Wilson comes from behind to beat Poly
LONG BEACH ❯❯ The Wilson boys water polo team scored five straight goals in a fiveminute stretch in the second half to pull off an 1110 comeback win at Poly on Wednesday night.
Senior Wyatt Mitchell led the Bruins with four goals, including the game-winner early in the fourth quarter of the emotional rivalry game.
“Cutthroat. It's a battle the whole way through,” Mitchell said. “First quarter to fourth quarter, it's an intense rivalry.”
The Bruins improved to 13-9 overall and 4-0 in the Moore League.
“Those early mornings, that grind, it all pays off in the fourth quarter,” Mitchell said.
“For Wyatt, he's a senior leader,” Wilson coach Zac Polmanteer said. “He gave us the gas pedal that we needed.”
Wilson led 4-2 at the end of the first quarter. The Bruins were tied 5-5 at halftime and were tied 8-8 heading into the fourth quarter. That's when the Bruins scored three consecutive goals, highlighted by Mitchell's fourth goal of the game, which extended Wilson's lead to 11-8 with 4:55 to go.
Poly pulled within 11-10 with 1:06 to go. However, Wilson was able to control the ball, in particular for the final 26 seconds, and run out the clock to win the game.
“This game was the culmination of years and years of a tight, really hard-fought rivalry between us and Wilson,” Poly coach Ish Pluton said. “The last time Poly won was 2006, so it's years and years of this built up (feeling of) we really want to win and so all that energy, you could see the boys taking that and riding with it and using that as a wave to buoy them in the game and fight super freaking hard. This is the closest it's been in years.”
Poly is now 14-11 overall and 3-1 in the Moore League. Junior Emerson LaPorta led Poly with four goals. The team's defensive anchor was junior goalie Sean Kerry, who energized his team with several bigtime stops, including blocking Mitchell's penalty shot early in the third quarter.
“If we play like that in CIF (playoffs), we know that we're going to take home a championship and we're looking to play like that,” Kerry said. “We're closer than ever right now and I think we played amazing and no one is really down after that game.”
Despite the loss, Poly's performance against its Division 1 rival Wilson has its coach feeling good about the team's chances in the Division 2 playoffs.
“The sky is the limit right now,” Pluton said. “If we play like that through Division 2 playoffs, we're going for sure and that's what we were talking about as a team and I didn't even say, the boys are saying that. They're pumped.”
Poly led Wilson 8-6 with 1:45 left in the third after senior Markus Cruz lofted an unconventional shot over Bruins senior goalie Ace Dumont's outstretched arms. Wilson freshman attacker Vaughn Baker responded with back-to-back goals over the next 23 seconds to tie the game 8-8 with 1:07 left in the third.
“We try to hype each other up, we try to get the best out of each other and he clearly was just built for the moment,” Mitchell said when asked Baker's timely goals.
Wilson, which won the opening possession in the first, second and fourth quarters, has clinched at least a share of the league title. The Bruins can win the league championship outright with a victory at home against Cabrillo next Wednesday.
“I have hope for us down the stretch,” Polmanteer said. “I think that, to me, felt like a playoff game. It felt like a championship game.
“I think that's a necessary experience for any team with championship dreams or going deep in the postseason dreams. You have to go through those woes, those difficulties being down, calling all the timeouts, stoppage, weird officiating, loud building. You have to experience that stuff to have toughness down the road.”
The CIF Southern Section playoffs begin Oct. 31. Playoff brackets will be released Oct. 28.