Nick Angulo’s goal with three minutes and 30 seconds remaining
in the fourth quarter proved to be the difference as the San Benito
High boys water polo team squeaked out a key 10-9 victory over
visiting Palma Tuesday in Tri-County Athletic League action.
HOLLISTER
Nick Angulo’s goal with three minutes and 30 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter proved to be the difference as the San Benito High boys water polo team squeaked out a key 10-9 victory over visiting Palma Tuesday in Tri-County Athletic League action.
The Balers improve to 4-3 in the TCAL and pull into a fourth-place tie with the Chieftains (4-3 TCAL) as a result. Tuesday’s win, though, supplies San Benito with the all-important tiebreaker, meaning the Balers will most likely enter next week’s TCAL Tournament as the No. 4 seed behind Stevenson, Carmel and Salinas, but ahead of Palma.
If the TCAL standings remain the same, San Benito could very well see Palma in next week’s opening round of the TCAL Tournament.
“We get to re-do this thing next week,” San Benito head coach Tom Agan said. “It’ll be interesting.”
Tuesday’s match may have been simply a precursor of things to come for San Benito, which trailed Palma 4-1 after one quarter and 6-5 at halftime.
“We managed to sneak back,” Agan said.
The two teams exchanged goals in the third quarter, as Palma carried a 9-8 edge into the final stanza. But the Balers kept the Chieftains quiet in the fourth quarter.
“Those last three minutes were pretty intense,” Agan said.
Tyler Agan’s lone goal in the game came early in the fourth quarter and knotted the match at 9-all, while Nathan Thomas, who added a score in the game, supplied a key steal during an intense final period that saw plenty of penalties, Agan said.
“He played his best game,” Agan said of Thomas.
After Angulo deposited the eventual game winner with 3:30 left — it was one of three goals for Angulo — San Benito held on late in the match, despite losing its goalie to an ejection with two seconds remaining.
Palma, which had possession of the ball, did not get a shot off in the waning seconds.
“It was a must-do situation and we got it done, barely,” Agan said.
Josh Schafer had three goals for San Benito, while Tyler Reuther added two. Trevor Agan had six saves in net.
Prior to next week’s TCAL Tournament, the Balers will compete in the Monta Vista Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
San Benito will open with host Monta Vista on Friday at 1 p.m., then travel to Los Gatos High for a match with Tokay (Lodi) at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday’s action will begin at 1:50 p.m., when the Balers will play Pioneer at Los Gatos High.
JV Note:
The San Benito High junior varsity boys water polo team suffered an 11-10 loss in sudden-death overtime to visiting Palma Tuesday in Hollister.
