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No. 8 Villa Park dominates Esperanza
Villa Park's BJ Churnside swatted one first-quarter shot attempt by Esperanza so hard, the ball traveled almost three-quarters the length of the pool toward the Aztecs' goal.
The Spartans' eighth-ranked boys water polo team gave that kind of dominating defensive effort Tuesday against former Top-10 member Esperanza.
Churnside collected four field blocks and six steals to go along with his six goals to lead host Villa Park to a 13-3 victory in a key Century League opener.
Click here to OCVarsity Hot Shots from this game.
The Spartans' crashing defense at 2 meters shut out the Aztecs' traditionally strong center attack. Esperanza (0-3, 0-1) scored twice on the power play and once on a steal in Villa Park's backcourt.
"I thought we played real solid, team defense," Villa Park coach John Carcich said. "If we do that for four quarters, we can do some damage."
Villa Park (4-1, 1-0) mostly used Churnside and Shane Pickell to guard 2 meters but the duo had plenty of help from an active Spartans' defense. "We go to a press to crash mode," Carcich said. "Any type of entry pass (to 2 meters), we can get back on it. We've been talking a lot about that."
Villa Park forced 21 turnovers and also got 10 saves from 6-foot-7 freshman goalie Sam Thompson. Eric Bungcag added three goals and five steals for the Spartans.
Churnside, a senior, didn't play last season against Esperanza because of illness but finished Tuesday with a staggering plus-43 on Villa Park's stat sheet. The Spartans and Esperanza will meet again Thursday in the first round of the South Coast Tournament.
In other nonleague matches:
No. 7 Corona del Mar 10, Long Beach Wilson 7 (OT): The host Sea Kings (2-0) blanked the Bruins, 3-0, in overtime to win the showdown of the top-two ranked teams in Division 2.
No. 5 Huntington Beach 18, Santa Margarita 8: Ian Arnold and Max Schultz each scored five goals to lead the visiting Oilers (6-1).
No. 6 Laguna Beach 18, Mira Costa 7: Nolan McConnell netted eight goals to help pace the host Breakers (5-1).
Montebello 16, No. 9 Servite 15: Jason Varela scored eight goals in the loss for the Friars (1-1) at Commerce.
In the South Coast League:
No. 2 El Toro 18, Mission Viejo 7: Matt Roche and Logan Chappell each netted four goals for the visiting Chargers (2-0, 1-0).
