Warren High boys water polo secures postseason berth with win over Paramount
Warren’s Matthew Casalegno (10) is pressured by Paramount defenders in their league boys water polo game at the Paramount Pool on Wednesday. Warren defeated Paramount, 21-6. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
PARAMOUNT – It came down to the final day of the regular season for the Warren High School boys water polo team to qualify for a berth in the post season, which begins next week.
They did it in a big way with an overwhelming, 21-6, victory over host Paramount Wednesday (Oct. 23) in the final San Gabriel Valley League game.
With that win, the Bears, who are 11-13 overall and 3-1 in league (second place), will await the brackets announcement Friday at 2:00 pm on the CIF-Southern Section website.
“We’ve had some ups and downs throughout the season, but I think these last couple of games we’ve been doing a much better job, working as a team, working together and getting the kinks out,” said Warren coach Celeste Moreira, of their scoring sprees in their last two games. “I’m really excited for the playoffs. The best part of the game was winning our CIF spot. I hope that it sets a precedent for the younger boys and making it to CIF is expected and hopefully they have bigger goals of winning CIF.”
The Bears combined for 42 goals in wins over Marina and Paramount.
Leading the way in the win over Paramount was senior hole set Matthew Casalegno with a game-high eight goals, while senior attacker Cruz Cassayre added seven.
“I couldn’t have got those goals without the help of my team,” Casalegno said. “I was trying my best in order to put my team in position to go to CIF. The only thing I was thinking about was what could I do to score and enabling us to get into our CIF placement spot’. It was CIF or no CIF.
“It means a lot to me personally because last year when I was a junior, we made it to CIF but sadly we were eliminated in the first (actually second) round I have been striving to be a better player, better captain and a better leader for my team so we can make it to finals and hopefully win.”
Scoring two goals each were seniors Owen Padilla and Sean “Sonny” Lopez and sophomore utility player Noah Benavides.
Junior goalie Evarado Martinez led with 16 steals in the game for Warren.
The first period took some adjustment for the Bears, as they would struggle with the rarity of a shallow end at one end of the pool.
“We started off a little rough because of the pool and we were a little iffy there, but once we had that first quarter, we started putting all of our shots away after that and our defense was on point,” Benavides said.
“I’m excited for CIF,” he said. “I think this year we will go pretty far.
After a close first period, with the Bears holding a one-goal, 3-2 lead, Casalegno exploded for three goals in the second period along with single goals by Cassayre, Benavides and Lopez to lead, 9-4 at the half.
After Paramount’s Joshua Calderon scored his third goal in the game, along with another tally from Joshua Gil to close within four goals, 7-3, the Bears defense took over and allowed single goals by Paramount in the third and fourth periods.
“The boys have been doing a lot better job on their defense,” she added. “I always tell them that defense wins the game.”
Single goals by Lopez and Casalegno and a pair of goals by Cassayre in the third opened up the Bears lead to 13-5 heading into the fourth quarter.
Cassayre also commented on the unique shallow end of the pool. “It was kind of weird having the shallow end and you could stand, and you really can’t get up on your legs,” he added. “We all had fun and we played well as a team and we got the victory. We did what we needed to do.
“We’re a pretty fast team, we were countering and our passing was very good and getting a lot of looks inside and I appreciate my teammates for getting those good passes.”
The Bears added eight more goals in the final period, led by Cassayre and Casalegno, with three each.
On CIF, Cassayre said, “Really, it’s an honor and I hope we can make a run. Last year we only made it two rounds and hopefully we can do more than that.
“We’re going to try our best and see where it goes.”
Moreira, who will get the team ready for the second season, said of the past year, “I’m really proud of the team and proud of the program on how much it has grown,” said Moreira, who is also a science teacher at the school. “It’s been a fun year with the boys and has been a fun season.”
