In the beginning of the fourth quarter, boys water polo was down 6-11 at their semifinal game. With the odds of winning against them, putting in the extra effort was essential in taking down Torrey Pines. The clock ticked down and defeat was looming over the Wolverines, but they racked up three more points. Victory seemed within reach, but time was against Westview, and the team fell 12-9. 

Leading up to this game, the team bested Classical Academy in the seeding match, 16-11, and went on to beat La Costa Canyon 10-7 in the quarter finals on Nov. 8. 

Westview started off strong against Classical. In the first minute, Philip Zajac (11) fired the ball into the cage, and just 20 seconds later, Ethan Diep (9) scored as well. Their lead was extended by team captain Luke Christopher (11), who scored in the middle of the first quarter.

Obtaining a 3-0 lead early on gave Westview a lot of confidence, but they knew that they needed to maintain their momentum. According to Hansen Peterson (12), Classical has a lot of left-handed players, giving them an edge on Westview. Additionally, Classical’s star player, Benny LePine (12), is known to be a very strong offensive player. 

“He’s one of the greatest players I know, so [prior to the game], we did a couple drills simulating him being there,” Peterson said.  

LePine is an attacker, so the Wolverines ran a lot of defensive drills in the practices leading up to the game against Classical. 

“We put a strong shooting player in [LePine’s] position,” Peterson said. “If he were to receive the ball, we would consider that a goal.” 

Going into the game, Westview knew that they needed to execute strong defense, and they planned to get LePine sidelined.  

“If we can get three ejections, we can get [LePine] out of the game,” Christopher said.  

If a player gets an exclusion foul, they are taken out of the game for 20 seconds, and if they get three exclusions, they get taken out for the rest of the game. LePine got his first exclusion foul only 19 seconds into the game.

Westview had to play phenomenal defense against Classical’s strong offense, Christopher said, but Westview had an opportunity to rake in lots of points as well. Classical’s goalie was out with a concussion, so their JV goalie took his place. 

“Without their normal goalie, the team kind of fell apart defensively,” Christopher said. “[Their goalie] wasn’t very good at blocking shots, so I would step off my defender and give myself space to shoot the ball before the goalie had time to adjust and move over.” 

Doing so throughout the game, Christopher scored six goals. The first quarter concluded with Westview up, 5-2. 

This energy continued into the second quarter. Westview scored four goals consecutively, two from Diep and two from Christopher, bringing the score to 9-2.

“We came out pretty strong and were in control of the game,” Christopher said. “We weren’t getting too frustrated if someone missed a shot because it didn’t feel like at any point we were going to lose the game.” 

On the opposing side, Classical was feeling the pressure. They called a timeout in the middle of the second quarter. Since the Caimans were getting scored on frequently, the players were getting more frantic with their moves. As a result, two players received exclusion fouls in the second quarter, with LePine receiving his second.  

When the third quarter commenced, Classical tried to come back, scoring the first point of the quarter, but Westview scored the next two. By the middle of the third quarter, the score was 12-5.

“We kept fighting, kept putting our foot down on the gas pedal no matter what,” Peterson said. “That’s what I’m most proud of because sometimes we’ll go halfway through a game, do really well, and then we’ll just let off, and the game slips away from us. So, I’m really proud of us for keeping the pressure on.”

After Classical called their second timeout, both teams scored one more point to end the third quarter at 13-6.

The fourth quarter began, and the Caimans scored twice early on, but LePine was removed from the game after getting his third exclusion foul. This threw off the Caimans’ momentum, and Westview was able to secure three goals in a row, marking the end of the Wolverines’ first CIF game of this season 16-11. 

“Overall, it was a great game scoring-wise,” Peterson said. “We’re really proud of how we played as a team.”

However, the team had little time for celebration with the next CIF game four days away.  The next game they played was against La Costa Canyon, whom Westview lost to two weeks prior, so they needed to prepare. 

“When we played [La Costa Canyon] during the regular season we got beaten pretty badly,” Christopher said. “We failed to adjust and they started to exploit the weaknesses in our defense.”

Westview was determined to beat the Mavericks by using what they know about their playing style through watching film to their advantage. This paid off and Westview triumphed against La Costa Canyon. 

Going into the match against Torrey Pines, the Wolverines were aware this game was going to be particularly difficult. The Falcons are ranked #44 in all of California and #54 nationally. With star players like Julian Breeze (11) and Jake Nielson (12), they are a tough team to beat. 

In the end, Westview had a good season under captains Luke Christopher (11) and Will Cabaniss (12). 

“If we keep pushing as a team, then we will surely make it to the final this upcoming year,” said Peterson.