Tustin Quiets Edison for Water Polo Victory

Tony Choquehuanca, Tustin High School’s water polo coach, wanted his team to abide by one simple rule Thursday. Don’t let Edison’s Brian Stanton shoot.

And, almost to a man, the Tillers followed that strategy.

Stanton, the Chargers’ leading scorer, found a crowd nearly every time he touched the ball. The ploy worked well enough to let the Tillers defeat Edison, 8-3, in the first round of the South Coast water polo tournament at Tustin.

Tustin will play Villa Park in a second-round game at 3 o’clock today at Tustin.

The Tillers (4-1) collapsed their defense to keep the ball from Stanton. And, even when he did manage to get the ball, Stanton usually found two or three defenders in his face.

Stanton finished with two goals, but both came after Tustin had built a big lead.

“We wanted our defense to dictate how the game was going to be played,” Choquehuanca said. “Stanton is a great two-meter man. We wanted to make their other players beat us.”

They couldn’t.

When the Chargers were able to pierce the Tustin defense, goalie Mike Gonzalez usually was able to keep them from scoring. Gonzalez, a sophomore, made six saves.

Tustin scored four consecutive goals to take a a 5-1 lead midway through the second quarter. The Tillers scored three of those goals while Edison was shorthanded.

Josh Routon scored two of the goals during the stretch and had three for the game.

Edison (3-4) made one minor run in the third quarter when Stanton’s second goal cut the lead to 6-3 with 4 minutes 16 seconds left. But Jeremy Yorba scored a minute later to give the Tillers a four-goal lead.

In other first-round games:

Villa Park 6, Long Beach Millikan 4--The Spartans (9-2) built a 6-1 lead, then held off Millikan in the fourth quarter. Millikan took a 1-0 lead on a breakaway goal by Ryan Stenberg with 2:19 left in the first quarter. But the Spartans held the Rams scoreless until midway through the final quarter and dominated the inside on offense. Kip Parson scored two goals from close range as Villa Park took a 3-1 halftime lead. Millikan made a run in the fourth quarter with three goals, two by Dennis Grosz. Gary Larson scored two goals and goalie Kenny Yee made six saves for Villa Park.

Sunny Hills 7, San Luis Obispo 0--Andrew Tinsteth had 15 saves and Christian Corrigan had five goals to lead Sunny Hills (4-0) at Tustin High School. Mark Allmon had two goals for Sunny Hills.