Crescenta Valley High boys’ water polo breezes through rematch with Poly
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PASADENA — One of the top regional and intradivisional boys’ water polo rivalries was renewed again Thursday afternoon at Pasadena Poly.
Crescenta Valley High, which last met the host Panthers in the quarterfinals of last season’s CIF Southern Section Division V quarterfinals, encountered a squad that wasn’t recognizable.
Usually formidable Poly graduated a large portion of last year’s squad and was mostly inexperienced and unaware of the chip the Falcons brought into the nonleague match.
Yet, even with that context, perhaps the Falcons’ 18-3 nonleague victory was still a little surprising.
“I know that they graduated most of the team and are rebuilding this year,” Crescenta Valley Coach Jan Sakonju said of Poly. “I thought they played well in the second quarter, but we still had a game and we still had a lot to work on.
“Any time you get a win against Poly, it’s nice.”
It was the Panthers who eliminated the Falcons from the playoffs last season via an 8-7 victory in the quarterfinals at Poly on Nov. 8.
Poly’s success that day was centered around a defense that limited quality attempts and forced several turnovers.
Fast forward to Thursday and the Falcons (4-2) exacted a measure of revenge employing the Panthers’ methods.
Crescenta Valley forced 21 turnovers (11 on steals) and was downright smothering throughout.
Poly junior driver Dylan Magsarili netted a goal with 4:56 remaining in the second quarter off an assist from teammate Luke Scheidemantle, which brought the Panthers (0-3) within 7-2.
The significance of that score wouldn’t be immediately known until the Falcons netted nine unanswered goals in taking a 16-2 lead at the 5:07 mark in the fourth after a five-meter score from Brandon Fernandez.
Poly was held scoreless for 16 minutes and 38 seconds as the team combined for nine shots in the second and third quarters versus 10 turnovers. By comparison, Crescenta Valley attempted 10 shots in the third quarter alone.
The Falcons’ defensive stand was finally halted when senior utility player Omar Dairi converted a penalty shot with 3:18 left in the game to account for Poly’s final score.
“We came looking to rectify what happened last year,” said Falcons senior driver Omar Trad, who led all players with four goals and three steals. “I’m very proud of what we were able to do on defense. Defense is what wins championships.”
The Falcons virtually sealed the game in the first quarter, outshooting Poly 10-7, but finishing with a 7-1 lead behind three goals from Trad and one goal and two assists from Vasil Halchev (three goals, five steals and three assists).
The few times the Panthers did find scoring chances, they also ran into starting goalie Logan Goddard, who finished with four saves and two steals in the first half.
“It feels real good to beat a team like Poly and to have the defense play the way it did,” Goddard said.
Goddard was replaced in the second half by Wesley Griffin, who tallied five saves.
Sakonju started making substitutions early in the second quarter, trying to get everyone of his 21 players on the roster some time.
Offensively, senior Trevor Goddard also added three goals and one steal to the Falcons’ attack. Trevor Goddard was one of 10 Falcons to at least score one goal and took pleasure in that fact.
“It’s good that everyone got a chance to play,” Trevor Goddard said. “It was team effort.”
On the flip side, Poly Coach Ryan Katsuyama was well aware that usual evenness between the competing programs is off kilter this year.
“We put Crescenta Valley on our schedule every year because they’re a very good team and right now we’re not on their level,” Katsuyama said. “I really believe that you can only improve when you play quality teams like Crescenta Valley and I think we picked up some valuable experience today.”
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Follow Andrew J. Campa on Twitter: @campadresports.