Warriors split first two league matches

None of Fallbrook High School's varsity boys water polo players were on the Warriors' varsity in 2016 when Fallbrook lost a league match to Valley Center, which is a major reason the Warriors lost their first league match in two years when Classical Academy visited the Fallbrook pool Oct. 11 and returned home with a 13-8 victory.

This year's team has 14 players not including Cameron Batty, whose shoulder injury has kept him from playing this year, and excluding Batty, only three of those players were on last year's varsity. The primary goal this year for Fallbrook coach Bill Richardson is to develop the players – the six 2018 seniors as well as the juniors, sophomores and two freshmen on the varsity – and to prepare the team for 2019 play.

"We're just trying to find our way at this point," Richardson said.

A 5-4 overtime victory Oct. 12 at home against Escondido gave the Warriors a 1-1 record to begin Valley League play along with a 4-16 overall record. Classical Academy improved to 2-1 in league play with the win over Fallbrook while San Pasqual's 12-11 victory over Ramona Oct. 12 gave the Golden Eagles a 3-0 league record and the Bulldogs a 2-1 mark.

"I think San Pasqual is the team to beat," Richardson said.

Fallbrook's Oct. 26 home match against San Pasqual will be Senior Night for the Warriors.

The Aug. 23-25 Rancho Bernardo Invite tournament began the season for Fallbrook, and the Warriors' third game was against Classical Academy in the Rancho Bernardo High School pool. The Caimans prevailed in the Aug. 24 tournament game by a 10-3 margin.

"We made some improvements," Richardson said of the five-goal loss Oct. 11.

The game against Escondido was rescheduled twice. The North County Conference originally scheduled the game for Oct. 23 but by mutual agreement the date was changed to Oct. 4. A water main break near Fallbrook High School that day forced a second rescheduling to the day after the game against Classical Academy.

Fallbrook held a 4-2 lead but the Cougars scored the final two goals of regulation. The 4-4 score at the end of four quarters triggered two three-minute mandatory overtimes, and 15 seconds into the second overtime freshman Doug Pearce scored the winning goal.

The CIF playoff selection and seeding meeting will take place Oct. 27. Because all Division I teams participate in the playoffs, the eight Warriors expected to return next year will have post-season experience even though Fallbrook is currently ranked last among the 20 Division I teams.