Thank goodness for Blue Devil firepower …

Otherwise, the Davis High boys water polo team would have found itself in deeper water than the Arroyo Park Pool on Wednesday afternoon.

Hosting new Division I rival Granite Bay, DHS needed a baker’s dozen goals to overcome a shaky defense and prevail, 13-8.

“Our defense needs a lot of work,” Devil coach Tracy Stapleton — in his 25th season at the helm — said afterward. “You can’t give up eight goals. We had too many (times) where we had mental breakdowns. We just can’t do that.”

Case in point, after sophomore Conrad McCarthy scored the game’s first goal (off of a Connor Stapleton pass), the Grizzlies went on to score three straight times. Two of the tallies, by Max Vigeant and Chase Cooper, were made right on Davis keeper Jeff Stark’s doorstep.

“We can’t give high-percentage shots like that,” coach Stapleton added. “We gave them good looks. It’s something we’ve been working on and we just have to do a better job.”

But remember, this is a 7-2 DHS team that has offensive versatility. It can finesse a foe or strong-arm them. Trailing 3-1, the Blue Devils did a little of both to forge back into a 7-5 advantage at intermission.

Junior Graham Fullerton made a slick, right-handed spin goal in front of Granite Bay goalie Tyler Kenney to tie things 3-3 at 1:04. It was Fullerton’s second goal in 41 seconds, the pair coming off of assists by Stapleton and Garrett Fisk.

In the second period, both schools played decent defense until McCarthy broke through again at 3:33. When Fisk and Stapleton urged home medium-deep shots, the Devils thought they were back in control. Not yet …

More shoddy defense led to Vigeant and Corey Cosunji scores as the Grizzlies tried to sneak back in.

Fullerton got his hat trick, restoring some order 14 seconds before halftime, thanks to Stapleton’s classy dish.

At the break, coach Stapleton implored his guys to tighten their defensive grip in the final 14 minutes. Still, he didn’t like what he saw.

Despite three, third-period goals from senior Stapleton — and No. 4 from McCarthy and another by Fisk — Granite Bay continued to get set up and blast away.

Stark had to make three saves as the visitors were unlucky, missing their next eight shots.

But in the final stanza, five more shots meant two late goals before attacker Stapleton delivered a next-level nightcap. It marked his fifth goal of the contest and came with just under 20 seconds remaining.

Granite Bay (10-6) managed 22 shots to Davis’ 21. Sophomore Stark had to make nine saves.

Tracy Stapleton promises that playing good defense “is not super complicated.”

According to the coach: “Don’t leave someone close to the goal to go guard somebody farther away from the goal. It’s like leaving a soccer player alone in the box to mark somebody 20 yards away. We got a little scatterbrained here and there on defense.”

Notes: Next up for the Blue Devils is a league match next Wednesday at Wackford Pool in Elk Grove. After that, the locals travel to the S&R Sport Cup Invitational in Irvine before returning home to meet Monterey Trail on Oct. 10 at Arroyo. … Connor Stapleton, a member of the U.S. National Youth Team will be competing in the inaugural FINA World Youth Water Polo Championships in Perth, Australia in December. A goal in the third period on Wednesday proved why, as he took a pass 10 meters out, to the right of the Granite Bay goal, got his defender in the air, pushed the ball forward in a move that Davis High football running back Winfred Roberson would have applauded, then swam right at Grizzlies’ keeper Kenney. Once Kenney committed, Stapleton slid the ball gently into the net.

— Reach Bruce Gallaudet at [email protected] or (530) 747-8047.

0927dhspolo1W

DHS senior Connor Stapleton rears back to send a five-meter penalty shot at the Granite Bay goal on Wednesday at Arroyo Pool. The successful shot was one of five Stapleton goals in the Blue Devils’ 13-8 victory. Wayne Tilcock/Enterprise photo

0927dhspolo2W

0927dhspolo3

0927dhspolo4

0927dhspolo5

Comments

comments