Warriors finish fourth in water polo standings

Only three players from last year’s Fallbrook High School boys’ varsity water polo team played on this year’s team. None were starters last year, so the Warriors’ 2-3 Valley League record which gave Fallbrook fourth place in the league standings wasn’t a matter of the Warriors underperforming.

“I wouldn’t call it disappointed,” Fallbrook coach Bill Richardson said of his sentiments. “You come into the season, and you’re hopeful. I was hopeful to get second or third this year, but it just wasn’t in the cards for us.”

San Pasqual High School won the league championship with a 5-0 Valley League record, and the Golden Eagles’ 12-11 victory over Ramona High School was the only blemish on the Bulldogs’ 4-1 league mark. San Pasqual secured an undefeated league season Oct. 26 with a 13-7 win at Fallbrook, and Ramona’s Oct. 16 home game against Fallbrook was a 14-11 Bulldogs triumph. Classical Academy took third place with a 3-2 league record which includes a 13-8 victory Oct. 11 at Fallbrook.

San Pasqual’s win over Fallbrook gave the Golden Eagles an 18-8 regular-season record. Last year, when Fallbrook won the Valley League championship with a 5-0 league record, San Pasqual finished the regular season with a 13-14 statistic and was the fourth-place Valley League team with a 2-3 league mark. Classical Academy was 7-19 during the 2017 regular season including 0-5 in league play; this year the Caimans posted a 19-5 regular-season record.

“The league got better in some ways,” Richardson said.

Richardson was expecting four returning players, none of whom started in 2017, but a shoulder injury kept Cameron Batty out of competition for the entire 2018 season. Development of new varsity players would be critical to Fallbrook’s accomplishments this year with the extent of that development determining whether the Warriors would repeat their 2017 league championship.

The players’ development occurred, even though the lack of experience relegated the Warriors to fourth place in the six-team league.

“Great group of kids,” Richardson said. “They improved throughout the season. They worked hard the entire season.”

Fourteen players practiced with the varsity and saw some action in tournaments while 12 participated in non-tournament varsity games. Six of those are seniors, so if Batty returns the 2019 Warriors are expected to have seven players with previous varsity competition.

Fallbrook is in Division I for CIF playoff purposes. All Division I teams participate in the playoffs, so the Warriors were in the postseason despite a 6-21 overall regular-season record. Fallbrook was given the 11th seed and a playoff match at sixth-seeded Rancho Bernardo.

“We got a good game,” Richardson said. “It was pretty close.”

The score was 2-2 at the end of the first period. The Broncos held a 4-2 halftime lead. Rancho Bernardo was on the winning end of the 10-5 final score.

“They’re definitely the better team,” Richardson said.

The loss gave Fallbrook a final season record of 6-22.

“We showed that we won’t give up,” Richardson said.

The Broncos’ win was the second this year against Fallbrook; the Oct. 2 game at Rancho Bernardo had a 12-7 score.

The other Valley League junior varsity teams faced lack of experience similar to what Fallbrook faced, and the junior varsity Warriors won the league championship with a 5-0 record while finishing 11-12 overall.

“We had a pretty strong JV team this year,” Richardson said.