PREP ROUNDUP : Sunny Hills Holds Off La Habra in Water Polo

Sunny Hills scored five first-quarter goals, then hung on to beat La Habra, 8-7, in a Freeway League water polo game Wednesday at Independence Park in Fullerton.

Both teams came out firing, combining for eight goals in the first quarter, then turned up the defense in the second half.

The Lancers (17-6, 3-0 in league) jumped ahead in the first two minutes, 2-0, on goals by Eric Hyon and Jason Fairchild. Hyon scored two goals in the quarter to help Sunny Hills take a 5-3 lead.

The Highlanders (15-8, 2-1) drew closer before the end of the half, on goals by Bryan Vaden and Dan Ploog and trailed, 6-5, at halftime.

The game seemed to turn in the third quarter when the teams began playing aggressively on defense. Sunny Hills could manage only a goal by Seann Schiele and Hyon, while shutting out the Highlanders in the third quarter.

The tables turned in the final quarter, with the Lancers managing one shot on goal. La Habra’s Scott Jarrell scored with about four minutes left, and Vaden scored his third goal of the game on a backhand shot with 26 seconds remaining to make it 8-7.

La Habra had one last chance with about 10 seconds left, but Hyon blocked the shot.

“La Habra always plays well against us,” Sunny Hills Coach Keith Nighswonger said. “Our defense struggled quite a bit. They are a great team and there were a lot of surprises out there.”

Hyon scored three goals and Cody Bitterlich had six saves for Sunny Hills. Ploog and Vaden each scored three and Phil Haworth had seven saves for the Highlanders.

“This was our best game of the year,” La Habra Coach Jeff Hopkins said. “We played the best defense I’ve ever seen a team of mine play. The defense speaks a lot about the character of this team.”

The victory reaffirmed Sunny Hills as the league favorite. The Lancers have won 24 consecutive league championships. They and La Habra shared the title in 1991.

“This is the best team I’ve had here in my five years,” Nighswonger said.

In other Freeway League games:

Fullerton 13, Sonora 8--Aaron Garisek scored five goals and Anthony Ranii scored three for visiting Fullerton (6-12, 1-2).

Buena Park 12, Troy 8--Randy Nelson made 25 saves, including two on four-meter penalty shots, and Daniel Vanciu and Greg Petrisevac each scored four goals for visiting Buena Park (2-1 in league).

In the Century League:

Foothill 23, Canyon 4--Brian Brown scored six goals, Jeff Pflueger and Matt Schuler each added four to lead Foothill. Eric Ewbanks had two goals for Canyon.

Villa Park 14, Orange 4--Kevin Bobzien scored six goals and Peter Cornue added four as Villa Park remained unbeaten in league at 3-0. Marshall Merche scored three goals for host Orange (0-3 in league).

In the Empire League:

Esperanza 18, Katella 5--Mike Stanley, Ian Ching and Josh Emrick each scored three goals for Esperanza (11-7, 3-0).

Los Alamitos 9, El Dorado 3--Eric Ploessel scored three goals for Los Alamitos (11-10, 3-0).

In the Orange League:

Brea-Olinda 6, Magnolia 5--Eric Matthews scored four goals to lead Brea-Olinda (15-6, 4-0) over Magnolia (3-1 in league).

In the Pacific Coast League:

Estancia 5, Laguna Hills 4--Marc Read scored four goals for visiting Estancia (11-6, 3-0), and Dominic Schuessler had three goals for Laguna Hills (4-10, 0-3).

In the Sea View League:

Corona del Mar 13, Tustin 1--Crosby Grant scored five goals and James Palda and Kevin Tucker had two each to pace second-ranked Corona del Mar (14-2, 4-0). Tustin is 9-12, 1-3.

Newport Harbor 9, Irvine 7--Newport Harbor outscored Irvine, 3-0, in the third quarter to break a 3-3 tie.

Tad Davies scored two of the three third-quarter goals off assists by Brad Pence. Davies and Adam Cleary each scored three goals and Pence scored two for the Sailors (12-6, 4-1). Jason Lezak scored for goals for visiting Irvine (3-2 in league).

In the Sunset League:

Servite 20, Ocean View 4--Ryan Zukow scored seven goals for Servite. Eric Vinland, the goalie for Ocean View had one save and one goal on a length-of-the-pool shot with two seconds left.

In Pacific Coast League boys’ cross-country:

Estancia 19, Costa Mesa 37--Johann Appell set an Estancia record, finishing three miles in 16 minutes 4 seconds.

In South Coast League boys’ cross-country:

Dana Hills 27, San Clemente 28--Clint Allen and Juan Almejo finished four seconds apart to lead unranked Dana Hills (3-1 in league) to the upset of No. 5 San Clemente (5-1, 3-1). Allen finished in 16:33 and Almejo in 16:37. Brothers Fernando and Aldo Ayala were third and fourth, finishing in 16:39 and 16:41 for San Clemente.

El Toro 24, Mission Viejo 33--Martin Pennell ran 3.1 miles in 15:39 to lead El Toro at Laguna Niguel Regional Park.

In South Coast League girls’ cross-country:

Capistrano Valley 25, Mater Dei 30--Meghan Mayes and Shannon Kinney finished first and second to help Capistrano Valley (2-2 in league) hand Mater Dei (3-1) its first league loss.

In Prep League girls’ cross-country:

St. Margaret’s wins two--Kristin Helms won the three-mile race in a time of 21:53 for St. Margaret’s, which beat Crossroads, 26-30, and Chadwick, 15-50.