Dos Pueblos boys water polo pulled away in the second half en route to a 17-9 rivalry win over San Marcos on Tuesday at Elings Aquatics Center in Goleta.
The Chargers (14-5, 2-0 Channel League), who were ranked No. 5 in CIF-SS in the first poll of the year, showcased their depth in the crosstown showdown against the No. 14 Royals (9-10, 1-2 CL) with players from every grade level contributing to the victory.
“It’s a great dynamic. We try and foster that quite a bit,” Dos Pueblos head coach Chris Parrish said of his team’s depth across grade levels. “We have a freshman that is starting for us right now, and then we’ve got a bunch of sophomores that are playing all the time, juniors that are getting great minutes and then three senior leaders.Â
“It’s a good foundation for the program down the road. We just want to keep seeing younger guys fill in and the older guys pull them in, teach them and integrate them as quickly as possible.”
The opening quarter was a tight battle, with Dos Pueblos’ Channing Wigo scoring off a transition and San Marcos’ Brandon Lee finding the back of the net through contact for a 1-1 tie through two minutes.
Wigo stayed hot with a point-blank goal to take a lead, but the Royals answered back strongly as Lee scored for a second time off an assist from Mateo Muslera and Ryder Wilson scored to grab the visitors’ first lead at 3-2.
However, the Chargers got the last laugh of the first as Wyatt Warkentin and Grant Nelson got on the board to give their team a 4-3 lead heading into the second.
“It’s a rivalry game. We knew the other team was going to come out with a lot of energy and they did, and they kept up with us for a long time,” Parrish said.Â
Dos Pueblos carried that momentum over to the second, as Wigo secured a hat trick and Lucas Neushul scored off an assist from goalie Koa Zertuche to extend the lead to 6-3 with 6:07 left in the half.
San Marcos stopped the bleeding a bit when the Roth brothers connected as Kumani Roth found his brother, Indiana, for a goal that cut the deficit to 6-4. The Chargers immediately responded, with Warkentin dishing a pass to Wigo, who finished the goal to bring it back to a three-goal lead with 5:17 to go.
The two sides traded goals to end the half, with Gavin Miller scoring for the Royals and Neushul securing his second of the quarter to give Dos Pueblos an 8-5 halftime advantage.
“Dos Pueblos is ranked No. 5 in Southern California for a reason. I thought we came out strong and did a good job staying with them in the first half,” San Marcos head coach Peera Sukavivatanachai said.
The Chargers came out of the second half in complete control, stifling the San Marcos offense and rattling off five unanswered goals to balloon the lead to 13-5 with 1:48 to go in the third quarter.
“Even though we had a three-goal lead at halftime, it didn’t feel like that. It felt like if they got two quick goals, we’d be in trouble. Fortunately, we were able to really spread it out that quarter and put our foot down, keep it on the gas,” Parrish said. “I was really excited for them to play a competitive first half.”
In the third-quarter outburst, Nelson and Neushul each scored twice and Wigo found the back of the net for the fifth time in the game. Wigo’s five goals led the team, while Nelson and Neushul ended with four apiece.
“Our big guys showed up, Lucas with four, Channing and Grant with five each. They did really well,” Parrish said.
The Royals got on the board in the third with a penalty goal by Lee, but Dos Pueblos’ Max Gelman scored off a Skyler Carroll assist to give the home team a 14-6 lead with one quarter to play.
The Chargers thwarted any hope at a comeback effort early in the fourth, as Nelson and Warkentin scored in the first two minutes of the quarter to make it a 16-6 advantage.
Nelson buried his fourth and final goal later in the quarter, while San Marcos ended the game on a high note with three straight goals from Lee, Indiana Roth and Muslera to bring the game to its final score of 17-9.
While the Nelson-Neushul-Wigo trio led the Dos Pueblos offensive attack, Zertuche anchored a strong defensive effort with eight blocks. Zertuche also added five assists, sparking a strong transition game.
“When your goalie is second on the team in assists with five, you know you’re doing pretty well in transition. That was really helpful,” Parrish said. “We had some defensive breakdowns and I was hoping we would be a little bit tighter on the defensive end, but we had a couple good shot blocks, forced shots from bad angles and Koa did a great job.”
On the other side, Lee paced the Royals with four goals and Indiana Roth scored twice. Defensively, Titus Fernandez totaled 13 saves.
Dos Pueblos will host Ventura on Thursday, while San Marcos will be off on Thursday before heading down to Ventura High next Tuesday. The Chargers and Royals will meet for a rematch next Thursday.
“There’s a reason we’re ranked No. 14 and they’re No. 5. We still have room to grow. The positive is that we get another opportunity next Thursday in our home pool,” Sukavivatanachai said. “We’re excited to get back to work, make some adjustments, and see how much we can improve the second time around.”
