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Water Warriors finish season 22-8

Fallbrook High School’s boys water polo team finished the 2010 season with an overall 22-8 record, including a first-round playoff loss.

“I was happy with the season up to the playoffs,” said Fallbrook coach Bob Lamont.

Fallbrook placed second in the Avocado League East standings with an 8-2 record. Both losses were to league champion Vista, who spoiled the Warriors’ final home game November 3 with a 17-9 victory.

Vista’s win followed Fallbrook’s 19-2 home triumph November 1 over Mission Hills.

“That was one of those games where everybody played, everybody scored,” Lamont said. “We had some newcomers step up and contribute off the bench.”

The bench players’ contributions included two steals and a goal from Brandon Lee, three steals and a block along with a goal by Adam McGrath, and a goal from Garrett McKeown.

The bench players will help replace Fallbrook’s eight seniors, including six starters, who were honored prior to the Vista game. Although the Warriors lost by eight goals and trailed 16-7 after the third quarter, they were only down by a 3-2 margin after the first period.

“We played a solid 28 minutes of water polo,” Lamont said.

In his final home game, senior Zack Meyer had three goals, six steals, and a block. Meyer had five goals in Fallbrook’s 13-2 win over San Marcos at Palomar College to close out the regular season Nov. 5, while senior Kort Heyneman added four goals. Senior goalkeeper Drew Ferguson only allowed one goal while making six saves before he was rested.

The November 8 CIF playoff selection and seeding meeting produced a seventh-place seeding for Fallbrook in the CIF Division I playoffs, earning the Warriors a first-round match against tenth-seeded Rancho Buena Vista. Because Fallbrook’s pool does not meet CIF playoff standards, the Nov. 11 game was played at Rancho Bernardo High School.

Rancho Buena Vista defeated Fallbrook by a 10-6 score in the season-opening Poway Tournament; the Longhorns took a 5-3 halftime lead with the Warriors scoring the next two goals to tie the Sept. 11 game and Rancho Buena Vista tallying the four subsequent goals. Fallbrook had defeated the Longhorns by a 13-8 margin on Sept. 17 after outscoring Rancho Buena Vista 5-1 in the fourth quarter.

In the playoff game the Longhorns led 4-3 at halftime. Fallbrook was able to tie the game in the third period, but once again Rancho Buena Vista broke the tie with four unanswered goals and led 8-4 with one quarter remaining. The Warriors scored three times in the final period while shutting down the Longhorn offense, but Rancho Buena Vista held on for an 8-7 victory.

“We just didn’t have quite enough to catch them at the end,” Lamont said.

Senior Sam Rice led the Warriors with three goals, three steals, and a block.

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