Calm, confident, and in control. This is how the Boys’ Water Polo team looked in their 11-6 victory over their rivals, the Pasadena Poly Panthers, on Friday, September 7.

The Rebel’s triumph marks their first league game of the season as a win. When asked to reflect on the game, co-captain Ryan Huntley ‘19 said, “We had a tough time getting started, but in the fourth quarter, we really broke through and finished strong.”

The Rebels took the lead early with Huntley scoring the first goal. It wasn’t until the 4th quarter, however, that the Rebels put together a convincing lead over their opponents. As the top scorer of the game, Huntley finished the game with 5 goals, a career high for the senior in a single game for Prep. Matthew Gamboa ‘21 produced 4 assists, the most for the Rebels, and goalkeeper Ben Brookbanks ‘19 clocked an impressive 10 saves to hold off the Panthers.

The transition from 3rd to 4th quarter was probably the largest shift in energy of the game. “[We] relaxed a little too much for the 2nd and 3rd quarters and we just got our heads back into the game and out of the gutter by just focusing on running our plays and taking every opportunity we’re given to score,” responded Isaac LaMarr ‘19. “Our energy significantly increased as we did not want Poly to put any more points on the board,” agreed Ian Davies ‘19.

On the subject of the team’s prospects for the rest of the season, Huntley seems confident. “I think we have a really solid team, and its really a matter of building team chemistry and playing together more and more.”

In their next game, the Rebels remain at home to face a non-league team, San Marino High School. “It will be a very tough game. They’re a great team and we lost to them last year, but I think that if we really dig deep we have a good shot at winning,” said Huntley.