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Brotherly matchup does not end well for La Cañada High boys’ water polo

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COMMERCE — Sometimes being the middle brother can have its disadvantages.

La Cañada High second-year boys’ water polo Coach Christian Flores was aware of that immediately after his Spartans, sixth-ranked in the latest CIF Southern Section Division III poll, fell apart in the second half of a 17-7 defeat to No. 4 Montebello in nonleague play Tuesday afternoon at the Brenda Villa Aquatics Center.

While the score and manner of defeat were particularly unsettling for Flores, perhaps the former Oilers champion player took the biggest gulp when he shook hands with both Montebello’s coaches afterward, his older brother, head coach Luis Flores, and younger brother, assistant coach Miguel Flores.

“Both my brothers are over there, so I know I’m going to hear it later,” Christian Flores said. “I love it, though, I like it. We always talked about coaching against each other all the time and we knew it would happen someday. I think it’s great. I just wish it could have been a little bit closer.”

The Spartans (4-4) were effective in the first half in holding Montebello standout Mario Moran without a goal as they trailed, 6-3.

Yet, that success fizzled against the junior attacker, who netted two goals and had a hand on two other scores as the Oilers (7-1) dominated the period, 8-1, in talking a 14-4 advantage after three quarters.

“We had Mario Moran zero for six in the first half and coach Miguel ... talked to him and he said, ‘Turn a bad offensive game into a defensive game,’” Luis Flores said. “Sure enough, he was up there pressing to steal and he got a couple of goals for us to put a nice gap between us.”

Moran helped created separation by having a role in four of five goals for the Oilers.

Moran assisted teammate Mark Naranjo with a great pass over the top that Naranjo buried at 5:12 in the third to put the home squad up, 8-3.

After a goal from Montebello’s Carlos Heridia, Moran scored two consecutive goals before coming up with a steal at mid-pool and assisted Naranjo again for a score that gave Montebello an impressive 12-4 lead en route to a 10-point advantage before the close of the quarter.

While Montebello seemed to have found its rhythm in the quarter, the Spartans struggled as they lost the shots battle, 10-4, in the frame while committing nine turnovers versus two for the Oilers.

“I didn’t expect a 10-point loss, but that’s what we showed,” Christian Flores said. “In that quarter, we gave up a lot of goals and scored none.”

Actually the Spartans did net one goal at the 3:12 mark from Felix Park on a successful six-on-five chance, as the Spartans finished three for six in that category.

Yet, that score wasn’t added to until the 4:14 mark in the fourth quarter on a goal from Matt Olson off an assist from Park that brought the Spartans within 15-5.

“Right from the beginning, Montebello came out really strong and it was really hard to keep up with them attacking on the counter-attacks,” said Olson, who finished with a team-best three goals. “Right away, it was just difficult to come back.”

Montebello scored the game’s first three goals before Olson scored of an assist from Reed Buck with 1:56 left.

The Spartans eventually trailed after one quarter, 5-2, and sliced their deficit to 5-3 on a goal from Wyatt Lowe, who converted a back-handed score with 2:41 left that was set up on a pass from Sean Lee.

Unfortunately for La Cañada, the Spartans lost some momentum when Montebello’s Carlos Huerta scored with 30.3 seconds left thanks to a steal and assist from Naranjo to take a 6-3 lead into the half.

When asked who had more at stake heading into Tuesday, Luis Flores wasn’t bashful.

“First off, he’s a two-time CIF champion as a player at [Montebello] and a two-time CIF champion as a coach for Montebello,” Luis Flores said of Christian. “The pressure was on him, to tell you the truth.”

Despite the score, Spartans goalie Kyle Ghaby made a few quality stops in tallying 10 saves, while Leo Neat added three assists, one goal and one steal.

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