Varsity Boys Water Polo Looks Towards First Home Game After Busy Week

Varsity Boys Water Polo had a very busy week, playing six games in five days from August 27th to August 31st, which culminated in a trip down south to the 7th annual Long Beach Varsity Boys Water Polo tournament.

By: Lucas de Lima

As the Varsity Boys Water Polo team continues their opening stretch of games away from home, they continue to build positive results.

The Rangers started their jam-packed week with a win against against the Kingsburg Vikings on Tuesday, August 27, by a score of 12 to 7.

About the game against the Vikings, starting goalie #1 Weston Rawson, ’26, says, “It went pretty well, we came out strong. We went hard, we went fast, and we finished quick. We beat those guys. They were pretty good last year but they lost a lot of talent, and we’ve gained a lot of talent since last year.”

The next day on Wednesday, August 28th, they traveled to play the Clovis East Timberwolves, which ended with a loss by a score of 11 to 3.

When speaking about their performance against the Timberwolves, #16 Owen Zuniga, ’27, says, “We could’ve played better as a team. I think it was just an all around even game, but towards the end they got the best of us.”

Playing back to back games in the middle of the school week ended up having a negative effect on the team. When asked about this, Zuniga says, “I do think it affected our gameplay because our team was more tired and I don’t think [we] played to our peak potential.”

The Rangers had no game on Thursday, August 29th. On Friday, August 30th, they traveled down to Long Beach Polytechnic High School, who hosted the 7th annual Long Beach Boys Varsity Water Polo tournament.

#10 Jake Bettencourt, ’25, says, “Heading into the Long Beach tournament, after a win and then a pretty bad loss against Clovis East, I’d say we were ready to play some more games and hopfully get back into the groove of it.”

The Rangers played two games a day at the tournament. They began with a win against Bonita High School from La Verne by a score of 10 to 8.

Their second match on Friday ended in a loss to El Segundo High School by a score of 7 to 5. They then opened Saturday, August 31st with a win over Clairemont High School from San Diego by a score of 9 to 5.

On playing multiple games in a single day, Zuniga says, “It’s pretty hard sometimes, but other times it’s exciting to win a game then want to go to the next one and win.”

Later on Saturday, they ended their tournament run with a loss to Camarillo High School by a score of 13 to 6. Redwood would end up placing fourth in the tournament.

Rawson had a total of 40 saves over the course of the tournament, while #7 Cody Burton, ’25, had the most goals with 9 over the four games. #4 David Ross, ’25, tallied the most assists for the Rangers with 7.

“Water polo is way more popular down there, it’s like lacrosse is over on the east side. It’s life for them, same with the people in SLO. They’re just really good at it, and they love playing,” says Rawson on the differences between water polo in southern California and in the valley.

The first home game of the season is against Bullard High School on Tuesday, September 10th at 6:00PM at the Frank Bell Community Pool. Bullard currently holds a record of 0-3, while our Redwood Rangers hold an overall record of 4-3.

Looking forward to the first home game of the season, Bettencourt says, “Since there’s no home game this week, I think we should practice hard and hopefully prepare for next weeks home game, so we can show the crowd what it’s like to be at a water polo game.”

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