Warriors split first two boys water polo games

Fallbrook High School's boys water polo team began play April 29, and the Warriors split their first two games.

The official score of Fallbrook's April 29 home win against Rancho Buena Vista was 5-0 since that is the official score of a forfeited game. RBV only had six players and had to forfeit, but Fallbrook coach Bill Richardson and RBV coach Kim Hockett arranged to have a full game with Fallbrook loaning a handful of players to the Longhorns. The unofficial game ended with a 22-6 score with some of the Fallbrook players on loan scoring some of the RBV goals. Mission Hills traveled to the Fallbrook pool April 30 and returned home with a 12-7 victory.

Fallbrook has 21 boys and has both a varsity and a junior varsity squad. "I have a light JV schedule because some of the teams are not able to field two levels," Richardson said.

Thirteen of the Fallbrook players practice with the varsity, although some of those participate in JV games when the opponent has two squads. None of the Warriors are seniors this season.

The first day of water polo practice was April 19. The water polo players who qualified for the April 24 CIF swim meet practiced water polo rather than swimming that week. Fallbrook had eight practices prior to the April 29 season opener.

The unofficial game against Rancho Buena Vista provided additional practice. "We played a game by giving them players," Richardson said.

Four Fallbrook players were loaned to the Longhorns for that game. Three of them practice with the varsity but would have played in a junior varsity game had the Longhorns been able to field two teams. The other player, junior Doug Pearce, played for Fallbrook in the first half and RBV in the second half. "We gave Doug to them, which created a better challenge for our guys to stop him," Richardson said.

Pearce, junior Kai Maestas, and junior Matt Herbert are the Warriors' three returning starters from the 2019-20 season. Maestas scored six goals against RBV, as did sophomore Ian Ritchie. Herbert is Fallbrook's goalkeeper and made five saves in three quarters before being positioned in the field for the fourth period with sophomore Brayden Bender going from the field to the netminder position. Fallbrook had 16 steals as a team with sophomore Jono Nelson recording six of those.

"It was a good start to see where we're at," Richardson said. "We found that we had some areas to work on."

Having a game the following day didn't give the Warriors too much time to focus on those desired improvements before facing the Grizzlies. Mission Hills ended the first quarter with a 2-1 lead and never trailed. "I think we were maybe a little bit overwhelmed. They definitely have been playing together," Richardson said.

Richardson noted that many of the Mission Hills water polo players participated in club activity (Fallbrook also has club water polo players, but the Fallbrook High School pool was closed) and that many of the Grizzlies' water polo players are not swimmers. Richardson also cited the presence of seniors on the Mission Hills squad. "They're an older team," he said.

Fallbrook is in Division II for CIF playoff purposes. Mission Hills is in Division I.

"The game could have been a little closer. We were hesitant in some of our passes," Richardson said. "It showed us what we need to work on."