Prep column: Soaking up CIF spoils

Barry Faulkner

John Vargas’ 19-year coaching career at Corona del Mar High ended

exactly how he wanted it to Saturday night. So, where it ended, in the

Belmont Plaza pool with a celebratory plunge courtesy of his players,

wasn’t as big an issue as it once might have been.

For though dunking the coach after a championship-match triumph was a

water polo tradition long before Bill Parcels shivered beneath a Gatorade

bucket, the respect Vargas’ players held for their esteemed former U.S.

Olympic coach allowed him to remain high and dry after CIF Southern

Section Division II titles in 2000 and 1999.

This year, however, the future Stanford men’s coach took the pressure

off his troops, letting them know before the 16-4 Division II title win

over Esperanza that if things worked out, he’d allow himself to be

submerged in the moment.

“He told us (dunking him) was something we could do,” CdM senior

goalie Sherwin Kim said.

Daily Pilot photographer Sean Hiller captured the moment for posterity

and the picture of Vargas up to his neck in aquatic achievement, his

raised left hand gesturing “we’re No. 1,” is an image that befits the

revered coach, as well as the program he presided over for nearly two

decades.

*Under Vargas, the Sea Kings won seven Southern Section crowns.

*They played played in 11 section finals, eight of those in Division

I.

*Three of their four title-game losses were by one goal, including one

in overtime.

*There were five CIF division players of the year (not including

another likely this season).

*There was a 41-game winning streak in the mid 1980s, third longest in

section history.

*And only El Segundo’s Urho Saari (12) and Newport Harbor’s Bill

Barnett (11) have coached more CIF champions in the 90 seasons since CIF

began crowning section boys polo winners.

But all of that pales against the sheer volume of praise directed

toward Vargas from fellow coaches, players, parents and others during his

time along the Newport Coast.

Clearly, the enormity of the splash Vargas made as a high school coach

was evident long before he hit the water Saturday night.

The CIF water polo finals, traditionally held on Thanksgiving eve,

were shifted this year for several reasons, according to a Southern

Section spokesman.

This year, title games in six divisions were held for the first time

on the same day at the same site and Thom Simmons, the section’s media

relations director, said it was a smashing success.

Simmons said travel logistics -- hardships with schools securing

transportation the day before the holiday, as well as the desires of

players and their families to venture out of the Southland to enjoy the

holiday elsewhere -- helped lead to the change.

Another catalyst was growing enthusiasm within the water polo

community for doubleheaders, which have become common in the semifinal

round.

Simmons said official numbers are pending, but noted a rise in

attendance at this year’s finals.

This is a change that appears to be here to stay.

The Cerritos High football team that will meet Newport Harbor Friday

night at 7 in a CIF Southern Section Division VI quarterfinal, has more

than a 9-1 record and a share of its first Suburban League title in

school history going for it.

The Dons are guided by fourth-year coach Kurt Bruich, who is carrying

on one of the more storied coaching legacies in Southern Section annals.

Bruich’s father, Dick Bruich, was a longtime coach at Fontana High and

is currently guiding Fontana-based Kaiser High into the CIF Division VIII

quarterfinals.

Kurt played for his father at Fontana and was a senior on the 1987

Steeler team that won the CIF Big-Five (now Division I) crown with a 21-0

triumph over Fountain Valley.

The younger Bruich coached with his father at Fontana and also at the

University of Redlands, before becoming the Cerritos head coach at age

27.