Boys water polo: Sailors second half: points, points, points

Steve Virgen

LAGUNA BEACH - Halftime couldn’t have come at a better time for the

Newport Harbor High boys water polo team on Friday at Laguna Beach.

At the half, holding a 5-4 lead, the Sailors had the chance to make

their adjustments, take a collective deep breaths and a look at the

scoreboard, which was the absolute wake-up call.

Harbor came out a different team in the third quarter, outscoring the

Artists, 10-2, that led to a 16-8 nonleague victory.

“We were angry that they scored some goals on us,” said Joey

Snelgrove, who scored four goals. “We just got pumped up during the half

and we wanted to get after it.”

The Sailors really got after it after the break. They scored seven

straight goals in less than five minutes.

“I knew we were the better team, so we had to get serious,” said

Harbor team captain Peter Belden, who scored three goals in the third

quarter and finished with five. “We were thinking, ‘We’re only up by

one?’ We started working a little harder.”

Newport came into the match ranked No. 2 in CIF Southern Section

Division I and the Artists entered with their own ranking of No. 4 in

Division II.

Laguna Beach battled tenaciously in the first half, outscoring the

Sailors, 3-2, in the second quarter. The Artists traded goals in the last

four minutes of the first half.

First, Trevor Lyle, who finished with five goals, scored with 3:22

remaining.

Snelgrove retaliated 13 seconds later with a successful shot from the

left side.

Two minutes later, Kirk Ziegler scored for the Artists as they still

trailed, 4-3.

Again, Snelgrove answered Laguna Beach’s goal with a shot of his own,

this time 22 seconds after Ziegler punched his in.

With 48 seconds remaining in the half, Lyle put one away again and

sent the Sailors into halftime with only a one-point lead.

“We played three quarters with them, even,” said the Artists Coach

Rick Scott. “But, that third quarter they started to make their changes

and came out strong. Our team got down and mentally we quit.”

The Sailors increased their defensive pressure on the Artists in the

third quarter. And 33 seconds into the second half, Belden collected a

steal and fed Kyle Bean on the break. Bean finished off the play to start

the Sailors scoring run.

“We finally started to swim,” said Harbor Coach Brian Kreutzkamp of

the team’s second half. “Our team defense made the difference.”

In the fourth quarter, the Sailors continued their defensive pressure

as the Artists only scored twice.

The Sailors improved to 11-4, and they remain 2-0 in the Sea View

League.

Harbor will host Villa Park on Tuesday.

NONLEAGUE

Newport Harbor 16, Laguna Beach 8

Newport Harbor 3 2 10 1 - 16

Laguna Beach 1 3 2 2 - 8

Harbor: Belden 5, Cook 4, Snelgrove 4, Bean 2, Littrell 1.Saves:

Johnson 3, McLain 5.