Enright Lives Up to Name for CCS Champ Gators

By Nathan Mollat - Daily Journal
Daily Journal Boys’ Water Polo Player of the Year
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Sacred Heart Prep’s Jackson Enright certainly had his work cut out to make a name for himself in Nothern California water polo circles.

After all, his older brother Harrision was a multi-time Central Coast Section champion with the Gators and when Jackson was a freshman, Harrison, then a senior, was named CCS Player of the Year.

Four years later, Jackson Enright has certainly left his own mark on the Gators program. He, too, was named CCS Player of the Year for the 2016 season and won his fourth straight CCS Division II championship.

He can now add to his polo resume the title of Daily Journal Boys’ Water Polo Player of the Year.

But SHP coach Brian Kreutzkamp, who coached both brothers, doesn’t see any kind of sibling rivalry between the two.

“I know those two are very close,” Kreutzkamp said. “They play the same style of polo. I think [Jackson] always looked up to his brother and wanted to play like his
brother.”

If that means dominating then yes, Jackson Enright did that. The Harvard-bound senior did it in a much more subtle way that requires a higher level of knowledge of the sport. Enright didn’t dominate by scoring bushels of goals, although he did that as well. Enright’s dominance came in knowing that whatever he did and wherever he went in the pool, he had to be accounted for and that, invariably, opened things up for the Gators — offensively and defensively.

“We had a really good team, but Jackson is kind of the center of everything we did,” Kreutzkamp said. “Everything we did started with Jackson.”

Enright, a 2-meter man, was a bull on offense and a wall on defense when he was down in the hole set — where Kreutzkamp said he could get any time he wanted. Offensively, Enright routinely drew double and triple teams from defenses. Naturally, that would leave several Gator teammates open and, more often than not, Enright found them for goals.

If his passing wasn’t leading to perimeter goals, he was drawing kickouts on opposing defenders, who would literally try to do anything — legal and otherwise — to stop Enright. The Gators would score two to three goals a game on the man-advantage.

“We had him set against every team’s best defender. It forced [the opposition] to drop a guy back. Next thing you know, you have some ... shooter open on the perimeter. Every single one of those looks was because Jackson was double and triple teamed,” Kreutzkamp said. “It’s not an easy job. He gets beat on the entire game. We expect him to keep his composure. He just has to stay patient and wait for his spots.”

Enright wasn’t always a beast on the inside. His first season, he was almost exclusively a perimeter guy. Kreutzkamp said during Enright’s sophmore year, he split time between the two positions. The last two years, Enright has been almost exclusively a center and this season he proved to be the best.

Defensively, Enright spent more time guarding perimeter players because Kreutzkamp had other talented players who could man the center spot.

And even playing out of position defensively, Enright still impacted the game as he led the Gators in steals this season.

“Which is unusual from a big guy,” Kreutzkamp said. “That’s usually reserved for smaller, faster players. It shows he’s attention on the defensive end. He’s on it every single defensive possession.

“He can easily switch into that top defender role at any time. We didn’t really need him to do that every match.”

Enright’s other impressive feature is that he never came out of any game that was even slightly in doubt. Given the beating he takes on from the set position, constantly battling two and three defenders. Then defensively, trying to shut down a team’s best perimeter player while also starting the Gators’ counterattack, it would be fair to say Enright was among the fittest players in Northern California as well.

“Jackson never came out. He played ever game. I could move him to defender or whatever (to try to get him some in-pool rest), but he never came out. Even a tired Jackson was better than what we had coming in (off the bench),” Kreutzkamp said. “He has CCS qualifyingt times in the 500 free and the 100 free (in swimming). He can sprint, he can swim distance. He can do it all.”
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Sacred Heart Schools Atherton

Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton

150 Valparaiso Ave
Atherton, CA 94027
650 322 1866
Founded by the Society of the Sacred Heart, SHS is a Catholic, independent, co-ed day school for students in preschool through grade 12