This is Olympian High School senior D.J. O’Brien’s fourth varsity season on the school’s boys water polo team, and he couldn’t wait for it to get started.
The Eagles qualified for the San Diego Section playoffs in each of his sophomore and junior years. But the team’s stay in the CIF playoff tournament was brief, lasting only one game each time.
This season could be different.
“We’ve all worked hard over the summer,” he said. “I couldn’t wait for the season to finally be here.”
O’Brien and his teammates’ hard work has paid off with a 6-1 start to the 2016 season. Olympian won its first four games under new head coach Rachael Medina, dropped a 13-8 non-league decision to Classical Academy on Sept. 27, then bounced back with a pair of lop-sided wins, including Tuesday’s 21-6 win over Southwest in the teams’ South Bay League opener at the Parkway pool.
O’Brien led the Eagles in Tuesday’s game with four goals, 10 assists and four steals. He scored seven goals in a 16-8 non-league victory Sept. 29 against Pacific Ridge.
He’s excited where his team will finally find a perch at the end of the season.
“Our team goal is to win league and get a CIF title,” O’Brien explained. “The biggest obstacle is to stay focused, take one game at a time and not look too far ahead.”
Olympian took one quarter at a time in Tuesday’s win over the Raiders (0-5). The Eagles shot out to a 6-0 first quarter lead, led 12-0 at halftime and carried a 17-2 advantage into the final quarter.
The Eagles outscored their opponent in the opening three quarters and settled for a 4-4 standoff in the fourth quarter by which time the outcome had already been decided.
Brandon Sanchez scored three of Olympian’s opening four goals and four of its six goals in the first quarter. He finished the game with five goals.
Eleven different players scored in the game for the Eagles.
Austin Greenwell, Michael Martinez and Brian Chung each scored two goals while Alan Contreras, Aaron Valencia, Andres Contreras, Jose Del Rincon, Dylan Salang and Zach Chambers each had one goal.
Olympian goalie Adreyan Hernandez finished the game with 11 saves while Alan Contreras collected three steals.
Greenwell scored six goals in the previous win over Pacific Ridge.
Southwest qualified for last year’s Division III playoffs, dropping a 17-5 first-round match-up to Mater Dei Catholic.
John Hernandez led the Raiders with two goals while Xavier Finley, Riley Romero and Lenny Aparicio each scored once.
Southwest coach Jon Carson believes his team is just starting to get it into gear this season.
“We’ve played some tough teams to open the season,” he explained. “Tonight we finally got to play our game rather than keeping up with the other team. That’s going to pay off later on.”
BOYS WATER POLO SCOREBOARD
East County Invitational
Monday, Oct. 3
Mater Dei Catholic 14, Monte Vista 6
Mar Vista 15, Southwest 3
Serra 9, Mar Vista 7
Serra 13, El Capitan 10
Classical Academy 15, Mira Mesa 8
West Hills 11, Bonita Vista 10
San Ysidro 17, High Tech 16
Hilltop 20, Mt. Miguel 2
San Dieguito Academy 10, Escondido 9
West Hills 15, San Ysidro 4
Bonita Vista 17, High Tech 7
Friday, Oct. 7
Pool play continues, TBA
Saturday, Oct. 8
Championship playoffs, TBA
South Bay League
Tuesday, Oct. 4
Olympian 21, Southwest 6
Chula Vista 20, Castle Park 9
Mesa League
Tuesday, Oct. 4
Mater Dei Catholic 14, Hilltop 6
Mar Vista 12, Bonita Vista 10
Eastlak 12, Otay Ranch 5
