Panthers remain undefeated
The reigning CIF Central Section Division II and East Yosemite League boys water polo champion Panthers of Porterville High School picked up their third straight double-digit win with a 17-6 win over Kingsburg in Tuesday’s nonleague game at home.
The reigning CIF Central Section Division II and East Yosemite League boys water polo champion Panthers of Porterville High School picked up their third straight double-digit win with a 17-6 win over Kingsburg in Tuesday’s non-league game at home.
“They came out tough and that’s what we wanted,” PHS head coach Mickey Goularte said. “We’re trying to establish that you come out at a high level no matter who you’re playing. So it doesn’t matter if you think you’re better than the team or not, still you come out at a real high level. And they did that today.”
Porterville came out firing in the first quarter with senior Grant Snyder scoring the first goal 15 seconds into the game. Snyder scored the second goal of the game as well off an assist from sophomore Trevor Riley for a 2-0 lead with 4 minutes and 59 seconds left in the quarter.
Two minutes later a skip shot from junior Josh Halopoff padded the Panthers lead, while two goals less than 30 seconds apart from senior Steven Wilson around the final minute allowed Porterville to close out the first quarter with a 5-0 lead.
Porterville’s leading scorers were Snyder, Halopoff and Wilson with four goals apiece. Wilson also finished with six steals and four assists while Halopoff had two steals, two assists and one field block. Snyder also had three steals and one assist.
“Pretty much everybody on our team is capable of putting the ball in the goal,” Goularte said. “That’s one thing that I emphasize with the kids is that you gotta be solid on both ends. You can’t just be a defensive player, you’ve got to be able to produce offensively as well.”
Panthers senior Isaiah Allard also had three goals while sophomore Ryan Davis and Lamb had one goal apiece. Allard also had three steals and one assist while Lamb had two steals and
two assists.
Porterville’s offense outscored Kingsburg’s 4-1 and 5-1 in the second and third quarter, respectively. The Panthers defense kept pressure on the Vikings (3-2), forcing them to spread out which made it difficult for them to drive to the middle in the first three quarters.
“That’s another one of the things that we try to emphasize is just solid defense,” Goularte said. “Try to think about what the other team has to offer. In this particular case, we knew that [senior] Connor [Entenman] could handle their center player pretty well, and he did. He handled him really well. And that gave us the ability to play pressure on the ball all the time which made it hard for them to pass around.” Entenman and Riley finished with four steals, while Entenman also recorded an assist. Junior goalie Colton Boyd blocked 10 shots and also had a steal. The Panthers
finished with a total of 31 steals.
In the final quarter with a 14-2 lead, Porterville played almost all of their young players and scored three goals in the first three minutes of the quarter for a 17-2 lead. But playing against the younger players, the Vikings finally got their offense going and scored four goals in the final three minutes of the game.
“I saw young guy mistakes but I also saw that they’re picking up on our system,” Goularte about his younger players. “They’re starting to understand how we run things. Boy, they’re very aggressive playing defense, they were very aggressive [in transition]. They were running drives, they just weren’t afraid to do things. So that’s really coming along well.”
After winning the DIVII Valley title last season, Porterville moved up to Div-i this season. While
most teams and coaches don’t like to look to far ahead, Goularte said he’s already talked to the team about the postseason.
“We’re seeing what we can do and I think the kids are starting to buy into [that] we can get a top three ranking at Division I,” he said. “I told the kids at the beginning that one big win could get you into the finals, two big wins can win Division I for you. So they’re starting to buy into that, they’re starting to believe a little bit. So I’m kind of getting excited about their opportunity to play those teams.”
Porterville is 3-0 against Div-i teams after beating Redwood 139, Clovis East 12-8 and Clovis 12-3 earlier this season.
The Panthers begin East Yosemite League play at home against the Mustangs of Tulare Western (7-4) at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 28.