By Pamela Miller
It might have been 94 years in the making, but that is what made the Wilson Boys Volleyball Southern Section CIF win so very special! This year’s Wilson boys team finished 8-0 in the Moore League, clinching the Moore League title while winning every match in just three sets! They entered the CIF-Southern Section (SS) title run undefeated and finished with the CIF Championship win defeating St. Francis in four sets. This is the first CIF Boys Volleyball Championship in Wilson school history and the Wilson boys are the first-ever Moore League Team to advance to the CIF State Regional Tournament.
This historic year for the boys team started out rather iffy as they were not even sure that a full season with playoffs was possible. The CIF announced in January that boys volleyball could begin in March and that there would be playoffs if the stay-at-home order was lifted. As reported by The562.org, Wilson’s Head Coach, Jeremy Cook, said at the time, “We were hopeful, and basically that’s all we had was hope.” “We were meeting in September and just telling them, let’s stay ready because we have a special group. Let’s just stay ready and cross our fingers. So, we heard we might get something, then we heard we might get a league season. And at every point we were happy because it was better than nothing. And then we heard we’d get a full CIF playoff. We’ve had our eyes set on this moment from the beginning, but it’s unbelievable that it actually got to happen.”
Not only did the boys season take a while to materialize, but one of their beloved coaches was diagnosed with cancer early in the season. The team rallied behind their coach, Noel Llopis, and dedicated the season to him, wearing cancer awareness ribbon tattoos on their wrists for each game and chanting their rally cry – “together.”
With their extraordinary year and their CIF-SS win, the Wilson boys have qualified for CIF-SS Championship rings, but there is no budget available to purchase these rings. The team is reaching out to the community to support them in this effort. Each ring costs about $500 and they would like to purchase a ring for each member and their three coaches. The budgetary requirement is $8,000.
Please be a part of this history-making team by donating to their fundraising effort! Donations can be made using the following link
or by mailing a check to Wilson Boys Volleyball Fundraiser, 155 N. Loreta Walk, Long Beach, CA 90803.
For more information and a video link for the CIF championship game please visit https://tinyurl.com/WilsonVolleyballCIFChamps
