Golden West closes in on 8th straight title; West Valley stands in their way

Golden West inched closer to history Friday with a comeback 8-5 win over Long Beach City at the 3C2A Men's Water Polo State Championship at Long Beach City. The Rustlers look for their eighth title in a row, the program's longest streak since the Rustlers won nine in a row from 1989-97, Saturday afternoon against West Valley, which stopped Orange Coast 15-10 in Friday's other semifinal.

This will be the fourth-straight title game meeting for Golden West and West Valley, with the three previous games ranking as all-time championship classics. Interestingly, it was West Valley that ended GWC's nine-season run with the first of Viking back-to-back championships in 1998.

The Rustlers had to rally past Long Beach Friday, while the Vikings used a 6-3 first quarter to thwart the Pirates

Game 1: 1S Golden West over S3 Long Beach 8-5

The extremely physical battle between the Rustlers (35-4) and the Vikings (23-9) was worth the price of admission for the large, loud crowd. LBCC capitalized on some uncharacteristic GWC errors for a 2-0 lead after one. The Rustlers evened it up at 2-2 just before halftime and grabbed their first lead on an Ethan Carrington goal on the first possession of the third quarter and then took a 5-4 lead into the fourth quarter. A 3-1 fourth secured the win, as goals from Neven Cerkez, Tomas De Luca and Zeno Kormandi countered a solo score from Sandro Pueyo.

Carrington, Cerkez and Michael Rodgers led the GWC offense with two goals apiece. Pueyo's two goals, two assists, four drawn ejections and one field block led the LBCC stat sheet. Colley Ochoa added a goal, two assists and four steals for the Vikings. 

Game 2: 1N West Valley over 2S Orange Coast 15-10

The day's final game had a strange feel, as West Valley (30-5) seemed to be in charge throughout, but could never pull away from the Orange Coast (22-13). Five different Vikings – Phil Portisch, Mateja Cetkovic, Ethan McLeod, Taine Pickering and Zalan Hegedus – helped the Vikings to a 6-3 first quarter advantage. OCC answered by outscoring WVC 4-3 in the second to make it 9-7, Vikings, at halftime. Goals from Liam Rogers and McLeod made it 11-7 early in the third, but OCC closed the gap with an Otis McAdams score. A Bronson Chungson goal made it 12-8 heading into the final eight minutes. The teams traded goals for the entire fourth quarter, with WVC outscoring OCC 3-2 for the final 15-10 score.

Portisch finished with four goals, two assists, one steal and one field block. Pickering also had four goals, while Hegedus grabbed four steals. Rogers was big off the bench with a loud two goals, one assist, two steals and one field block. William McKeon stopped two five-meter penalty attempts on his way to 10 saves and the win in the cage. Otis McAdams paced OCC with three goals, and Cade Zeilinger and Dylan Morris finished with two each.