Ventura Has It Made in Shade, 14-8

Coach Joe Abing of Ventura High said there is a good reason why his team started slowly in its Southern Section Division IV water polo quarterfinal against Agoura.

The sun was in their eyes.

With the Cougars facing the sun, the Cougars fell behind, 1-0, after one quarter.

But after the teams switched sides at the end of the quarter, Ventura’s offense took command in a 14-8 victory over the Chargers on Wednesday at Agoura.

Mike Derse, leading scorer for the fourth-ranked Cougars (23-5), scored 26 seconds into the second quarter and they never trailed again.

Ventura settled for a 3-1 lead at halftime before breaking it open in the third quarter behind Derse.

He scored three of his five goals in the quarter, when the Cougars opened up an 11-4 lead. Derse has 13 goals in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

“We’ve been training hard all season and we were able to use our training and our endurance to our advantage,” Derse said.

It made for a frustrating afternoon for fifth-ranked Agoura (17-10), which was eliminated in the playoffs by Ventura for the second consecutive season.

The Chargers, led by senior driver Hans Larsen with four goals, lost 8-5 to Ventura in the semifinals last year.

“It is [frustrating], but if we’re going to go out, we wanted to go out against a good team and that they are,” Coach Jason Rosenthal of Agoura said.

The Cougars set up a rematch against top-ranked Santa Maria Righetti in the semifinals Saturday.

Ventura lost, 7-6, to Righetti in the division title match last season and lost to the Warriors by the same score in a tournament earlier this season.

“I don’t care when we play them,” he said. “We have to play them sometime and the pressure’s on them. We have nothing to lose.”

Royal 13, Dos Pueblos 12--Tom Onyshko made four of his 14 saves in the final 34 seconds of the second overtime to preserve the Highlanders’ victory in a Division IV game at Carpinteria City Pool.

Ramiro Saldain scored his second goal with 1:43 remaining to give the No. 3-seeded Highlanders (23-6) a 12-11 lead, and Justin McLure’s goal increased the margin 28 seconds later.

Royal was without starting driver Chris Andelin, who was sidelined by a 102-degree fever.

Two-meter man Derek Anderson, who missed practice all week because of a high fever, scored seven goals for the Highlanders.

“The fact that he showed up won the game for us,” said Coach Steve Snyder. “Dos Pueblos played their best game of the year. It was up for grabs, could have been anybody’s game, and [Dos Pueblos] truly played a great game.”

Rowland 16, Flintridge Prep 6--The top-seeded Raiders rolled to a 7-1 first-quarter lead and were never threatened in a Division VI quarterfinal at Rowland.

Tony Elliot and Justin Angulano each scored four goals for the Raiders (28-1), who have won the division title four of the last five years.

Sam Tyre scored four goals and Brian Choi two for the unseeded Rebels (16-10), the second-place team from the Prep League.