San Diego Section Water Polo : Valhalla Stops Coronado, 12-8, for Second Straight Title

Mike Allen led Valhalla with five goals, but two fourth-period goals by teammate Doug Sutherland enabled the Norsemen to turn away a Coronado comeback and earn a 12-8 victory for their second San Diego Section water polo championship in a row.

Valhalla finished the season with a 25-1 record. Coronado was 23-7.

In the match for third place, University of San Diego High School defeated Vista, 6-4. Kevin Daly and Darrian Young each had two goals to pace USDHS (20-6-1). USDHS goalkeeper Eric Bockstahler recorded 15 saves. Vista finished with a 20-5 record.

In the championship match, Coronado trailed 6-2 at halftime but cut Valhalla’s lead to 7-4 by the fourth period. Coronado goalie Duff Harold, who finished with 15 saves, had three key saves in the third period.

“I think (we) got a little complacent,” Valhalla Coach Dan Crane said. “They came back from a timeout (in the third period) and said that we could just trade goals. They thought they could score when they wanted to. They hadn’t realized the momentum had swung.”

However, the momentum was to swing back in Valhalla’s direction. Early in the fourth period, Coronado’s Eddie Becker was forced to serve penalty time after Coach Vern Heimbigner threw an orange cone into the pool behind Coronado’s goal in protest of an official’s call.

Later, Heimbigner threw his shoes into the pool and was ejected from the match with 1:37 remaining after he made an exaggerated bow to the official.

“The cone cost me a player,” Heimbigner said. “I thought I would trade something I owned (shoes).”