Boys water polo: Albano's Top 10 super-sophomores (video)
November 30th, 2009, 12:40 am · 49 Comments · posted by DAN ALBANO, ocvarsity.com
Yes, it's time to start the boys water polo awards season. There's all-league teams. All-CIF. All-Orange County. A final Albano Top 25 Index? My state rankings? And there's certainly my players rankings.
So let's start with my postseason rankings on the 2009 sophomores:
Dan Albano's Top-10 Sophomores (2009 postseason)
Listed alphabetically
Bret Bonanni, Mater Dei - Showed he's a big-game performer with five goals in Division II final.
BJ Churnside, Villa Park - Arguably the most well-rounded field player on the list.
Garrett Danner, El Toro, goalie - He's quick. He's aggressive. He's a excellent passer. He might be the best goalie in the county.
Joey Fuentes, El Toro - Gamer-winning lob to beat undefeated and No. 1 Loyola. Enough said.
John Lovat, Huntington Beach - Dangerous perimeter shooter and counterattack specialist.
Jack Mayers, Northwood - The left-hander finished with 58 assists, including four against Ventura in Division I playoffs.
Nolan McConnell, Laguna Beach - Racked up 100-plus goals along with 54 assists. Laguna super-excited about his future.
Travis Pham, Irvine - Stated his case with four goals against CdM; finished season with 76 goals.
James Rude, El Toro - Not too flashy but a strong 2-meter guard with very good perimeter shot.
Farrel South, Newport Harbor - Owns one of the hardest shots in the county.
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Great post Dan, I'm looking forward to seeing how Bonanni leads Mater Dei without Wherry and the El Toro team to play next year. A possible finals matchup? I think it'll be more than likely...
Anyone have any predictions on the All-County team? If each team has 7 players with one goalie on each team, my predictions are:
Alex Wherry, Player of the Year
1st Team (in no particular order,):
Nick Rascon, El Toro
Russell Renteria, El Toro
Garrett Danner, El Toro (although senior James Hartshorne also deserves recognition)
Max Bergeson, Corona del Mar
Bret Bonanni, Mater Dei
Blake Kelly, Newport
Paul Reynolds, Foothill
2nd Team (no particular order):
Luke Hewko, JSerra
Nick Santala, JSerra
Spencer Van Horne, Servite
Jacob Mourer, San Clemente
James Hartshorne, Northwood
Matt Russell, Newport
Josh Stedman, Troy
3rd Team (no particular order):
Daniel Lenhart, Esperanza
Nolan McConnell, Laguna Beach
Joe Ferretti, Los Alamitos
Michael Wagner, Villa Park
Kyle Etrata, Villa Park
BJ Churnside, Villa Park
Nate Little, Servite
Honorable Mention (no particular order):
Farrell South, Newport
Dillion Avila, Katella
Rutger Choquehuanca, Santa Margarita
Chase Watson, Corona del Mar
Macrae Carden, JSerra
Thomas Patterson, El Modena
Dylan Peterson, Katella
There were a lot of other players that played well this year as well.
Dan, Are the All County Teams chosen by coaches?
Seriously waterpolofan7... Cdm was ranked 2nd in the county and beat El Toro and you only give them 2 players. Yet Villa Park who was awful gets 3.... You have lost all credibility....
I know how good CDM is, I've watched them play this year. Villa Park may not have played as well this year as CDM, but I picked the players based on how well they performed as INDIVIDUALS.
Don't get me wrong, I intend no disrespect towards CDM, they are of course more well rounded and play better as a team than Villa Park, led by Bergeson mostly, along with their giant 2M Chase Watson. But in my opinion, Etrata and Churnside played better individually than some of the other CDM players. I also only selected 4 goalies, one on each team, but I would put Hartshorne alongside Danner on the first team if that weren't the case.
These lists are always tricky to create. I believe that the first team this year is not as difficult to put together as the 2nd, 3rd, and honorable mention lists. Like I said, there were a lot of other great guys out there as well, but these are some of the guys that I felt played well this year.
I could have easily put a few other equally deserving players from the best teams on these lists such as Yeagar and South from Newport, and Fuentes from El Toro as they both played well but I chose to recognize a few talented players from teams that didn't necessarily win the most games instead.
BigAlbanoFan - I understand that people are going to have their different opinions, but don't mention credibility until you have some additional input or unless you post a list of your own.
top 10 juniors:
russell renteria
paul reynolds
luke hewko
chase watson
liam gaughn
macrae carden
joe ferretti
bruce bearer
kyle etrata
spencer dodson
Bob R (Not the Real Bob R) - you're list would be more accurate if it was based on detail. Liam Gaughn is a good player but the below Juniors led their team. Bruce Bearer is a backup goalie ... not as good as Chris Whitelegge.
Russel Renteria
Paul Reynolds
Luke Hewko
Chase Watson
Joe Ferretti
Kyle Etrata
Zack Kamai
Spencer Dodson
Macrae Carden
Chris Whitelegge, GK
Kyle Etrata and Macrae Carden couldnt hold up with Liam Gaughan in semis and finals.
Stuff .........your not making any sense. Liam needs some basic fundamentals to improve. I say that with all honesty.
Dan, there is a sophomore at Esperanza, Luke MacLellan who is probably one of the best 2MD in Division I as well as the OC, he had 80 steals as well as 40 goals , going up against top competition, thanks for your great following for the sport of water polo
TOP 10 Juniors based on OC Varsity Stats
Top 10 Scorers
Russell Renteria,El Toro,116
Paul Reynolds,Foothill, 96
Luke Hewko,JSerra,89
Joe Ferretti,Los Alamitos,72
Chase Watson,Corona del Mar,68
Zachary Kamai,Irvine,65
Grant Kelly,Orange,65
Kyle Etrata,Villa Park,59
Macrae Carden,JSerra,57
Spencer Dodson,Laguna Beach,54
Top 10 Assists
Kevin Masone,Esperanza,47
Kilian Condon,Troy,43
Zachary Kamai,Irvine,35
Grant Kelly,Orange,34
Spencer Dodson,Laguna Beach,34
Kevin Barbrick,Irvine,32
Kyle Etrata,Villa Park,24
Tyler Copley,La Habra,22
Zach Borsuk,Aliso Niguel,21
Chase Watson,Corona del Mar,8
Top 10 Steals
Zachary Kamai,Irvine,60
Kevin Barbrick,Irvine,40
Kyle Etrata,Villa Park,38
Spencer Dodson,Laguna Beach,37
Kevin Masone,Esperanza,34
Kilian Condon,Troy,34
Tyler Copley,La Habra,27
Zach Borsuk,Aliso Niguel,26
Chase Watson,Corona del Mar,16
Grant Kelly,Orange,14
All teams reported goals per player; most teams assists; many teams steals.
... sorry. The top 10 list was based on players overall that scored in the top 100 of Orange County.
Nice work SplashBall - most have taken you some effort (given the limited filtering capability and that some schools didn't designate class year)
There are few stand-out Juniors that I know you missed by looking at the leadboards who were impact players.
Assists:
Michael Carrillo, Servite, 35
Tyler Sacks, Canyon, 35
Steals:
Michael Carrillo, Servite,58
Liam Gaughan,Mater Dei,42
Joe Simmons,Servite,41
SplashBall
All Schools do not report assists,or team steals on oc varsity.
Please don't think that the quality of player rests on goals scored.
You must consider, teams played, assists, steals, goals missed, etc.
That's the problem with your post.
It's inaccurate and the data used is incomplete.
All Coaches do not post this data for reasons.
Sorry but facts are facts and your post is poorly constructed based on incomplete data. And I am surprised that you didn't know this.
Dan is probably pretty busy right about now, so to answer your question, Polo...
The Register's All-County teams are selected by the paper's writers, editors, etc. (Just like all publication's all-anything teams are selected.) I believe in the case of water polo, the selections are simply those of the beat reporter, Dan Albano.
The All- CIF/Southern Section teams are selected by the coaches of each of the seven divisions.
And, as for top 10 sophomores list, nice to see three El Toro players make the cut. Well-deserved acknowledgment.
Sorry for the delayed response - the all-county teams are selected after input from coaches, all-league lists, all-CIF lists and my observations
I believe the release date is Dec. 14
Mr. Albano please take notice.
OC 1st team
Bergeson
Wherry
Kelly
Rascon
Renteria
Danner
Santala
OC 2nd Team
Lenhart
Watson
Lucas/Russell
Bonani
Churnside
Harsthrone
Reynolds
OC 3rd Team
McConnell
Carden
Hewko
Ferretti
Mourer
Bailey/ Sheldon ( Goalie )
Stedman
Remember these important notes:
1. Many teams do not even monitor assists and steals.
2. Division 2 leaders played well against Div 1 teams (MD, JSerra)
3. Defense does not get "the pool cred" it deserves.
Many teams do monitor assists and steals.
Many teams do not post this information.
But don't think this information is not available elsewhere.
It's surprising that any coach was only use oc varsity stats as their measuring tool.
Goals do not show the total picture. Also, didn't JSerra had their 4 game forfeit totals removed and missed a 5 game tournament in coronado?
MAD DEFENSE
I agree with your 3rd comment on defense. The powers that be should take into consideration the effort that all of these players put into defense
I agree ... while SpashBall did a great job at starting a list, using goals as the main criteria is not enough. There will be very few who will show strength in all three area. Frankly, it is often the unselfish leader that make the high scorer stand-out. We all have a few of those young men on all our teams!
At best, you do need to look at those who stand out in at least 2 area and then hope there is a way to consider total pool performance
I guess that's why these lists are so difficult to make when you have such great talent to evaluate!!
I agree,,,,you have to go 2m to 2m all out. Anyone can score its the playmaker that should get the credit.
Dan,
Any word on the OC All Star game?
I agree that Offense wins games and Defense wins Championships. However, the top 100 scorers of Orange County water polo players scored just over 1 goal per game.
So if a player is good enough to go 2M to 2M, then the player is bound to score AT LEAST an average of 1.5 goals per game.
So if the criteria is at least 50 goals and can/will/does play great DEFENSE 2M then the list of top 10 Juniors goes down to TOP 4.
Russel Renteria
Luke Hewko
Joe Ferretti
Zack Kamai
who is Zack kamai?
To Splash Ball, FYI, I know the top 3 guys on your list do not play 2MD, not sure of Kamai, it is rare that anyone goes 2M to 2M cionsistently over an entire game
Curious Fan, you have to admit that the four on the list can play 2M defense and go and setup on 2M Offense and score.
Russell and Luke with their deep defensive players did not have to.
Zack and "Joey" did go 2M to 2M in at least half of their games based on who they were playing.
In the CIF game of Los Alamitos versus Irvine; both Joey and Zack played 2M to 2M against each other. They scored their goals on switches and counter attacks when they werent guarding each other.
the only person i knew of was johnjohn but hes not in highschool anymore
well theres joeyjoey
wpolofan7, so in your opinion Wagner is the 3rd best goalie in OC. I don't think I would rank him that high. Probably top 10 in OC for goalies. We will have to wait and see after the all-league lists, all-CIF lists come out.
haha wagner looked so good against wherry.
can you say donut.. all day long
or bunny
nick santala is a fine player but may be the 5th best player on his own team. bonanni is the class of sophmores.
macrae carden had to go 2m to 2m most of year cuz garret glore missed many games and is constantly in foul trouble. his goal output suffered as a result. he will post great numbers next year.
If Big Daddy is at the stat table Macrae will have a BIG Season.
There are two sophomores on El Mo that should be on the radar (Gonzalez and Meade). They just finished their second year playing varsity and both were starters by the end of the season playing. We will see how they perform as the go to guys next year. Good luck guys its been a fun year.
el mo is good.
not really
i know
i have seen IRVINE high school games and i did not see this ZACK KAMAI go 2 to 2...
srry to say but i saw him get countered
i have also seen IRVINE highschool games and HAVE seen zack kamai go 2 to 2
HA YEP is a basketball player.
not anymore:)
i still play polo though....
at UCLA
Coming from Aliso Viejo i think Aliso Niguel should get some credit for their superb perfomance as underdogs the whole year. Huge upset against LB Poly. They have some great players too.
Matt Villanueva- senior who had a huge year and basically led Aliso to CIF and had 5 goals in the CIF game. He was elected to 2nd team all league and was on the south all star team. He should have been selected for 1st team all league and at least 3rd team all CIF.
Zach Borsuk- junior who was the best all around player on Aliso. He is on Splash Balls Top 10 juniors twice for assists and steals. He also had 3 goals in the CIF game. He also came through in the clutch for Aliso with many game tying and winning goals this season.
Jon Frank- Sophmore and oh boy did he come through in the clutch. He didnt start this year until the Villa Park tournament when a player was injured the game before. He played exceptionally well. He had 3 game tying goals in that tournament and the game tying assist in the game against LB poly. I bet Aliso is excited about his future.
I also forgot to mention that this was the first win ever in CIF competition for Aliso....... Congrats guys.
I don't think it was a HUGE upset against LB Poly, although it was an upset. The goalie played well in the game, as did the players you listed above. Not to downplay the accomplishments Aliso, but a few notes about LB Poly - they've had a problem of playing well in the playoffs and haven't made it past the first round in recent memory.
They always have solid players but the lack of a strong club foundation for the younger players has really hurt the program and puts them at a disadvantage as many of the stronger teams in SS have many players that have played club polo for a number of years before entering high school. Most of their players didn't start playing polo until high school.
However with that being said, Aliso does deserve a lot of credit for their accomplishment and congrats to them on a great year.
Junior list????