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Warriors 2-3 to start girls water polo season

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

Fallbrook High School’s girls water polo team played five games in December and ended the calendar year with a 2-3 record.

“Actually kind of encouraging,” said Fallbrook co-coach Sean Redmond.

Redmond has been the Warriors’ girls coach since the 2011-12 season. Ken Brower, who has more than 45 years of coaching various Fallbrook High School teams including the 1977 boys team which won the CIF championship, asked Redmond if he could help coach the Warriors this season. Redmond made Brower a co-coach.

“It’s been a win-win all the way around,” Redmond said.

“He has years of experience,” Redmond said. “I can’t come anywhere close to that with the knowledge he has.”

Fallbrook’s 11 varsity players will need knowledge. The roster consists of two seniors, two juniors, and seven sophomores. This season, Fallbrook is in the Palomar League, and the Warriors will begin league competition Jan. 4 at Westview. Redmond and Brower are viewing the preleague games as experiments on which players work best with which other players.

Because all Division I teams qualify for the CIF playoffs and because Fallbrook’s pool does not meet playoff standards, non-league games are relevant for experience but have minimal impact on postseason status. The 2021-22 Palomar League also includes Del Norte, Poway, Rancho Bernardo and Valley Center.

Fallbrook’s season began Dec. 1 at University City. The Warriors were on the desired end of the 15-5 final score. “It was a surprise. I was not expecting it to be that large of a margin,” Redmond said.

“I expected it to be a pretty hard fought battle,” Redmond said. “We came out pretty strong right from the beginning and we were able to take control.”

A Dec. 2 trip to Granite Hills resulted in a 12-4 Eagles victory, and the Dec. 8 match at Helix was a 9-8 Highlanders win. “That was a really close game all the way through,” Redmond said.

Fallbrook’s second win of the season occurred Dec. 10 against San Dieguito Academy, which is in Encinitas but plays home matches at Alga Norte Aquatic Center in Carlsbad. “Swimming in the big pool is pretty cool,” Redmond said.

The 13-9 Fallbrook victory was also enjoyable for the Warriors. “It was close in the beginning, but our girls settled down and were able to execute what we’re trying to get them to do,” Redmond said. “The girls were able to put pressure on them, and that helped us a lot.”

Fallbrook’s Dec. 16 game against Classical Academy was supposed to be in Escondido, but pool issues moved the match to Fallbrook. The Caimans prevailed by a 9-6 score.

The league match at Westview will be followed by non-league home games Jan. 6 against Torrey Pines and Jan. 7 against Oceanside. “I’m looking forward to the rest of the season and see how we do,” Redmond said.

 

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