Bonita Water Polo on Target, Dunks Arlington 12-5 in CIF Playoffs

Bonita rises up to start play against Arlington.

Bonita’s quest for a CIF crown began in earnest Wednesday afternoon as the Bearcats splashed to a convincing 12-5 victory over Arlington, paced by Alec Williams’ six goals.

Bonita came out strong early. Only 21 seconds into the game, Alec Snow put Bonita on the board with an assist from Williams. Bonita scored three more straight goals, with the offense coming from Keaton Renta, Williams and Alex Munson in rapid-fire succession. After Arlington finally broke through for its first goal, and then a second with 1:16 to play, Williams closed out Bonita’s first-quarter attack with two more goals, giving Bonita an early 6-2 lead.

In the second period, Arlington went to work, scoring twice and inching closer to trail only 6-4 with 1:07 remaining. It was Williams again who broke the brief Arlington run to give Bonita a 7-4 lead at the half.

Feeding off its late score to end the first half, Bonita reeled off four more straight goals to take a commanding 11-4 lead at the end of three. This time it was Williams, who scored two goals in the period, and Renta, who also collected a pair.

Kevin Webb skirmishes for the ball with an Arlington player.

In the fourth, Arlington scored first, and had a couple of other breakaway opportunities, but couldn’t convert. Finally, with 28 seconds left, Caleb Guarino netted a goal to put an exclamation point on the Bonita win.

With Arlington edging within two goals of Bonita late in the second quarter, Bonita’s home crowd seemed to come alive as did the team.

“We have a young group,” Bonita coach John Ashby said. “There’s always nerves within that first playoff game. We came out with a good first quarter, but Arlington’s got a couple of really good players, and they came back and put it to us in the second.

“I felt like we played two hard quarters of water polo and two where we were just kind of going through the motions. We’ve really got to put together four quarters as we go forward in these playoffs.

“Alec Williams played very, very well today,” Ashby added. “Joe Lamson, our senior goalie played fantastic. Brandon Parlopino, another senior defender shined as well. And we got some good production from Alec Snow today, too, our two-meter player.”

Bonita is expected to play Troy at home on Friday, courtesy of the Bearcats’ winning the coin toss. Troy started the season ranked No. 2 before slipping to No. 6, so they can be considered ready and dangerous.

Keaton Renton, with 3 goals, knows the importance of always keeping one's head above water.

Alec Williams held the ball high all afternoon, en route to six goals.

Caleb Guarino had to shoulder quite a load to score.

Alex Munson is always a threat to score.

“They’ve got a really good player,” Ashby said, “so between now and Friday, we have to figure out how to match up and shut them down on the defensive end. They definitely have some weapons.”

Plus, because Bonita hasn’t faced Troy this year, there is always the difficult task of preparing against a team you know little about, aside from its reputation. “Ideally, you’d like to have played someone before, so you get a little idea of the match-ups, but I think we’re fine. I think we’ll give them a good match on Friday.”

Webb takes a well-deserved breather.

For a few brief moments, Bonita could enjoy its first victory in the playoffs. “This puts us one step closer to our goal,” Ashby said. “I think we can make a good run this year. We are trying to improve every single game; we just have to earn the right to play another game.”

At this time of year, there’s no rest for the victorious. (Photo credits — the good ones — courtesy of the Munson family.)

Scoring Leaders

Williams – 6 goals

Renta – 3 goals

Guarino – 1 goal

Snow – 1 goal

Alex Munson – 1 goal

Assists

Kevin Webb – 4

Williams – 2

Goalie Saves

Lamson – 9

Guarino — 2

John Ashby's last time out had the entire team's attention.