Huntington Beach boys’ water polo routs Grossmont in CIF State SoCal Regional opener

With the opportunity to extend its season, the Huntington Beach High boys’ water polo team faced El Cajon Grossmont in the opening round of the inaugural CIF State Southern California Regional Division II playoffs on Friday.

The Oilers will be returning to the tournament on Saturday.

Behind a strong defensive performance, the No. 5-seeded Oilers defeated the No. 4 Foothillers 16-3 at Corona del Mar High to advance to the semifinals.

The Oilers (17-10) will play a familiar opponent next as they face No. 1 Orange Lutheran (27-3) on Saturday at 9 a.m.

The Lancers, who finished second in the Trinity League, got the best of the Oilers three times this season, and they defeated the Oilers last year in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 final.

“We know quite a bit about them and we’re ready to go,” Huntington Beach coach Sasa Branisavljevic said of the Lancers. “I’m looking forward to high quality water polo that is fundamentally sound and played with passion. Orange Lutheran is a very respected team with high caliber players so we are going to have to be on top of our game offensively and defensively.”

Huntington Beach senior goalie Spencer Stanbridge held a shutout in his one half of play against Grossmont. He finished with nine saves.

Sophomore Myles Simpson led the Oilers with five goals, while seniors Garett Zaan and Jacob Cavano each had three goals.

The first period was all Oilers as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Both Zaan and Cavano scored twice in the opening quarter, capped off by a lob shot from distance by Cavano with 26 seconds remaining.

The senior duo reached a hat trick in the second quarter. Zaan was found inside by sophomore Garret Lee and finished with a spinning shot to the back of the cage. Cavano found success from deep again as he rifled one in leaving only 20 seconds in the first half. The Oilers led 8-0 heading into halftime.

Grossmont (22-12) managed to score in the third period but not before Huntington Beach padded its lead with three scores off Foothiller miscues. The first came with junior Dylan Honrath executing off a Grossmont turnover then the second and third scored by Simpson and Lee off power plays. The Foothillers finally scored as they took advantage of an Oiler turnover to get on the board and trail 11-1 after three quarters of play.

Freshman Ethan Crooks got busy in the fourth quarter as he scored twice and assisted on one goal. Crooks tallied his first goal on the quarters opening possession, skipping the ball past the Grossmont keeper.

The Foothillers answered right back in the following possession with a skip shot of their own by sophomore Cameron Zeller. Simpson got his fourth and fifth goals within 20 seconds of each other, punishing the Foothill defense inside and finishing a fast break lob pass.

Grossmont was able to answer one more Huntington Beach score, but it was Crooks who finessed a shot in with 15 seconds left in the game to put the final stamp on the game.

“We were working on our defensive aspect of the game, and I think the boys exceeded the expectations,” Branisavljevic said. “Hopefully we have the same for tomorrow.”

JUAN CARLOS GONZALEZ is a contributor to Times Community News: Follow him on Twitter: @JGonzalezSports