A dominant first half propelled Dos Pueblos boys water polo to a 17-6 victory over crosstown rival Santa Barbara High in its Channel League opener on Wednesday at Elings Aquatic Center.
The Chargers are now 1-0 in league action, while the Dons dropped to 0-2 following two straight losses to their crosstown foes.
“I think they’re feeling pretty good,” Dos Pueblos head coach Chris Parrish said of his squad. “We’re right in that middle stretch of the season. It’s leading up to a big weekend, we’re heading down to the South Coast Tournament, which will be a big tournament for us.
“It was nice to knock off a little bit of rust because we hadn’t played in a little while, so it was good to have this game as a little tune-up for the tournament. It’s always fun to play Santa Barbara, you know, the kids know each other really well, and so it’s great to get out there.”
The Chargers raced out to a fast start in the opening quarter thanks to Grant Nelson, who scored the first two goals of the day off assists from Aricin Marshall and Ben Fuhrer to take a 2-0 lead two minutes in.
While the Dos Pueblos defense continued to stifle the Dons early, the Chargers continued to pour on the goals as Eli Carnaghe, Lucas Neushul and Fuhrer all scored to bring the lead to 5-0 with 1:58 left in the first.
“I really wanted them to focus on the defensive end,” Parrish said. “We’re trying a couple of different things, where we’re not in a hard press and we’re trying to use a clock as another defender.
“We want to make the clock run, rather than just fouling everywhere and letting them maintain possession for a little bit longer than I think they should hold onto it, and I think they did a pretty good job.”
Santa Barbara High then got on the board less than 20 seconds later when Paolo Borgioli found West Graham, who found the back of the cage to cut the deficit to 5-1.
However, Nelson scored once more off an assist from Carnaghe to complete the first-quarter hat trick and take a 6-1 lead into the second.
Dos Pueblos continued to roll early in the second quarter as the defense consistently turned into offense on the other end. A Koa Zertuche save set up a goal by Carnaghe, while a steal by Nelson allowed Neushul to score and grow the lead to 8-1.
“The way [Santa Barbara] was running that defense, we knew that there were going to be some opportunities in transition, and I think we saw a few of those in the first half,” Parrish said.
The Dons then got back into the scoring column on an outside shot by Will Stearns-Corbin to make it 8-2, but the Chargers answered as Neushul scored twice and Carnaghe completed his hat trick to go back up 11-2.
Santa Barbara’s Lorenzo Russell then got into the scorebook with a strong individual effort on the inside that ended in a score. Russell saw several Charger defenders throughout the game as the focal point of the defensive effort.
“Lorenzo is a really good player, so it’s good practice for us to key in a player like that,” Parrish said.
Dos Pueblos added two more goals from Nelson and Adam Gelman before halftime to balloon the lead to 13-3.
The third quarter was a low-scoring affair, as both sides managed just one goal apiece. Nelson scored for Dos Pueblos, while Borgioli scored for the Dons.
Nelson’s big day came to a close early in the second quarter, as he scored two more goals to bring his total to seven before the Chargers pulled their starters for the final five minutes of play.
The Dons outscored Dos Pueblos 2-1 down the stretch with goals from Borgioli and Jack Fulbeck. The Chargers’ final score came courtesy of Channing Wigo to bring the game to its final score of 17-4.
While Nelson’s seven goals led the team, Marshall dished out eight assists for the Chargers as the main facilitator from the right side of the pool.
“He’s the best reader of the game. We send him out on the right side as the sole lefty on the team,” Parrish said. “He has a really good sense of where the ball needs to be, and he has a good sense of who’s going to be open and what moment, just from playing with these guys for so long.”
In the cage, Zertuche’s strong freshman campaign continued with 13 total saves in the win.
“[Zertuche] is starting to get really comfortable; he’s the one person on the team that has played every minute of the season so far,” Parrish said. “For a freshman, you can see that the learning curve is initially pretty steep, and now he’s really becoming very comfortable.
“I think he’s developing really quickly, and the kids just love playing with them because they can rely on him behind them.”
As for the Dons, Borgioli led the way on the offensive end with two goals and two assists.