By Uy Pham
The Fountain Valley High School boys’ water polo (10-8) dominated the Westminster High (7-10) School Lions on Tuesday’s nonleague matchup, scoring a total of 12 unanswered goals in the first two periods.
The Lions attempted to rally back in the second half, outsourcing the Barons seven goals to three; however, ultimately, their effort failed to exceed the Barons’ dominant scoring margin of 15-7.
“The boys really meshed together. They started right from the get-go compared to previous games [where] we had slow starts,” head coach Kyle Adama said. “They held the first half very well and kept pushing [the Lions] on the counterattack, played good defense and made sure our passes were in the right spot to the right team members.”
Throughout the game, the Barons capitalized on maintaining a strong defensive line, led by seniors Jake Xa and Charlie Koch, and generated scoring opportunities based on the resulting counterattacks. With Xa scoring a few goals of his own, senior Ryan Zarzana also worked to set the tempo early on, netting the first few goals of the game.
To start off the game, the Barons immediately scored four goals in the first four minutes, including goals from Zarzana and junior Billy Watkins. A combined passing play involving Watkins and senior Jake Nguyen led to another goal for Zarzana, who found the top right corner.
Continuing with their counterattacks, the Barons located another side shot and Zarzana completed a no-look shot to the bottom right, extending the Barons’ lead 8-0 with 1:23 remaining. On the defensive side, Koch intercepted several passes and sophomore Elijah Merill maintained defensive pressure in front of the goal.
Merrill heaved a pass to Xa. Taking his time, Xa winded up and fired a powerful shot to the bottom corner for a 9-0 to end the first period.
“We need to keep up that movement and positive attitude,” Adama said. “As soon as the warm-up is done, we’re hitting the gas pedal and really pushing a hard positive offensive.”
The Barons had a slower start to begin the second period; despite their well-connected passing schemes, the Barons struggled to score shots on target. Westminster, looking to score their first goal, skidded a shot to the corner but Merrill stepped up for another save.
Reigniting the tempo for the Barons and 5:10 remaining, Xa received the ball off a cross-field pass and shot it back in the left direction for the Barons’ double-digit lead, 10-0.
Westminster’s goalie saved several one-on-one situations, and the Barons struggled to maintain the momentum to score despite their multitude of offensive opportunities. Merrill made several key saves of his own to prevent Weminster from scoring, and the Barons rotated the ball around the pool to locate junior Owen Nacke.
From the middle, Nacke located his target for a shot and scored to make the score 11-0. With 1:28 remaining, Koch secured the ball off a defensive turnover, advanced toward the goal and outmaneuvered the Lions’ goalie for the Barons’ 12th goal.
In the third period, the Lions intensified their defensive pressure against the Barons, at times swarming the Barons upon receiving possession in front of the Lions’ cage. Locating space for a shot, the Lions secured a no-look shot which sailed in for their first goal of the game.
“We wanted to make sure that everyone’s getting play time and experience. We also made sure that we’re rotating the ball, making correct water polo moves,” Adama said. “The second half was focused on doing things we haven’t done before with slight changes, different dynamics [and] making sure our boys are pushing new philosophy and learning different tactics.”
Quickly responding, Xa secured the ball and shot the ball through the arms of three Westminster players to bring the score to 13-1 and 4:17 remaining.
Sophomore Tanner Davis and Merill stopped another shot attempt for the Barons. Merrill would go to save several one-on-one situations to end the period, as the Barons struggled to overcome the Lions’ tight-knit defensive pressure on all of the Barons’ offensive attempts to advance toward the goal.
The Lions employed a new strategy to start the final period, which entailed situating several players near the cage to provide additional obstacles to the Barons’ attempts for on-target shots. With the Barons employing their new strategies, the Barons failed to break through the defense and instead conceded four rapidly scored goals from the Lions.
Despite the Lions scoring an additional two goals and maintaining their structured defense in front of the goal, the Barons closed the game with two final goals of their own, bringing the score to 15-7.
“We made great drives, great movement and offense, everything mixed together well,” Adama said. “We didn’t have any giant blunders that would lead to steals and mistakes … We kept a level head the whole way through.”
After the game, spectators, friends and families gathered to celebrate the six seniors on the team. Each senior received an introduction and addressed the crowd, highlighting their favorite moments and memories spent competing for the last four years in the pool as Barons.
“Our six seniors are this mesh of coming in on the back-end of COVID-19 for high school water polo. Then, we had our pool down with some heater issues, and we were building a new water pool,” Adama said. “They’ve had a lot of dynamic situations but they kept showing up to practice with long, grueling workouts [but also] staying positive and coming to their senior year and performing.”
With the Barons currently winless in the Sunset Wave League (0-3), the Barons will face off against Marina High School in a league matchup away at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
