Royal’s Title Bid Comes Up Short

There was no Royal flush in the Southern Section Division IV water polo final Wednesday at UC Santa Barbara.

Royal High came up an ace short.

The Highlanders’ leading scorer, Chris Richeson, picked up his third ejection foul--disqualifying him from the game--with four minutes 48 seconds remaining in the third quarter, and the second-seeded Highlanders lost to top-seeded Lompoc Cabrillo, 12-11.

“He’s the best player we’ve got,” Royal Coach Steve Snyder said of Richeson, who scored only one goal. “We’re not used to playing without him for that long.”

The Highlanders (23-6) had two chances to score in the final 15 seconds and send the game into overtime. The first, a shot by David Radka, hit Cabrillo goalie Ben Jones square in the face.

After a Cabrillo (26-2) turnover 13 seconds later, Royal goalie Garrett Herzer lofted the ball from the middle of the pool into a crowd in front of the Cabrillo goal, but Jones came down with it.

“We played with a lot of heart in the last half of the game,” Snyder said. “We did remarkably well without [Richeson].”

The Highlanders trailed, 12-9, after Trenton Rameson scored for Cabrillo with 2:09 to play.

Goals by Joe Andelin and Peter Lavrikov pulled Royal within one with 40 seconds left.

Richeson, who has been Royal’s leading scorer in nearly every game, knocked over a chair and kicked a stray ball after his disqualification, before composing himself to cheer on his teammates.

“I figured isolating myself wouldn’t do any good,” Richeson said. “I was just hoping somebody could step up.”

Lavrikov, who had three of his four goals in the fourth quarter, stepped up. So did goalie Garrett Herzer, who made several saves on close-range shots. He finished with eight saves.

Despite such efforts, the Highlanders fell short of repeating as Division IV champions.

“I really feel for the seniors,” Snyder said. “But just to be here is a treat. I’d like to freeze-frame the moment.”