Agoura Quietly Sinks Calabasas, 13-6

This time the Agoura High water polo team did not set itself up for an embarrassing loss in a big game.

There were no faxes to the local newspapers telling of its victory plans, no hype at school and no campaigning for fan support.

On Friday, the Chargers let their play speak for itself as they defeated Calabasas, 13-6, in a first-round game of the Southern Section Division IV playoffs at Agoura High.

The last time Agoura had a big game, the players and parents spent the previous week talking it up--only to lose, 15-5, to Royal for the Marmonte League title.

“That game woke us up,” Agoura Coach Jason Rosenthal said. “We wanted to establish our presence from the beginning in this one.”

They did exactly that.

Agoura (19-7) came out with a menacing full-pool press and did not allow Calabasas (19-6) near the Charger goal until midway through the first quarter. They shut out the Coyotes until early in the second quarter.

Mitch Dexter provided the charge in the Chargers, scoring twice within a 49-second span in the first quarter to give his team an early lead.

Dexter, who scored five goals, used his speed to beat defenders to loose balls.

“We didn’t want to go against their speed,” Calabasas Coach Adam Gruner said. “They kept countering on us and they just had too much speed.”

Jamey Krauss, the Coyotes’ top player, picked up his second ejection foul with two minutes remaining in the first period.

Krauss remained in the game, despite the risk that he might pick up a third foul and be disqualified. He scored one goal.

Calabasas made a brief run, cutting an 8-2 Agoura lead at halftime to 8-5 with 3 minutes 27 seconds left in the third quarter.

But 16 seconds later, Noah Bookman scored his third goal for Agoura.

The Charger defense did not allow another goal until Jason Brooks scored his third goal of the game with 20 seconds left to play.

Agoura goalie Joey Smither was impressive, stopping 15 Coyote shots.