SOUTHERN SECTION 4-A WATER POLO FINAL : El Toro Continues Its Run by Winning in New Setting

El Toro High School won a Southern Section water polo title in its first year as a Division 4-A team by defeating Long Beach Wilson, 11-9, Wednesday at Belmont Plaza.

It was the third consecutive section title for El Toro, which won the 3-A in 1988 and ’89.

Jason Kneitel and J.P. Mathot each scored three goals for El Toro (23-7).

The key to the game was El Toro’s ability to pressure and frustrate Wilson’s Clarke Tamariki, a muscular 6-foot-5two-meter man.

“We had about six different defenses planned to try and stop him and none of them worked,” El Toro Coach Don Stoll said. “Finally we just put Greg Craycraft on him and pressed outside and Greg did a hell of a job.”

Certainly it wasn’t easy for Craycraft, who is 5-8 and 180 pounds. But Craycraft anticipated passes to the two-meter position extremely well, stealing three passes, and was surprisingly physical against Tamariki.

Wilson (21-7) stayed with El Toro until the end when the Chargers took their largest lead of the game at 11-8 with just 38 seconds left to play, on J.P. Mathot’s four-meter shot.

Both teams started fast. El Toro got on the board in the first minute on a counter attack which culminated in a goal by Dan Mathot.

“We wanted to start fast because whoever gets rid of the nerves first has an advantage,” J.P. Mathot said. “But things just didn’t pan out because they were able to shoot real well.”

Julian Werts, who scored four goals, was able to keep El Toro from sagging in on Tamariki, with his ability to shoot effectively from six meters or more.

The score was tied at 4-4 after one quarter and 5-5 at halftime. El Toro led, 8-7, at the end of three quarters.

“This was a lot sweeter than the last two years,” J.P. Mathot said.