13 locals playing in Saturday’s All-star games
The 11th Annual East – West All Star Water Polo boys and girls games is hosted by the Visalia Downtown Kiwanis Club and will be played this Saturday at El Diamante High School in Visalia.
Each game will pit the East Yosemite League’s best senior players against the West Yosemite League’s finest. Game time for the girls contest is 12 p.m. while the boys game play at 1:20 p.m. Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for students. Children three and under are free.
Coaching the East girls team is Porterville’s Evan Thomas and Monache’s Brandon Weaver. Under Thomas, the Panthers (25-5, 8-0 EYL) went undefeated in EYL and won their first CIF Central Section Division II championship since 2006 with a 10-7 win over last year’s champion, Redwood (2112,10-0 WYL). Monache (18-13, 5-3 EYL) finished their season with a 1211 overtime loss to Redwood.
Representing the Panthers girls is Rosemary Chapman, Shyanne Rainey and Samantha Rainey. Playing from the Marauders is Emily Chapman, Emily Adame, Katie Land and Abby Buotte.
For the boys, Monache’s Rich Taylor and Tulare Union’s Jon Brogan are coaching the East team. Taylor led the Marauders to a 2-5 EYL record and were 9-14 overall. The Tribe went 21-9 overall and 4-4 in EYL.
Josh Halopoff is Porterville’s lone player playing while Nick Taylor, Ian Acevedo and Brett Martin are Monache’s representatives. From a Strathmore Moses Bower and Cotter Ashcraft are also playing.
The Spartans went 1910 on the overall season and 9-2 in East Sequoia League play. Strathmore lost 22-16 to eventual Div. III Valley champion Hanford (17-13) in the semis.