Hank Jessup had a busy night for the San Marcos boys water polo team in Thursday’s CIF-SS Division 2 second-round game against Chadwick.
Jessup’s work at both ends of the pool was key for the Royals in pulling out an 11-9 victory over the Dolphins at the Elings Aquatic Center at Dos Pueblos High and advancing to the quarterfinals on Saturday at Yorba Linda.
At the defensive end, Jessup had his hands full guarding Chadwick senior center Allen Kotoyantz. He battled with the powerful Kotoyantz and eventually fouled out with 5:36 left in the fourth quarter.
“As long as we kept him contained out of center, we were OK, but the moment they put the ball in his hands we were in trouble for sure,” San Marcos coach Peera Sukavivatanachai said of Kotoyantz.
He scored five goals in the first three periods, but the Royals held him scoreless in the fourth period.
Before fouling out, Jessup converted on a power-play with 5:36 to go, giving the Royals the lead for good, 9-8, in the tight, intense playoff battle on a foggy evening.
Clinging to the one-goal lead, the Royals got a break after a Chadwick shot appeared to be tipped by San Marcos goalie Chris Vannier. Instead of the Dolphins getting the ball back, it was awarded to the Royals.
Nic Prentice capitalized on the possession and San Marcos took its biggest lead of the game, 10-8, with 4:15 left.
Vannier came up big in the cage to keep the Dolphins at bay.
In a one-on-one confrontation, he stuffed a point-blank shot with two hands to preserve the two-goal lead.
After the Royals’ defense stole a pass inside, Vannier made another save on shot from Alex Baker to keep the 10-8 lead with 3:09 to play.
“He was a little slow to start, but he got his confidence later in the game for sure,” Sukavivatanachai said of his goalie.
Jordan Lind put San Marcos up 11-8 with a long-distance shot that just beat the 30-second shot clock.
“That’s the best he’s been shooting all season, so I’m super excited he decided to be here today,” the Royals coach said.
Chadwick called a timeout to set up a play, but the Royals’ defense denied the Dolphins by stealing the ball in the set position with 1:59 to go.
Alex Baker scored for Chadwick with 59 seconds left, and the Dolphins got the ball back on a steal. They misfired with 12 seconds to go, and San Marcos ran out the clock.
The Royals had a balanced attack as Prentice, Jessup and Lind each scored three goals and Charlie Franzen added two.
But it was the defensive performance that made the difference for San Marcos.
“Our guys just did a good job of shutting down that team,” said Sukavivatanachai, who noted that the last time San Marcos made it to the quarterfinals was in his first year as coach in 2018.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.