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For the first time in a long time, there will be new champions crowned on Saturday in the boys’ Central Coast Section Division I and II water polo tournaments.
Menlo School will not defend its Division II crown and Bellarmine is long gone from defending its Division I title.
The new contenders include No. 1 seed Sacred Heart Prep and No. 2 St. Francis in Saturday’s Division II finale at 11:45 a.m., and No. 2 Palo Alto and No. 4 Menlo-Atherton in the Division I title match at 3:15 p.m. Both championship matches will be at Independence High in San Jose.
Sacred Heart Prep (25-3) advanced with a 16-6 win over No. 4 Burlingame while No. 3 Menlo (22-6) was upended by St. Francis, 10-6.
Palo Alto (19-7) advanced with a 13-9 win over No. 3 Leland at Bellarmine Prep.
And Menlo-Atherton? Well, the Bears continue to amaze with one exciting finish after another. Following up on its overtime triumph in the quarterfinals, Menlo-Atherton (17-9) topped that with a 10-9 upset of No. 1 Salinas in the third sudden-death overtime period.
Not only that, the way the Bears won was even more remarkable. With two minutes left in the third sudden-death period that followed two three-minute overtimes, M-A’s Alex Popp fired a pool-length shot from his goalie position that went in.
“He’s always asking me, ‘Can I shoot? Can I shoot?’ M-A coach Johnny Bega said of Popp. “I’ve just told him, ‘if you feel it, nail it.’ ”
Popp saw his opportunity and took it. His shot hit the crossbar and caromed down, hitting the Salinas goalie’s hands and ricocheting into the cage for the game-winner.
Popp took a similar shot at the buzzer at the end of regulation that appeared to go in, but the referees were not in position to get a good look and the match went to the first of two three-minute overtimes tied at 9.
Just as remarkable as his game-winner, Popp blocked a penalty shot in the second overtime to keep his team alive.
Bega said it was the third time this season that Popp has scored with a cage-to-cage shot. So, perhaps, good things come in threes for the Bears: Bega is in his third season as head coach and this will be M-A’s third championship game appearance in school history.
The Bears reached the semifinals two seasons ago and lost to Bellarmine in overtime in last year’s title game.
“We’re hoping maybe this will be our time,” Bega said.
As in third time is a charm?
“Maybe,” Bega said. “We’ll see.”
There will be no third time for the Menlo boys, however, as St. Francis ended the Knights’ hopes and string of 11 straight appearances in the CCS finals.
The teams were tied at 6 heading into the fourth quarter before the Lancers went on a 4-0 run to close out Menlo.
Menlo’s Alex Avery closed out his career with three goals and five steals while fellow senior Austin Cuellar also scored and had four steals.
Menlo’s swarm-defense, however, was not enough to contain the ferocious St. Francis offense.
Menlo, which graduated six seniors off last season’s 28-1 championship team, achieved more than perhaps coach Jack Bowen had hoped for this season.
