Burroughs boys’ water polo reels in first CIF championship
First came the patches, followed by the T-shirts. Then the Burroughs High boys’ water polo team picked up the elusive CIF championship plaque.
It’s a sight Burroughs wanted to see become a reality since the start of the playoffs with second-year coach Jacob Cook passing the plaque to his players.
Third-seeded Burroughs received an impressive defensive effort and a balanced scoring attack to post a 12-7 win against San Juan Hills on Saturday in the CIF Southern Section Division V championship match at William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center.
It marked the first title in program history and the second CIF team championship overall for Burroughs High.
“It’s sunk in a little bit already, but it’s an unbelievable feeling right now for the school and the area,” said Cook, who previously served as an assistant at Burroughs for five years. “We had to go out there and work hard and prove ourselves throughout the playoffs.
“We knew that we had to play very good defense to give us a chance. That’s exactly what they did. Our guys went out there and did the job. They get the credit.”
Burroughs (25-6) received four goals apiece from Aram Nordanyan and David Arakelyan, three from JJ Ambartsumyan and one from Marko Vucetic to turn back San Juan Hills (18-12). Burroughs goalkeeper Andre Abramyan finished with 11 saves.
The Indians, who finished second in the Pacific League before posting playoff victories against Whittier, Jurupa Valley, Citrus Valley and second-seeded La Cañada, never trailed. The Stallions, who split the Sea View League championship, were often frustrated by the Indians’ stingy defense in five-meter territory.
“We knew coming in that we’d have to play great defense to have a chance,” said Arakelyan, a junior attacker. “I think we had a good plan of trying to clog them up in our end and we felt like we could eventually get some goals.
“We knew they were a good team because they beat the No. 1 seed [Corona]. That motivated us even more to play smart defense. We felt like we had a team that could make a run at the championship. We had very good chemistry and our guys believed in themselves right from the start.”
Nordanyan gave the Indians a 1-0 lead with a man-advantage goal with 3:44 left in the first quarter. Nordanyan, a senior utility, then scored two goals about 90 seconds apart midway through the second quarter to extend the lead to 3-0. Arakelyan assisted on both goals by Nordanyan before closing out the first-half scoring with 1:03 left.
“You saw our guys coming back on defense in the first half and that made a huge difference,” Nordanyan said. “We got a couple of counter-attacks and that led to us going the other way, drawing ejections and getting some goals.
“We got that first goal of the game and we were thinking that we had to win this after coming so far. It’s great to win CIF and be there for one another.”
A goal by Arakelyan made it 5-0 with 5:26 to go in the third quarter. Brent McClain of San Juan Hills scored to make it 5-1 with 4:41 remaining in the third quarter. Ambartsumyan scored twice for the Indians to make it 7-2. San Juan Hills cut the deficit to 7-4 on a five-meter shot by McClain with 19 seconds left to pick up a little momentum. However, Arakelyan completed the third-quarter scoring with five seconds to play to make it 8-4.
Ambartsumyan, Vucetic and Nordanyan each scored in a two-minute span early in the fourth quarter to make it 11-4 and ice the game. Arakelyan gave the Indians a 12-5 lead with 2:44 left before McClain tallied a pair of goals in the final minute to cap the scoring.
“Burroughs did an amazing job on defense,” said San Juan Hills Coach Ivan Buich, whose team topped Murrieta Mesa, Don Lugo, Western and Corona on its road to the final. “They ran a hard press against us and they came out real strong.
“Maybe we were a little nervous at the beginning . Burroughs just played better than we did. We’re now motivated to come back next year.”
San Juan Hills got two goals from Ciaran Patrick and one from Maxwell Miller. San Juan Hills goalkeeper Andrew Mansoor finished with 17 saves.
Burroughs’ championship squad also includes David Jimenez, Eric Aperian, Jeremy Acosta, Max Zekowski, Simon Kharazyan, Jerry Solano, Manuel Esparza, Nicholas D’Agostaro, Scott Sauve, Leon Burns and Brenner Goldsen. The assistant coach is Martin Ortega-Jennison.
The water polo team joined the 2014 boys’ cross-country squad as the only teams to win CIF crowns in the school’s 68-year history.
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Charles Rich, charles.rich@latimes.com
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
