SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Water Polo

San Diego Section Division II semifinals

Nado, Knights square off again for title

Islanders hold off Vikings 10-9 in semifinal thriller; Bishop's wins 16-4

By Phillip Brents

LA JOLLA, Nov. 19, 2002 -- The spotlight will be on the Coronado and Bishop's boys high school water polo teams again at Saturday's San Diego Section Division II championship game at UC-San Diego's Canyonview pool. Last year's pairing produced massive lines to get into the facility to watch one of the greatest games ever produced by two local squads. While four-time defending division champion Coronado may not be favored to duplicate last year's last-second victory, just what these new-look Islanders have achieved this season is not lost on head coach Randy Burgess.

"After the last four years, it's a whole new team -- a whole new group of guys. I'm really proud," said Burgess after his underclassmen-laden team survived a late push by Western League rival La Jolla to claim a 10-9 victory in Wednesday's semifinals to earn a championship date against the top-seeded Knights.

Bishop's defeated fifth-seeded Scripps Ranch, 16-4, in the first semifinal played at La Jolla High School.

The Knights take a 30-2 record into Saturday's title tilt; the second-seeded Islanders are 16-12. Game time is 7:15 p.m.

In contrast to previous years, Coronado, which boasts only two seniors on its roster, squarely enters this year's division title game as the underdog squad. Bishop's defeated the Islanders twice this season by scores of 14-5 and 18-9 to win the Western League title.

Burgess has the highest respect for what the Knights have accomplished the season. "They're in their own league. They've got a ton of talent. Their coaches have done a great job," the Coronado coach said. "With our guys, we've had problems with executing all year. They're a young group. This is new to them."

The Islanders were forced to defeat a Vikings team for the fourth time this season to get to the championship game -- the final three times by one goal.

Junior Matt Digges scored what proved to be the game-winner with 3:19 remaining in the fourth quarter to give Coronado a 10-8 lead. When La Jolla junior Nick Eddy scored with 2:49 to play on a lob shot to bring the third-seeded Vikings to within one goal at 10-9, the game's final drama was set in motion.

Buoyed by a large home crowd, the Vikings had two opportunities to tie the game in the final 11 seconds. After junior Bryan Berry's shot was deflected just wide of the near post with 11.2 seconds to play, La Jolla earned a restart from two meters and the chance to play for the last shot of the contest. Berry took that shot with 4.2 seconds left but it sailed over the crossbar.

The Vikings' heroic comeback only made the Islanders' victory that much more meaningful, according to Burgess.

"This La Jolla team is a class act. I'm real happy for (our guys) to get there (the championship game). But what do they say -- from the frying pan into the fire?" Burgess said.

Digges and junior teammate Joey Jankiewicz led the Islanders with three goals apiece against the Vikings, followed by senior Connor Herron with two goals and junior Tim Farrell and Tommy Corcoran each with one goal.

Coronado built a 6-3 lead at one point in the contest and led 8-5 after three periods before La Jolla finally turned the momentum in its favor by scoring four of the six goals in the final quarter.

Eddy keyed the Vikings with four goals, followed by Berry with three goals and seniors Brady Botkin and Grayson LaFrenz each with one goal.

"I was impressed that we came back," said La Jolla coach Tom Atwell, who was bidding to return to the CIF championship game for a second time after winning the 1999 Division I title with Scripps Ranch. "I was proud that we made it close at the end of the game. We'd never come from behind against them before."

The Islanders won the game opening sprint and led 1-0 after just 17 seconds had elapsed after Digges buried a series of crisp passes. Berry tied the game for La Jolla at the 52-second mark and the teams traded goals for a 3-3 standoff after the opening period. Farrell gave Coronado a 2-1 lead before Berry notched his second goal of the period just after a Viking power play had been thwarted. Botkin gave La Jolla its only lead of the matchup when he scored with 1:09 left in the quarter to give the Vikes a short-lived 3-2 lead. Herron equalized the score with 27 seconds to play in the opening period.

La Jolla won the sprint to start the second quarter but could not capitalize and the Islanders came back with three unanswered goals to go up 6-3 and seemingly take command of the game. Herron scored his second goal of the game to break the 3-3 tie 1:24 into the period and Jankiewicz followed with a goal just over a minute later on a skip shot from seven meters for a two-goal Coronado lead. Corcoran then capitalized on a loose ball in front of Viking junior goalie Marc Vaquier that had bounded off the crossbar to put the Islanders up by three goals.

La Jolla kept itself in the game by scoring the final goal of the first half as Eddy beat Coronado junior goalie Scott Syverson with 34 seconds to play to cut the Vikings' deficit on the scoreboard to 6-4.

However, the Islanders once again came out strong to open the third quarter, reeling off unanswered goals by Dugges and Jankiewwicz to build their biggest lead of the game at 8-4. Again, La Jolla managed to stay within striking distance as Berry scored this third goal of the contest on a power play with 4:02 to play in the period.

The final quarter stood as a testament to the Vikings' spirit. Senior Grayson LaFrenz brought La Jolla back to within two goals, at 8-6, when he scored 22 seconds into the period. The Vikings got their engines in gear when Eddy powered in a shot from the two-meter position to cut the Coronado lead to 8-7 with 5:44 to go in the quarter. The Islanders retained just enough poise to keep their Western League adversaries at bay. Jankiewicz notched his "hat trick" goal just 21 seconds after Eddy's 8-7 tally to give Coronado some breathing room with a 9-7 lead. But La Jolla refused to give up and charged back once again on a beautifully-time tip-in shot by Eddy at the far post with 5:02 remaining in regulation play.

Time proved on the side of the Islanders -- as well as the crossbar, however.

Vaquier made a great stop on Digges, whipping his left hand low to deflect away a seeing-eye shot, to keep the Vikings behind by one goal. However, Digges came right back to score a critical goal with 3:19 to play to once again raise the Islanders' lead to two goals at 10-8.

The final three minutes of the game would prove both nail-biting and nerve-racking.

Eddy lobbed in a shot with 2:49 remaining to trim the score to 10-9. Botkin then swam the ball in on a breakaway, shocking the Coronado defense with 2:00 to go. Instead of trying to power in a shot from point-blank range, however, Botkin chose to lob Syverson. The shot cleared Syverson's reach but hit the crossbar and bounced away.

The Vikings would get two more chances in the final seconds but again found its luck suddenly evaporate.

"Once they started shooting more, it opened up the game for them. We were a little more patient than we should have been," the La Jolla coach said.

Berry was the last Viking to leave the cool-down area following the game, obviously disappointed and reflecting on what could have been. But Atwell remained

upbeat about the ending -- choosing to look at his team's inspired comeback.

"Bryan had a chance to take a shot with 1:49 to go but didn't. That forced him to take two shots at the end he didn't want to," Atwell said.

Meanwhile, Burgess has to be pleased with the resiliency displayed by his team even though the execution might not have been up to his liking.

"We'll go into the game and give it our best effort. But Bishop's is the battle-tested team. The fact that we're playing in the game is exciting. Anything can happen," Burgess said.

The Knights, who are making their sixth consecutive trip to the championship game, received goals from nine players in turning back Scripps Ranch (18-12). Senior co-captain Reid Joseph led Bishop's with four goals, followed by teammate Tyler Kandel with three goals and three players with two goals each: Xavier Feune De Colombi, Danny Kimmich and Jason Diggs. Nico Sardo, Tyler Jemmett and Julian Arthur each contributed one goal to the victory while junior goalie Trey Fleming had three saves.

The Knights led 6-0 after the opening period, 11-0 at halftime and 15-1 after three periods.

The Falcons received single goals from seniors Cary Allen and Matt Mitchell and sophomores Andy Akers and Paul Wiegand. Senior goalie Stephen Sampson had five saves.

"They're a strong team. Whoever has to face them has a tough job. They're very powerful," said Scripps Ranch coach Marcus Gregory of Bishop's. "They have probably the top two players in San Diego County in Tyler Kandel and Julian Arthur. We played them twice before. I think our guys had a mental lapse. We knew what they could do. It's hard to stop them. They played a physical brand of water polo. We rushed things trying to make things happen. Bishop's took advantage with their counter-attack. We wanted it so bad. I'm really proud of my team and the season and am excited about the future of the program."