SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Water Polo

Barons earn 5th place in Division I rankings

By Phillip Brents
Posted Nov. 3, 2004

A mass email to coaches went out two weeks ago with the idea of putting together top 10 divisional rankings prior to the start of this year’s San Diego Section playoffs. That plea was answered this week with the unveiling of the top 10 coaches’ poll for both Division I and Division II teams.

Bonita Vista’s fine season to date was rewarded with the fifth-best ranking among Division I teams.
The Barons promptly lived up to that ranking by earning a berth among the top eight-seeded teams in this week’s 37-team San Diego Open tournament. In Monday’s openers, Bonita Vista (11-3 overall) fell 7-3 to third-seeded Torrey Pines but edged seventh-seeded Granite Hills by a 10-8 score.

Tournament play resumes Friday, with finals scheduled Saturday. La Jolla High School will host medal-round games for first through fifth places. Other venues in use this weekend include Grossmont, Santana, Valhalla and El Capitan high schools and Montgomery Middle School (Granite Hills).

The tournament is annually used as a last-minute rankings tuner for the section. Participating teams include seven of the top 10-ranked Division I teams (Torrey Pines, Bonita Vista, Scripps Ranch, Granite Hills, Rancho Bernardo, Fallbrook and Helix) and nine of the top 10-ranked Division II teams (Bishop's, La Jolla, Mt. Carmel, University City, Valhalla, Valley Center, Santana, Westview and USDHS).

The Division II playoffs start Nov. 10, followed by the Division I playoffs on Nov. 11. Two quadruple-headers (one for each division) will take place Nov. 13 at La Jolla High School.

Semifinal double-headers are scheduled Nov. 16 (Division II) and Nov. 17 (Division I) at 5 and 6:45 p.m. at La Jolla High School.

The divisional championship double-header is scheduled Nov. 20, with the Division II final at 5 p.m. and the Division I final at 7:30 p.m. The recommended site is also La Jolla High School.

By virtue of its 11-8 victory Oct. 28 against Hilltop, Mar Vista is this year’s South Bay League champion and has secured an automatic berth in the Division II playoffs.

Both Hilltop and Eastlake also opened tournament play with 1-1 marks on Monday. Teams are guaranteed five games in the tournament. A couple more well-timed wins could earn either the final Division I playoff berth.
Hilltop took an overall 10-9 record into Thursday’s final South Bay League game at Southwest. Eastlake was 9-10 overall entering Thursday’s second showdown game against Bonita Vista, with the Barons needing a win against the Titans to wrap up this year’s Mesa League title.

The owners of a San Diego Section-record 17 consecutive league titles, Bonita Vista defeated Eastlake by a 17-1 score in the teams’ initial matchup Oct. 26. After being challenged early by the Titans, the Barons went on a scoring tear to finish the game with 14 unanswered goals in the matchup in front of a packed spectator deck at Southwestern College.

“We knew Eastlake would come into this game with a heart and a lot of passion. They played with a lot of heart and a lot of passion in the first half. It's a great rivalry. I was pleased how we could stop their heart and their passion. Our defense played the way I expected it to,” Bonita Vista coach Dan Way said. “We hit every bar you can think of and we still came away with the 'W.'”

Andrew Hibbard led the Barons with five goals in that game. He scored the game's first goal and added a second on a four-meter penalty shot to make the score 3-0 in the Barons' favor early in the second quarter. He added two more quick goals for a 5-1 lead -- and Bonita Vista swam freely from there on. The Barons led 8-1 at halftime and 13-1 through three periods.

The Titans had entered the game riding the crest of five consecutive wins, including three victories in the East County Invitational. Eastlake opened the contest with an exceptionally strong defensive game and huge stops by goalie Austin Legg. Bonita Vista had to work for its 2-0 first quarter lead and the Eastlake supporters made their presence known when Beto Lopez scored to cut the BV lead to 3-1 midway through the second quarter.

“We've been talking about this game for some time -- about team unity,” Titan coach Lonny Wood said. “Late in the third and fourth quarter, we were frustrated because we knew we weren't playing up to our potential. We came in here determined to battle them. For the most part, we gave them a battle, especially in the first half.”

Derrik Clair-Williams and Dennis Schulz each finished the game with three goals for Bonita Vista while Robert Newman scored twice. Marc Lewis, Landis Ford, Zac Dickinson and Nicko Marshall all scored single goals for the Barons. Chris Hakes, who played the first and third quarters in the BV cage, was active with 10 saves. For Eastlake, Legg was credited with nine saves in the game.

The Barons have to feel better about their playoff chances since the return of Josh Harris from a hand injury. Harris, who can create havoc in the water for opposing defenders, has been out for much of the middle portion of the season, though one might not know it by the team’s scores in Metro Conference play: 15-0 and 15-3 against Chula Vista and 15-2 against Montgomery.

Hilltop had a pair of thrillers in Monday’s openers — defeating Grossmont by one goal and losing to Army-Navy Academy by one goal. “They were great games,” Hilltop coach John Salts said.

Greg Felix paced Hilltop with four goals in the game against Grossmont while Hesam Jelveh, Garrett Boyle and Felix each scored twice in the loss to the Pool Sharks.

After opening with an 18-7 loss to eighth-ranked Rancho Bernardo, Eastlake evened its tournament mark at 1-1 with a six-goal run overlapping the middle part of its game against El Capitan. Sophomore Gavin Fluhart keyed the Titans with three goals while James Hiney contributed three goal,. Three other Eastlake players scored twice: Tom Dziadkowiec, Sam Gottlieb and Lopez. Legg helped preserve the Eastlake lead with 18 saves.