By LOU PONSI
OCVarsity staff

LA PALMA -- The Katella boys water polo team was unrelenting in its attack on Perris goalie Jessie Gunther in a CIF-SS Division VII semifinal between the top-seeded Knights and Panthers on Wednesday at Kennedy High.

Gunther stopped his share of shots, but plenty also got through and the Knights came away with an 8-3 victory.

The victory sets up an all-Empire League final Saturday between Katella (21-9) and Valencia, which defeated Hemet in the other semifinal. Katella will be making its first trip to a final.

While Gunther, a senior, came in as perhaps the top goalie of the four semifinalists, Katella sophomore goalie Dylan Peterson was the one who stood out.

Peterson stopped 13 shots and helped shut down the Panthers (23-8) in the fourth quarter.

“Dylan had a good game,” Weis said. “He is such a raw talent.”

The match was close for a half, but then the Knights outscored the Panthers, 3-1 in the third quarter and 1-0 in the final quarter.

Garrett Weiss led the Knights with three goals and an assist and Benjamin Burnett and David Montanez scored two goals each.

Burnett and Chris Peterson each had three steals.

In the other Division VII semifinal:

Valencia 8, Hemet 7: Chris Drake, Miguel Munoz and Paul Schindler collected four steals each and goalie Ryan Jackman made five saves and had two steals to key the victory for the Tigers (18-11).

The Tigers were on defense and clinging to a one-goal lead with 39 seconds left when Hemet called a timeout to set up its shot.

Nate Long's shot skipped off the water and over the Valencia goal with 21 seconds left.

The Tigers were able to keep possession and run out the clock.

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