Los Alamitos Wins Water Polo Crown

Los Alamitos shook off the memory of two consecutive losses in the Southern Section Division II boys’ water polo final Monday night and upset top-seeded Villa Park, 8-7, at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

The second-seeded Griffins scored the go-ahead goal on a lob shot by the team’s leading scorer, senior Scott Davidson, with 2:33 remaining.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from Davidson,”’ said junior Clayton Snyder, who had three goals, an assist and drew an ejection that led to another goal, all in the first half, to help Los Alamitos to a 6-4 lead.

Villa Park (32-1) had an opportunity to tie the score when senior Shea Buckner broke ahead of the defense, but his lob shot hit the crossbar with 48 seconds remaining and Los Alamitos recovered the loose ball. Buckner, who came into the game with 190 goals on the season, was held to two.

After the Spartans tied the score, 2-2, early in the second quarter, Los Alamitos (25-6) responded with four consecutive goals. Villa Park rallied to tie the score, 7-7, with 48 seconds left in the third quarter but was held scoreless in the fourth.

In the Division III final, fourth-seeded Montebello edged third-seeded Whittier La Serna, 11-9, for its second consecutive Division III title.

Montebello (26-6) scored on all three of its man-advantage situations in the third quarter and held the Lancers (28-5) scoreless on both its extra-man possessions to take a 9-7 lead.

Yuriel Villa scored two of his three goals in the fourth quarter to help the Oilers maintain their two-goal cushion.

Jeff Greenwood scored three goals to lead La Serna, which fell to 0-7 in section finals.

Dan Arritt

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Passings

A memorial service will be held Wednesday for Ed Phillips, principal at Oxnard Rio Mesa, who collapsed during his team’s first-round football playoff game Friday and later died. He was 56.

Phillips suffered an apparent heart attack. He died at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard shortly after 10:30 p.m.

The memorial service begins at 2 p.m. at the school’s football stadium. The funeral is private.

-- Martin Henderson