Tustin’s boys water polo team poses with the runner-up trophy Saturday. (Tim Burt photos)
A memorable season ended Saturday in a heartbreaking loss for Tustin’s boys water polo team, the top-ranked team in CIF Division 6.
The Tillers, trying to bring home the school’s first CIF title since 1982, squandered a three-goal lead at halftime and fell to Valley View 10-9 on a goal in the final minute in the CIF Division 6 finals before a big crowd at the Woollett Aquatics Complex in Irvine.
Shane Randle scored with 45 seconds left to lift Valley View to the title. The team was the CIF Division 7 champion last year.
“We knew it was going to be a battle coming in,” said Tustin Coach Kyle Brawley.”This is the first time that our guys have been in this position in quite a number of years. I think definitely there were a little bit of nerves out there. We got deeper into the game, that started to show a little bit.
“Valley did a great job. They’ve been here before and they knew what to expect and they did a great job too. Overall, I’m really proud of my boys. We took a team three years ago that had zero wins and now here we are, they are runner-up in CIF; l I don’t think you can ask much more than that.”
Tustin (19-11) got off to a great start as Aidan Caporicci scored one goal and Edsson Sandoval scored three to put the TIllers ahead 4-2 after the first quarter.
It was 6-3 at halftime but Valley View outscored Tustin 3-2 in the third quarter to set the stage for a comeback.
In the fourth quarter, Caporicci scored a goal with 4:58 left to give the Tillers a 9-7 lead but Brady Castillo responded with consecutive goals to tie the match and set up the game-winner.
“We wanted to change how we come out,” Brawley said. “We’ve historically been a little more conservative. We told the boys you have nothing to lose and there is no energy worth saving at this point, so let’s go out there and show them what you got and that was exactly what they did in the first quarter. And then we made some defensive mistakes which caused us some ejections and they did a good job of capitalizing on that. But overall, I’m really proud of these boys and how far they’ve come.”
Caporicci and Sandoval led Tustin with three goals each while Kaleb Anderson had two.
Valley View Coach Chris Knowles was pleased his squad was able to rally from a two-goal deficit after three quarters for the second playoff match in a row.
“The resilience, I’ve been training them for four years and it’s been hard,” he said. “They’re dedicated athletes and they do this year-round; I think that’s what it came down to, they just love the game. So the fourth quarter to them was not a big deal because they just enjoy what they do.”
-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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