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Scrimmages make Warrior water polo coach optimistic

Scrimmages don’t count in overall records, so the two wins Fallbrook High School’s boys water polo team accumulated aren’t officially victories. Then again, the purpose of a scrimmage is more for assessing a team’s players and readiness, and in that regard Fallbrook coach Bob Lamont considers the games to have been successful.

“We’re about where we want to be now. We had two good showings in our scrimmages,” Lamont said.

The Warriors traveled to Helix September 5 and hosted Ramona September 7. “We’re off to a good start. Had a good summer of work, and the team came in ready to go,” Lamont said.

The scores were irrelevant. “Those were just tuneup games. We tried people in different positions,” Lamont said.

The trip to Fallbrook convinced Ramona coach Donnie Williams about the Warriors’ ability. “Fallbrook was a good team,” Williams said.

“There was really no one dominant player,” Williams said of Fallbrook’s squad. “They just played real good as a unit.”

That team play came despite the absence of driver Trent Kirby, who incurred an injury unrelated to water polo and missed the scrimmages. Kirby is expected to return to the squad in time for the Poway Invitational tournament which will open the season September 14-16.

Kirby is one of three returning starters on the team. “We actually have a very young team this year,” Lamont said.

Fallbrook’s starters consist of three seniors, two juniors, a sophomore, and a freshman. The freshman is driver Jacob Pril, who is believed to be the first freshman starter in the history of Fallbrook’s boys water polo team.

In addition to Kirby and Pril, the offense also includes wing Robert Hollander. Two juniors, Scott Bushnell and Nick Fast, will take turns at the two-meter position. The defense is led by Steve Reichel and Garrett Bishop.

Gerson Esteban will be the starting goalie for Fallbrook, while backup Ryan Helling will likely receive significant playing time. “You never want to have goalies in the same class. I’ve got three who are good,” Lamont said.

Esteban, Helling, and the junior varsity goalie are all sophomores.

“I think we’re much improved from last year,” Lamont said. “I think we’ll give good games to everybody we play.”

 

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