DIVISION I

Newport Harbor 14, Corona del Mar 10 (F) - CdM never led.

Second-seeded Newport Harbor leads No. 3 Corona del Mar, 11-6, after three periods. Blake Kelly has four goals, including two on extra. Tars are 4 for 6 on extra; CdM are 1 for 5. Chris Whitelegge had nines for Newport.

DIVISION II

**Final score: Mater Dei 17-6. The Monarchs will face JSerra in the Division II final. Despite going scoreless in the second half, Alex Wherry is the best polo player I've seen.

**Update: Newport Harbor leads CdM 9-4 at halftime. Blake Kelly has three goals for the Sailors. Back on this side of the pool, Mater Dei now leads 17-6.

**Neal O'Hara scores his second goal, at least I think it was O'Hara. The ref is in my way again. .16-6 MD.

**Heading to the fourth: MD leads 15-6. Meanwhile, Newport Harbor is up 8-3 over CdM.

**Apparently, Wherry isn't needed here in the third. He hasn't scored, but Anthony Daboub just did to give the Monarchs a 14-6 lead. And we were just reminded by the MD student section that Daboub is a sophomore.

**Newport Harbor leads CdM 6-3 after the 1st period. I'm giving you pool-to-pool coverage.

**Timeout Villa Park. Mater Dei is threatening to swim away and hide with this game. Neal O'Hara's goal with 2:42 left gives MD a 13-6 lead.

**Robby Leither strikes first here in the third. Mater Dei's lead is now 11-6. Christian Grant answers back, Mater Dei 12-6. Alex Wherry has taken one shot and it blocked by the crossbar.

**Second half is underway. Is there anyway that Villa Park can double team Wherry?

**Halftime: Mater Dei leads 11-5. Meanwhile, Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar are tied at 2-2.

**Wherry x7 = 10-5 Mater Dei lead with 1:00 left in 2nd qt.

**Alex Wherry is slowing overtaking Nick Santala as the best water polo player I have ever seen. Wherry has five goals as the Monarchs now lead 8-4. The fans are chanting his name.

**End of 1: Mater Dei leads 6-3.

**BREAKING NEWS. Dan Albano has arrived!

**Timeout Mater Dei. Monarchs lead 5-2 with 2:00 minutes left in 1st. Alex Wherry has two goals for the Monarchs.

**Timeout Villa Park and it comes at the perfect time. MD now leads 3-0. Liam Gaughan and Alex Wherry have scored. There is 4:08 left in the 1st. I can no longer feel my fingers.

**Hey, ref, you're in my way. Meanwhile, Mater Dei got hit with two ordinary fouls and an exclusion on Villa Park's opening possession. No worries, David Guibord just scored. 1-0 Monarchs.

**Someone needs to build a dome. I don't know how Albano does it. I've been 25 minutes and I'm freezing.

**Villa Park-Mater Dei is up next at 6:30 p.m. Both teams are in the pool. Members of the El Toro team has arrived. I wonder if Dan Albano is with them.

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Servite-JSerra

**Final score: JSerra 14, Servite 8. Nick Santala led the Lions with 6 goals. Spencer Van Horne led Servite with five goals.

**Nick Santala is up to six goals. He's by far the best water polo player that I've ever seen (remember, this is the first water polo game that I've ever seen). JSerra leads 14-4 with 3:02 left in the 4th.

**The rout is on as JSerra has increased its lead to 12-4. Charlie Howarth just scored. That's six consecutive goals...but wait, Servite has ended the streak, Michael Carrillo just scored to make it 12-5 with 5:20 left in the 4th.

**We're at the end of the third. JSerra leads 10-4. Nick Santala has four goals. He can't be stopped. Some things I don't understand about this sport. What is an ordinary foul? And what is exclusion?

**We are in the third period of the Servite-JSerra tilt and the Lions are leading 9-4. Nick Santala has three goals for the Lions. Sit back and relax. The Lions led 6-4 at halftime, but have scored three consecutive to start the third.

I've never covered or attended a water polo match before, so this should be interesting. If I were you, I wouldn't miss this for anything.

The biggest question of the night is whether or not Mr. Dan Albano will be able to make it from L.A. (where he is covering the El Toro-Loyola contest) to Irvine in time for the Newport Harbor-CdM game. Our helicopter will be tracking his every move once he hits the freeways.

5 p.m.: Servite- JSerra

6:30 p.m.: Villa Park-Mater Dei

7 p.m.: Corona del Mar-Newport Harbor

The Monarchs have a pretty big match later today against Fountain Valley but their program is just rolling. Mater Dei's boys captured the CIF-SS Division II title in the fall and placed fourth at Masters.

JSerra and Pacifica tangle first at 10 a.m.

Yes, The Register's 2008 player of the year is very much interested in LMU, whose roster includes his brother and former VP standout, Albert.

Santa Barbara is still alive in the race but from talking to Samuels, it appears that it has come down to USC, Cal, UCLA and LMU.

Why should water polo fans not overlook LMU when it comes to Josh Samuels. Check out his quote from the senior about LMU:

"The whole history of the program is a little different (but) the direction they're going is the same as everyone else. They don't want to lose anymore. ... That (attitude is) good news."

Samuels also said this, "For me to pick a school, I need to see how I gel with the teammates. ... The only team I know I like, because I actually know all the guys through my brother, is LMU. I need to see where I fit in with everyone else."

Man, if Samuels lands at LMU, and brings a few recruits with him, collegiate water polo could be in for a change. This kid is a difference maker.

Tommy O

El Toro water polo goalie Tommy O'Connell, a member of the U.S. junior team over the summer, has committed to Pepperdine, he said in e-mail Wednesday.

Great get for Pepperdine, which really surged late in the season.

O'Connell is a gamer, a leader and very capable of blocking tough shots. O'Connell was second-team All-County but challenged for first team. He made some saves against Foothill in the Division I final that were very difficult and kept that match from getting even further out of hand for the Chargers.

Villa Park's Josh Samuels

Five players of the year and the late coach Grafton Weiss were among the Orange County selections to the All-CIF-Southern Section boys water polo teams, which were released Monday.

Weiss, who died a week after helping coach Katella to its first section crown, was selected Division VII coach of the year by his fellow coaches. About 750 people attended the memorial service for Weiss on Dec. 6.

Weiss, 49, died from hypertensive and arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Katella junior attacker Dillon Avila was voted the Division VII player of the year.

In Division I, Foothill goalie Jay Lovero and attacker Griffin White of El Toro shared player of the year honors.

In Division II, Mater Dei attacker Alex Wherry, a junior, and senior Josh Samuels of Villa Park were co-players of the year.

Foothill's Jim Brumm in Division I and Mater Dei's Chris Segesman in Division II also earned coach of the year awards.

Here are the links to the All-CIF teams:

• Division I
• Division II
• Division III
• Division IV
• Division V
• Division VI
• Division VII

In a photo taken Friday, Grafton Weiss, second from left, is shown with OJ Vazquez, left, Dave Mikesell and Mustafa Hassan, right. Photo courtesy of Michelle Van Horne

Katella boys water polo coach Grafton Weiss died from an apparent heart attack Saturday morning, just one week after helping guide the Knights to their first CIF-Southern Section title.

(Update Dec 2: Cause of death determined for Grafton Weiss.)

Katella principal Jason Allemann said he spoke with an emergency medical service supervisor who said that Weiss, 49, appeared to have suffered a fatal heart attack.

“According to the (emergency medical service) team, they did everything they could (to save him),” Allemann said.

An autopsy is scheduled for Sunday, said Larry Esslinger, a supervising deputy coroner for Orange County.

Weiss coached Katella during two matches Friday at the Southern Section Masters tournament. The Knights qualified by capturing the Division VII title on Nov. 22.

“He was there and he was happy,” Katella co-coach Dave Mikesell said of Weiss. “Everything was fine.”

Katella lost twice Friday and was eliminated but the Knights’ final match against Servite was special for Weiss. While coaching at Magnolia, Weiss coached Servite coach Mustafa Hassan. At Katella, Weiss coached Servite assistant OJ Vazquez.

“It was the perfect day,” Mikesell said. “He (Weiss) is the greatest guy I’ve meet in this sport. … Heart of gold.”

Weiss’ son, Garrett, was the lone senior starter for Katella, which went 22-11 this season. In the Division VII final, the Empire League champions defeated league rival Valencia, 7-1, to become the first boys water polo from the Anaheim Union High School District team to capture a Southern Section title.

Weiss started coaching water polo at Katella in 1993. He also was a science teacher at Katella.

RELATED:

• Weiss to be honored at all-star match Sunday at Katella

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.