Boys water polo: Harbor clinches Sea View League title

Steve Virgen

NEWPORT BEACH - It didn’t matter that Peter Belden wasn’t playing

for the Newport Harbor High boys water polo team on Wednesday. The

Sailors, ranked No. 1 in CIF Southern Section Division I, really didn’t

need their top scorer and team captain as they cruised to an 11-2 victory

over Aliso Niguel to clinch the Sea View League championship.

Belden was late to Wednesday’s 6 a.m. practice because he said he

overslept. He showed up an hour late and Coach Bill Barnett suspended him

for a game. Against Aliso Niguel (6-14, 1-3 in Sea View play), Belden was

assigned to be the scorekeeper.

He was hardly missed as Harbor’s goalies Shawn Johnson and Brandon

McLain played in the field and Barnett concentrated on keeping the

Sailors’ score down at halftime.

“We pretty much knew if we played decent we would win,” said Ryan Cook

who scored four goals and had two assists. “I’m not saying (Aliso Niguel

has) no talent, but we’re concentrating on CIF.”

Despite missing on its first four shot attempts, Harbor (22-5, 4-0)

scored five goals in three minutes as Joey Snelgrove began the run with a

lob shot, which came after his steal. The Wolverines’ Chris Rodriguez

threw in a backhand shot at the buzzer to make it 5-1 heading into the

second quarter, where the Sailors outscored Aliso Niguel 4-0 and took

complete control of the game.

“The shot selection wasn’t too good, especially early on,” Barnett

said. “We missed a lot of easy shots. (At the half,) I wanted to keep the

score down and I wanted to play the sophomores and let them see some

action.”

Though its shot selection was not what Barnett wanted, Harbor managed

to score on four out of its seven man-up situations. Still, Wolverine

goalie Kent Kagy finished with 13 saves and was rarely faked out.

With McLain and Johnson playing in the field, Steven Jendrusina played

goalie for the final quarter. He finished with three saves to go along

with his one goal which came early in the second quarter and gave the

Sailors a 7-1 lead.

The fourth quarter scene was more recreation than competition for

Harbor. The Sailors were full of smiles and still in rhythm even without

Belden.

“We didn’t play our hardest,” said senior Caine Littrell, who scored a

goal and had an assist. “We weren’t playing for a CIF title or anything.

We missed (Belden), but it’s better (to have him out now) than against

Coronado or something.”

SEA VIEW LEAGUE

Newport Harbor 11, Aliso Niguel 2Aliso Niguel 1 0 0 1 - 2 Newport Harbor 5 4 2 0 - 11

Aliso Niguel - Rodriguez 1, Gilliam 1.

Saves - Kagy 13.

Newport Harbor - Cook 4, Bean 2, Snelgrove 1, Jendrusina 1, Littrell

1, Worthing 1, Vanderburg 1.

Saves - McLain 2, Johnson 2, Jendrusina 3.