Water polo team splits matches against Helix, Westview
by Joe Naiman
Ramona High School’s boys water polo team won its Sept. 11 match at Helix before losing a game at Westview on Sept. 13.
“We’ve got to get a little more organized,” said Coach Donnie Williams.
The win against Helix had a final score of 15-14, although the Highlanders overcame a five-goal deficit in the third quarter to tie the game in the final period.
“Helix had some really good shooters,” Williams said.
Ramona led by a 5-1 margin during the first quarter before settling for a 5-3 lead at the end of that period.
“We actually went up early,” Williams said.
The Bulldogs had a 7-6 lead at halftime but scored five of the next six goals.
“We went up to a big lead in the third,” Williams said.
That 12-7 lead became a 12-10 lead by the end of the third period, and Helix scored the fourth quarter’s first goal. Ramona added a goal for a 13-11 lead, but Helix scored the next two goals, tying the game with 2:48 remaining.
Ramona scored next for a 14-13 lead, but Helix scored once again to tie the game. In the final minute Austin Benke fed Cory Davison a cross-pass and Davison was able to place the shot into the net for the winning goal.
A player with three exclusions is majored, or removed from the rest of the game, and that happened to two of Ramona’s players. One of the Bulldogs who was majored was Matteo Franchello, who scored seven goals before receiving his third exclusion. Garrett Klem scored three of Ramona’s goals, and he also had a steal following Ramona’s final goal to eliminate the Highlanders’ chances of tying the game. Davison and Jesse Reiling had two goals apiece while Ryan Hill scored once.
An exclusion also results in a 20-second penalty in which the team must play short-handed, although the penalty ends earlier if the opposing team scores. Ramona allowed 13 Helix power plays. The Highlanders scored on eight of those and also scored on both of their five-meter penalty shots.
“We’ve just got to play smarter defense and not get ourselves put into situations that we’re putting ourselves into,” Williams said.
Westview’s 9-5 victory at Ramona’s expense saw the Wolverines score the first three goals, although Ramona scored once in the first period to end the quarter with a 3-1 deficit.
“We had opportunities, even in the first quarter, to score,” Williams said. “It just took us forever to get anything into the net.”
Westview had a 6-1 halftime lead with three of those six goals being scored on counterattacks. The Wolverines led by an 8-2 margin after three periods.
The Helix and Westview results gave Ramona a 4-4 season record. The Bulldogs travel to Mount Carmel for Thursday’s game and will play La Jolla Country Day at the Jewish Community Center on Saturday.