Southern Section Title Isn’t Second-Rate for Sea Kings

It didn’t matter to Garrett Bowlus if it was Division II.

The Sea Kings’ 8-6 victory over defending champion Servite in the Southern Section Division II boys’ water polo title game Wednesday was as sweet as it gets for Bowlus, a Corona del Mar junior.

“Division I, Division II. It doesn’t matter,” he said. “We won the title, and that’s the most important thing.”

Bowlus, who led Corona del Mar (17-10) in scoring and steals this season, had four goals and three steals at Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach.

Not since 1994, when the Sea Kings lost to Long Beach Wilson, has Corona del Mar been in the finals.

“It was a team effort,” Bowlus said. “We don’t have superstars on this team. We worked hard all season long for this, and so many guys stepped it up, it’s that much better.”

Corona del Mar Coach John Vargas said Bowlus’ play was vital. He scored the Sea Kings’ first three goals and played superb defense.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of him and this team,” Vargas said. “This is an awesome win for them.”

Vargas was not happy with the Sea Kings’ departure from Division I this year, but he was happy with the division title.

“It’s been strange,” Vargas said. “But I don’t want to take anything away from this. It’s very satisfying.”

With a counter that left Servite straggling on defense, it was apparent the Sea Kings were going to push Servite with their speed.

“We have some fast swimmers,” Vargas said. “We wanted to run that counter as much as we could and make their lives miserable.”

Indeed, Servite’s usually fierce defense looked confused and even tired as it tried to keep up with Corona del Mar’s counter.

In addition, Corona del Mar’s success at shutting down the Friars’ No. 1 man, Michael Kim, was clearly effective. Kim picked up two early fouls, which put him in jeopardy of being ejected.

“We took Kim to the two meters and we were able to get those early calls on him,” Vargas said. “After that, he had to change his style of play. It’s a plan we had and it worked.”

In fact, Corona del Mar had only three ejections compared to Servite’s five, with two of the Friars’ ejections resulting in scores by the Sea Kings in man-up situations.

Kim did manage to score two goals but was notably quiet after the two fouls.

“He’s a strong guy,” Bowlus said. “It was hard to play him. But when he got those fouls it put the pressure on him, and less on us.”

The Sea Kings shut down Servite in the last quarter, and Garrett Gentry scored the last two goals, including the winner.

Alex Niehenke, who scored the winning goal against Los Alamitos in Saturday’s semifinal game, and Chriss Street each had one goal for the Sea Kings. Brad Netherton made eight saves.

Dane Jensen scored two goals and Vincent Bevins and Michael Mounigan each had a goal for Servite (24-6).