SHP in finals; Menlo denied

Nathan Mollat Daily Journal Staff
Gators roll into 14th straight CCS title game; Knights knocked out
Along with death and taxes, there has become one other constant in life: the Sacred Heart Prep boys’ water polo team will play for the Central Coast Section Open Division championship.

The top-seeded Gators advanced to their 14th straight CCS title game after whipping fourth-seeded Valley Christian 14-2 Wednesday night in Atherton. SHP took control of the match with a six-goal, first-quarter explosion and then rode that initial wave to the lopsided victory.

“That was the goal (to get off to a blistering start),” said SHP head coach Brian Kreutzkamp. “This is the most important week of the season, for sure.”

While the Gators will be making their annual finals appearance, their long-time counterpart, Menlo School, will not be on the other side of the pool Saturday morning. The third-seeded Knights were knocked off by No. 2 Bellarmine 13-8 in the night’s first semifinal game.

Despite the explosive start for SHP (26-2), Valley Christian (20-6) was matching the Gators shot for shot in the that opening seven minutes. If not the play of freshman goaltender Griffen Price, the match could have been a lot different.

But Price, who serves as the starting goaltender for the national cadet team, was even better than his credentials on this night as, to use a hockey term, he stood on his head. Price finished the match with 16 saves — eight of which came in the first period.

“If he wasn’t on (his game), I think that first quarter score is tied,” Kreutzkamp said.

The highlight came midway through the opening quarter with the Gators leading 2-0. The Warriors got the ball into the set, but a point-blank shot was saved. The rebounded squirted out to the right side of the cage to a waiting Valley Christian player, who wasted little time in pulling the trigger on a second point-blank shot that was again smothered by Price. There was another rebound, another Warriors shot and another Price save.

Three saves in a five-second span.

Kreutzkamp blamed some of Valley Christian’s offensive flurry on the fact the Gators defense was looking to get out on the fastbreak and were a bit lackadaisical on the defensive end.

“Our guys know how good he is, so they were taking chances,” Kreutzkamp said. “When he’s playing like that, it gives our offense so much confidence.”
With Price on point, he even got into the offense with a pair of assists, along with a 6-1 lead after one period and it was all but over for the Warriors. Larsen Weigle led the SHP offensive charge with five goals. Walker Seymour had two goals and three assists, Andrew Churukian finished with two goals and two assists, while Kyle Ballack added two goals as well.

The win sets up a finals match that CCS water polo fans have been clamoring for for years — SHP vs Bellarmine. Both teams have dominated section water polo for the better part of the last two decades and despite both being multi-time CCS champs, they had never faced each in a CCS final because they were in two different divisions. It was one of the reasons CCS went to an Open Division, to put the all the top teams in one bracket, regardless of the size of the school.

“We’ve never played them for a championship,” Kreutzkamp said.

Both teams get that chance at 10:25 a.m. Saturday at Independence High School.

 
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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