Rivalry games are intense, especially at Yorba Linda High School. This last Friday, October 12, YLHS men’s water polo took on our rivals, Esperanza. Both of these teams are pretty evenly matched, so everyone knew it was going to be an intense game.

The whistle blew for the varsity game and Yorba Linda was quick to getting the ball from the middle of the pool, winning the 50/50 ball. We took a few shots on their goal, but their goalie blocked them. Then Esperanza got the ball and scored a quick goal giving them the lead of 1-0. After a minute, YLHS got the score back to a tie of 1-1 with a marvelous goal. After going back and forth a few time the quick quarter then came to an end with the score of 1-1.

Going into the second quarter, we scored a goal right away. We were winning 2-1 when the crowd started to notice thunder and lightning in the distance. As everyone in the crowd was watching the sky to try and take a picture of the lightning and the game, Esperanza got another goal. It was 2-2 with about 3 minutes left in the game when the referees made the decision to pause the game to see if the lightning was getting any closer. The lightning was persistent for about another ten minutes, and ultimately the rest of the night, so the referees and coaches decided to reschedule the game for another time.

These two teams are going to be playing each other again on October 25 at 6 PM at YLHS. Hopefully they can complete this game without getting interrupted from lightning.

Water polo is definitely a hard sport that takes a lot of training, discipline, and persistence. According to Chris Robertson (11) the hardest thing he has ever had to do while playing water polo was being the captain of the team. He realized after stepping up and being the leader of the team that “not every teammate liked [him] or [his] decision making.” He ended up realizing that when he stepped up the team prospered from the “sense of leadership” he brought to the team.

Our boys will be competing this week against Villa Park at Villa Park to see if they will make it onto CIF. If they win, they will be advancing onto CIF again, like they did last year.