Southern Section Water Polo : Corona del Mar to Meet Newport Harbor

Corona del Mar High School goalie Jim Wagner had 15 saves, including 2 in the final 30 seconds, to lead the Sea Kings to a 5-4 victory over Sunny Hills in a Southern Section 4-A semifinal match Friday at El Dorado High.

Corona del Mar (25-4) faces Newport Harbor in the final next Saturday at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach at 8:45 p.m.

Sunny Hills (26-3) trailed by a goal when it made one last rush in the final 30 seconds.

Jim Chang fired a shot from three feet away but Wagner blocked it to his right. Javier Santiago then tipped the deflection toward the goal but Wagner was able to recover for a diving save.

Corona del Mar took possession and ran out the last 27 seconds.

“We played great team defense and Jim knocked down almost everything that did get through,” said John Vargas, Corona del Mar coach.

The Sea Kings took control of the match in the third quarter with three goals.

Chip Blankenhorn scored from 10 feet with 5:20 left in the third quarter to break a 2-2 tie. A minute later, Hagen Granthan took a pass from Dave Cesario and scored on a backhanded shot to give Corona del Mar a 4-2 lead. Derek Dundas scored on an eight-foot shot that deflected off goalie Jon Ludwig’s hand and into the goal to improve the lead to 5-2.

Sunny Hills’ Danny Leyson scored with 1:42 left in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 5-3. Santiago scored the final goal with 5:01 left to play.

In the other 4-A semifinal:

Newport Harbor 10, Long Beach Wilson 5--Newport Harbor moved to the final and will play Corona del Mar for the third time this season. The Sea View League rivals are 1-1 against each other so far.

In the 3-A semifinals:

El Dorado 12, San Clemente 7--Scott Fairchild had five goals, including two in the fourth quarter, to lead El Dorado over San Clemente, the top-seeded team in 3-A, at El Toro High School. El Dorado (16-12), the defending 3-A champion, advances to the final Nov. 21 at Belmont Plaza at 5:30 p.m. against Empire League rival Los Alamitos. Los Alamitos beat El Dorado twice this season.

El Dorado’s Steve Kidder shut down San Clemente’s top scorer, Greg Morris, who had one goal and was ejected in the fourth quarter for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The Golden Hawks led, 3-2, at halftime. Morris’ goal brought the Tritons (24-6) to within one goal, 5-4, but El Dorado’s Snow Bell scored one of his three goals and Kidder added two more before the end of the third quarter.

Troy Saunders and Mike Ankrom each scored twice for San Clemente.

Los Alamitos 8, Riverside Poly 7--Brian Lawrence, Kevin McIntyre, Erik Lynch and Tom Anderson scored two goals each for Los Alamitos (27-5) at Belmont Plaza. Lawrence and McIntyre scored in the final two minutes of the game, and Griffin goalie John Fisher had seven saves.