South Broward’s late rally falls short

MIAMI – Olympia got off to a fast start and South Broward’s second-half comeback ran out of time as the Titans outlasted the Bulldogs, 18-15, to win their first FHSAA boys water polo state championship.

Leading, 2-1, in the first quarter Olympia scored four consecutive goals, the last two by Luke Carey, to take an early 6-1 lead that South Broward could never completely overcome.

“They caught us flat as they scored four unanswered,” said Bulldogs senior Cody-Alexander Jones, who scored a gamehigh eight goals.

South Broward (21-4) trailed, 12-5, at halftime after allowing three goals in the final 72 seconds of the first half, which led to a motivating speech by Bulldogs coach Chris Bloese, who coached her final game for South Broward as she is moving out of state.

“The halftime talk that coach Bloese gave us was definitely inspirational,” said Jones. “That’s what kick-started us.”

The Bulldogs rallied by scoring four of the first five goals in the third quarter to trail by only four at, 13-9. Olympia (29-2) took a timeout, then the Titans scored three of the last four goals of the quarter to lead, 16-10, to start the fourth.

Jones scored a pair of goals in the first 90 seconds of the fourth quarter for South Broward to cut the deficit to four goals, but Olympia’s offense went into a delay mode and the Bulldogs would not get closer than four goals until 17 seconds remained when Jones capped the scoring at, 18-15.

“It’s definitely a good feeling to get where we are but it’s a disappointment that we didn’t come out on top,” said Jones, who has committed to play at St. Francis College in New York.

Carey and Alec Johnson led the Titans by scoring five goals each.