Boys water polo: El Toro claims Division I crown
November 21st, 2009, 6:40 pm · 75 Comments · posted by DAN ALBANO, ocvarsity.com
Division I boys water polo final
Irvine
El Toro 11, Newport Harbor 9 (F) The Chargers controlled this one early and often. Too much outside shooting, counter chances for the R and R boys and way too much Garrett Danner in cage for the Sailors to overcome. The Olympians poolside couldn't stop asking me about the number of saves by Danner or talking to themselves about his grade level - a sophomore
El Toro 11, Newport 8 (44 seconds left) Newport has called timeout
El Toro 10, Newport 5 (after 3) And you thought Bret Bonanni was the only shooter here at Irvine today. Joey Colton and Russell Renteria have scored near mid-pool goals in this explosive third period. I did not expect 10-5 after three periods. ET didn't even draw an ejection in the third.
El Toro 9, Newport 5 - 1:18 left in third
El Toro 6, Newport Harbor 3 (H) Nick Rascon has three goals, including a big one on extra coming out of a timeout with late in the first half to make it 6-3. Zach Lucas has two for the Sailors. Newport Harbor is hitting a lot of posts - just like Loyola did - but Garrett Danner is looking tough
El Toro 5, Newport 3 (1:44 left)
El Toro 5, Newport 1 - timeout Newport 4:50 left in the first half
El Toro 3, Newport Harbor 1 (after 1) El Toro has perimeter strikes from Nick Rascon and James Rude and a backhander from Russell Renteria. Zach Lucas scored from the perimeter for Newport. Garrett Danner two saves for El Toro.
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Thanks for the updates!
Stoll - C.O.Y.
whats the score to the div 1game
thanks for the updates
Wow El Toro is rocking Newport. I expected El Toro to play well and win, but I definitely didn't expect them to be crushing Newport after the 3rd. I only say crushing because I expected a lot closer a game between two teams that seem fairly evenly matched in terms of strengths on paper.
Thanks for the updates Dan!
next year's D1 final: El Toro vs. Mater Dei
Watch out for Loyola with only one SR starter.
Impressive victory by El Toro (their dominance at the beginning and their continued focus throughout the game). Congrats to them and we'll see what happens during the regional tournament. I predict either Danner or Rascon will get DI player of the year, with Renteria a lock for getting first team honors.
Wpobserver - I wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to be the finals for next year. Although both teams lose their superstar seniors in Rascon and Wherry, I think their complementary stars more than make up for their loses.
El Toro of course returns all-star goalie Danner, talented 2M Renteria, Fuentes, Rude, and Colton. Meanwhile Mater Dei returns superstar attacker Bret Bonnani, Gaughan, Daboub, and goalie O'Brien. I also expect Newport and JSerra to challenge once again, especially JSerra with Hewko and the addition of Salvino, as well as Dos Pueblos with talented juniors Chase Racich and Kevin Cappon.
Dave - you should check your stats. Vavic, Hurst-Mendoza, and Plaga are all seniors and will be gone last year. Youth-teamers Schwartz and Evans, along with lefty junior Fortis and sophomore Kuprenas will be returning. Vavic and Hurst-Mendoza are easily Loyola's best players along with Evans and Schwartz, but they'll need some work to compensate for the loss of their talented lefty and strong 2M play. While I expect Loyola to remain a top 10 and perhaps a top 5 team if they play well, I don't expect them to challenge for the DI championship.
Just got home from the game, and El Toro dominated from the start. An incredible victory for the Chargers, who weren't given much respect in the polls/rankings all season. Naysayers said they were "selfish" and "too young" to win it all, but Coach Stoll's guys proved everybody wrong. They rocked the Sailors -- and crowd/fan percentage at the game was probably 75-25 in favor of El Toro. For those in attendance, you witnessed the beginning of two years of domination by the Chargers -- at least. Go E.T.!
Great Job El Toro! On to the Masters!
There is no masters tournament. It was cancelled. Hiding under a rock have you? A usawp sanctioned meet is supposed to be scheduled as a three day tourney. There are some kinks to work out with possibility of a cancellation of the tourney as many teams don't know if they want to participate. Sounds like it will be a no go or a weak tourney that is meaningless.
I heard El Totro was afraid to face Loyola again so they are taking their winnings and leaving town. The third game of their series this year is still needed. It's 1-1. You could see throughout their match that Loyola was the better team. El Toro wins on a lousy lob with no time left.
The Dr. has a headache!
I wonder if there was a tournament would Loyola have driven down to the Woollett/Beckman or would Loyola tournament games have to be played at Argue?
Dr, Phil you lost, live with it. If you were the better team you would have won. Lynch from Newport said the same thing, they were the better team. I will let you both know how sports works. The team that wins is the better team.
Dr. just fade away. Loyola had their one and only chance. We will not see them around again.
El Toro wimped out on the Masters Tourney so it was canceled!!
For the record, many teams were in but opted out when coaches spoke to one another and not just to Scott Mitchell. It appears that Mitchelll was telling coaches that some teams were in when they were not. Emails went unanswered. No northern californian teams committed to the tournament. If you were familiar with the Sopac Zone, you would understand why all of these problems existed.
I would be great to have a tournament like this in the future, but the right people need to be in place.
Los Al also will be much improved next season
El Toro and Coach Don Stoll really impressed me. They played with a ton of poise and were really able to play their game.
Rascon and Renteria in open water; Danner throwing long passes.
Colton was amazing to me tonight. I don;t care how big that kid is - he's so smart, so good on defense and has an arm - he could develop kind of like Paul Reynolds -
Garrett was awesome tonight, but he had the spotlight on him. I think there were plenty of better players (and goalies) than Danner. Reynolds (Foothill) and Hartshorne (Northwood) were the two best players in the Sea View League, (better than Rascon and Renteria) but didn't have the chance to show what they had because of weak teams.
ET Played Foothill and Northwood this season and beat both teams easily
Rascon Reynolds and Hartshorne play together for SOCAL they will be unstoppable this club season
Good Call Dan. ET and Water Polo appreciates your coverage.
Congratulations to Coach Stoll and his Athletes.
NLemn,
All I have to say is El Toro played a much higher degree of competition than either Northwood or Foothill. When it comes to Foothill, maybe a weak team does come in to play, but Northwood, please!
Also, in my opinion, degrading a player like you did with Danner is just wrong! C'mon, he's a sophomore who just played one of his best games!
He performed in the spotlight. Enough said. Looks like the Player!
Newport coach Jason Lynch was very classy afterward. Answered all my questions after a tough defeat, and gave ET credit in the end
EL TORO PLAYED AWESOME.... NEWPORT COULD NOT BUY A GOAL THIS EVENING.
ET outplayed newport in every level. Danner was AWESOME... that kid played great along with the rest of the team. ALL the Olympians on Deck were surprised with the Level of play from Danner and the ET crew.
Rascon would do great in college and like someone said ET will be the powerhouse next year..... But lets not forget Mater Dei.... Segesman would not disappoint next year.
See ya in the FALL>
El Toro will reach its third championship game in a row next season, when they will meet and beat Mater Dei. You heard it here first.
ET you are the best!!! Congrats you earned it, it was tough battling through Dos Pueblos, Loyola, and then Newport. You are the Champions my friends... Time to pick out rings
I think El Toro played a great game, and I think you NLemn make some stupid comments. Hartshorne and Reynolds are good players, but that takes nothing away from the awesome performances of Danner, Rascon and Renteria.
Rascon got the game going with the first goal. The ET croud roared and that was that, he set the tone for the evening. Way to go what a great way to end your Senior season. You did well man, Congrats.
El Toro was truly dominant tonight. Much credit to the team and Don Stoll. They were well prepared and super focused. I hereby proclaim the them the best team in America. They beat Mater Dei 2 out of 3 times this year - if anyone would pose them to be a contemporary.
Best team in America? Hardly. Barely beat Loyola with a last secong lob. Loyola was dominate the whole game. They have each won one. Best two out of three. Could have happened if ET didn't wimp out on the Masters.
Again Dr. you lost. Loyola could not have been dominate the whole game because they lost. and I dont call be down by 1 then up by 2 then tied then up by 1 then tied then up by 2 then tied then up by 1 then tied then down by one domination. i call up by 5 in the 4th, ET vs NH final domination.
Dan, I agree in saying that Los Al will be much improved but I really don't see them cracking the top 4 (El Toro, Mater Dei, Dos Pueblos, and Newport in my opinion). They'll be competitive with JSerra, Foothill, and Loyola, with junior 2M Joe Ferretti and impressive freshman Chandler Jarrels leading the way but I feel that Newport always has solid teams year after year and Dos Pueblos with junior stars Racich and Cappon should be pretty good as well.
It'll be interesting to see how next year unfolds. El Toro is undoubtedly the favorite at the moment, but don't count out Mater Dei. Also, while Hartshorne has delivered four years of very solid goaltendening, I feel that Danner has performed extremely well under the spotlight during these playoffs and should therefore be alongside Hartshorne when the CIF 1st team comes out or even end up as MVP/Co-MVP (with Rascon).
Rascon is MVP for sure........
let's not forget who got et into the finals. joey fuentes. player of the year.
Joey get off the msg board and go do your homework!
Comparing Danner and Hartshorne in the cage is like comparing Kobe and Lebron. They are both great goalies and to say one is better than the other is ridiculous. Both are National Team goalies, just one is younger than the other. It's a TEAM sport, and Danner just had the better overall team than Hartshorne or Reynolds. Part of being a great goalie is also having the right team defense and field players knowing where to be in position. Goalies love when they don't have to cover the upper / lower corners because the field has got is covered. So, part of being a great goalie is not only stopping the shot, but instructing field players where to be. Danner has the skill, leadership, and respect of his teammates and that's what makes him so great.
When Hartshone was an underclassman, he has his chance to win CIF Div I and lost. He is a good high school goalie but too short for college. He has a great smile though. Maybe a toothpaste commercial.
Stoll - COY
1. at least div 1 had an equal ground (public school) vs div 2 who plays "private schools U".
2. watch out for northwood next year. you heard it here first.
No kidding!!!!!! Division 2 gets screwed. I take my hats off to Villa Park and El Modena.
el toro should be that good. they have one of the best feeder club programs in the county (SET).
Hey, old guy pays, ALL of the best high school sports teams, at least on the public side of things, have strong feeder programs. If your school is not working with programs designed to attract and train younger athletes, you will always be behind those that do. Such is life.
X Polo Dad... you bet, Northwood will be good next season and will, no doubt, advance much further in the playoffs than they did this year, especially since they will be competing, I believe, in Division II, once the league realignment is complete. Timberwolves will no longer have to face El Toro in league. That's gotta be a relief, right?
Aside from league re-allignment, how can Northwood be good? They lose their goalie and two goal scorers/2m defense and offense. Now they have a lefty who will undoubtedly try to carry the team and end up shooting too much. Good luck making the playoffs T-wolves. Coaching won't get you there eaither.
Comparing goalies is not done amongst top goalies. There is a higher level of respect with them compared to field players. Characteristics such as leadership, organizing the defense, communicating and coaching players throughout the game, and certainly as mentioned earlier, intimidating opponents are often the differentiating points in goalies games. Goalies often see the game more so like coaches as they see plays develop. Both goalies previously mentioned are very talented and have enjoyed much success at both the high school and club level. I assume that both have a mutual respect for one another's game. It would be a shame for someone to compare their talent based on the highly disproportionate level of talent that they played with this year. Regarding player of the year, Nick Rascon was the best player and led the El Toro team with his offense, defense, and passion and deserves the award for such. In the end, all players in the conversation will enjoy more success in the sport and eventually exit the sport. I know them all to be outstanding men and hope they continue to stay healthy.
Lastly, the smile comment had me rolling in my office. And small would be incorrect if Lovero was CIF player of the year last year.
Lovero was player of the year because Brum pushed it because he thought it would help his recruiting. These appointments are political.
POY - Alex Wherry
Team:
Bergeson, Rascon, Kelly, Renteria, Hartshorne, Reynolds
2nd team:
Hewko, Russell, Danner, Bonanni, Van Horne, Ferretti, Watson,
rascon got el toro togather after that loss to cdm around mid season. he has had great performances since including the championship game and deserves player of the year no question..
Dan, who do you pick for player of the year?
Rascon deserves Player of Year honor, Renteria and Danner deserve first-team honors and Stoll deserves to be coach of the year. It'll probably go that way in CIF Division I, but not sure about Register. Lots of folks lobbying for Wherry, but remember, his team lost two of three to El Toro. Dan, you gotta go with Rascon. You know you do.
Coach of the year should go to Erik Healy of Loyola. Three tournament victories and an undefeated regular season. He had the cubs fired up all season and had them ready to compete with an extremely tough pre-season. They won the Southcoast Tourney in OC, The Hank Vellekamp and the Riverside Poly Tourney. They beat Santa Barbara, Ventura, Dos Pueblos, LB Wilson, Corona Del Mar, Newport Harbor, El Toro, J Serra (twice), Mater Dei, Palos Verdes and Mira Costa to end the regular season. Great season with and unfortunate ending. El Toro was very good but so were the Cubs.
Bob R
how biast can you be
we all realize that you love el toro and rightfully so
but wherry is by far the best player in the county
he is the best defender by far, and his offense is if not better the same caliber as is rascons
lets be serious el toro is a great team and rascon a great player but wherry is the talent and best player of this class
the kid plays hard defense, he has speed, and he is a strong attacker. he went off in the finals thus rascon has my vote.....
lets not forget when md played el toro at el toro wherry piked up rascon and he didnt score the whole game while alex had a great game ...vote alex
Dear "What" ... the word you're looking for is not "biast," which isn't even a word; it's "biased" as in "You're biased in promoting Wherry."
As for my opinion in regards to Rascon, read the board. I'm not the only one who feels the young man is deserving of Player of the Year honors.
My vote for player of the year is Rascon he is a well rounded player a beast in the water and his defence is unbeatable
Wherry first team
Wherry is POY. Not even too close of a vote. No one has been talking about Rascon or Danner like this until the last 2 weeks. Does a good semifinal and final replace a season of carrying and guiding a team? Not to take away from those guys, surely good players and I've heard the Rascon pep-talk speech but that team was clearly loaded. Plainly, it has been all Wherry, all year, unquestioned. Even with that, a second place vote most likely goes to Bergeson. You can't give out POY to the D1 champs just for leaving a good taste in your mouth. Body of work people...
POY? Vavic of Loyola deserves some votes. He scored alot of big time goals when the team needed it.
At least first team.
Doc Phil, the CIF POY 90% of the time goes to the CIF champs golden boy. In the rare case that the runner-up has by far the best player in the division, co-honors are awarded.
ex. Don Stoll probably gave the nod to Caleb Hamilton to be co-POY after beating Northwood in the finals. It was clear that he was the best player so the co-was appropriate.
Vavic didn't make the finals and is not the clear-cut best in class so there is a very low probability of him sharing the honor. However, 100% chance of first team which is a great honor and he is very deserving.
Regarding OC Regsiter POY, Vavic is a lock for not making the team because he doesn't live in OC. LA Times POY for sure (if that exists). I don't think LA is as lucky as OC to have the relentless commitment to the sport of Dan Albano.
The LA Times did have a list a while back but stopped in when the LA Times coverage stopped. I believe Bob R worked for the Times. Maybe the REAL Bob R. can reply. And Please not any fake ones. :)However, realize that being named to a team is just nice and it doesn't really mean that you will become a superstar in college. It's just a picture in a frame. What I'd like to know is why certain orange county cities like Newport Beach and Irvine get there own mini newspaper from the OC Register and some have stopped?
Let's just hope that Lynch gets the Coach of the Year.
Lynch developes his players. Stoll just inherited his players from SET aka Jeff Colton. Give credit to Renteria to his club coach a few years back and Rascon to his dad.
Rollover, You might want to look at your roster before you start talking about were players come from. NH has most of its player from other clubs not Newport.
Both NH and ET should give some credit to Petar Asic of JSerra for Walters and Renteria, respectively.
Unfortunately, the LA Times coverage of any sport other than football or basketball is very poor and spotty. Agreed, the awards usually go to the winners. Great season anyway regardless of the Times paying any attention. Water polo is the best sport that no one knows about.
That might be the first comment you have made that we all agree on.
I guess you are finally taking those meds! Good boy, keep it up.
I wasn't looking for agreement or concensus. I knew I was dealing with a bunch of OC homers with a huge bias so I expected the arrogant responses that were full of entitlement and homerism. Just another day in the OC.
According to a post below, the cif div ipoy awards went to non loyola water polo players. The demise of this weekend's tournament was not the result of any one team not participating. Rather it was a result of poor organization and communication by the organizers. If you don't like the Orange County posts, perhaps you should stick with the LA Times. You can also rant on the Water Polo Planet Website but will be subject to scrutiny by the moderators. I will surmise you will have a few obnoxious comments because things didn't go your way. Your arrogance has poorly reflected upon Loyola. In the future, I would hope you rethink your approach. Congratulations to all the CIF Teams for a great and enjoyable season. Go Water Polo!
Promoting "meds" to celebrate comments that "we all agree on" sounds very tyrannical. The goal is not to post something that all should agree on, just one's opinion.
Perspective. Where have you been. Take a look at the archives. How do you make a comment like "know one has been talking about Danner and Rascon until the last two weeks". Danner was athlete of the week in Sept. and now again in Nov. Do some research before you make stupid comments.
OC Varsity Player of the week should not be confused with OC Register Player of the Year. If YOU look in the archives, many columns have discussed OC's top players. Rascon is often mentioned but never as the best and Danner is never mentioned. Maybe they should have but they weren't until the CIF semis when they got their own cheering blog calling for Rascon/Danner for President.
And next time you quote me, don't make me look like I don't KNOW my no from my know just because you don't. Get back to class...
Rascon and Danner were both OC Varsity player of the week as well as Renteria
and now Rascon and Renteria are Player of the year
There were plenty of articles about the boys in OC Varsity
If you are that touchy about replys to your posts maybe you should step away and take a break
and come on back when you have had time to regroup
So you are saying that those 2 were never named the best player in any articles. Well who was? Why would anyone talk about the best player before the end of a season ( before you see how all players develop )
Oh yea, You did. Your the only one that has been pushing Wherry on every blog. You started in summer. The way you continue to push him as POY you must be his parent, girl friend or him.
As far as spelling and word usage - this is a blog - fast typing- no spell check....Keep on the subject.
What was I thinking....Your his brother. It should have taken me that long tp figure out.
Waytogo Chargers!!!
CIF Division I coaches have spoken: El Toro's Nick Rascon (sr.) and Russell Renteria (jr.) are co-players of the year; ET goalkeeper Garrett Danner (so.) is named to first team; ET's Joey Fuentes (so.) and Joey Colton (fr.) are named to second team; ET's Don Stoll is coach of the year. Remember, this is only Division I, so no Division II Mater Dei kids considered.
Register's awards will consider all players from all Orange County high schools, but picks are Dan Albano's only. He may consult coaches and consider the CIF picks, but ultimately they are his.
As for high school sports coverage in the Los Angeles Times... it's a long and sad story, as far as I'm concerned.
I was, indeed, part of The L.A. Times' sports coverage. I began on the paper's sports copy desk in 1984, after nine years of teaching journalism and English at Irvine's University High, Saddleback College, Irvine Valley College and Cal State Fullerton. Back then, the section was part of the Orange County edition of the paper and we went head-to-head with the Register. We even had a prep sports section that appeared weekly, and many of the prep writers are those you see covering the major sports at The Times today (DiGiovanna, Penner, Dufresne, Foster, etc.)
In 2001, after The Times was purchased by the Chicago Tribune, the sports departments at the satellite editions in Orange County and the San Fernando Valley were closed down and we were moved downtown with the mandate to cover the entire Southern Section and Los Angeles City Section -- more than 600 high schools! Plus, whenever cuts were made to the paper, they came from the high school staff. By the time I was let go in the summer of 2008, we were down to one full-time reporter (Martin Henderson), one part-time reporter (Dan Arritt) and one columnist (Eric Sondheimer). At that point, our coverage had dwindled to simply the major sports each season (football, basketball, baseball/softball). We simply did not have the bodies to be able to cover the so-called minor sports like we did in the past.
It has been heartbreaking to see the destruction of The Times' prep sports coverage, especially in Orange County. The Register has tried to keep up with the tremendous task, but without the pressure of a competing paper, it can afford to be lazy at times. That's not to take anything away from Stever Fryer (a former student of mine at CS Fullerton) or Dan Albano (who was a sports clerk at The Times Orange County office before leaving for the Register), who both do a heck of a job, considering how much is expected of them by everybody.
I must thank The Register for allowing us prep sports fans an avenue to express our opinions. I will continue to do so. I never thought it would be in the avenue of water polo and swimming, but those are the sports my children decided to pursue. Once they have graduated (and it won't be very long before that happens), I hope to still be weighing in on matters of interest -- but, perhaps, with less a bias. (smiley face)