Carlos "Tito" Hernandez eyes the goal
in La Jolla's season opener against
Torrey Pines. (Photos by Sarah Hughes)
La Jolla coach Tom Atwell was in an uncharacteristically benign mood during his Vikings' water polo opener versus Torrey Pines Sept. 10. Atwell can often be heard throughout the Coggan Pool Complex when he sees something in his swimmers that he feels needs to be corrected.
Even his son Cole, a 7th-grader at Muirlands and a club water poloist himself, had a chuckle. "He's usually..." the youngster smiled, looking across the corner of the pool at his calm dad.
There was a lot for the veteran coach to be pleased with. The Vikings jumped out to a 7-2 halftime lead on four powerhouse goals from senior Jake LeBeau.
Vikes' Myles Martinez (left) vies for ball against
visiting Falcons.
Matt Allen was doing well in goal. He had a block on a skip shot at 4:27 of the first quarter, another stop on the visiting Falcons at 4:14, and one on a close-in shot at 3:01.
Meanwhile, the two senior captains were aided by goals in the first half by sophomore Nico Ivanov, senior Aaron Creswell, and sophomore Connor Carpenter. The Vikings took home a season-opening win by the final score of 13-8.
"You're all playing great," affirmed Atwell of his troops during the huddle after the first quarter, the hosts up 4-2. Is this the same coach? Where have they taken the real Coach Atwell, and who has inhabited his body? We can't be seeing too much of this this season. Otherwise, LeBeau, Allen and the others will go soft. After all, they only practice at 5:15 in the morning three days a week. Has the man lost his despotic touch?
Of course, all of this is meant tongue-in-cheek, with admiration for the long-time coach's record of success in molding young athletes at Coggan Quarters.
The rest of the starting lineup for the Vikes, ranked sixth in CIF, behind Bishop's, ranked second, even before LJHS had even played a match, was juniors Myles Martinez and Aidan Scott, and the other two senior captains, Henry Smith, and Carlos "Tito" Hernandez.
Copyright 2014 Ed Piper
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