Warriors reach water polo CIF semifinals

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

Fallbrook High School’s boys water polo team reached the CIF Division II semifinals.

A first-round bye was followed by a 17-3 victory over El Capitan in the quarterfinals, but Clairemont defeated the Warriors in the 11-7 semifinal game. The playoff results gave Fallbrook a final season record of 20-10 including a 4-1 Valley League mark worth second in the league standings.

“It was a really good season,” said Fallbrook coach Bill Richardson. “We knew going into the season that we would be on the competitive end of Division II.”

Although the league loss to Mount Carmel was by an 18-10 score, the Warriors scored at least 10 goals in each of their five league contests.

Mount Carmel won not only the Valley League championship but also the CIF Division II championship. The Sundevils’ 25-6 season record includes a loss in the Southern California regional tournament. “They’re a very good team,” Richardson said. “They were a very talented and well-coached team and seemed to have our number.”

The Sundevils and Warriors also played in the Aug. 26-28 Rancho Bernardo Invite tournament. That Aug. 28 game ended as a 15-9 Mount Carmel win.

Due to coronavirus restrictions, only dual matches were played during the 2020-21 season, so the only tournament was the CIF tournament. This year, the Warriors played in the Rancho Bernardo Invite, the Sept. 24-25 America’s Finest Tournament hosted by Coronado High School, and the Oct. 21-23 San Diego Open. “It was nice to have some tournament games,” Richardson said.

Regular-season tournament matches involve multiple games in one day, so the players obtain endurance as well as competition experience and substitutes see significant pool time.

Mount Carmel was given the top seed in the CIF Division II playoffs and Fallbrook was seeded second. “It was appropriate,” Richardson said. “We were happy to get a second seed.”

The quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals were all played at La Jolla High School’s Coggan Pool, so the second seed had no home pool advantage against the third seed. “I’m happy that we were in that 2-3 spot,” Richardson said.

Clairemont was the third seed. El Capitan was seeded 10th and defeated seventh-seeded University City in the first round. The match between Fallbrook and El Capitan was played Nov. 6.

“It was a good game. Everybody got to play, which is nice in a CIF game,” Richardson said.

Richardson cannot recall any previous games between Fallbrook and El Capitan nor could El Capitan coach Robin Sanchez, who coached the Vaqueros for 37 years. “It was nice to play a new team,” Richardson said.

Sanchez is retiring after this year, so he will coach El Capitan’s girls but concluded his boys water polo coaching career with the loss to Fallbrook.

“Played very well in that game,” Richardson said. “We just pulled away.”

Clairemont advanced to the semifinals with a 15-5 quarterfinals victory over sixth-seeded Mission Hills. “They’re a real good team,” Richardson said. “They had two players who were matchup problems for us.

Head-to-head results caused Fallbrook to be seeded higher than Clairemont. The two teams played Aug. 27 during the Rancho Bernardo Invite, and that game was a 13-11 Fallbrook triumph.

The Chieftains had more success in the rematch. “We didn’t have our best game,” Richardson said. “We just couldn’t put the ball in the cage,”

Clairmeont had a 6-5 halftime lead. The score was 10-7 until the final minute.

The CIF semifinal was the final high school water polo game for nine Fallbrook seniors.