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Sacred Heart Prep scored the first six goals and 13 of the first 15 en route to a 21-6 pasting of Valley Christian in the semifinals of the Central Coast Section boys water polo Open Division tournament at St. Francis Wednesday night.
The Gators (24-3) play Bellarmine, which beat Menlo 10-9 in the other semifinal, for the Open Division title Saturday at San Benito High.
In Division I, Palo Alto (18-11) and Gunn (17-9) will meet for the title after both teams won Wednesday. Palo Alto edged Woodside 13-11 and Gunn topped Los Gatos 14-8.
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Julien Chow celebrates a Palo Alto victory. Photo taken Nov. 10, 2021 by Karen Ambrose Hickey. -
Gunn’s Rowan Brougham wins the race to the ball. Photo taken Nov. 10, 2021 by Butch Garcia. -
Blake Snyder takes a shot for Gunn while Colton Vale looks on. Photo taken Nov. 10, 2021 by Butch Garcia. -
Menlo goalie Cormac Mulloy. Photo taken Sept. 11, 2021 by Rick Eymer.
The crosstown rivals will be meeting for the fourth time this season, the last time being in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League tournament championship match, which Paly won. Gunn went undefeated during the regular season.
Sacred Heart Prep and Bellarmine are meeting for the third time, with SHP winning during the regular season and in the West Catholic Athletic League tournament championship.
SHP will be making its fourth straight trip to the Open Division title contest and will be facing Bellarmine for the third straight time. The two teams were declared co-champions in 2018, when the final game was canceled due to poor air quality.
Gavin West scored all four of his goals and Jack Vort all three of his goals in the first half. They were a combined 7-for-7 and the Gators were 21-of-28 overall.
Jake Tsotadze added two goals and assisted on two more for SHP, which scored more goals than Valley Christian attempted shots (19). Half of the Warriors goals came from penalty shots.
Nelson Harris, Hassen Hove and Luke Bachler each added a pair of goals and Nic Nikcevic scored twice and assisted on another.
Menlo held the lead, although slim, through much of the contest. Bellarmine took the edge midway through the fourth quarter after a pair of Menlo players had fouled out.
Menlo sophomore goalie Cormac Mulloy kept Menlo in the game, with 11 saves and 2 steals. Ethan Babel led Menlo with 2 assists.
Prior to the game, Menlo was honored by the CCS commissioner for having earned the second highest collective GPA among boys water polo teams, 3.697.
“It’s really pretty awesome when I step back and look at this group of young men, top 3 in CCS in water polo and also in team GPA,” Menlo coach Jack Bowen said. “Our team’s goal is to ‘Be Your Best,’ and that’s not just in the water but in the classroom as well. This is one of those losses where you can really be proud of your team for the way they played.”
Menlo will play in the Northern California championships slated to start midweek next week.
Gunn was led by Cole Vale and Nadav Efrat, each with 4 goals. Rowan Brougham and Blake Snyder each added a pair of goals.
By Rick Eymer
By Rick Eymer
By Rick Eymer
