Prep notebook: Coin flip decides Atwater water polo fate

Don’t tell Atwater High boys water polo coach David Svendsen that “tails never fails.”

The Falcons ended the regular season tied with Turlock for second place at 7-3 in the Central California Conference. With two teams earning playoff spots, a coin flip decided who went to the playoffs.

Svendsen and the water polo team tried to tap into the Falcons soccer team’s coin flip success.

“I had talked to (soccer coach) Jimmy Brewer that morning and he offered the help of their goalie Mario Chavez if I needed him,” Svendsen said. “He told me Mario hadn’t lost a coin flip all year.”

Chavez told Svendsen he’s called tails every chance he’s got and never lost.

The coin landed heads.

The CCC isn’t taking advantage of a section rule that allows leagues to play an extra playoff game to decide tie-breakers as long as the game is played before the official end-of-season date. Turlock and Atwater could have played for the final playoff spot on Friday or Saturday.

“It’s not fun being on the losing end of that,” Svendsen said. “But at the same time, we put ourselves in that situation. With four games to go, we needed to win two more games and we only won one. We didn’t get it done, so we can’t be mad. It’s our own doing.”

Home sweet home – Merced boys soccer coach Bart McAfee likes the patch of grass in the corner of the Merced High campus they use as a soccer field.

McAfee could have played the Bears playoff games this week at Veterans Stadium under the lights, but McAfee wasn’t budging.

Not with Merced unbeaten at home.

“I’m a Merced High guy and I like playing at Merced High,” McAfee said. “It doesn’t matter what sport. I like when we played the football game at Merced High. We’ve played well on our field and I don’t want to change that. Call it superstition or whatever.”

So far, so good. The sixth-seeded Bears opened the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoffs with a 3-1 win over Tracy. Merced will host No. 14 Napa today at 3 p.m.

Still streakin’ – Three coaches have led the Merced High girls water polo team in three years. The Bears keep racking up CCC titles.

Merced wrapped up its fifth consecutive conference title with a 9-1 record. The Bears have won 45 of their last 46 CCC games.

Merced has done it despite the coaching baton being handed off from Kristie Dunham to Ashley Phelps to Seth Gentry.

Next up for seniors Kathryn Elgin, Jane Eckles and the rest of the Bears will be a Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoff matchup against Napa on Saturday at Johansen High at 11 a.m.

The Merced boys also won a CCC championship and will open up the playoffs on Friday against Oak Ridge at Johansen High at 3 p.m.

Meanwhile, Dunham has continued her winning ways at El Capitan, leading the Gauchos to a perfect 8-0 run to a Western Athletic Conference championship. El Cap will travel to Woodcreek High to face Kimball in the Division II playoffs on Saturday at 4:45 p.m. The Los Banos girls will face Christian Brothers at 10:30 a.m.

The El Capitan boys also won the WAC title and will open the playoffs on Thursday against Oakdale at 4:15 p.m.

Volleyball brackets released – The Sac-Joaquin Section released the volleyball playoff brackets. Hilmar and Stone Ridge Christian earned the highest seeds, with the Yellowjackets getting the No. 2 seed in Division IV and the Knights receiving the No. 2 seed in Division 6. Hilmar will host No. 15 Orestimba on Tuesday. Stone Ridge Christian will face No. 7 Tioga.

Golden Valley earned the No. 9 seed in Division II and will open at No. 8 Tracy on Tuesday. El Capitan earned the No. 13 seed in Division IV and will open at No. 4 Escalon.

Cross-country heads to Frogtown – The postseason begins for cross-country on Saturday with the Sac-Joaquin Section Subsection championships at Frogtown, up at Angels Camp.

The Merced boys and Atwater girls are both headed there after winning CCC championships. Merced’s Daniel Ambriz and Ciara Rios Colon won individual conference championships at the final conference cluster meet. Both also won the Merced County championships a few weeks ago in Atwater.

Jackie Magana led the Falcons to the girls title, finishing second behind Rios Colon. John Hagerman and Kirk Hagerman helped anchor the Merced boys.

This story was originally published November 5, 2014 at 9:04 PM with the headline "Prep notebook: Coin flip decides Atwater water polo fate."