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.

Division II quarterfinals

Santa Ana Valley (13-15) vs. Katella (19-10) at Kennedy, 1 p.m.

Prediction: The top-seeded Knights appear to be a clear favorite, right? Katella already defeated Valley, 16-7. But after that early-season match, the Falcons went on to beat Empire League member Cypress, 10-8, in October and played second-seeded Los Amigos to a one-goal game. But the Falcons also went 0-2 against Loara, an Empire League team that didn't make the playoffs. These are good indicators because the Empire has emerged as the power-broker in the division with Katella, Cypress and Valencia all in the final eight. The Knights should give the Falcons respect but they have much too much firepower to be stopped at this point. Katella has one of the best players in the division in Dillon Avila and plenty of depth around him. Katella posts a decisive victory.

Cole, a first-round selection of the New York Yankees in June, was 8-2 with 118 strikeouts and a 0.47 ERA for the Lancers.

Katella's Nick Ramirez, the Orange County player of the year, and Mater Dei's Tyler Rahmatulla were second-team All-America selections.

Tim Beckham from Griffin, Ga., was the choice as the national player of the year after being the first pick in the June draft.

Other Southern California selections:

First team
Kyle Shipworth, Patriot of Riverside
Aaron Hicks, Long Beach Wilson
Tyler Chatwood, Redlands East Valley
Matt Hobgood, Norco

Second team
Matt Cerda, Oceanside

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