna be rough facing some teams that have been together since freshmen so with us coming in implementing a new system it’s gonna take some time and there’s going to be some growing pains. We understand that and we’re aware but the best thing to do is keep going.”
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On the other end of the field Marina scored on three of their four drives in the first half, including their opening drive led by running back Gabe Carles who ran the ball six times for 32 yards and a three-yard touchdown. Two drives later Marina tacked on a field goal, before a Francis Saporito touchdown rush to end the half from nine yards out. The Vikings went into the break up 17-0.
Marina added a field goal and another touchdown in the second half on a connection from Garrett Hunnicutt to Shane Cassidy who toe tapped along the right side of the endzone. Hunnicutt finished the game with 83 total yards and a touchdown while Carles finished with an impressive 94 rushing yards on 24 carries with a touchdown.
While it was a forgettable opening 24 minutes for the Bruins, they did show signs of life in the second half. Wilson got their gears turning with a 98-yard drive led by QB Mack Cooper resulting in a 10-yard pass to Jaden Frauchinger for a touchdown. While down multiple scores in the fourth, he then found Thomas Jones in the left corner of the endzone from 35 yards out. Cooper finished the night 14/20 for 204 yards and two TDs while giving his team a positive spark in the second half despite trailing Marina.
“I just wanted to make sure we put the ball in the endzone so these kids know that we can do it and that we’re capable of it,” said Clark. “So I thought that it was great that we put up a couple touchdowns at the end…It shows a little resilience there but we’ve gotta be better when the game is in question.”
The Bruins will head over to Fullerton next week in their first road game against Sunny Hills.
“We’re not going to ride the low, that’s not who I am. We’re gonna ride the high. We came out of this game with [that small bit of momentum at the end] putting the ball in the endzone. We’re gonna correct this tomorrow, we’re gonna be positive. We’ll come back Monday and hopefully it won’t be as painful and then by Tuesday we’ll be getting over it and we’ll be getting ready for Sunny Hills.”
