PREP ROUNDUP : Villa Park Wins 4th League Water Polo Title in a Row

Villa Park won its fourth consecutive Century League water polo championship by defeating Foothill, 7-5, Wednesday at Foothill High School.

In 14 of the past 16 seasons, the winner of the Villa Park-Foothill showdown has won the league championship.

Foothill (11-12, 4-1 in league) took a 4-0 lead after Brent Palluck, who scored two goals, tipped in a pass from Mike Kontny with 36 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Then the Knights went cold, going scoreless for the next 2 1/2 quarters, while Villa Park (18-7, 5-0) scored seven goals.

Steve Reese and Lenny Malo each scored two goals over a 6-minute 6-second span to tie the score, 4-4, at halftime.

With seven seconds remaining in the third quarter, Reese scored his third goal with a skip shot on a man-advantage situation to put Villa Park ahead for good, 5-4.

Palluck tried to rally Foothill, scoring with 2:06 to play to cut the lead to 7-5. But Villa Park goalie Jon Stephenson, who played with torn tendons in his right index finger, made two of his nine saves in the final 1:28 to seal the victory.