CdM wins Battle second straight year

On a packed Newport Harbor High pool deck with at least 1,000 people, some students brought signs and pictures to the Battle of the Bay rivalry water polo match Saturday night.

One such creation in the crowd was a life-size facsimile of Corona del Mar High’s Brendan Hack, carried around by CdM volleyball player Mika Grasso. The photo had Hack in his Speedo, wearing sunglasses and an unbuttoned white dress shirt, along with the words “Hack Attack.”

The game itself was intense, with several momentum shifts. The teams went into the fourth quarter with a tie score.

In the end, though, it was the Hack Attack that did in the Sailors.

The two-meter man scored two huge goals in the fourth quarter. Hack finished with a game-high three goals overall, as Corona del Mar rallied for a 7-6 victory over Newport Harbor to earn its second straight Battle of the Bay win.

The senior-dominated Sea Kings (6-3), ranked No. 4 in CIF Southern Section Division 1, gave credit to the No. 9-ranked Sailors (6-8) after the game. In the end, CdM was able to win the rivalry game for the fourth time in Coach Barry O’Dea’s 11-year tenure, and the first time at the Newport Harbor pool.

“That was one thing we were thinking about, just to bring him that win here,” Hack said. “We won it last year at home, but we wanted to do it again in their pool.”

Hack was able to help make it happen. He drew an exclusion and scored the power-play goal on a redirect pass from Foster Hoose with 5:52 left in the fourth quarter, giving the Sea Kings a 6-5 advantage. Then, less than two minutes later, Hack scored again on junior Will Rodosky’s fourth assist of the game.

“[Rodosky] does a good job of directing the offense, especially in a game like this where they dropped off of him and gave him the room to find openings,” Hack said. “I knew it was going to be a close game the entire time. Coming out in the fourth quarter, we needed to blitz them with a few quick goals.”

Hack and junior center Tamir Avital combined for four of CdM’s seven goals.

“When you’re physically dropping against those centers, you have to be mentally dropping as well,” Newport Harbor Coach Ross Sinclair said. “Will Rodosky’s creative and will put it in there past the drop, and Hack’s quick, got great hands and explosive. He made us pay twice. We were there — we were in the right defensive formation — but we weren’t mentally there. We kind of got away from that. The only way to learn from that is by getting beat. You can’t teach that.

“It’s got to happen to you in a game, and unfortunately it happened to us in a big game. These guys are emotional and upset right not, but it’s because they care. They’re going to grow and we’re going to be better from this.”

Newport Harbor still was unfazed after Hack’s outburst. Sophomore Jason Grew scored from the outside on the power play with 3:46 left, narrowing the Sailors’ deficit to one. Newport Harbor would have chances to tie the score again and send the game to overtime.

The best one came after senior center Gavin Kunkle drew a penalty shot with 10 seconds left, but the ensuing penalty shot smacked off the left goal post. CdM called timeout with less than five seconds left. Again, Newport Harbor almost came back on junior co-captain Nic Rimlinger’s steal, but his shot came after the final whistle.

“A little tense,” O’Dea said with a smile after the game. “Thankfully the clock was running like it was supposed to. That was a really long four seconds, but it was good ... That wasn’t our best game, but we still got a win, so we’re pretty happy with that.”

Newport Harbor held a 3-2 lead late in the first half, before CdM scored three goals in the final two minutes of the half. Rodosky had assists to Hack and Avital, then scored on the counterattack with 29 seconds left.

CdM had the 5-3 halftime lead, but the Sailors again refused to go away. Sophomore John Rankin scored on junior co-captain Cole Brosnan’s assist, then Brosnan scored on senior Ben Morrison’s assist to tie the score at 5-5 with 4:41 left in the third quarter.

“We got a little momentum going and then halftime started and they came right back,” said Hoose, who had two assists, three steals and a field block. “We just had to hold them. We had to focus on our composure, make sure we didn’t get ahead of ourselves.”

Brosnan had two goals and two assists for the Sailors, who also got goals from Kunkle and Ben Toffel and three steals from Morrison. But Newport Harbor finished just one for six on the power play. Senior goalie Joe Ferraro made five saves for the Sailors, for whom talented junior Connor Turnbow-Lindenstadt, a transfer from CdM, becomes eligible next week.

“The guys are gelling,” Sinclair said. “They’ve been working hard over the last week and a half ... they’re representing Newport how they should be, how Newport has been for 50-plus years. It makes me proud.”

Seniors Ben Brooks and Tanner Roletter also scored for CdM, which held the Sailors to one goal from the center position. Seniors Jon Polos and Andres White each had a field block. Junior goalie Matt Moran made five of his nine saves in the second half.

The rivals could see each other again next weekend in the S&R Sport Tournament.

“There’s so much hype attached to this game, but at the same time, it really is just a game in the middle of the season,” O’Dea said. “There’s a long ways to go. It’s not the end all, be all, but it’s nice. It’s a big community event.”

CdM swept the three Battle of the Bay matches Saturday night. The Sea Kings also won the frosh-soph match, 10-3, and the junior varsity match, 6-5.