Falitz Too Late to Catch Crescenta Valley, 10-9

Crescenta Valley High kept high-scoring Jason Falitz scoreless until nearly the last minute.

And it nearly wasn’t enough.

The Falcons survived a late Burroughs rally led by Falitz’s two goals in the final 66 seconds to claim a 10-9 victory Tuesday in a Southern Section Division III boys’ water polo quarterfinal at Pasadena City College.

“I’m getting a little too old for this stuff,” said Coach Pete Loporchio of Crescenta Valley, who earlier this season announced he would retire after his eighth season.

No. 2-seeded Crescenta Valley (24-2), which will face La Serna in a semifinal on Saturday, appeared content to cruise after Carlos Pelayo scored his third goal for a 10-7 lead with 3:50 remaining.

But Burroughs (23-5), which made only three of 15 shots in the first half, wasn’t finished yet.

The No. 7 Indians still had visions of pulling off an upset as they did last year in the quarterfinals against top-seeded La Serna.

Falitz, who didn’t take his first shot until midway through the second quarter, scored on a floating toss into the right corner of the goal with defender Robert Curreri draped on him with 1:06 remaining.

“You can only contain [Falitz] for so long,” Loporchio said. “We started playing not to lose rather than playing to win.”

Seconds later, Falitz scored on an assist from Rudy Mohammed to get within 10-9 with 37 seconds left.

“[He’s] such a phenomenal player, you need six pairs of eyes on him at all times,” Loporchio said.

After a Crescenta Valley miss, Burroughs called a time out with 15 seconds left to set up a shot for Falitz, who finished third on the state’s single- season scoring list with 202 goals.

But Falitz’s seven-meter shot from the wing hit the left post with eight seconds left. Teammate Vartan Bagdasaryan, who grabbed the rebound in scuffle with two Falcon players and was fouled, converted what could have been the tying goal at the buzzer. But the goal was nullified because a ball must be cleared beyond the seven-meter mark following a foul.

Crescenta Valley, which never trailed, jumped to a 4-1 lead after the first quarter and led, 7-3, at halftime.

“We let them get away from us in the first quarter,” Falitz said.

Falitz took only one shot in the first half and was two for six in the second half.

“They always had two guys on me and it was tough to get free,” Falitz said. “[But] I had my opportunities. I just wasn’t putting them away.”

After both teams scored two goals in the third quarter, Burroughs closed to within, 9-7, on goals by Kenny Livas and Justin Frank.

Goalie Mike Hoy of Crescenta Valley had six saves and five steals.