Hope and passion are a dangerous combination for any underdog, according to Southwestern College men’s water polo coach Jorge Ortega.
Those two qualities proved to be lethal in the host Jaguars’ 17-16 overtime win over Pacific Coast Athletic Conference co-leader Palomar College on Oct. 8.
“We got that early lead and made it last,” Ortega said. “They beat us 20-5 the first time at their pool. It was 2-1 us after the first quarter (in the rematch) and one might have expected them to come roaring back to take the lead in the second quarter. But the longer we kept that lead that gave us hope and that kept our fire burning.”
The Comets entered the match 4-1 in PCAC play, 10-3 overall, while the Jaguars were 1-4 in conference play, 3-10 overall.
Palomar also entered the match tied in the PCAC standings with Grossmont College, with San Diego Mesa College in third place with a 3-2 conference record.
“Someone asked me what our record was before the game and I said 3-10, but I thought we had more talent that might be expected from a 3-10 team,” Ortega explained.
SWC certainly put its talent on parade in the rematch against the Comets.
The Jags, buoyed by their early lead, score the opening three goals of the second quarter — one each by Giovanni Lucatero, Nick Howard and David Carroll — to lead 5-1. Palomar then reeled off four of the next five goals (one each by Rich Farley, Ryan Rodriguez, Kody Moffat and Nicholas Hendricks) to close the gap to 6-5.
But Howard and Carroll responded with unanswered goals to push the Jags further in front, 8-5, before the first half ended in Southwestern’s favor 9-8.
Howard scored on a backhand shot to open the third quarter to give the Jags a 10-8 lead but a pair of unanswered goals by the Comets eventually knotted the score 10-all.
The rest of the game was pure nail-biting drama.
Southwestern went up 11-10 on a goal with 4:36 left in the quarter but lost Jesus Santoyo in the process due to dizziness after taking an elbow to the head while dueling in the two-meter set position.
Palomar tied the score, 11-11, just over a minute later on a goal by Hendricks. Despite respective time-outs taken in the final 29 seconds of regulation to discuss strategy, neither team could manage to score and the contest went into two three-minute overtime periods.
The teams combined for 11 goals in the OT session, with the hosts fighting back from three one-goal deficits — 12-11, 13-12 and 14-13 — before back-to-back goals by Clinton Golder and Howard lifted Southwestern to a 15-14 edge at the end of the first overtime period.
The Comets tied the game, 15-15, on a deflected shot by Evan Dean to open the second OT period, but the Jaguars refused to let it deflate their game. Howard scored to make the score 16-15 and, after the visitors once again to tie the game, 16-16, on a goal by Moffatt with 1:33 to play, Howard scored again with 37 seconds left to put the hosts up by a goal.
The Comets couldn’t get off a quality shot in the final seconds against the SWC defense, which formed a fortress around goalie Josue Macias.
Macias played his best game of the season, making 21 saves, including numerous acrobatic diving and fingertip saves, to continually thwart Palomar’s shooters all game long.
Howard finished the game with eight goals, one assist and seven steals to match Macias’ heroics, while Carroll had four goals and one assist. Santoyo contributed two goals and one steal before leaving the game while Carlos Lizarraga had one goal, one asssit and four steals, Geo had one goal, one assist and one steal and Genaro Salido collected two assists and one steal.
Howard entered the game leading the state with 46 goals, 23 assists and 69 steals. Carroll ranked second on the Jags with 39 goals, 17 assists and 28 steals, followed by Lizarraga with 12 goals, 20 assists and 22 steals. Macias had logged 126 saves.
The Jags improved to 2-4 in conference play, 4-10 overall, following the win over the Comets, who dropped out of a first-place tie with Grossmont.
Southwestern plays at last place Miramar (0-5, 2-13) on Wednesday, Oct. 15. The Jaguars host Mesa (4-2, 11-7) in a key PCAC match-up Wednesday, Oct. 22, as teams battle for valuable seeding position for the upcoming conference championship tournament.
“We have been a second-half team the last couple of years, and we might be doing it again,” Ortega said.
PCAC Standings
(Through Oct. 11)
Grossmont 4-1, 7-4
Palomar 4-2, 10-4
San Diego Mesa 4-2, 11-7
Southwestern 2-4, 4-10
San Diego Miramar 0-5, 2-13
Scoreboard
Wednesday, Oct. 8
Southwestern 17, Palomar 16 (OT)
San Diego Mesa 20, San Diego Miramar 9
Wednesday, Oct. 15
Palomar vs. Grossmont at Granite Hills High School, 2:15 p.m.
Southwestern at San Diego Miramar, 3:30 p.m.
