Boys’ Water Polo Preview: Newport Harbor seeks to recapture old, dominant form
A big senior class, a talented group of sophomores ready to contribute and another year with coach Ross Sinclair at the helm. This could be the best boys’ water polo team that Newport Harbor High has put together in years, and these are all reasons why.
When he took over following a 10-17 season, Sinclair said, “One year doesn’t define a dynasty.” Now in his third year at his alma mater, this is a season that could be more in the tradition of Sailors greatness.
Sinclair has built the program up, but there are still obstacles in place. Huntington Beach has taken over the Sunset League, winning it the last three years. And Newport Harbor has not made it to the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals since 2013. Last year the Sailors got close, losing to top-seeded Los Angeles Loyola, 12-11, in the quarterfinals.
The playoff format is different this year, as eight teams from the Division 1 and 2 grouping will be selected at the end of the season to compete in the Division 1 playoffs. The next 19 teams will vie in Division 2.
Power rankings will be used, as well as the determination of the CIF-SS boys’ water polo advisory committee. The Sailors clearly want to be one of the eight in Division 1.
“We’re all super excited for CIF,” Newport senior defender Jason Grew said. “To be honest, I think we can get in the finals for sure. Everybody wants it. We’re all together as a team, and I think that’s really important. That’s going to help us through it.”
Grew is one of six seniors on the team, including returning goalkeeper Max Sandberg and center Jackson Westerman, who recently committed to UCLA. Other seniors include Ryan Brosnan, John Rankin and Nick Bergsma.
Junior attacker Jack White had a big summer for Newport, and the sophomore class is also ready to contribute. Makoto Kenney returns after a solid freshman year on varsity, and left-hander Tommy Kennedy steps into an important role. Meanwhile, sophomore center Ike Love and defender Reed Stemler also have confidence, as they recently helped the USA Cadet National Team win the Darko Cukic Memorial Tournament in Serbia.
“Those three guys [Kennedy, Love and Stemler] are going to be expected to step up,” Sinclair said. “They’re going to get a lot of run this year. Really, I think they’ll be able to contribute right away, and I think they have that confidence going into it. Tommy Kennedy has some big shoes to fill with [lefty] Cole Brosnan [graduating], but he had a great High School State Championships [tournament]. I know he’s ready. We might look young on paper, but I think we have some solid experience. It’s a good group of guys; I think they complement each other well.”
The Sailors had an impressive summer, winning the Del Mar Invitational tournament and placing fifth at the USA Water Polo Junior Olympics, a very strong showing for a high school team competing with no graduating seniors.
Newport Harbor opens the season with a home game against Long Beach Wilson on Thursday. The Sunset League game against Huntington Beach, which may be for the league title, isn’t until the final league game on Oct. 25.
At this point, the Sailors are itching to get started.
“It’s been a couple of years coming,” Sandberg said. “We have a pretty large senior class, and most of the guys on our team this year are going to have a couple of years of varsity [experience] under their belt. This is the season we’ve all been working for. We’re all really excited to put Newport Harbor back on the map, and really live up to the legacy that this school has laid out for us.”
Huntington Beach is coming off its first Division 1 title match appearance in program history. But the Oilers lost key pieces like Daily Pilot Player of the Year Quinten Osborne, who went to UCLA along with goalie Patrick Saunders. Team captain Ethan Wojciechowski and Ryan Hurst both went to Cal.
The Oilers will again be led by their senior class, coach Sasa Branisavljevic said. Three of the more heralded contributors from last year include center Garrett Zaan, lefty Curtis Jarvis and Jake Cavano. Jarvis was second on the Oilers in goals last season and a second-team Daily Pilot Dream Team selection.
Seniors Andy Tucker and Quinn Simpson also will lead the Oilers, who open the season at the Elite Eight tournament hosted by Harvard-Westlake from Sept. 14-16.
“We’ll see how it goes,” Branisavljevic said. “Lots of things have to work out for them to mesh. On paper, I think we are obviously not as strong as last year, but we are up there no doubt. It’s going to be an interesting season.”
Branisavljevic added that he expects the league game against Newport Harbor to be a one-goal game.
“They’ve been wanting it for a long time, and they’ve worked for it too,” he said. “Ross has done an awesome job … Hopefully it ends up in our favor.”
Corona del Mar has a new coach for the first time in more than a decade. Barry O’Dea resigned, and now Kareem Captan is in charge. Captan isn’t exactly a new face though, as he assisted O’Dea for 10 years in the program.
CdM has a strong senior class led by Mitchell Cooper, center Will Klein, Ryan Schildwachter, Henry Wilde and Alex Taxman. Sophomore Tanner Pulice, who was the leading scorer on the Cadet team that won gold in Serbia, is another player to watch.
“The seniors are setting a great example,” Captan said.
Another senior, Will Snyder, is the starting goalie. He has big shoes to fill following the graduation of Matt Moran-Flores, who is now at USC.
The Sea Kings should have a good test early, as they open the season at Mater Dei on Sept. 13.
Laguna Beach, coming off a Division 2 finals appearance a year ago, is another strong team in the area. Coach Trevor Lyle’s Breakers opened the season this week with a pair of games, beating El Toro 19-3 before suffering an 11-6 loss against Santa Margarita in a rematch of last year’s Division 2 title game.
The Breakers return their leading scorer from last year in junior Colton Gregory, the Orange Coast League Co-MVP, and senior Sebastian Jacobs will be another key player. Gregory led the team with five goals against El Toro, while senior Riley Bumgardner had four.
Costa Mesa opened the season on the Division 3 watch list. Dustin Serrano, who coaches his alma mater with twin brother Cody, said the Mustangs want to end the season playing for all of the marbles.
“We fell short last year and had a lapse of strong play,” Dustin Serrano said. “We want to be at the [Division 3] finals. We want to be at that game.”
The Mustangs will be led by their three seniors, Jake Fleener, Tony Shin and Augie Cunningham. But there’s also much talent in the junior class, with Caedmon Fisher and Teak Zachary. Fisher had a team-best 117 goals last season.
Sophomore Joey Palmblade comes up from junior varsity to be the varsity starting goalie, while freshmen Gavin Fisher, Noah Gniffke and William Harrington also should all contribute on varsity. Harrington is the younger brother of former Newport Harbor girls’ water polo standout Cleo Harrington, who’s now the women’s goalie at Harvard.
Overall, the Serranos are excited, noting that this is their first graduating senior class since they were hired in 2014. The Mustangs start their season with a nonleague game at Sage Hill on Wednesday, in what will be the Lightning’s first official water polo game on campus after their aquatics complex opened last spring.
Other teams on CIF’s opening watch list included Marina in Division 5, and Estancia in Division 6.
The Eagles’ on-campus pool is slated to open late next summer, so they are having home games and practices at Costa Mesa High this year, coach Mitch White said.
“It’s going to be kind of a roller-coaster year,” White said. “The most difficult part is going to be getting all of the kids to the pool for practice. We’re crossing our fingers, hoping everything works out.”
In the pool, White said he expects seniors Cobi White and Alex Epperson to be leaders, following the graduation of Jason Chesemore and Victor Castillo.
Center Jake Blinn and center defender Chris Bauer will also be key players for Estancia. White said a freshman, Griffin Beth, will start at goalie.
“He plays club, he’s got some background, so I think he’s willing to step up,” Mitch White said. “I’m expecting some good stuff from him for four years.”
Another freshman, Logan Richards, also will contribute for Estancia.
Twitter: @mjszabo
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