End of Line Is Marked by Elliott’s Roadblock

The probability of stopping a four-meter penalty shot in water polo is about as good as catching a mackerel barehanded.

But Santa Ana Foothill High goalkeeper Ian Elliott did it twice Wednesday against Villa Park, highlighting the Knights’ 14-8 victory at Villa Park.

The game marked the end of a Century League rivalry that began in 1976 and has decided the league champion in 23 of the last 26 seasons. League realignment next season will send Foothill to the Sea View League.

Foothill is 4-0 and can clinch the league title outright with a victory Wednesday at Anaheim Canyon.

Elliott, a first-team All-Southern Section Division I goalkeeper last season, set the tone three minutes into the game against Villa Park when he stopped Ross Pulver’s penalty shot aimed for the lower left corner.

Pulver said before the game that the key to beating Elliott was to fake high and shoot low.

That was no surprise to Elliott, who also blocked a four-meter shot in a victory Friday against Newport Beach Newport Harbor.

“I’ve got a little secret of my own to blocking four-meters,” said Elliott, who finished with 13 saves. “But I won’t say what it is until after [the playoffs].”

After Elliott’s save on Pulver, the Knights took a 2-0 lead on Kevin Logan’s goal.

The Spartans tied the score, 3-3, on Pulver’s lob over Elliott’s head with 5:09 left in the second quarter.

But Foothill scored five goals in the next four minutes and held a 9-4 lead at the half.

Foothill still held a five-goal lead midway through the third quarter when Elliott made his second four-meter save on a ball headed for the top right corner.

Another rivalry: It would be fitting should Newport Beach Corona del Mar Coach John Vargas’ and Anaheim Servite Coach Jim Sprague’s teams meet in the Southern Section Division II finals next month.

Vargas, who is leaving for Stanford after this season, won the first of his six Southern Section titles against Sprague’s Fullerton Sunny Hills team in 1985, handing the Lancers their only loss of the season.

Sunny Hills came back the next year, however, and upset the undefeated Sea Kings in the title game to end their 41-game winning streak.

Entering the week, Corona del Mar was the top-ranked team in Division II and Servite was second.

Top tournament: The two-day Tru-West Memorial Cup begins Friday in San Jose and will bring together eight of the top programs from Northern California and eight of Southern California’s best.

Six of the teams from the Southland are among The Times’ top-ranked teams, led by No. 2 Corona del Mar. The Sea Kings open against Clovis West at 11:15 a.m.