Motivation works

COSTA MESA — On a board, Coach John Carpenter wrote three letters that fired up the Estancia High boys’ water polo team.

The letters didn’t spell out “win.” They meant more, an achievement none of the players had reached in the sport until Tuesday.

“It’s been [four] years since I wrote CIF,” Carpenter told his team before it entered the CIF Southern Section Division III playoffs. “I said, ‘This is the new season. We did everything to get here. Now, we need to show people we can play water polo.’ ”

The Eagles looked right at home.

In its first playoff appearance since 2005, host Estancia beat Fontana, 14-7, in a wild-card match. Carpenter said the playoff victory is believed to be the program’s first in 12 years.

“The memory is foggy,” said Carpenter, who has been coaching at the school since 1978. “When they re-did the pool here [three years ago], everything got thrown away. We had everything stuffed in a room, and then things got moved and records got tossed.”

The Eagles (19-8) are starting over. The future is promising.

Juniors Charlie Umansky, Preston Schow and Conner Graham are trying to establish the program in a Newport-Mesa area filled with a lot of tradition.

Estancia has never won section championships like Newport Harbor, Corona del Mar and crosstown rival Costa Mesa. The Eagles haven’t reached one, either.

When the Eagles qualified for today’s first-round match at defending champion Montebello (24-3) at 3:15 p.m., they’re treating it like their title match.

“The one thing about playing Montebello, everyone wants to play the [defending champion],” Carpenter said. “This is our finals. Here’s our shot. Let’s go after the champs and win.

“I relish the shot. Not everybody gets to.”

The Eagles earned the right after jumping all over Fontana (11-12), an at-large entry. Umansky finished with five goals and Schow scored four times.

Graham made 15 saves, getting him closer to 400 on the season. The goalie will have opportunities to make many today against Montebello, the No. 2 seed.

Carpenter said he has no idea where Montebello is located. The Oilers definitely are on the water polo map having played in the section championship in each of the last six years.

Montebello is 4-2 during the title stretch. Graham said the Oilers’ success in the past wouldn’t deter Estancia.

“Mostly, you’d be thinking, ‘Oh, they’re going to beat us,’ 0” Graham said. “We need to go into this with a positive mental attitude. As long as we keep positive, I think we can play well against them.”

Another battle the Eagles will fight is fatigue. Back-to-back playoff matches can take a toll.

Estancia looked fresh against Fontana. Umansky recorded a hat trick in the first half and Schow added two goals as the Eagles took a 7-1 lead into halftime.

Schow converted a five-meter penalty shot with less than a minute left in the second quarter. Scoring in double digits against the Almont League champion Oilers will be tough.

One common opponent Estancia and Montebello have is Laguna Beach. The Breakers lost twice to the Oilers in September.

Laguna Beach easily won the Orange Coast League title and the Eagles placed third. In league play, Estancia lost to Laguna Beach, 17-8, on Sept. 30.

“Laguna Beach is an incredibly good team,” Carpenter said. “But we played with Laguna in the … first quarter. We were [tied 4-4]. If we could put four quarters together like that, we can play with [Montebello].”