Merced boys win CCC water polo title in 4 OT thriller
Kit Grattan has seen some amazing finishes as a Merced High School water polo coach.
He joked he’s got the gray hair to prove it. But for all the games Grattan has played in or coached, he said he couldn’t remember a more tense finish than the Bears’ 15-14, quadruple-overtime, sudden-death victory over Turlock on Thursday night.
With the victory, Merced clinched the Central California Conference crown, making it two in a row for the Bears.
Sam Kuykendall provided the game-winning heroics, making the most of his only goal of the night. After a quiet offensive evening in Merced’s first victory over the Bulldogs, Abraham Santana did a lot of damage on the road with seven goals and four assists. The senior drove in on the right wing about 1 minute, 20 seconds into the second sudden-death overtime and threw a backdoor pass to Kuykendall, who finished it off with his left hand.
Grattan said it was a fitting end to a game that had no shortage of dramatic twists and turns.
The Bears (19-1, 9-0 CCC) trailed throughout until taking a three-goal lead with just under four minutes to play in regulation. Merced couldn’t hold the lead, and the game went to overtime.
The Bulldogs took a two-goal lead in the first overtime, but couldn’t hold that advantage. Nothing separated the two teams after the second overtime, and neither scored in the first sudden-death period.
Alec Propes chipped in four goals and Ethan Eagleton had three, while Nathan Latronica made 10 saves in the victory.
Atwater 6, Golden Valley 4 in Merced – Tommy Hamilton led the Cougars with three goals and goalie Cody Costa stopped 14 shots.
Pitman 9, Buhach Colony 6 (OT) in Atwater – Tristan Howard paced the Thunder with five goals and four steals. Buhach Colony goalie Daniel Navarro finished with 12 saves.
El Capitan 21, Livingston 5 in Merced – Steven Koenig turned in a strong all-around performance with five goals, four assists and five steals as the Gauchos improved to 7-0 in the Western Athletic Conference and 17-4 overall.
Girls Tennis
Los Banos 9, Central Valley 0 in Los Banos – The Tigers completed another perfect run through the WAC to extend their conference winning streak to 72 matches.
CCC Doubles Tournament in Merced – It took more than nine hours and a change of location due to darkness, but the Golden Valley tandem of Chadue Lee and Paola Perez fought back for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Turlock’s Maya Young and Izzy Romeo in the title match.
Boys Soccer
Atwater 1, Merced 1 in Merced – Brandon Alvarez scored for Atwater (20-0-4, 10-0-3 CCC), which clinched its second consecutive CCC championship. Axel Ramirez scored Merced’s goal.
Girls Water Polo
El Capitan 16, Livingston 9 in Merced – Madison Nolen and Hope Stokes scored five goals each as the Gauchos remained unbeaten in the WAC.
Golden Valley 11, Atwater 3 in Merced – Marissa Wyan scored four times, and Anna Neufeld and Jessica Flaherty added three goals each as the Cougars clinched at least a share of the CCC title.
Pitman 5, Buhach Colony 4 in Atwater – Erin McBride scored twice, and Gwynne McBride had a goal, three assists and seven steals for the Thunder.
Volleyball
Le Grand 3, Denair 0 in Denair – Arisbeth Ceja’s 11 kills and three blocks helped the Bulldogs knock off the Coyotes 25-15, 25-16, 25-16. Alyssa Bueno contributed 22 assists, and Katie Farnsworth added 25 digs.
Stone Ridge Christian 3, Millennium 0 in Merced – Tara Silva propelled the Knights (9-2, 7-1 Central California Atheltic Allience) with 14 assists and six aces. Justine De Jager recorded 13 kills.
This story was originally published October 23, 2015 at 6:52 PM with the headline "Merced boys win CCC water polo title in 4 OT thriller."