Sea Kings denied CIF crown

IRVINE — The Corona del Mar and Long Beach Wilson high school boys' water polo teams played for the third time this season Saturday.

Corona del Mar had won the first two games in overtime. This one was more important, as the traditional powerhouses played with the CIF Southern Section Division II title on the line.

Wilson Coach Tony Martinho figured his No. 3-seeded Bruins had more than an outside shot against the top-seeded Sea Kings.

The outside shot of junior Maxwell Irving was almost all Wilson needed to pull the upset.

Irving scored a match-high four goals and also made a key defensive play as the Sea Kings were stunned, 7-6, before a standing-room only crowd of about 1,500 at Woollett Aquatics Center.

CdM (24-7), which returned no starters from last year's CIF championship team, came up just short in its bid to repeat. Wilson (21-10) won its first CIF title since 2005, and its first in Division II.

"We had a good season," CdM Coach Barry O'Dea said. "Obviously we would have liked to have won it, but Long Beach played a good game. And we played a good game. It was a one-goal game. We missed some shots, missed some six-on-fives and that's that. Championships come down to putting away your six-on-fives and playing some defense, and Wilson did it better than we did today."

The Sea Kings converted just four of 11 on the power-play, a statistic O'Dea called "rough." Wilson was four of eight.

A lot of the credit for CdM's struggles had to go to Wilson senior goalie Nick Hoy, who made 15 saves. Martinho said it was Hoy's best game of the season.

Corona del Mar, which was the top-ranked team in Division II all season, led Saturday's game by a 4-3 score at halftime. Ben Zepfel, Reid Chase, Charlie Howarth and Jake Wyatt all found the back of the net for the Sea Kings in the first half.

But Wilson (21-10) got a power-play strike from junior Jackson Kimbell before Irving struck for his third goal from up, as the Bruins took a 5-4 edge less than two minutes into the third quarter.

From there, CdM played catch-up. Irving again found the lower-right corner on a six-on-five to up the Bruins' lead to two goals, before Zepfel scored on a spin move from five meters midway through the third quarter.

"After that first one went into the back of the net, I knew it was all me this game," Irving said. "I felt like anything I would throw up was going in. It's great. I've never played in a championship before. This is the biggest game I've ever played in. To have a great game, it was good."

Irving said the win meant a lot for the Bruins, who won nine Division I titles in 10 years from 1996-2005.

"We're just bringing it back for Wilson, showing that it's not gone," he said. "We still have it. [Beating CdM after the two earlier losses] is too sweet, and especially in CIF? It's great."

CdM had three more chances to tie the score on six-on-five chances but was denied every time. CdM senior goalie A.J. Santa Maria (eight saves) kept his team within shouting distance, making a huge stop on Thomas Martinho on a one-on-nobody opportunity with just more than four minutes left in the game.

But Wilson senior Willis Allen soon buried a shot from six meters, pushing the Bruins' lead to 7-5 with 3:54 left. Then the Sea Kings finally scored on the power play, on Ari Marks' shot from the left side 20 seconds later. It brought CdM back within a goal, but it was also the lone second-half power-play conversion for CdM in six opportunities.

"They put away more shots than we did," said Zepfel, who scored twice to lead CdM. "I think we both played great games. I couldn't have asked anybody on my team to play a better game than that, but when it comes down to it, you win some and you lose some, you know? They executed, and they put away more shots. We had plenty of opportunities, but we didn't execute really. I think their goalie played a great game and made some amazing blocks.

"They played with desperation. Their field blockers were just getting in front of everything."

The Sea Kings kept the pressure on. After Wilson had an outside shot field blocked by CdM senior Wes Sherburne, CdM called timeout with 31 seconds left to set up a final chance to send the game to overtime.