DIVISION IV WATER POLO FINAL : Single Ace in a Losing Hand for Los Amigos

Los Amigos’ Drew Douglas knows that in water polo one offensive threat is usually not enough. Wednesday at Belmont Plaza, San Bernardino emphasized the point with an 18-12 victory in the Southern Section Division IV championship game.

Douglas, a senior two-meter man, scored eight goals--four in each half--but San Bernardino had better balance and led by as many as nine goals in the fourth quarter.

“I can’t do it alone,” Douglas said. “My teammates have to provide. A lot of the passes weren’t there today. If we had better passing it wouldn’t have been as bad.”

Top-seeded San Bernardino (27-3) got seven goals from Ryan Williams, giving him 223 for the season, two short of the Southern Section record set by Gilbert Estrada of Bell Gardens in 1989. Williams has more than 500 goals in his career and already held that section record.

Unlike third-seeded Los Amigos (16-12), San Bernardino had more than one weapon. Craig Binnell, who entered the game with 103 goals, scored four, and Grady Womack scored five for the Cardinals.

Los Amigos, which won the Division IV title last season, had a 3-1 lead with 2 minutes 30 seconds left in the first quarter on two goals by Douglas and one by Aaron Norling.

Williams then had a hand in San Bernardino’s next five goals as the Cardinals took a 7-5 lead. Williams had four goals and an assist in the run.

Bobby Atondo scored after two Cardinal players were kicked out with 3:34 left in the half, and Douglas tied the score, 7-7, after rebounding a lob by Norling.

San Bernardino scored the last three goals of the half, including a shot from 10-meters by Williams with 12 seconds left.

It was the first trip to the final by a San Bernardino water polo team. When Los Amigos won last season, it was the school’s first section title in any sport.

“I think they had a little extra motivation,” Los Amigos Coach Eric Fischbeck said. “Kind of like last year when we hadn’t won, either.”