Boys’ water polo: Huntington Beach breaks through, reaches CIF title game

IRVINE — Garrett Zaan seemed to be sinking under water, but he still had hold of the ball Wednesday night against Harvard-Westlake in a CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinal boys’ water polo match.

That was all the Huntington Beach High junior center needed to spin and direct it into the goal from two meters at Woollett Aquatics Center.

“It was amazing,” Oilers senior captain Ethan Wojciechowski said with a grin after the game. “That’s his specialty move, that 360 turn. I always tell him, ‘Zaan, why you gotta turn all the way, the goalie’s going to take it?’ But he snuck it in.”

It took the Oilers three years to sneak into the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship game. But Huntington Beach is finally there as a breakthrough season continues.

For the first time in program history, No. 3-seeded Huntington Beach has advanced to a CIF championship game after outlasting No. 2 Harvard-Westlake, 7-6. Zaan’s goal with 4:21 left in the fourth quarter stood up as the game winner.

Huntington Beach (24-3) will play another team making its first finals appearance, No. 4-seeded Orange Lutheran, in the title game Saturday at a time to be determined. The Lancers beat top-seeded Los Angeles Loyola, 9-5, in the second semifinal game.

Wednesday night’s game was definitely sweet for the Oilers, who had lost in the semifinals each of the last two seasons. The Oilers struggled early in the season but integrated transfers Ryan Hurst and Zaan and have come together lately, winning 15 straight games.

They survived two Wolverines power-play chances in the final two minutes, one on a field block by Jacob Cavano and the second on senior goalie Patrick Saunders’ 14th save, which came at the right post with 23 seconds remaining.

From there, Huntington Beach was able to play keep-away and make program history. The Oilers also avenged two early-season losses to Harvard-Westlake (25-3).

“It’s huge,” said Wojciechowski, who scored a game-high three goals. “This is the third in a row we’ve been in the semis, and we haven’t gotten over the hurdle. There was a lot of pressure on us, obviously … We’ve definitely come a long way since the beginning of the year. We’ve gotten a lot better, we’ve worked Ryan and Garrett into the system, and now it comes down to one game. We’ll see if we can get a championship.”

Harvard-Westlake, which continued playing without senior standout Felix Brozyna-Vilim (knee), came out in a heavy press defense against Huntington Beach. The Wolverines took a 3-1 lead late in the first quarter after power-play strikes by Evan Rosenfeld and Luke Henriksson.

But the Oilers rallied to tie the score at 4 by halftime after second quarter goals by seniors Matt Robert and Ryan Hurst, as well as Wojciechowski out of a post-up. Huntington Beach started using a double-post offense more as a result of Harvard-Westlake’s press, Oilers Coach Sasa Branisavljevic said.

“It’s up to the team to band together and bring the ball closer to the cage so we can generate some offense,” said Huntington Beach senior center Quinten Osborne, who had a steal and drew two exclusions. “There’s no tricks, there’s no secrets. We’re working our [behinds] off every single day, and we can work through adversity … Usually we’re setting the tone, but I think this time we had to feel it out. We rose to the occasion.”

Harvard-Westlake took a 5-4 lead early in the third quarter on Alex Bucur’s goal, but the Oilers responded with consecutive goals from Quinn Simpson and Wojciechowski to take a 6-5 lead. Harvard-Westlake’s Pierce Maloney responded with a six-on-five strike to knot the score again headed into the fourth quarter.

But Zaan’s score at center was the only one of the fourth.

In his post-game remarks to his team, Branisavljevic mentioned junior lefty Curtis Jarvis, who had to miss the game due to a major act of misconduct in Saturday’s quarterfinal win at Mater Dei.

“Curtis is a big piece to this puzzle,” Branisavljevic said. “We’re used to having him there, but we made the necessarily adjustment. I told them, it’s war, so sometimes you lose a solider. You’ve got to make sure you continue on with the same passion, the same grit.”

Saunders tied his season high in making 14 saves for the second straight game. Robert played the whole game and had the goal, as well as two assists.

“He’s that guy that is the selfless warrior,” Branisavljevic said. “He’s invisible in the pool at times, but he really covers for everybody. He communicates to the team.”

Sam Krutonog made 10 saves in goal for Harvard-Westlake, which was top-ranked in Division 1 for most of the regular season but was denied its fourth straight appearance in the Division 1 title game.

Instead, it is Huntington Beach that is now a victory away from the program’s first CIF championship.

“We are very happy, needless to say, but we are focused because we have finals ahead of us on Saturday,” Branisavljevic said. “We can’t lose focus … We can take in all the victories after the season is over, which is in one game.”