Crescenta Valley boys’ water polo ready for championship showdown with Righetti

Nearly a month ago, the Crescenta Valley High boys’ water polo team made a two-day road trip north to compete against a couple of the top teams in CIF Southern Section Division IV. The journey served a purpose.

Crescenta Valley earned a split in the two nonleague matches, beating Arroyo Grande before falling to Righetti. Though the Falcons lost to the Warriors, it proved to be a valuable lesson for them in case the teams were to meet in the postseason.

Now they will, as second-seeded Crescenta Valley (26-6) will take on top-seeded Righetti in the division title match at 1 p.m. Saturday at William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center in Irvine.

“We went up there to see how we could hold up against those two teams and we did pretty good,” said Crescenta Valley Coach Jan Sakonju, who will look to lead the Falcons to their first title since winning a Division VI championship in 2008. “We wanted to challenge ourselves and see how we stacked up against those two teams.

“You can always learn something about yourself. and we had an opportunity to see how we could match up.”

The stakes will be much higher Saturday. Righetti, which earned an 8-6 victory against Crescenta Valley on Oct. 23, won the championship last season and will look for back-to-back titles for the first time since accomplishing the feat in 1998 and 1999.

Crescenta Valley, which won the Pacific League championship, reached the final after notching a 10-7 semifinal win against third-seeded Santa Monica on Wednesday at Camarillo High. Righetti, which finished first in the PAC-8 League, posted a 12-5 semifinal victory against El Segundo on Wednesday in Camarillo.

The Falcons, who also appeared in the finals in 1976 and 1999, received three goals from Reagan Hesse, four assists and two steals from Brandon Fernandez and seven saves from goalkeeper Logan Goddard to turn back Santa Monica.

“You have to be alert against a team like Righetti,” said Sakonju, who saw Crescenta Valley fall, 14-4, to Righetti in a semifinal road match last season. “They do so many things well, starting with playing great defense. They play tight, pressure defense and they are excellent getting counter-attacks and capitalizing on offense.

“They probably have the best counter-attacking teams out of all the teams within the seven [CIF] divisions.”

Crescenta Valley senior utility Vasil Halchev recalled Crescenta Valley’s offense trying to navigate Righetti’s defense.

“They play very hard on defense, so we have to stay patient and stick to our game plan,” Halchev said. “Losing to them last year in the playoffs made us want to come back and be that much better and we are confident. We are playing very well and we have an excellent defense, too.”

Goddard, a senior, agreed with Halchev.

“It’s going to come down to defense,” Goddard said. “These are two teams that will play super hard and we haver a much better idea of what to expect after playing them earlier.

“We will come in relaxed and focused and do what we have to do to be successful.”

Righetti, which has won four CIF titles in the program’s history, got a team-best five goals from driver Ryker Dacus and three from driver Caleb Sandberg against El Segundo.

“It’s just about having a strong work ethic and buying into playing smart defense,” said Righetti Coach Kyle Shaffer, who led the Warriors to the title last season with an 8-4 overtime win against Cerritos. “Our guys are able to push each other to get better. We have a very good defense and I think we are pretty balanced on offense.

“We know Crescenta Valley has a very good team from top to bottom. Their drivers are very aggressive. I think it should be a very good match-up.”

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Charles Rich, charles.rich@latimes.com

Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich