PREP ROUNDUP : Defense Lifts Costa Mesa in Water Polo

Although Sam Grayeli’s offense was in the spotlight, teammate J.P. Porter’s defense was just as instrumental in Costa Mesa’s 8-7 Pacific Coast League water polo victory over Trabuco Hills Wednesday at El Toro High School.

Grayeli scored five goals and Porter held Trabuco Hills’ Ryan Thacher to three goals to lead Costa Mesa (15-8, 3-0 in league) to victory in the matchup of the league’s top teams.

“J.R.’s effort on defense took away from his offensive game,” Costa Mesa Coach Jason Lynch said. “But Thacher is their main man, and we needed to stop him.”

Costa Mesa didn’t stop Trabuco Hills completely until the final three seconds, when Thacher’s desperation lob was stopped by goalkeeper Chris Avitia.

Costa Mesa led, 8-5, with 2 minutes 39 seconds remaining after Grayeli scored his fifth goal from the hole. But Trabuco Hills (12-9, 2-1) rallied, with Jimmy Bray scoring on a deflection with 2:15 remaining. Brian Martz scored off a man-advantage situation to close the gap to 8-7 with 55 seconds left.

After Costa Mesa ran out the 35-second shot clock, Trabuco Hills could only manage Thacher’s last-season shot.

Costa Mesa, ranked second in Southern Section Division III, has matches with Estancia and Century remaining, but virtually assured itself of its seventh consecutive league championship.

“Winning tonight just lifted a big weight off of me,” Lynch said. “The rest of the season won’t be a walk in the park, but if things go as planned we can get focused on CIF (playoffs).”

Costa Mesa looked focused early, scoring the match’s first three goals in the first 3 1/2 minutes. Greg Felli, Porter and Grayeli scored before K.C. Nance scored for Trabuco Hills with 1:09 remaining in the first quarter.