Like Old Times With Old Faces at Wilson High

Three games into the 1989 season, Los Angeles Wilson High’s varsity football program was struggling. The Mules were winless, and memories of the team’s four consecutive City Division 3-A titles from 1975-78 seemed distant.

Wilson improved, however, and finished the season with a 6-5 record and made the playoffs. But after losing in the first round for the second consecutive year, Coach Ray Avesian departed to take over the program at Franklin High. He was replaced by former Wilson players Tom Lunetta and Eddie Martinez.

This season, Wilson is back on the winning track. The team is 3-0 after Friday night’s 15-9 victory over previously unbeaten Westchester.

It is not a coincidence that a key to the Mules’ resurgence has been the return of Vic Cuccia and his son, Ron, who work together as the team’s offensive coordinators.

The Cuccia name is legendary at Wilson. Vic was an all-league center at the school from 1942-45 and coached the Mules from 1955-1977. Ron, a quarterback, was a three-time City Division 3-A player of the year, who established national passing and total yardage records in leading Wilson to 39 consecutive victories and three City titles from 1975-77.

Before this season, the 1977 title game was the last time either Vic or Ron Cuccia was involved in Wilson’s varsity football program. It took the return of Lunetta, who graduated in 1955, and Martinez, a 1978 graduate, for the Cuccias to reunite.

“With (the Cuccias) in control of the offense, this is the best coaching I’ve ever worked with,” said Lunetta, who was the coach at Roosevelt from 1974-78 and an assistant at Wilson from 1979-85. “We have a very prepared staff that communicates very well. This comes across to the kids and that has helped make a difference.”

Teamwork was evident in the fourth quarter Friday when Wilson rallied with a touchdown and a two-point conversion and then stopped a late Westchester drive inside the five-yard line to preserve the victory. Westchester was rated fifth in The Times’ City poll going into the game, and Wilson was unrated.

Winning has brought life back to Wilson’s program, and Martinez credits the Cuccias, who first returned to Wilson in 1988 to assist Gary Kuniyuki. Kuniyuki now coaches the “B” team at Eagle Rock High.

“It is like old times with all of us here again,” said Martinez, who played under Vic and with Ron Cuccia from 1975-77. “The school and the community have started to give us support, just like when we were winning all of those games years ago. The thing people don’t realize is that we’re like the (Los Angeles) Raiders, where winning is a tradition.

“(Vic) is the spiritual leader of the team. It is a big thrill to coach with him, but it is hard for me to call him Vic. I still have a player mentality around him so I call him ‘Mr. Cuccia’ a lot. . . . With Ronnie, nothing has changed. He is just as intuitive coaching as he was on the field. He is cool intensity. He’s legendary around here with his pictures still hanging up all over the school.”

The excitement over the Cuccias’ return is understandable. In Ron Cuccia’s three years at quarterback, the Mules didn’t lose a game, and he set national prep records for passing with 8,804 yards, total offense with 11,232 and touchdown passes with 91.

“It’s fun to be back,” said Ron Cuccia, 30, who played quarterback and wide receiver at Harvard from 1978-81 and is now a chiropractor in Pico Rivera. “Coaching is a nice hobby and there isn’t any pressure here at Wilson.”

In the 22 years he coached at Wilson, Vic Cuccia was a winner noted for controversy. In 1977, his team gained headlines when it ran up a 63-0 halftime lead against Lincoln. Lincoln Coach Dave Loera refused to send his team back for the second half.

Now, Vic Cuccia, 62, is just happy to be coaching.

“All I want to do is help out on offense and do stuff I like to do,” he said. “This team is not as explosive as my other teams, but it is fun just to win again. The kids haven’t been excited around here in the last five years.”

Wilson does not feature any stars, as it did when Ron was the quarterback, but middle linebacker-tight end Louis Acosta comes close. At 6-feet-3 and 225 pounds, Acosta is the only player Lunetta considers a Division I college prospect.

“I didn’t know that we’d be this good this quick,” Martinez said. “Our ‘B’ teams have been undefeated the last two seasons, and they pretty much make up the nucleus of this year’s team.”

Wilson has gained attention this season with victories over South Gate, Venice and Westchester, all 3-A playoff teams last season. Friday night, the Mules will play host to undefeated Hollywood. Hollywood is coached by the same Dave Loera who refused to let his Lincoln team play the second half 13 years ago.

The game will be the first meeting of Loera and Cuccia since that controversial game in 1977.

“It doesn’t mean anything that this is the first time we’ve met since that game,” said Loera, who also played for Cuccia at Wilson. “They simply have a good team that has a good chance to go 10-0.”

Said Vic Cuccia: “I don’t think that there is any animosity between us. I think that (Loera) has just done a marvelous job over there and it shows. That game happened so long ago that it shouldn’t matter Friday.”

Prep Notes

With previously top-rated Carson losing to Rialto Eisenhower, 29-20, Dorsey moved into the top spot in The Times’ City poll after its 20-10 win over San Fernando Friday. The Dons, who defeated Carson in last year’s City 4-A championship game, won without standout running back Lamont Warren, who missed the game because of an ankle injury. . . . Long Beach Poly basketball guard Tyus Edney (5-10, 145) has made an oral commitment to UCLA.

TIMES’ TOP TEAMS

Southern Section

No. School, League / Division Record

1. Fontana, Citrus Belt / Div. I 4-0-0

2. CC Canyon, Golden / Div. I 4-0-0

3. El Toro, South Coast / Div. II 4-0-0

4. Bishop Amat, Angelus / Div. I 3-1-0

5. Loyola, Angelus / Div. I 4-0-0

6. Eisenhower, Citrus Belt / Div. I 4-0-0

7. Paramount, San Gab. Valley / Div. III 4-0-0

8. Capistrano Valley, So. Coast / Div. II 5-0-0

9. Lompoc, Northern / Div. VII 4-0-0

10. Westlake, Marmonte / Div. II 4-0-0

11. Canyon Springs, Ivy / Div. IV 4-0-0

12. Tustin, Sea View / Div. VI 4-0-0

13. Hawthorne, Bay / Div. II3-1-0

14. Edison, Sunset / Div. I 3-1-0

15. Esperanza, Empire / Div. III 4-0-0

City

No. School, League / Division Record

1. Dorsey, Pacific / 4-A 3-0-0

2. Carson, Pacific / 4-A 2-1-0

3. Granada Hills, West Valley / 4-A 2-1-0

4. Kennedy, North Valley / 4-A 3-0-0

5. Banning, Pacific / 4-A 1-2-0

6. Locke, Central / 3-A 3-0-0

7. San Fernando, North Valley / 4-A 2-1-0

8. Wilson, Northeastern / 3-A 3-0-0

9. San Pedro, Southern / 3-A 3-0-0

10. Taft, West Valley / 4-A 1-1-0