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The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
No team wants to play two of their most important road games on the last days of the regular season, but that’s the situation Long Beach Poly boys’ water polo found themselves in this week.
The Jackrabbits played rival Wilson in the Moore League championship game on Tuesday, and then had to turn right around and face Millikan on Wednesday night with second place on the line.
Despite falling short against the Bruins, the Jackrabbits showed incredible fight in the loss to Wilson. They then showed their resiliency by holding off the Rams in a 9-7 victory.
“It was definitely a big challenge and the boys were tired but I think this is a great set up going into the playoffs,” Poly senior captain Emerson LaPorta said. “It tested us. Kudos to the Millikan team, they definitely brought it to us. At the end of the day we stepped up and finished, our senior class really leads this team and it is all about the camaraderie and the teamwork.”
“A lot of lessons learned and gained from this like how you close out a tough game, be level headed and stay calm under the pressure and continue to play your game,” Poly coach Ish Pluton added.
LaPorta put his team on his back in the second half, and his late steals, drawn fouls and key goals down the stretch proved to be the difference. He finished with a hat trick, three steals and two assists.
“I was just staying high in the lane just waiting to take advantage and go,” LaPorta said. “They were playing hard and aggressive and we just have to play through that. I appreciate a good league opponent like that.”
Aiden Greenwood, Tony Song, Billy Cruz each scored twice for Poly while Kyle Oatey provided a game-high three assists. Song also had a pair of assists.
Millikan got two goals and two assists from Luc Poissant while Nathan Huber also scored twice. Rams goalkeeper Mazen Mendoza was fantastic with eight saves.
Huber gave Millikan an early lead, but Poly responded with four unanswered goals thanks to exclusion advantages and led 4-1 before Huber scored again at the end of the quarter.
While Mendoza came up with three consecutive saves in the second quarter, Poissant netted a pair of nice goals to tie the game 4-4 with about five minutes left in the half. However, Song scored a goal from distance to make it 5-4 at the break.
Poly goalkeeper Sean Kerry (5 saves) and his defense stepped up their intensity in the second half while protecting the lead they would not relinquish.
With about two minutes left in the third quarter, LaPorta stole an errant pass and earned a 5-meter penalty shot that he converted himself for a 7-5 lead headed to the fourth quarter.
LaPorta did it again late in the fourth with a steal and a goal to clinch the victory.
“He’s legit, he’s absolutely one of the best players in our league and he stepped up in this game and showed his offensive power,” Pluton said of LaPorta.
Pluton added that his team was able to avoid a Wilson hangover by being themselves.
“A lot of it was talking about playing Poly water polo, playing as a team, playing for each other and asking shooters to step into pockets and rip shots,” he said.
Poly and Millikan will find out their CIF Southern Section playoff fate when the brackets are released on Friday.
