RODEO JEWELRY GAME OF THE CENTURY: Bonita Snatches Victory from the Jaws of Defeat, Downs La Serna in 10-9 OT Thriller

Nick Wallman, the name says it all!

With their backs against the WALL, their season dwindling down to a few precious seconds, the Bonita water polo team responded in the NICK of time, and in the process of defeating La Serna 10-9 in overtime, saw one special player become a MAN. That player was NICK WALLMAN.

Or “Give-me-the-ball-in-the-Nick-of-time-when-our-backs-against-the-Wall” Wallman.

But nobody gave him the ball in those waning seconds at Mt. SAC on Wednesday night, so he went and stole it, with Bonita trailing 8-7 with under 10 seconds to play in the contest, and the La Serna Lancers playing keep-away to run out the clock and claim their second straight victory over Bonita.

But the Lancers got lanced by Wallman!

“I don’t know, I just saw the ball floating, and I had to take it,” Wallman said, surrounded by his teammates after his last-second heroics. “I thought we needed a little longer season. I wanted to two more practices, so I had to take it.”

Indeed, Bonita head coach John Ashby before the game talked to the team about how privileged he felt to be the team’s coach and asked the players for the honor to coach them through two more practices. The players must have been listening, especially Wallman.

“It was déjà-vu,” Ashby said, referring to Bonita’s hard-luck 9-8 loss to La Serna in the same pool last November. “It came down to kids who wanted the ball and wanted to extend our season. This time we got the longer end of the stick.

“I told them before the game that I was proud of how hard they’ve worked over the last two years and I really just wanted to practice with them two more times.”

The match had been a seesaw struggle from the outset. At the end of the first period, the score was 1-1, Wallman scoring on an assist from Kevin Webb to get Bonita on the board.

In the second period, Bonita fell behind 3-2 before the team scored three times in the last 2:06 of the half, receiving goals from Wallman and a pair by Keaton Renta, including his last as time expired to put Bonita up, 5-4 at the intermission. Matt Zachary also scored in the period for Bonita.

The third quarter started out as a defensive struggle, with Bonita getting great goal play from Caleb Guarino. In one series, a La Serna shot hit the top of the goal, flying right back to the La Serna player who fired at point blank  range a second time, and Guarino blocked the missile, drawing a huge cheer from the Bonita crowd. At the 1:58 mark, Renta scored from the left wing to give Bonita a 6-4 lead, the first two-point margin for either side. La Serna, however, responded right back at the 1:44 mark. The third quarter ended with Bonita clinging to a 6-5 lead.

To start the fourth, both teams registered near-misses. Finally at the 4:29 mark, La Serna scored knotting the match at 6-6. Then at the 4:10 mark, Alex Munson floated in a mid-range bomb to give Bonita a 7-6 lead.

The lead was short-lived because 20-seconds later La Serna was back on the board, tying the score 7-7.

With time slipping away, Zachary had a key deflection on defense, but still La Serna would not be denied on its next attempt, scoring with 2:43 remaining to take a late 8-7 lead. A Guarino block gave Bonita the ball again, but Munson’s dropped shot missed at 1:42.

Déjà vu was about to happen all over again. Worse, Bonita had to play a man short with 1:25 left. The defense stiffened, with Bonita getting the ball back at 59:55. Bonita, however, couldn’t score and the ball went over to La Serna, which was intent on running out the clock. It didn’t need to take another shot; it needed only to play keep-away. It was almost a perfect plan.

They were FOUR seconds away from defeating Bonita, when in the Nick of time, Bonita’s back against the Wall, Nick Wallman not only stole the ball, but drove it toward the goal and scored with four seconds to go, sending the game into overtime and the Bonita crowd into a frenzy.

In the first three-minute overtime, Zachary broke the tie to put Bonita up 9-8 and then Renta floated a mid-range shot to give Bonita a 10-8 lead.

In the second three-minute stanza, La Serna scored with 2:24 left to make it 10-9, but there would no last-minute Wallman-type heroics on the Lancers side, and the Bonita celebration began as the clock wound down to zero.

“My hat’s off to La Serna,” Ashby said. “They came back and scouted us really well, but we came back. We showed our resiliency.

“This was a big arena. This is probably the biggest crowd most of these kids have ever played in front of. Everybody in the stands was cheering for them.”

Bonita will get to play on an even bigger stage on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at the William Woollett Aquatics Center (4601 Walnut Ave) in Irvine against Pasadena Poly.

They hope to play as if their backs are to the Wall!

Video coming up shortly on REEL People.

Team lines up for Star Spangled Banner salute.

Bonita huddles and focuses on task at hand.

Starters head to their positions.

Keaton Renta rose to the occasion several times, including scoring Bonita's last goal.

Matt Zachary scored Bonita's go-ahead goal in overtime.

Alex Munson was in the thick of the action for all 34 minutes.

Megan Snow led the cheers. What will she be wearing on Saturday to top Wednesday's outfit?

The Bonita crowd was tense and intense -- just a little into the game!

It's a final. Print that great Bearcats come-from-behind win, baby!

Photos provided by Paul and Suzana Munson

For all your holiday jewelry needs, go see Koko at RODEO JEWELERS in the new Vons Shopping Center. Koko makes jewelry the way Bonita water polo wins games.