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Warriors open water polo season with win

The Aug. 22-24 Rancho Bernardo Invite tournament began Fallbrook High School’s water polo season, and although the Warriors had a 1-3 record in the tournament, Fallbrook opened the 2019 season with a 10-9 victory over Patrick Henry High School in the Aug. 22 game at Rancho Bernardo High School.

“Good to get off on a good start,” Fallbrook coach Bill Richardson said.

This year Fallbrook and Patrick Henry are both in Division II for CIF playoff purposes, so the win over another Division II team will have playoff seeding implications for the Warriors.

“Patrick Henry’s been a good program over the years,” Richardson said.

Five different players scored against the Patriots. Three goals apiece were placed into the net by sophomore Doug Pearce and senior Jackson Richards; sophomore Kayden Trafford scored twice while senior Owen Hearn and sophomore Kai Maestas had a goal apiece.

The win to open the tournament placed Fallbrook in the upper half of the bracket for subsequent matches. The Warriors’ Aug. 23 game at Rancho Bernardo High School was a 5-4 loss to Poway.

“The boys really played well all-around,” Richardson said.

The Titans took a 2-0 lead, but Fallbrook nearly came back.

“It just kind of came together,” Richardson said. “We just ran out of time.”

Poway and Fallbrook played a non-tournament game last year which ended as a 21-7 Titans victory.

“Big improvement,” Richardson said of the 2019 game.

Fallbrook’s regular season will end Oct. 30 with a Valley League game against Classical Academy at Washington Park Pool in Escondido. Fallbrook and Classical Academy also played an Aug. 24 tournament game at Rancho Bernardo High School, and the Caimans were on the preferred end of the 8-3 final score.

“We didn’t play up to the same level we did on Friday,” Richardson said.

Rancho Bernardo High School was also the site of Fallbrook’s Aug. 24 game against Del Norte which was a 10-5 Nighthawks triumph. Because Fallbrook’s first match was a win, the Warriors placed ninth among the 20 teams in the tournament.

“The boys played a good opening tournament,” Richardson said.

Fallbrook returned to Rancho Bernardo High School for an Aug. 29 non-tournament game against Rancho Bernardo. The Broncos defeated Fallbrook in an 11-10 contest.

“Pretty close game,” Richardson said.

Rancho Bernardo held a 7-5 halftime lead, although the score was 9-9 after three periods.

“There’s no give up in these boys,” Richardson said of his players.

Author Bio

Joe Naiman, Writer

Joe Naiman has been writing for the Village News since 2001

 

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