CCS boys
Open Division
Sacred Heart Prep 10, St. Francis 9
The Bay Area’s boys water polo dynasty added more championship hardware to its crowded trophy case. Sacred Heart Prep made it seven Central Coast Section Open Division titles in a row on Saturday night as the Gators took down the Lancers.
“I feel like I’m top of the world,” senior Nelson Harris said.
Clay Carrington scored four goals for SHP, and Harris bagged two while Oliver Marcin scored twice as well
That didn’t mean it was easy.
St. Francis – which had already lost to SHP twice this season — gave the dominant program everything it could handle.
St. Francis’ Chase Krupitzer scored thrice for St. Francis, and Darius Sayers scored twice.
ATHERTON – Sacred Heart Prep boys water polo players celebrate with one another after winning the CCS Open Division title game. Teams played in the 2024 Central Coast Section water polo championships at Sacred Heart Prep on Saturday, Nov. 16 in Atherton, Calif. (Joseph Dycus/Bay Area News Group)
The Gators led 6-2 midway through the second quarter, scoring four consecutive goals on five-meter penalties. But the Lancers regrouped, scoring three of the final four goals of the period to go into halftime down just 7-5.
Krupitzer scored twice and Viollier put in one to tie the game at 8-8 with 47 seconds left in the third quarter. But Kirincich took the lead back for SHP just 20 seconds later.
Carrington added a goal in the fourth quarter to give SHP an insurance score, one they needed when Robert Swanson cut the lead to just one with 1:32 left in the game.
But SHP got the stops it needed, and the Gators clinched their seventh Open title.
ATHERTON – A Sacred Heart Prep water polo player takes a five-meter shot in the CCS Open Division championship. Teams played in the 2024 Central Coast Section water polo championships at Sacred Heart Prep on Saturday, Nov. 16 in Atherton, Calif. (Joseph Dycus/Bay Area News Group)
Division I
Los Altos 9, Serra 7 (OT)
ATHERTON – Los Altos’ boys water polo team celebrates winning the championship. Teams played in the 2024 Central Coast Section water polo championships at Sacred Heart Prep on Saturday, Nov. 16 in Atherton, Calif. (Joseph Dycus/Bay Area News Group)
Los Altos put in three overtime goals to capture the Division I title over Serra in the first game of the day at Sacred Heart Prep. Colby Sims, Joseph Tadros and Tiernan Braun each scored two goals apiece to help power the Eagles to the title.
It was Los Altos’ first CCS championship. The Eagles had lost all six of their previous title game appearances.
Goalkeeper Weston Carballar had seven saves. Senior Joshua Tang showed off his diverse skillset throughout the match, scoring two goals, dishing out an assist and even getting a few steals as Los Altos battled Serra to a 6-6 tie in regulation.
“This season, we’ve been down a lot, so we knew what to do,” Tang said. “We were calm, but there were nerves. We just knew we had to stay confident and just keep shooting.”
Serra went from down two goals to up by one during the third quarter after Reed Hagmueller bagged a trio of goals in a seven-minute stretch, with his last being a spectacular volley from the halfway line as time expired. Blake Hagmueller, Henry Graham and Colin Wright also scored for Serra.
Division II
Valley Christian 13, Leland 11
ATHERTON – Valley Christian players hoist the trophy after winning a title. Teams played in the 2024 Central Coast Section water polo championships at Sacred Heart Prep on Saturday, Nov. 16 in Atherton, Calif. (Joseph Dycus/Bay Area News Group)
In a showdown between Blossom Valley Athletic League and West Catholic Athletic League teams, the WCAL’s Valley Christian captured its first-ever boys water polo title in any division thanks in large part to Garett Crabb’s five goals.
“That was his best game of the season,” VC coach Caleb Carlson said. “Maybe not the most goals he’s ever scored, but he had four blocks and was the best player the whole game. What a phenomenal way to go out as a senior.”
Leland stormed out to a three-goal lead in the first period thanks to goals by Louis Descioli, Jake Primmer and Luke Raimondi. Crabb got the Valley Christian attack going with a made shot from in close, and the Warriors used that momentum to pile it on in the second quarter.
Chase Blitzer scored a pair of five-meter shots, and Crabb added another five-meter goal. Kalob Hvesca and Kaden Cochran also scored one goal apiece to give VC six goals at halftime. Raimondi scored one more in the second quarter to make the halftime score 6-4.
Crabb put in two more third-quarter goals and teammate Darius Deac added another to help Valley Christian keep its distance from Leland. But after leading 11-7 in the fourth, Leland scored four times to cut Valley’s lead to 12-11. Deac iced things for VC with a late goal.
Crabb ended the day with five goals, and Blitzer had three. Raimondi scored four goals and Descoli had three for Leland.
CCS girls
Open Division
Sacred Heart Prep 12, Soquel 2
The top-seeded Gators left no doubt as to who the best team in the CCS was on Saturday afternoon. In front of an adoring home crowd, the Gators poured in seven third-quarter goals to put Soquel away in SHP’s second CCS Open title in a row.
The teams came in with history. In 2021 and 2022, Soquel beat SHP in the Open final. A year ago, SHP outlasted Soquel 9-6.
The 2024 edition was over midway through the third quarter.
“The whole season, we’ve emphasized a third quarter push and not letting up” SHP senior Natalia Szcerba said. “We just clicked in the third quarter, and we just went with it. Its been a trend in our other games as well.”
She added, “This is the perfect way to end any season, and a perfect way to top off my senior year.”
Szcerba scored four goals, Vivian Golub had four as well, and Kiernan Hogan, Alexandra Krna, Lauren Rossi, and Megan Newby all scored as well.
The Gators controlled the first half, with goalkeeper Ellison Brush acting as the foundation of a tenacious defense. She blocked shots and began most attacks as a passer.
That offense put one goal on the board in the first quarter, a slick shot by Golub. The second quarter saw Szcerba convert a nifty back-handed shot to double the lead, and Hogan blasted in a shot for a 3-0 lead.
Soquel’s Libby Forest was able to sneak one past the SHP defense when her shot was deflected, but Szcerba got it back a few moments later to send the Gators into halftime up 4-1.
After the Gators put in seven third-quarter goals, the last being a spectacular Szcerba Hail Mary volley from three-quarters of the pool length away as time expired, SHP emptied the bench and got ready to celebrate.
“It is easy to do things the right way when you play such a high level of competition,” SHP coach Jamie Frank said. “We knew that the other team was going to give their best effort, so we just came in ready to execute our gameplan and play within ourselves.”
Division I
Leigh 9, Los Altos 8
ATHERTON – Leigh water polo players embrace after winning a title. Teams played in the 2024 Central Coast Section water polo championships at Sacred Heart Prep on Saturday, Nov. 16 in Atherton, Calif. (Joseph Dycus/Bay Area News Group)
Leigh’s senior-heavy team survived a furious Los Altos rally in the final quarter to clinch a second CCS Division I title in three years. After Taite Robbins scored a pair of goals in the third quarter to put the Longhorns up 9-4, the Eagles scored four in the final seven minutes.
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“I was a little bit nervous in that fourth quarter, but it ended up being fine,” Leigh senior Emma Little said. “I’m super proud of this team.”
Little did her part to get that lead, scoring twice in the second quarter. Teammate Miya Pierre put in four goals to pace all players, including one on a breakaway. Carmen Kelly also scored once for Leigh. Goalkeeper Katie Schader had a great game for the Longhorns, and Los Altos keeper Alison Han had 14 saves.
The Eagles actually jumped out to a 3-1 first quarter lead thanks to one Ava Smith lob goal and two Sophia Boschken goals. But the offense remained mostly dormant after that, aside from a Kylie Barkovich goal in the third quarter.
That changed in the fourth, when Boschken, Barkovich, and Kylie Parman’s goals almost brought Los Altos all the way back.
