Frosh/Soph Boys Open the Season

The first games of the season were held this weekend for the Wilson F/S Invite, and the 9s and 10s were looking strong.

Starting it off on Friday, the F/S team matched up against Downey High and came out cooking. Taking a sizeable lead, they went into halftime at 8:2. Not to be taken lightly, Downey fired it up in the second half and narrowed the lead significantly, holding Wilson to only 2 points and coming close to tying it up, but ultimately, Wilson took the win 10:9

The second game against Canyon High School was a more decisive win, with several members of the team across the entire roster getting their first goals ever.

There were many standout plays in both Day 1 games, with impressive scoring performances by freshmen Shane Radaich and Gannon Bloeser, helping take the team into Saturday’s semi-finals

Saturday brought some bittersweet moments with some great gameplay with unsatisfying losses. In the semi-final game against Los Alamitos High (always a tough challenge), the Bruins tried to hold off the Griffins, with back and forth scores, but after half-time, Los Al pushed ahead with the Bruins pursuing but never able to get back ahead.

In the battle for 3rd, the frosh/soph boys went in against Palos Verdes High who came a stacked team of veterans. The Bruins struggled with shooting for most of the game, and PV took a commanding lead in the first quarter. Coach D’Sa made the choice to give many of the starters a breather and rotate the boys around to give the less experienced some play time with PV’s aggressive play. It was a learning experience, and one lesson is to never count out the determination of a Bruin because most of the points came from boys off the bench.

Some broken hearts, bruised egos (and maybe a little sour grapes), but this tournament always tests the mettle of the young Bruins and will likely fortify their resolve. There’s a lot of potential in this team and I think we’ve only seen the beginning of it.