The wins keep piling up for the Eastlake High School boys water polo team as well as the save total for junior goalie James Derrod.
The Titans defeated the Hilltop Lancers, 12-6, Tuesday afternoon at the Parkway pool to improve to 5-0 in Mesa League play, 10-7 overall.
For those counting, Derrod is in pursuit of the San Diego Section career record for goalie saves. He made 11 saves in Tuesday’s contest while also recording seven steals and one assist to add to his growing total.
He now has 858 career saves. The section record is 1,049 saves, set by Monte Vista’s Gavin Glauser from 1995-98.
Derrod, who is playing his third varsity season with the Titans, logged 351 saves last season after making 286 his freshman year to put him 413 saves short of setting a new section record entering this season.
Derrod’s veteran presence has provided dividends for Eastlake.
He logged 22 saves in the Titans’ 11-7 win over Bonita Vista Oct. 2 at the Southwestern College pool.
Making waves
Tuesday’s win was the sixth consecutive for Eastlake, which topped Ramona, 11-7, in a non-league game on Sept. 28 and sank San Ysidro, 13-9, in a Mesa League encounter on Oct. 4.
The beat goes on for the Titans, who aspire to translate their success in league play to the postseason playoffs.
Eastlake finished 2-3 in the America’s Finest City invitational tournament Sept. 21-22 with wins over Auburn (Wash.) Riverside (16-7) and La Costa Canyon (12-11) and losses to Cathedral Catholic (20-5), Riverside King (11-8), Rancho Bernardo (15-11)
“We were sloppy against Rancho Bernardo, lazy on defense, but our first quarter against Cathedral Catholic we did well despite what the final score turned out to be,” EHS head coach Stuart Sokil said. “We stopped their big guy who is on one of the national teams.”
The Titans moved up to the No. 5 slot in the San Diego Section Division II power rankings, trailing No. 1 Steele Canyon (14-4), No. 2 Mar Vista (14-3), No. 3 San Pasqual (13-5) and No. 4 Patrick Henry (11-3).
Granite Hills (11-10) is sixth in the current division rankings, followed by San Dieguito Academy (12-4), Santa Fe Christian (7-3), El Camino (11-9) and Ramona (10-8) to round out the top 10 ranked teams in the division.
Eastlake rematches with Mar Vista on Tuesday, Oct. 16, in Imperial Beach in what could be a showdown for the league championship.
“There are a lot of solid teams near the top of Division II,” Sokil noted. “A lot of teams can hang with each other.”
The Titans had to overcome a stubborn Hilltop defensive effort before taking control of Tuesday’s game on the scoreboard.
The Lancers led, 3-2, on a goal by Lorenzo Rodriguez to start the second quarter. However, Eastlake — braced by four goals from senior Jake Rose and three goals from senior L.J. Eyer — reeled off 10 consecutive goals to build a comfortable 12-3 lead.
Rose finished the game with four goals, three assists and one steal while junior Diego Scheitt recorded four goals and one steal.
Eyer had three goals, one assist and one steal while senior Kaden Nicholas had one goal, one assist and one steal
Senior Giancarlo Valverde-Barriga contributed three assists to the Titan attack.
Raul Rico finished scoring in the game with three goals for Hilltop. Rodriguez had the other three goals for the Lancers, who dropped to 0-5 in league play, 7-10-1 overall.
“Our counter-attack has been good but we’re still working on it,” Sokil assessed of his team’s strengths entering the final stretch of the season. “Our defense (on man-down situations) has consistently been pretty darn good.”
By the numbers
Through 17 games, Derrod has made 221 saves (an average of 13 saves per game) to go with 62 steals and 17 assists.
He had 75 steals and six assists last season and 56 steals and 25 assists as a freshman to help his teammates stay afloat in the water.
His 858 career saves are closing in on the school record of 912 saves posted by Adolpho Moreno, whose last year with the team came in 1999.
Derrod is also establishing himself among the section’s all-time steals leaders and, with 193 steals, may already own the school record in that category.
With 11 regular season games remaining, Derrod has a chance to set a new school record for career saves this season. He is on pace to end the current campaign with more than 1,000 career saves and could set a new CIF record for career saves sometime next season.
The section record for most single-season saves is 496, set by Scripps Ranch’s Brandon Shroyer in 1999.
The all-time steals record of 309 also may be within reach next season.
Interestingly, Derrod may secure a berth in the CIF record book alongside his older sister Haley, who set the current CIF record for career saves among girls water polo goalies at 920 saves while a four-year starter at Eastlake.
Haley Derrod, who also played for the Shores club program, went on to play four years at Bucknell University and now works as a software engineer for ESPN.
Titans score last goal in 11-10 win over Crusaders
Defending Mesa League champion Mater Dei Catholic doesn’t appear to be quite ready to relinquish its crown after battling the first-place Eastlake Titans to a 10-10 standoff late in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s league match-up at the Southwestern College pool.
Diego Scheitt scored with 42 seconds to play to hand the Titans an 11-10 victory and keep Eastlake in the lead in the league standings with a 6-0 record (11-7 overall). The Crusaders fell to 3-3 in league play, 7-13 overall, with the setback.
Eastlake defeated Mater Dei Catholic, 14-12, in the team’s first-round opener. The rematch was every bit as close. The Titans never trailed in Thursday’s game, leading 3-2 at the end of the first quarter, 5-3 at halftime and 9-6 at the end of three quarters.
But Mater Dei Catholic made its moved in the fourth quarter, scoring twice to narrow the score to 9-8 and twice more to erase a 10-8 Titan lead.
Nick Salisbury made the score 10-9 with 3:26 left in the contest. Teammate David Brown tied the game at 10 with 2:52 to play in the game.
Both goalies denied repeated attempts to score to keep their respective teams in the game. James Derrod recorded 13 saves, one assist and three steals to lead the Titans to the victory.
Logan Eyer, Jeremy Redden, Jake Rose and Will Gammon each scored two goals for Eastlake while Ezekiel Craig was credited with one goal. Eli Stewart contributed two steals while Redden also had two steals.
Salisbury led the Crusaders with five goals.
Mar Vista topped visiting Bontia Vista, 23-10, while San Ysidro edged Hilltop, 7-6, in other Mesa League games on Thursday. Mar Vista improved to 5-1 in league play, 15-3 overall.
The Mariners will host Eastlake on Tuesday, Oct. 16, at 4 p.m. in a showdown for first place in the league standings.
Photo gallery by Phillip Brents
Prep Water Polo Pictorial
Eastlake vs. Hilltop
Photos by Phillip Brents
