DOWNEY – It all came full circle for the Downey High School boys water polo coach Uriel Villa as he faced his former team, Schurr High, in the CIF-Southern Section Division 4 semifinals Wednesday at the William Woollett, Jr. Aquatics Center.

Villa was an assistant coach for Schurr from 2011-16, helping to build the program into a perennial power.

Villa, who appeared in four CIF title games and winning three, was the CIF Player of the Year in 2006 for Montebello and went on to play at Pepperdine University and Whittier College.

The Vikings, for the first time since 1972 when they won their last CIF Championship, are headed back to a final.

The Vikings defeated Schurr, 12-11, in an exciting game that came down to the end.

Downey, with two previous CIF titles in 1962 and ’72 and five runner-up finishes, was one of the original power houses from the 50’s and 60’s.

With the win, Downey improves to 30-2 and will face Yucaipa (24-10), a 7-6 winner over Yucaipa, in the other semifinal, in the championship game Saturday at the Woollett Aquatics Center. Yucaipa is making its first CIF Finals appearance.

“It was an amazing experience playing in front of such a loud and intense crowd,” Villa said, who is in his sixth year as coach. “It was definitely one of my career highlights.

“When we learned that Schurr was our opponent in the semifinal, that made the game twice as important and emotional. Not only was it emotional for the coaching staff, but also for the players. Most of the players involved in the game began their youth careers competing with and against each other in the age group club scene.”

Leading the way for the Vikings was a pair of freshmen centers, Matthew Moran and Leonardo Garcia with three goals each, while senior utility players Johan Gaytan and Jordan Rodriquez had two each.

Single goals were scored by senior driver Angel Espinosa (3rd team ’21 All-CIF) and sophomore driver Zinadin Rosales.

Downey took an early 4-1 lead after one period on goals by Gayton, Moran (2 goals) and Garcia.

Gayton, a third team All-CIF in 2021, opened the scoring with a penalty shot after he spun around the Schurr defender for the 1-0 lead.

Moran scored two of his three goals in the game in the first period, with the first in a post-up situation with three defenders surrounding him, which didn’t slow him down.

His second goal came off a Spartans turnover, that turned into a fast break, one-on-one situation against Schurr goalie Oscar Luna.

Garcia scored the fourth goal of the period with a wide-open perimeter shot.

By halftime, the Vikings had a comfortable 8-3 lead on two goals by Rodriguez and single goals by Gayton and Moran. Rodriguez was also an All-CIF player from last year, chosen on the 2nd team.

Things changed in the second half, as Schurr outscored Downey, 8-4.

Schurr outscored Downey 5-2 in the third period. The Vikings were holding a 10-6 lead late in the period, before Schurr scored twice in the last 10 seconds, capitalizing on Downey senior goalie, Diego Campos, to trail, 10-8.

Campos, who Villa called ‘the man of the match’ and was an All-CIF first team player last season for the Vikings.

Leading 10-8 entering the final period, Campos became the man, as he made five crucial saves giving him a season-high 17 in the game. “That solidified the win for us and once again displayed why he was a first team All-CIF performer on Downey's 2021 CIF Division 5 semifinalist team,” Villa added.

“Schurr made an impressive comeback and came within one goal in the fourth quarter,” he added.

“Experiencing this level of success with this group of seniors is real special,” Villa added. “They were an important part of last season’s semifinalist team, and that experience helped us reach our boys programs’ first championship game since 1972. “Competing for a CIF championship was this coaching staff’s goal back in 2017. Coach Alyssa Amaya and I believed with the support from the school’s administration and the buy-in from the community, that we can make it happen.”