Men’s water polo snatches tight win over Granite Bay

By Lauren Wienker,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

The Davis High men’s varsity water polo team won its match 9-8 in the final minute against Granite Bay on Tuesday, Sept. 27.

Throughout the game, the winner on the scoreboard bounced back and forth between the two teams, keeping the fans in the bleachers on the edge of their seats.

Going into this game the players already had certain expectations.

“The game is going to be physical, and there is going to be a lot of emotion because we know we will be playing them in the section playoffs, and that’s all we really know because they are very unpredictable team,” senior Garrett Dawson said before the start of the match.

The game started out with a 3-0 lead by Granite Bay, but senior Peter Blumberg snuck in a goal before the end of the first period.

The Blue Devils started off the second period strong, with senior Daniel Alvarez scoring three goals to pull DHS ahead. Granite Bay scored one goal to tie it up. The third period ended with Granite Bay ahead 6-5.

DHS pulled through in the fourth and final period of the game with junior Jake Taylor, Blumberg and senior Steven Csaposs tying up the score, after a Granite Bay goal. Taylor then scored the winning goal in the last minute of the game.

Despite the win, head coach Tracy Stapleton thought the team let their emotions get the best of them.

“This game was frustrating because in some ways we took a big step backwards.[…] One person or another was off, and the whole group is off. Our strength is our ability to play together. If we execute together we can compete. But if we try to just ball up, and if I am going to take the game into my own hands, it doesn’t work,” Stapleton said.

However, junior Sam Murphy thought that the team had everything under control.

“It was a hard fought battle, we were down at first but we know we have a strong core and we bounced back. We are a very powerful team when we put our mind to something, and that’s [why] I wasn’t worried we were going down,” Murphy said.

Overall, Stapleton was glad they won.

“That is what you call an ugly win, but it is a win,” Stapleton said.