Fryer: Time to test the waters
Sure, winning is the top priority.
But Villa Park water polo coach John Carcich said a lot more can be gained this week in the South Coast Tournament.
"I want to see if we're gelling together offensively," he said, "and I want to start looking at how we play with an extra-man advantage. I'm going to study that closely. And we don't normally play two games a day, so this tournament can show you a lot in terms of your conditioning."
The South Coast Tournament is a tough classroom in which to learn these lessons. The South Coast annually is the first big tournament of the high school water polo season.
And, as usual, the field is loaded. Seven teams ranked in the Orange County top 10 are in the South Coast Tournament: No. 1 El Toro; No. 3 Villa Park; No. 4 Servite; No. 5 Los Alamitos; No. 6 Corona del Mar; No. 8 Foothill and No. 9 Mission Viejo. Some top teams from outside of the county are in it, too, like The Bishop's School of La Jolla, and Riverside Poly.
The tournament began Thursday at four locations – Capistrano Valley, Corona del Mar, Newport Harbor and Tustin. There are four brackets, with one played at each of those four pools. The tournament continues today, with the championship game Saturday at 4:05 p.m. at Newport Harbor.
Villa Park won the South Coast Tournament in 2004, and has a team that should be a contender in it this year.
It is a junior-led team, with only two or three seniors starting (depending upon circumstances like the opposition). One of those seniors is goaltender Max Rapacz, one of the county's better goalies.
The Spartans' leading scorer going into Thursday was junior Josh Samuels, with 20 goals. He was All-County first-team last season, when he set a school record for steals with 175. Another top Villa Park junior is Rex Learmouth.
Villa Park has battled illness and injury issues so far, but still is off to a 4-0 start. Villa Park hosts its own tournament, the Villa Park Classic, next week and it should also be a good one. Like the South Coast, it also is a 32-team tournament and El Toro will be in it as will a top team from the north, Sacred Heart Prep of Atherton.
For now, the Spartans are concentrating on what they can do in the ultra-competitive South Coast Tournament.
"This," Carcich said, "is a big tournament."
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
•The day after beating Harvard-Westlake in the Dave Mohs Memorial Tournament championship match, Los Alamitos' girls volleyball team beat Marymount of Los Angeles in three games. Marymount came into the week as the No. 1 team in CIF-Southern Section Division I-A. That says a lot about Los Al's ability to focus on the match at hand.
•Beckman's girls volleyball team improved to 4-1 after beating Connelly in four games Wednesday. Connelly is ranked No. 1 in Division V-A, and is that division's defending champion. Beckman is No. 10 in Division II-AA (Laguna Beach is No. 1 in II-AA).
•An important girls golf match next week: Mater Dei vs. Santa Margarita, in Trinity League play Thursday at Willowick Golf Course in Santa Ana. Mater Dei is ranked No. 2 and Santa Margarita is No. 3 in the county, respectively.
•Why did Orange Lutheran football play a home game Thursday, against Valencia of Valencia, in south county at Saddleback College? Because there was no available, large-enough stadium that is closer. Lutheran has home games this season at four different sites: Brea Olinda High; Cal State Fullerton; Saddleback College; and Santa Ana Stadium. "It's always a bus ride for us, whether we play at Brea or somewhere else," Lutheran coach Jim Kunau said, "so it really doesn't matter where we play."
•Department of corrections: Michael Duenes played running back, not quarterback, at St. Margaret's last season. Cameron Hiller was the Tartans quarterback last season, when he was All-Academy League first team, and plays that position this year, too. We got Duenes' position wrong in the Frankly Fryer bit Thursday when previewing the St. Margaret's-Whittier Christian game that will be played Saturday at Whittier College.
