Warriors win first two league water polo matches

Fallbrook High School boys water polo coach Bill Richardson cites two reasons why the Warriors had a 4-12 record entering Valley League play but won their first two league games.

One of the reasons is that Richardson sought a tough pre-league schedule to prepare his players for league play and for the CIF Division I playoffs. The other reason is that the squad with 13 first-year varsity players has been developing throughout the season.

"I think we're going the right direction," said Richardson. "We're definitely turning the corner a bit."

Classical Academy traveled to Fallbrook for an Oct. 4 match which commenced league competition for both the Warriors and the Caimans, who took a 9-6 season record into the game.

"They actually were a much improved team," said Richardson of Classical Academy.

Classical Academy's record last year was 8-15, including 1-4 in Valley League games, and the score of Fallbrook's victory against the Caimans was 18-4.

This year's game saw both the Warriors and the Caimans score twice in the first quarter, but in the second period Declan Harrison scored four goals and the Warriors held a 12-4 lead when the halftime buzzer sounded.

"He had a really good quarter," said Richardson of Harrison.

Harrison, who sat out most of the second half to allow Fallbrook's substitutes to gain game experience, had a total of five goals for the day. Tanner Curnow added four goals for the Warriors, whose margin of victory was 15-10.

Fallbrook traveled to Rancho Bernardo for a non-league game Oct. 7. The Broncos overcame a 6-4 halftime deficit to tie the game at nine goals apiece by the end of regulation, and two additional overtime scores gave Rancho Bernardo an 11-9 win. The teams had faced each other Sept. 1 in the Rancho Bernardo Invitational tournament, and in that game the Broncos prevailed by a 9-5 margin.

An 11-6 victory Oct. 13 at home against San Pasqual improved the Warriors' overall record to 6-13 and Fallbrook's league mark to 2-0. The Fallbrook lead was 4-1 after the first quarter.

"We got off to a pretty fast start," Richardson said.

The Warriors had a 7-4 halftime cushion and scored the only goal of the third period. Harrison led Fallbrook with four goals while Curnow and Matthew Kuhn each scored twice.

"The team is starting to jell a little bit," said Richardson.