PREP PREVIEW ’92 / WATER POLO : Demanding Stoll Wants El Toro Back at the Top

Time was running out for the El Toro water polo team, and Daniel Julson was the Chargers’ last hope.

Taking a running start, Julson jumped and grabbed onto the ankles of John Simmons, who was clinging to the top of an 18-foot wall. Julson struggled to pull himself up and over the wall, but his grip slipped and he was back on the ground when time expired.

The groan from Julson’s 55 teammates who had cleared the wall was a natural reaction. It was the team’s second failed attempt and the players were getting tired and slightly testy. “We will not leave today until we all get over in five minutes,” El Toro Coach Don Stoll had told them.

On the third try, Julson again took his place at the foot of the wall and helped push teammates over with his shoulders. This time Julson didn’t wait to go over last, but he hung down as Rob Duval pulled himself up and over. The last Charger hit the ground with eight seconds to spare.

This is not your typical water polo practice.

It’s part of Stoll’s hell-week indoctrination, which includes basketball games, volleyball matches, footraces, a swim meet and, of course, plenty of water polo practice. The competitions and drills are intended to teach teamwork. After the wall had been conquered, Stoll didn’t waste a moment before continuing the sermon.

“I’ve heard a lot of ‘I can’t, I won’t, I shouldn’t,’ these kinds of things today,” Stoll said. “But the bottom line is that unless you are really hurt, you shouldn’t be saying that. I’m not going to burp you through this program.

“Anybody get hurt today? Twist an ankle a bit? That’s OK. In a game, you might get poked in the eye.”

Stoll, with his stern, sandpaper-gruff voice, has the rap down pat, and he laces it with a few truisms.

“In competition you’re only as good as your weakest person,” he tells his players. “It’s an old cliche, but it’s a true cliche.”

Cliched or not, you can’t quibble with success, and El Toro has one of the more enviable records in Orange County during the 11 seasons Stoll has been the coach.

In 1981, his first season as head coach, the Chargers went 13-10, marking the first winning season in school history. In 1982, they advanced to the semifinals of the Southern Section Division 4-A playoffs. Since then, they have missed the playoffs only twice.

The first time was in 1987, but the next season the Chargers won the first of three consecutive divisional titles. That string was broken last year when El Toro didn’t make the playoffs despite being the fifth-ranked team in the division at the end of the season.

Because of the water polo playoff system, that ranking was irrelevant. The only thing that mattered was that the Chargers finished fourth in the South Coast League.

Stoll thought allowances should be made for the defending champion and took his case to the Southern Section. He met with officials, whom he said told him that his team deserved to be in the playoffs but that the rules wouldn’t permit it.

The same week, the section ruled that certain highly ranked cross-country teams that finished out of the running in their league would be allowed to advance to the sectional championships anyway.

“That really fried me,” Stoll said. Section officials told Stoll that adding an extra water polo team to the playoffs would add expenses for officials and transportation, something that wasn’t an issue when adding a seven-member cross-country team to a championship race.

Largely because of Stoll’s urging, the section added another water polo division this season, and now there is room for one wild-card team in the Division I draw.

It’s not likely that El Toro will need that spot to make the playoffs. The Chargers, ranked No. 1 in the preseason Division 4-A and Orange County polls, have one of the deepest and most balanced teams in the section.

“I have some kids on JV who could start for most of the high schools,” Stoll admits.

However, Stoll tells his team, talent is no guarantee of success. It will only come if they work together.

The players, who still feel the sting of sitting out the 1991 playoffs, are listening.

“Walking into Belmont Plaza for the finals last year was terrible,” senior goalkeeper Jason Murray said. “It was the worst feeling I’ve ever had. It just really ate me up inside. So hopefully, we’ll be able to get back there (as competitors) this year.”

Water Polo at a Glance

Top players: Matt Braun, Marina, Sr.; Jeremy Braxton-Brown, Capistrano Valley, Sr.; Tom Davis, La Habra, Sr.; Crosby Grant, Corona del Mar, Jr.; Mustafa Hassan, Magnolia, Sr.; Alan Herrmann, Dana Hills, Sr.; Ofer Horn, Fountain Valley, Sr.; Drew Leonard, El Dorado, Sr; Mark Magna, Sunny Hills, Sr.; David Maitlen, Los Alamitos, Sr.; Lenny Malo, Villa Park, Sr.; Daniel Mathot, El Toro, Sr.; Bryce Matthews, San Clemente, Sr.; Brett McAllister, Newport Harbor, Sr.; Brian McAllister, Newport Harbor, Sr.; Brent Palluck, Foothill, Sr.; J.R. Porter, Costa Mesa, Sr.; Ryan Thacher, Trabuco Hills, Sr.; Craig Thomas, Esperanza, Sr.; Todd Wines, Santa Ana Valley, Sr.

League favorites: Century: Foothill. Empire: Esperanza. Freeway: Sunny Hills. Garden Grove: Los Amigos/Kennedy. Orange: Magnolia. Pacific Coast: Costa Mesa. Sea View: Newport Harbor. South Coast: El Toro. Sunset: Fountain Valley/Marina.

1991 final poll: 1. Corona del Mar; 2. Capistrano Valley; 3. San Clemente; 4. El Toro; 5. Newport Harbor; 6. Dana Hills; 7. Villa Park; 8. Tustin; 9. El Dorado; 10. Sunny Hills.

1992 preseason poll: 1. El Toro; 2. Capistrano Valley; 3. San Clemente; 4. Newport Harbor; 5. Foothill; 6. Marina; 7. Corona del Mar; 8. Dana Hills; 9. Esperanza; 10. Villa Park. Others: Fountain Valley, Costa Mesa, Trabuco Hills.

Key dates: South Coast tournament, Sept. 24-26; Villa Park tournament, Oct. 1-3; North Orange County tournament, Oct. 12, 16-17; California State Invitational, DeAnza College, Oct. 30-31; Southern Section playoffs begin Nov. 11; Southern Section finals, Nov. 25.

Notes: Fountain Valley, which narrowly missed being rated in the county coaches’ poll, is the top-ranked team in the Southern Section Division II. Esperanza (county No. 9) is second and Marina (county No. 6) is third. Why the discrepancies? The division polls were taken after a late-summer tournament in Hawaii. . . . With an extra division this season, the playoffs might provide more opportunities for Garden Grove teams. The league, which hasn’t had a team in the title match since Los Amigos lost to Servite in 1982, has been moved to Division IV, and Los Amigos and Kennedy are ranked second and fourth in the division poll.