By Mike Finnerty
mike.finnerty@surewestsports.com
Division I girls water polo has been completed dominated by the Davis Blue Devils and the St. Francis Troubadours.
Since 1996, when the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section began its section playoff format for girl’s water polo, Davis has won eight times, the most of any team in the section, with St. Francis winning three times.
The rivalry resumed Saturday at the Roseville Aquatic Center with Davis and St. Francis dueling for the Division I championship for the ninth consecutive year, and once again it was the Blue Devils getting the best of the Troubadours.
“They beat us two out of three times so far this year, so we were just trying to even with them, if we can be as good as St. Francis, we’re doing pretty good, and today we edged them out, but we played a great game,” said Davis head coach Doug Wright.
Davis edged St. Francis 8-5, led by senior captains Zoe Malot (3 goals), Hailey Wright (3 goals), and Rachel Johnson (2 goals), as well as the play of goalie and fellow senior captain Haley Cameron.
“It was one of those things where you never know with a team that good you have to just keep putting more goals on the board because at any moment they can strike for two or three quick goals,” said Wright. We knew when we got that lead we had to stay on top of it.”
The Blue Devils went up 2-0 on goals by Malot and Johnson, but St. Francis tied it at 2-2 before Davis took the lead 3-2 by the end of the first. St. Francis tied the score at 3-3, and again at 4-4, but once Davis went up 5-4 with a minute left in the third, they would remain on top throughout the match.
A 5-4 lead grew to 8-4 when Wright scored with 3:49 left in the fourth, before Davis closed it out the three-point win.
St. Francis scoring came from Bryce Beckwith who scored twice, followed by a goal each by Elizabeth Grotewohl, Brooke Vowell, and Kaitlyn Cozens.
The win made it three straight D-I section championships for Davis, and four in the last five years, all coming against St. Francis.
“Today I really felt like we could win, but things had to go our way. It (winning) never gets old,” said Wright.
Jesuit prevails over Davis for third straight year
Just like the girls, the boys Division I water polo has been a collection of section championship banners for both Jesuit and Davis. In the last 12 years, Jesuit and Davis have squared off for the Division I boys title a total of eight times with series all even at four wins a piece.
Saturday at the Roseville Aquatic Center, these two long time area powers met up again with another Division I section banner on the line, and for the third straight year Jesuit sent Davis home with a loss, this time by a final of 6-4.
Jesuit looked strong from the beginning, taking a 4-1 lead to the half. The Marauders went up 5-2 after three quarters, never relinquishing the lead.
Leading scorers for the Marauders included Phil Cozens with two goals. James Boschkin, Nick Zanobini, and Jack Reilly all scored Jesuit.