Before the start of the 2024 season, Mission Bay head coach Greg Tate noted how key it was for his young Bucs team to rack up early-season wins to build confidence. bahía de la misión certainly looked like a confident group with a dominant home opening win over Kearny by 34-6.

“It is huge to come out the way that we did. It shows the young guys that they can compete and win at the varsity level,” said Tate.

In week two, Mission Bay plays host to Holtville at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 30.

On the offensive side of the ball, it was a quality debut for Mission Bay's new QB Trey Arnold, as the junior would go 21/31 connecting for three touchdowns, and throwing for 272 yards.

“Trey played well, but there is still stuff to clean up,” noted Tate. “We want to take the lay-ups and the check-downs and not necessarily look for the big shots all the time to keep us on schedule and ahead of the sticks offensively. He is a gunslinger, which is not a bad thing, we just want him to take those easy completions when they're in front of him.”

Arnold would be in sync with a pair of wideouts in Sean Lander and Kai Barrios. Each Mission Bay receiver racked up 104 receiving yards and hauled in two touchdowns.

“Sean and Kai both surprised me. Both had never played wide receiver before this season, and they stepped up, wanted the ball, and I expect them to keep that up for the rest of the season,” said Tate. “Their presence helps open up the offense and prevents teams from doubling or bracketing one of our wideouts.”

The Bucs defense held the Komets to six points while forcing four turnovers.

Coming into the year, Mission Bay’s secondary was the youngest group on the field. They allowed 185 yards through the air. Mason Morgan grabbed two of the four interceptions on the night, including one in the red zone.

“Mason going out there and making those plays, along with the rest of the secondary, was good to see,” Tate said. “At times, they got a bit rattled, but they did a good job of staying poised for most of the night and locking in when they needed to.”

Along the front seven, Mission Bay got a disruptive performance from Jevyn Higman, as the linebacker tallied a sack and a forced fumble.

Mission Bay turns its attention to its week two foe, Holtville, a team coming off a 64-0 win in its season opener.

“Holtville flies around and gets to the ball quickly, so we will want to take advantage of that aggressiveness and make them sit back and not get to their spots as fast. We'll attack the perimeter and see if they can come up and tackle in space,” said Tate.

Photo by Steve Sidell