This weekend the Stratford Spartan Boys Water Polo team was honored to play in the Purple Monkey Water Polo Tournament in Alvin, Texas. The Purple Monkey Tournament pays tribute to the late Benjamin Garcia, a 1998 Alvin High School grad, who played water polo and was on the swim team and who passed away in 2004. The tournament helps provide scholarships to senior water polo players participating in the tournament. Stratford’s own Luke Barber was honored this year as one of the scholarship recipients.

vs. Deer Park

The Stratford boys first game was late Friday afternoon against Deer Park at Shadow Creek High School. Deer Park proved to be no match for the mighty Spartan boys as they quickly jumped out to a 5-0 lead after the first quarter. Luke Barber had three goals,  while Austin Chao and Ricky Conticello both chipped in with a goal. Goalie Andy Zhuri had a beautiful assist to Luke as well as an assist from Nathan Moss. Coach McCommons emptied his bench early in this game as the boys cruised to victory.

The second quarter finished with a 7-3 lead with scores from Brock Hunter and Sam Brooks. Pretty much the same for the third quarter, Stratford maintaining the lead at 9-4. Luke Barber and Nathan Moss added two goals in the quarter. The team did not look their best, but coasted through this game allowing everyone playing time and the ability to work on their passing and ball movement. Austin Chao pitched in with a goal in the fourth quarter, and Deer Park had a goal also. The game ended as an 11-5 victory.

vs. Shadow Creek

Game two for the Spartan boys was Friday night against the host team Shadow Creek High School. The Spartans played one of their high-energy games against some better competition. In the first quarter, Lucas Storey scored the only goal with an assist from Luke Barber for a Spartans 1-0 lead.

The Spartans played one of their better quarters in the second by jumping out with four goals, 2 from Luke Barber and one each from Austin Chao and Ricky Conticello. The team also had three good assists from Luke Barber, Ricky Conticello, and Marin Pavlin. At half time, the Spartans led 5-2.

In the third quarter, the team maintained its intensity with better passing and strong defense. Although they gave up a 5 meter and another goal, they finished strong with the play of the day coming on an amazing pass from Devon Beals to Luke Barber, who did not just finish but finished with authority, scoring a thunderous goal that got the team hyped up and helped them carry their intensity into the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter started with a 6-4 advantage and finished with two goals by Luke and another assist from Devon to finish the game with an 8-6 win. Although this team continually has a high turnover rate, when they play with the heart and intensity that they played today, they are tough for any opponent.

vs. Bridgeland

For the third game of the tournament, the Spartans had a rematch against Bridgeland Saturday at Alvin High School. On a day where many boys across the area were taking the SAT, the Spartans went into this game short-handed missing 5 players, including nearly all of their seniors. The first quarter was a dead heat with the only goal coming from Nathan Moss, with a hustling rebound put-back after the goalie knocked the ball down in front of the goal on a 5 meter attempt.

In the second quarter, the Spartans surged in front with a 4-2 lead at half time. Both Nathan Moss and Austin Chao scored with assists from Elliot Easton and Sam Brooks. Marin Pavlin had a nice play with a steal in front of the goalie for a put-back for the other score.

In the third quarter, Bridgeland fought back to close the gap to a 5-4 Spartan lead. The Spartans lone goal of the period came when Elliot Easton had another beautiful assist to Nathan Moss.

Quarter four was another evenly matched quarter that ended in a 6-6 tie. Nathan Moss had an assist to Marin Pavlin’s second goal that helped carry the mighty Spartans to extra quarters.

Extra quarters consist of 2 three-minute quarters and if needed,  another three-minute sudden death quarter, and it was absolutely needed for this game. Coach McCommons ran with Nathan Moss, Austin Chao, Devon Beals, Marin Pavlin, Elliot Easton, Ricky Conticello, and in for missing Andy Zhuri at goalie (who was taking his SAT), Diego Oliver for the three overtime quarters. The boys did not disappoint. They played hard and left everything in the pool, showing no signs of letting up.

The first overtime quarter ended with the same score as regulation, knotted at 6-6. The second overtime was another hard-fought contest with both teams netting one goal apiece. In that quarter, Ricky Conticello had a nice pass to Nathan Moss for the only goal for the Spartans.

In the final sudden-death overtime quarter, the Spartans were able to score the winning goal with a great pass from Austin Chao to a wide-open Ricky Conticello for the win. A great all-around team effort with strong performances from everyone including Nathan Moss with 4 goals, Devon Beals with 3 blocks and 7 takeaways, and the player of the game Diego Oliver with 11 diving stops as goalie.

vs. Clear Creek

After pulling off the shorthanded win in the morning game against Bridgeland, the Spartans squared off with Clear Creek, currently ranked 7th in the State, in the tournament semifinal at 5:00 pm.

The game had a rough start, with Clear Creek pressuring the perimeter to create turnovers, but the Spartans were able strike first when Luke Barber found the back of the net at the 4:46 mark. Clear Creek would answer with the next two goals, but the Spartans would fight back to tie the game back up when Nathan Moss found the back of the net with a short goal off a beautiful pass from Luke Barber. Unfortunately, Clear Creek would score with :25 seconds left in the period to take a 3-2 lead at the end of the first. Throughout the game the Spartans played their customary strangling defense, ultimately keeping Creek under 10 goals. Clear Creek countered with stifling defense of their own that made it difficult for Stratford to generate many shots of their own on goal.

In the second quarter, the Clear Creek defense created turnovers that would lead to some easy goals as they took a 6-2 lead into half time. The third quarter would not see any scoring as the defenses really stifled one another. Stratford struggled with additional turnovers from a series of offensive fouls, many called away from the ball. Austin Chao took and made a 5-meter penalty shot in the fourth quarter to bring Stratford within 8-3, but it was too little too late. Goaltender Andy Zhuri continued to play well, earning the player-of-the-match belt against Clear Creek's furious onslaught, and saving 2-3 goals by smartly and aggressively coming out of goal for 2 steals and several deflections.

The Spartans have two more weeks of non-District games this week before beginning the regular season on September 8th against Memorial. This week's games are August 30th vs. Westside and September 1st vs. George Ranch, both at the SBISD Natatorium.