Golden West Enjoys Thrill of Eighth Title in a Row

LONG BEACH —  Winning championships never gets old. Just ask Golden West men’s water polo Coach Ken Hamdorf, who directed the Rustlers to their eighth consecutive state championship Saturday.

As expected, Golden West defeated Grossmont, 12-5, in the finals of the state championship tournament at Belmont Plaza, with Jeremy Pope and Peter Janov each scoring three goals in the Golden West victory.

But the celebration was jubilant, complete with home-crowd chants of “Eight straight, eight straight. . .”

“You never get used to this,” said Hamdorf, who was soaking wet after the traditional pool-dunking. “I don’t think you can get enough of it.”

Grossmont (26-6-3) stayed with Golden West (33-2) for a quarter and even led, 2-1, 4 1/2 minutes into the game.

But Golden West’s talent depth proved to be too much.

Although Janov picked up his second ejection late in the first quarter, the Rustlers still outscored Grossmont, 6-1, in a 6 1/2-minute span with Sam Grayeli’s goal giving Golden West a 7-3 lead with 3 minutes 14 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

“We didn’t want to take a chance with Janov so we played it conservatively and took him out for a rest,” Hamdorf said. “Our depth was the difference tonight. We have enough good players that we can sub at the right time.”

Grossmont’s Jeff Oliver scored on a backhander from the hole with 2:39 remaining in the second quarter to make it 7-4 but the Griffins drew no closer.

Golden West’s defense, anchored by goalie Darin Smith (11 saves), held Grossmont scoreless for the next 15 1/2 minutes. The Griffins’ only second-half goal came from Court Levy with 50 seconds remaining and cut Golden West’s lead to seven.

Golden West’s George Daviatiani scored a two-point goal with 24 seconds remaining in the third quarter to make it, 11-4, and the Rustler fans began their celebration early.

One of Hamdorf’s concerns was that the Rustlers would be celebrating even before Saturday’s championship game began.

The Rustlers’ only two losses--both by one goal--came at the hands of Long Beach, which defeated Golden West in the South Coast Tournament and the Southern California Regional tournament.

Golden West avenged the losses with a convincing, 9-5 victory over Long Beach in the semifinals Friday.

“We were worried that the team might have thought they won the state championship game last night,” Hamdorf said. “But they came out and played well tonight, too.”

In the women’s third-place game:

Grossmont 9, Golden West 8--Golden West rallied from a 7-1 deficit, but came up a goal short. The Rustlers (18-14-2) outscored Grossmont in the fourth quarter, 5-0.

Danielle Darbaghian, the state’s leading scorer, scored six goals for Grossmont (23-4).