Lots of R & R good for El Toro

The "R & R Boys" helped El Toro's boys water polo team belt out a familiar tune Saturday.

Nick Rascon and Russell Renteria combined for 10 goals as the second-ranked Chargers defeated Carlsbad, 11-8, to capture the Villa Park Classic for a third consecutive season.

"The R & R boys got us," Carlsbad coach J.B Feaster said.

Rascon, a senior, scored a match-high six goals while Renteria, a junior, added four. The duo shared the tournament MVP award.

Rascon and Renteria also combined for 10 goals in a 13-9 victory against Division I foe Ventura in the semifinals.

In the final, Rascon scored four of his goals in the second half, including one on a second-effort put-back that might have been the knockout punch.

El Toro (12-1) led 9-7 going into the fourth when Carlsbad (12-3) had an early chance on the man advantage. The Lancers called timeout with 6:27 left but failed to convert. But about a minute later, Rascon scored from 2 meters after collecting his first shot - blocked by goalie Alex Schamp - and beating a crashing defense.

El Toro coach Don Stoll said his U.S. junior team player "willed" the ball into the cage. The coach added that Rascon might have played his best second half of his El Toro career.

"He played really well today," Renteria said of Rascon. "(He) stepped it up."

For Rascon, it was a much better finale than the one he experienced last weekend. In the finals of the South Coast Tournament, he picked up two early fouls guarding his U.S. junior teammate, Nikola Vavic of Loyola. Rascon missed the second and third periods as the Chargers fell, 8-5.

El Toro also saw an improvement in its power-play Saturday. After going 3 for 18 with the extra attacker in the semifinals of the South Coast, the Chargers went 4 for 6 on the power-play against Ventura and 1 for 4 against Carlsbad.

"I liked the progress this morning," Stoll said.

One constant that remained for El Toro was defense. Freshman Joey Colton had six steals against Carlsbad. Sophomore goalie Garrett Danner added 13 saves and four steals en route to taking all-tournament honors.

Danner also found the scoring column for the second time in three games. At the end of the first period, he fired in a full-court shot to give El Toro a 4-1 lead. Danner scored on a similar shot at the end of the first against Agoura in the quarterfinals Friday.

"He's a really gifted kid," Renteria said of Danner.

In the third-place match:

No. 5 JSerra 15, Ventura 11: Attacker Nick Santala scored six goals while Macrae Carden and Luke Hewko added four to lead the Lions (5-6).

JSerra lost to Carlsbad, 8-6, in the semifinals. Santala and Chris Meinhold earned all-tournament honors.

In the seventh-place match:

St. Francis of Mountain View 12, Esperanza 8: Daniel Lenhart had five goals and three assists in the loss for the Aztecs (5-9).

In a nonleague match:

No. 3 Mater Dei 9, Coronado 8: Alex Wherry's last-second goal lifted the visiting Monarchs (8-2), who play at El Toro on Monday.