Are you ready for quad-champions? Well, it could have happened this season the way the second round of league play finished among the Mesa League’s boys water polo teams.
It ended in a dramatic do-or-die finish for the Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders, Otay Ranch Mustangs, Hilltop Lancers and Eastlake Titans as those teams wrapped up league play this week.
Mater Dei Catholic entered the week with a two-game lead on a trio of teams each two games back in the loss column.
Following Tuesday’s spate of games, Mater Dei Catholic held a precarious one-game lead on Eastlake, with four teams each one game behind the second-place Titans. It was left very much in doubt as to which team or teams would finish on top as league champions after Thursday’s final round of games were put to bed.
The scenario: Otay Ranch, Hilltop and Eastlake all held legitimate chances of finishing in a tie with Mater Dei Catholic for the league title should the Crusaders drop their final two remaining games and the Mustangs, Lancers and Titans each won their final two games.
The week began with Hilltop hosting Bonita Vista at the Parkway pool on Tuesday, Otay Ranch hosting Mar Vista at the Loma Verde pool and Eastlake hosting Mater Dei Catholic at the Las Palmas pool.
Mater Dei Catholic was two games up on Eastlake, Otay Ranch and Hilltop and two games up on Mar Vista and Bonita Vista.
Things got a bit clearer after Tuesday’s games.
Bonita Vista defeated Hilltop, 9-5, in a close game decided in the final two minutes. This resulted in a Bonita Vista sweep of its two league games against Hilltop and boosted the Barons’ league record to 4-5, 8-13 overall.
Meanwhile, Hilltop dropped to 5-4 in league play, 12-12 overall, with the loss.
Mar Vista defeated Otay Ranch, 11-5, as the Mariners continued a late season surge that saw them hike their league record to 4-5, 10-17 overall.
This left Mater Dei Catholic – at one point sporting a 5-0 league record – with a one-game lead on Eastlake and a two-game lead on four teams (Otay Ranch, Hilltop, Mar Vista and Bonita Vista).
Thus, Otay Ranch and Hilltop – each with losses on Tuesday – dropped out of contention for a share of this year’s league title.
Thursday’s final round of games featured Otay Ranch hosting Mater Dei Catholic at the Loma Verde pool, Eastlake hosting Bonita Vista in a dual Senior Night encounter at the Las Palmas pool and Hilltop hosting Mar Vista at the Parkway pool.
Eastlake kept its co-championship hopes alive with a 10-7 win over Bonita Vista but Mater Dei Catholic put this year’s league title to rest with a clutch 16-8 win over Otay Ranch.
The Mesa League championship is the first for the Crusaders in school history.
It was a wild finish to a season in which parity reared its head across the board for the first time in a long, long while.
“Everybody is beating everybody,” BVHS head coach Betty Alexander explained succinctly. “We lost eight or nine games this season by two points. That’s when you know you have a good team. We just couldn’t follow through all the time.”
The Barons got off to a slow start in league play by losing to Mar Vista, Otay Ranch and Mater Dei Catholic for a 0-3 start. Bonita Vista battled back with key wins over Hilltop (5-4 win on Oct. 13), Eastlake (8-6 on Oct. 18) and Mar Vista (10-7 on Oct. 20).
The Barons fell 9-7 to Otay Ranch on Oct. 25 and 7-5 to Mater Dei Catholic on Oct. 27 in a pair of hard-fought narrow losses to fail to advance up the standings further.
Tuesday’s win over Hilltop had to be a definite morale booster.
Bonita Vista never trailed in the game, though the Lancers tied the contest twice.
Emiliano Castro, the team’s top freshman player in 2016, opened scoring in the game with a pair of goals to stake the visitors to a 2-0 lead. Hilltop received goals from Caleb Macias and Mark Estrada to tie the score but Castro bombed a half-tank shot past Lancer goalie Danny Godinez to regain the lead at 3-2.
An eventful half ended in a 3-3 standoff when Hilltop’s Daniel Ryan placed a shot off BV goalie Daniel Calzada that landed inside the far post.
But the Barons grabbed the momentum to start the second quarter on goals by Jorge Clayton and Castro to push their lead to 5-3.
Hilltop’s Estrada narrowed the score to 5-4. Clayton scored again for Bonita Vista, as did Ryan with a man-up tally for the Lancers as the Barons nursed a 6-5 lead into the final quarter.
Bonita Vista took a 7-5 lead on a third goal by Clayton and the Barons added goals by Archie Orozco and Castro in the final 1:17 to cement the win.
Castro finished the game with five goals.
“It was a good game,” Alexander said. “I think we came together well as a team. We had some roster changes due to grades. Daniel was at the top of his game. Emiliano is obviously an all-around player. He inspires the rest of the team.”
The Barons recorded a runner-up finish in last year’s San Diego Section Division III championship game. Alexander said of the 13 players on last year’s varsity roster, there was only one returner this season. Thus it became a rebuilding season in 2016-17.
“My freshmen and sophomores have enjoyed playing this season and getting experience,” she said. “I think next season they should dominate.”
The Barons presented awards to five seniors in Thursday’s regular season finale. Alexander noted the first-round win over Eastlake was the first in her nine years as coach.
“We finished (the season) strong,” she explained. “The boys are in good spirits.”
Castro had three goals in Thursday’s second-round loss to Eastlake.
Teen Titans
For the first time in a long time, Eastlake endured a 20-loss season.
However, despite holding a 9-20 overall record, the Titans will participate in the upcoming Division I playoffs. Eastlake will more than likely be seeded toward the bottom of the 12-team bracket.
However, the Titans do bring some momentum into post-season play after winning their final three league games to snap a four-game league losing streak.
EHS head coach Austin Legg said a roster change proved crucial in its second-round win over Mater Dei Catholic to keep the team in title contention.
“We brought up Jake Rose from our junior varsity team and he scored six of our 13 goals,” Legg noted. “Once we had that firepower on the outside, we were a completely different team.”
Rose scored five goals in Thursday’s win while Javi Nunez contributed three goals.
The Titans had 10 seniors on last year’s Division II runner-up team. Eastlake has three seniors on this year’s squad that is decidedly tilted toward underclassmen with one sophomore and two freshmen starters.
Leaders on this year’s team include junior Cayden Pangelinan (co-captain) and freshmen Diego Scheid and James Derrod (goalie).
Rose is a sophomore.
“We have a solid junior class,” Legg said. “It should mesh well together next year.”
However, the Eastlake coach said it’s not necessarily another year of experience that will bring improvement but the motivation to improve that will make better players in the pool.
“It depends on the boys and how much they put into it,” Legg said. “They need to put the work into it.”
Record season
Mater Dei Catholic set numerous school records in its first Mesa League championship season:
- The Crusaders captured the championship title of October’s East County Invitational, the team’s first invitational tournament championship.
- Mater Dei Catholic also reeled off a 12-game winning streak, the longest in school history. The previous longest win streak had been nine games.
- The Mesa League title was the first for the school
- On a personal level, junior Ben Brown set a single-season individual scoring record with 201 points (114 goals, 87 assists) after recording 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in Thursday’s win over Otay Ranch. He finshed the regular season with 150 steals to his credit as well.
Sophomore Juan Hernandez reached the 100-point plateau after collecting 70 goals and 35 assists for 105 points.
Next level
The section seeding meeting is Saturday, Nov. 5. The opening round of the Division I and Division II playoffs is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 8, with the Division III playoffs starting Wednesday, Nov. 9.
Quarterfinal playoff action is scheduled Wednesday, Nov. 9 (Open Division), Thursday, Nov. 10 (Division I) and Saturday, Nov. 12 (Division II and Division III) at La Jolla High School.
Semifinal games, also scheduled at LJHS, are Monday, Nov. 14 (Division I), Tuesday, Nov. 15 (Open Division), Wednesday, Nov. 16 (Division II) and Thursday, Nov. 17 (Division III). Game times are 5:45 and 7:30 p.m.
The championship quadruple-header is scheduled Saturday, Nov. 19 — Division III (12:15 p.m.), Division II (2:30 p.m.), Division I (4:45 p.m.) and Open Division (7 p.m.).
San Diego Section Playoffs
First Round
Division I
Tuesday, Nov. 8
(11) Eastlake at (6) Westview, 5:30 p.m.
Division II
Tuesday, Nov. 8
(9) La Jolla Country Day at (8) Mater Dei Catholic, 3 p.m.
(11) Otay Ranch at (6) San Pasqual at Del Norte High School, 5 p.m.
Division III
Wednesday, Nov. 9
(2) Olympian (bye)
(9) San Ysidro at (8) Monte Vista, 6 p.m.
Mesa League
Boys Water Polo
Tuesday, Nov. 1
Bonita Vista 9, Hilltop 5
Eastlake 13, Mater Dei Catholic 11
Mar Vista 11, Otay Ranch 5
Thursday, Nov. 3
Hilltop 10, Mar Vista 8
Eastlake 10, Bonita Vista 7
Mater Dei Catholic 16, Otay Ranch 8
Friday, Nov. 4
(Non-League)
Otay Ranch 10, Olympian 6
Rancho Bernardo 18, Mar Vista 13
Final league standings:
Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders 7-3, 16-9
Eastlake Titans 6-4, 9-20
Hilltop Lancers 5-5, 13-12
Otay Ranch Mustangs 4-6, 12-10
Mar Vista Mariners 4-6, 10-19
Bonita Vista Barons 4-6, 8-14
South Nay League Stanidngs
Olympian Eagles 8-0, 14-2
San Ysidro Cougars 6-2, 11-15
Chula Vista Spartans 4-4, 6-7
Southwest Raiders 2-6, 5-17
Castle Park Trojans 0-8, 2-11
Tuesday, Nov. 1
Olympian 11, Chula Vista 2
San Ysidro 15, Castle Park 4
Wednesday, Nov. 2
Olympian 22, Castle Park 0
Rancho Buena Vista 19, San Ysidro 12
Thursday, Nov. 3
Olympian 23, Castle Park 1
San Ysidro 15, Southwest 7
San Diego Grommet Fall League
Championship tournament
Oct. 30 at Valhalla High School
12U Division
South Coast 17, Rancho San Diego 3
South Coast 12, Waterdogs 6
South Coast wins championship
10U Division
South Coast 4, Rancho San Diego 2
South Coast 9, Waterdogs 4
South Coast wins championship
