SH Prep wins championship game of water polo tourney

10/15/2018

Rick Eymer, Palo Alto Online Sports

For the 2nd time in as many weeks, the Boys Varsity Water Polo team took home a prestigious tournament championship. This past weekend, the Gators won the North vs. South Challenge, one week after winning the S&R Sport Invitational. The Boys will look for a third straight tournament title this weekend at Bellarmine.

Sacred Heart Prep had never made it to the championship game of its own North vs. South boys water tournament until Saturday. And as long as the Gators were there, they went ahead and won the title, beating nemesis Harvard-Westlake 7-6 in the title match.

Sacred Heart Prep (19-1) has played Harvard-Westlake three times this season, winning two of the meetings. The Gators lost in the title game of the S&R Sports Invitational, held at Harvard-Westlake.

SHP never trailed in the game but there were several harrowing moments. Walker Seymour scored twice to put the Gators up, 5-2, but the Wolverines chipped away, drawing within 5-4 with 3:54 left in the third period.

Kyle Ballock gave the Gators a 6-4 cushion 28 seconds later and Harvard-Westlake answered again.

Will Riley made it 7-5 with 5:24 remaining to play. The Wolverines cut it to 7-6 with 2:42 left to play.

It took a pair of Griffen Price saves and an Andrew Churukian steal to seal the win.

Larsen Weigle also scored twice in the contest.

The remaining games on SHP's schedule all have some added pressure. The Gators compete at the Bellarmine tournament next weekend, participate in the West Catholic Athletic League tournament that begins Oct. 23 and then enter the Central Coast Section and, possibly, the Northern California playoffs.

"It's our last little push for the playoffs," Sacred Heart Prep coach Brian Kreutzkamp said. "We've played some great games."

The Gators advanced to its first title appearance with a 10-8 victory over Mater Dei in the morning's semifinal.

Harvard commit Walker Seymour scored five goals to lead SH Prep.

"I've known all season you can't leave him alone," Kreutzkamp said. "Teams try to focus on Churukian and Weigle but he's right on par with those guys."

Freshman goalie Griffen Price continued to show he's not intimidated by the big moments.

"This was a big win for him," Kreutzkamp said. "He allowed an easy goal but then came right back and played phenomenal down the stretch. He showed a lot of poise."

Price recorded seven saves, three in the final four minutes. Churukian, in addition to scoring a goals, drew five exclusions and grabbed a pair of steals. Weigle added three goals.

Harvard-Westlake (15-3) advanced with an 8-7 victory over Campolindo (14-4).

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