Glendale High boys’ water polo stopped by Cerritos in semifinals
NORWALK — Whether or not the most successful era in the history of the Glendale High boys’ water polo program ended Wednesday evening won’t really be known until next season.
For now, all that can be assured is that the Nitros’ attempts to reach a third straight CIF Southern Section championship game were thwarted by second-seeded host Cerritos High, 11-4, in the Division IV semifinals at Cerritos College.
With the win, the San Gabriel Valley League champion Dons (21-10) finally break through a two-year semifinals barrier in reaching Saturday’s divisional championship in Irvine versus top-seeded Righetti (28-3), itself a 14-4 winner over Crescenta Valley earlier Wednesday.
PHOTOS: Glendale boys’ water polo falls to Cerritos, 11-4, in CIF semifinals
The defeat not only knocked the Pacific League out of the postseason, but ended a 19-12 season for the league co-champion Nitros, winners of four straight league crowns.
“It was a good run and I’m really proud to be a part of this and to win a championship last year,” said Nitros senior two-meter attacker Manuk Piloyan, a member of Glendale’s 2013 Division V title team. “We just played a better team. They shut out me and Artak [Arzumanyan] and took advantage of our weaker players.”
Glendale scored a pair of goals from Piloyan in the first quarter, the second coming off an assist from Marko Vucetic with 2:09 remaining in the first quarter that gave the Nitros their final lead, 2-1.
From that point on, Glendale scored two goals over the game’s final 23 minutes plus with a damaging drought knocking the team out of contention between the second and third quarters.
Piloyan’s goal wasn’t answered by another teammate until senior driver Arzumanyan netted a score off an assist from Piloyan with 1:54 remaining in the third quarter.
During the Nitros’ 14:14 stretch without a goal, the Dons scored eight straight in taking a 9-2 advantage with 3:36 remaining in the third.
While Glendale’s defense didn’t lapse during that stretch, the Dons defense ratcheted its focus on Piloyan, employing effective double teams with senior drivers Angel Alcala and Dominick Nevarez.
“I don’t know if we did anything special today, but it was about knowing who the top shooters were,” Cerritos Coach Paul Park said. “I put my two best defenders on him, Nos. 8 and 7. They did what they’ve been doing all season.”
Cerritos led, 9-3, after three quarters and then iced the game with the first two scores of the fourth quarter from Matthew Kui and Nevarez, who were both assisted by Alcala.
Arzumanyan scored the final goal for either side off an assist from Jayson Wila with 53.98 seconds left to secure the 11-4 score.
“Cerritos just did a very good job against us,” Glendale first-year coach Stephen Whittier said. “We couldn’t break through that defense. It was great.”
Even when Glendale had advantages, the normally opportunistic Nitros were only one for four on six-on-five chances, while Cerritos was a perfect three for three.
“I thought we had some chances, but we weren’t patient,” Whittier said. “Even so, Cerritos was just a better team.”
Cerritos’ Alcala led all scorers with four goals, while Alex Alcala added three scores.
Glendale’s defense did force 17 turnovers, led by three steals from Piloyan and a pair of steals from Levon Gevorkyan and Levon Gukasyan.
Nitros senior goalie David Tiraturyan, a member of three straight semifinal squads, finished with seven saves and lamented how his team came up one game short of reaching another title match.
“Some of the younger guys were asking me if I was nervous about playing in a semifinal game,” Tiraturyan said. “This is Glendale, man. We’re used to playing in championships.”