CdM’s centers of attention

As juniors, Brendan Hack and Ben Brooks shared time at center for the Corona del Mar High boys’ water polo team.

It was a healthy competition between the 6-foot-6 Brooks and the 6-2 Hack.

“Coach [Barry] O’Dea didn’t have a decision going into each game,” Brooks said. “He played it by practice. However we played, he’d start that person, and then we’d switch off [at the] quarters. If I wasn’t doing too hot, then Hack would go in. If Hack wasn’t doing too hot, then I’d go in. We were digging off each other’s vibes a little bit.”

The rotation worked well for the Sea Kings, who won the Pacific Coast League title and advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals. But Brooks got mononucleosis toward the end of the season, missing three weeks. Then, in the offseason, O’Dea had a proposition for him.

Did Brooks want to move to the center defender position?

“I wanted to try it out, because I thought I could be good at it,” said Brooks, whose dad, Andy, is 6-5 and played football at Stanford as an outside linebacker. “When you have two big centers like this, it’s better to have them both in the pool at once than just one of us.”

Now Hack is the man at two meters, while Brooks is a one-two punch on defense with fellow senior Andres White. The benefits of this are obvious to O’Dea, whose Sea Kings (0-1) play host to rival Long Beach Wilson on Tuesday.

“Brooks, with a big body, he’s kind of tough to set on,” O’Dea said. “You’ve got him every day [in practice] going up one-on-one with Brendan Hack, it’s making him better and it’s making Brendan better. I think we get a pretty good advantage out of that, because Ben’s doing a really nice job in practice and it’s translating to the game.”

It certainly translated well for CdM to its first game. The Sea Kings, ranked No. 5 in CIF Southern Section Division 1, fell at home to No. 4 Huntington Beach, 9-7, on Sept. 9. Yet the play at center and center defender was a highlight for the Sea Kings.

Brendan Hack, whose older brother Ty also played center at CdM (class of 2013) and now plays at UC Irvine, scored three goals and earned four exclusions. Brooks and White did not allow a goal out of center to heralded Huntington Beach junior Quinten Osborne, who scored once.

One local sportswriter wrote before the game that Osborne might be the best center in Orange County. The Sea Kings noticed. They provided standout defense, like graduate Jack Trush (also now at UCI) did when the Sea Kings played the Oilers last year.

“We shut him down,” Brooks said. “We kind of took [the article] a little personal. If he can score one goal on us and Hack can put up three or four, that’s a big difference ... We wanted to show him that he’s got nothing on us. And when he did score, it wasn’t on a primary center defender.”

Hack is enjoying his time in the spotlight as center. The Sea Kings have another promising center as well, junior Tamir Avital, who played club polo for SOCAL in the offseason. But Hack has earned the starter position, though his older brother did show him what it meant to battle for minutes.

“His year, he had Armen Mavusi and [Matt] Sherburne as centers also to compete with,” Brendan Hack said of Ty. “I saw how they were sharing time, and I didn’t really want to do that, so I really just pushed to be the outright center on the team. Seeing the kind of recruiting process that he got, even sharing time, it was eye-opening [in showing] the program that we come out of. The players that you compete against every day in practice, it’s high-level.”

Brooks and Hack believe that Avital will develop quickly, especially since CdM continues to have four-time Olympian center Ryan Bailey as an assistant coach. But, for now, it’s a senior-dominated starting lineup for the Sea Kings. Only goalie Matt Moran is a junior.

“Last year was decent, but I think we can take it even a step further and go all the way,” Brooks said. “Just the depth we have on this team is pretty tremendous.”

Here’s a look at the five Newport-Mesa programs for 2015:

*

Corona del Mar

Coach: Barry O’Dea (11th year)

2014 season: 24-6, 10-0 in the Pacific Coast League (first place); lost to Harvard-Westlake in the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs

Players to watch: Brendan Hack (Sr.); Ben Brooks (Sr.); Foster Hoose (Sr.); Vincent Ong (Sr.); Jon Polos (Sr.); Andres White (Sr.); Matt Moran (Jr.); Tanner Roletter (Sr.); Will Rodosky (Jr.); Tamir Avital (Jr.)

You should know: The Sea Kings have a senior-dominated starting lineup, as only the goalie Moran, a transfer from University, is a junior. They will be hungry to again win the Pacific Coast League title and advance deep into the Division 1 playoffs.

CdM is currently ranked No. 5 in Division 1 and had a close loss against No. 4 Huntington Beach. Another good test comes Tuesday, when the Sea Kings play host to No. 10 Long Beach Wilson, a rematch of last year’s wild CIF quarterfinal game won by the Sea Kings. The South Coast Tournament next weekend also features several top teams.

The future also looks bright as the Sea Kings have a strong sophomore class, with four of them on varsity in Mitchell Cooper, Chas Godwin, Will Klein and Henry Wilde.

*

Costa Mesa

Coach: Cody Serrano (second year)

2014 season: 18-8, 4-1 in the Orange Coast League (second place); lost to Trabuco Hills in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs

Players to watch: Ivan Shikhelman (Sr.); Jorge Miranda (Sr.); Augie Cunningham (Soph.); Tony Shin (Soph.); Caedmon Fisher (Fr.); Teak Zachary (Fr.); Jacob Petersen (Jr.); Corbin Fisher (Jr.)

You should know: This is one of the more talented Costa Mesa teams in recent years, as evidenced by the fact that the Mustangs began the season ranked No. 10 in Division 3.

Costa Mesa is young, but starting senior goalie Shikhelman anchors the defense. Shikhelman, a two-year starter, made an Orange Coast League-best 309 saves last year.

Serrano coaches the team with his twin brother Dustin, who is the Mesa girls’ head coach. Cody said that Mesa is looking to go deep into CIF and be a contender in league. The Mustangs have already lost games to other Division 3 ranked teams, No. 5 Aliso Niguel and No. 9 Yorba Linda, but they were shorthanded in both.

Laguna Beach, top-ranked in Division 3 and the defending CIF champion, has won the league every year since it was created in 2006. The Mustangs and the Breakers play their league game Sept. 30 at Laguna’s pool.

*

Estancia

Coach: John Carpenter (37th year)

2014 season: 11-15, 2-3 in the Orange Coast League (fourth place)

Players to watch: Kyle Fitzgerald (Jr.); Jason Chesemore (Jr.); Cobi White (Soph.); Victor Godfrey (Jr.); Chris DeFrenza (Sr.); Eizik Leyva (Soph.)

You should know: It has been a good team attack so far for the Eagles, as Fitzgerald and Chesemore lead the team in scoring while White, Godfrey, DeFrenza and goalie Leyva are playing well defensively.

Carpenter said the goal is to get everyone involved in the scoring and play strong team defense. The Eagles are quick, so they also are working hard on their counterattack.

Estancia wants to make the playoffs, and Carpenter said he feels confident his team can do so by finishing top three in the Orange Coast League, especially with Sage Hill now out of the league. That adds importance to not only the Battle for the Bell game with rival Costa Mesa, but also league games against Saddleback and Godinez. Estancia has not made the postseason since 2010.

*

Newport Harbor

Coach: Ross Sinclair (first year)

2014 season: 10-17, 3-2 in the Sunset League (tied for second place); lost to Mater Dei in the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs

Players to watch: Cole Brosnan (Jr.); Joe Ferraro (Sr.); Ryan Hurst (Jr.); Nic Rimlinger (Jr.); Jackson Westerman (Soph.); Connor Turnbow-Lindenstadt (Jr.); Jason Grew (Soph.)

You should know: Sinclair’s first year in charge of his alma mater after coaching the CdM girls for two years will most likely be challenging, though the Sailors are ranked No. 7 in CIF Southern Section Division 1. He has talked about building the program back up. The pipeline looks strong, as the Newport Beach Water Polo Club 14-and-under team finished fourth at this summer’s Junior Olympics.

Still, this year’s Sailors are young, as the goalie Ferraro is the only senior starter as two other seniors are currently out indefinitely. Newport Harbor will look for leadership from its junior co-captains, Brosnan (a lefty) and Rimlinger. In league, the toughest competition will be No. 4-ranked Huntington Beach, the defending champion.

The Sailors also will get a boost when Turnbow-Lindenstadt, a talented shooter and transfer from Corona del Mar, becomes eligible in early October.

*

Sage Hill

Coach: Tom Norton (10th year)

2014 season: 6-9, 3-2 in the Orange Coast League (third place); lost to Murrieta Valley in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs

Players to watch: Rachael Jaffe (Sr.); Chris Wan (Sr.); Harry Miller (Sr.); Zane Drobenko (Soph.); Paige Solaas (Jr.); Wyatt Manolakas (Jr.)

You should know: The Lightning last year not only made the playoffs for the first time in four years, but they won a game, winning at Alhambra, 14-5, in the wild-card round of the Division 3 playoffs. They have since moved down to Division 5 as part of the Academy League, which is fielding a league for boys’ water polo for the first time. Webb, Crean Lutheran and Whitney are the other teams in league.

Sage Hill will have to finish top two in the four-team league to make the postseason, and Norton said that Webb is his team’s main competition. In the double-round format, the Lightning play Webb on Oct. 20 and Oct. 31, though they still have nonleague games with former league foes Estancia (Sept. 30) and Costa Mesa (Oct. 7).

Overall, the Lightning will rely on senior leadership from players like the four-year starter Wan, Miller and goalie Jaffe, who is a contributing girl for the team along with Solaas. Jaffe split time in the goal last year. Drobenko, an emerging sophomore who led the team in steals last year, also is a returning starter.