Chesemore again leads Eagles

Jason Chesemore has been a standout player for Estancia High boys’ water polo for a while now.

Chesemore led the Eagles with 86 goals last season, on his way to first-team All-Orange Coast League and Newport-Mesa Dream Team honors. Yet, to some degree, the progression of his teammates will determine how far the Eagles will go in Chesemore’s senior season.

Or at least that’s the plan of first-year head coach Mitch White, who took over after John Carpenter resigned following 37 seasons in charge.

“Jason’s been kind of the darling of the team for a while, the go-to guy,” White said. “Most of the teams we play know it. He draws a lot of attention ... I’m hoping this year I’ve got a few more kids who can swim and move around in the pool. I’m hoping to draw a little less attention to Jason, maybe not use him as a hole set, do some different things with him to enable him to be more free in the pool and have more opportunity. Senior year, I kind of want to see him do better than be double-teamed in the hole and never touch the ball.”

White expects his son, junior Cobi White, to shoulder some of that load, as well as fellow junior Alex Epperson. Both are returning starters for Estancia, which finished third in the Orange Coast League last season and won a wild-card game to advance to the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs, where Estancia lost at eventual champion Murrieta Valley.

Junior goalie Eizik Leyva is the other returning starter for the Eagles, who are now down in Division 6. Still, finishing top three in league remains a goal, specifically with Sage Hill again out of the league. The top two in the league have consistently been Laguna Beach and Costa Mesa.

Another CIF playoff berth in Division 6 could yield a deeper run, White said. One player who isn’t around this year is senior Kyle Fitzgerald, who was a first-team all-league selection last year after scoring 66 goals.

Fitzgerald is recovering from a shoulder injury.

“He likes to play basketball and he’s not going to risk injuring it in water polo,” White said.

Estancia Boys’ Water Polo

League: Orange Coast

CIF Division: 6

Head Coach: Mitch White (1st year)

Coaching Staff: Frank Gamboa (assistant and JV coach)

2015 overall record: 12-18

2015 league record: 2-2 (3rd place)

2015 CIF results: Reached first round

Returning starters: Four

Returning with honors: Jason Chesemore (first-team all-league, Sr.)

Coach’s Take: “It’s pretty young. I have a lot of new players up on varsity. It’ll be difficult to get them up to speed, but I think I have the makings of a good team.”

One to Watch: “Senior Dion Howard hasn’t played in the field that much, he was a goalie for a while,” White said. “He might surprise us if he gets up to speed on the tactics.”

Schedule

September

7 - Mark Keppel

9-10 - at El Dorado Tournament, TBD

12 - at Segerstrom Tournament, TBD

13 - Marina (3 p.m.)

15 - at Lake Elsinore Lakeside

16-17 - at Segerstrom Tournament, TBD

20 - La Quinta

22 - Lake Elsinore Lakeside

28 - Costa Mesa*

October

4 - Sage Hill (3 p.m.)

12 - Saddleback*

13 - Bolsa Grande

19 - Laguna Beach*

21 - at El Modena

26 - at Godinez* (6 p.m., Santa Ana Valley)

28 - Westminster

November

3 - at Mark Keppel

*denotes league game

All league games at 3 p.m., unless noted

All nonleague games at 3:15 p.m., unless noted