CIF champs take fifth

IRVINE — Some different cap numbers lined up for the game-starting sprint during the Newport Harbor boys’ water polo team’s pair of games Saturday at the second annual CIF Southern Section Masters Tournament.

No. 2, No. 4 and No. 8 are familiar. They’re the caps worn by Sailors senior standouts Colin McKibbin, Clinton Jorth and Brandon Parole.

No. 3, No. 5 and No. 7? Not so much. But Coach Jason Lynch tipped his hat to his seniors by giving Spencer Richley, Jimmy Burger and Rush Stevens a chance to start the games against Corona del Mar and La Canada.

Not only did they start, but they made up the first “line” for the Sailors at Irvine High. Similar to hockey, Lynch had his senior line and his line consisting of juniors and sophomores.

“[The senior line] was pretty cool,” McKibbin said. “It was cool to get some sub-in time too. We didn’t see a lot of that this season.”

But the seniors also wanted to end their career as winners, and that they’ll do after beating La Canada in overtime, 10-9, in the Masters Tournament fifth-place game. Earlier in the day, the Sailors also topped Back Bay rival CdM, 13-11.

“We just decided to have fun,” said senior goalie Myles Christian, who also gave way to junior backup Nick Holbrook at times. “Us seniors, it’s the last two games of our high school career. We really wanted to have fun and play together as a team.”

Top-seeded Newport Harbor, the CIF Southern Section Division I champion, knew that fifth place was its best possible finish after suffering an upset loss to eventual tournament champion Los Alamitos on Friday. But the Sailors (30-4) came out strong in the fifth-place game against La Canada, a team they hadn’t faced this season.

Even so, La Canada was up, 8-5, early in the fourth quarter, forcing Lynch to put his regular starting six in.

It paid dividends. Junior David Linden scored on a precise pass from Parole, then sophomore Matt Russell’s steal led to McKibbin’s goal that drew Newport Harbor within one with 1:21 left.

With a minute left, sophomore Zach Lucas got another steal, which McKibbin converted on the offensive end to tie the game and send it to overtime.

La Canada got the first goal in the first overtime period, then Linden scored from two meters to knot the score again at 9-9. Then, on a six-on-five, Linden scored the game-winning goal with 13 seconds left in the second overtime period.

Lynch said that Newport Harbor has not lost an overtime game in the last two seasons.

“We just think our conditioning is better,” he said. “We’re going to come through down the stretch.”

In the earlier game against CdM, the Sailors were trailing in the fourth quarter before Burger, Stevens and Richley all scored in succession to give Newport Harbor an 11-9 lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

Finishing fifth in the Masters Tournament does nothing to diminish the Sailors’ season, Christian said. He noted that Newport Harbor still accomplished all its season goals of winning 20 games, winning a tournament, winning the Sunset League and winning CIF.

“After winning CIF, it’s really hard to get back focused, get fired up for a tournament that doesn’t really mean that much to us,” Christian said. “It would have been nice to get in the top four, but we’re still No. 1. We still won CIF, and no one can take that away from us.

“We have something that everyone else wants.”

CIF Masters Tournament

Fifth-place game

Newport Harbor 10, La Canada 9

SCORE BY PERIODS

LC – Scott 4, Vail 2, Borisoff 1, Hansen 1, Hwang 1. Saves – Roszkos 5.

NH – McKibbin 5, Linden 3, Richley 1, Jorth 1. Saves – Christian 11, Holbrook 2.

CIF Masters Tournament

Fifth-place semifinal

Newport Harbor 13, Corona del Mar 11

SCORE BY QUARTERS

CdM – Bergeson 3, Cottrell 2, Klein 1, Akiba 1, Liao 1, Reynolds 1, Taylor 1, Bandaruk 1. Saves – Anderson 9.

NH – Jorth 4, Burger 3, Richley 2, McKibbin 1, Russell 1, Stevens 1, Parole 1. Saves – Christian 6, Holbrook 5.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at [email protected].