Southern Section 4-A Water Polo Final : Rhodes Rises to Occasion for Corona del Mar

Greg Rhodes has lived in the shadow long enough.

But then, Jim Wagner is not an easy person to forget. He is certainly remembered by any Corona del Mar High School water polo fan.

Wagner is the player who led the Sea Kings to the Southern Section 4-A water polo championship a year ago. He is the one who was named the Southern Section player of the year. The one who received the scholarship to California.

And the man Rhodes had to replace as goalie.

“I told the guys at the beginning of the year that Jim was gone and I was all they had,” Rhodes said. “I was going to be Greg Rhodes and not pretend to be anyone else.”

The Sea Kings will take Rhodes as he is, thank you, especially after Wednesday night.

Rhodes, a senior, was sensational in the cage at Belmont Plaza, where he made 10 saves and shut out Sunny Hills in the second half as Corona del Mar rallied for a 10-7 victory and its second consecutive 4-A championship.

“That was the best I’ve ever played,” Rhodes said. “But it was the team that did it for me. Our defense kept funneling the ball inside, so it was easy to make saves.”

The Sea Kings’ defense was good; Rhodes was great.

Corona del Mar’s Hagen Grantham tied the score at 7-7 with 52 seconds left in the third quarter. Sunny Hills’ Jason Klingsberg tried to reclaim the lead with a back-hand shot. It hit the cr1869837088goal. But Rhodes dove to his left to deflect the ball and keep the score tied.

Josh Speyer, who had 3 goals, gave Corona del Mar the lead for good, 8-7, on a 9-meter shot with 5 minutes 41 seconds left in the match. The Lancers again countered, with Mark Kuhn firing a shot from close range. Rhodes made a diving stop to his right to preserve the lead.

It was the last shot the Lancers would get.

“Earlier this season, I was struggling,” Rhodes said. “I was unsure of myself. Then I started to remember how Jim would play shots and it helped. I learned from the way he use to play for us.”

The Sea Kings struggled throughout the first half and much of the third quarter.

Sunny Hills (28-3), the top seed, jumped to a 2-0 lead on goals by Jose Santiago and Greg Romey.

Corona del Mar (28-3), the No. 2 seed, took a brief 3-2 lead with 2 minutes left in the first quarter. But the Lancers regained control on consecutive goals by Santiago, who finished with 3 goals, and Mark Kuhn.

Sunny Hills’ high-water mark came with 1:47 left in the half when Klingsberg scored on a 4-meter penalty shot to give the Lancers a 7-4 lead. It would be the Lancers’ last goal.

The next 13:41 belonged to Rhodes and the Sea Kings.

“I figured we were in good enough shape that we could outlast them,” said Corona del Mar Coach John Vargas, whose team was making its fifth consecutive appearance in the Southern Section final. “We’re in very good and shape and I knew the breaks would come our way sooner or later.”

They did. With 1:27 left in the half, Oeding, who finished with 3 goals, scored into an empty net when Lancer goalie Jon Ludwig tried to make a steal. Gunnar Gustafson then cut the deficit to 7-6 with a back-hand shot with 23 seconds left in the half.

“It’s like I keep telling the kids, excellence can be habitual,” Vargas said.