HOOD RIVER — The Hood River Valley Boys’ water polo team ended their season with a fourth place finish at the state championship tournament in Bend last weekend. The Eagles faced Hillsboro in the first round of the tournament on Friday, easily winning 18-8. The lopsided score allowed some freshman to gain valuable playoff game time.
The competition on Saturday was tougher, with Hood River matching up against eventual state Champion Summit High School in the semi-final match. In front of a loud, standing-room only crowd, Hood River got into some foul trouble and Summit pulled out to an early lead and ended the first half up 5-3.
Two Eagle ejections in the third quarter helped Summit to extend their lead to 7-3, but a flurry of Summit player ejections allowed Hood River to stay in the fight and come roaring back in the fourth quarter. With the score 8-7 Summit in the final 30 seconds and the Eagles threatening to score, an off-target pass to Caiden Titus allowed Summit to steal the ball and hang on for the win and a place in the Championship game.
The Eagles played West Albany Saturday afternoon in a battle for third place in the state. West Albany started strong but Hood River did not let the game get away from them. An exciting full court shot from Eagles’ senior goalkeeper Jaden Johnson brought the score to 4-2 West Albany at the end of the first quarter. The score stayed closed until Hood River lost starter Jaden Johnson to an elbow injury for several minutes.
West Albany took advantage and padded their lead to 10-7 while he was out of the pool. Hood River fought back and once again came within a goal of tying things up, but the game ended with a 10-9 win for West Albany. Forrest Hedberg and Caiden Titus led the scoring for the Eagles, with 4 and 3 goals respectively.
Head coach Cael Price was impressed with the team “even though the tournament didn’t go quite as we’d hoped. We played the two closest games of the weekend, as well as two of the highest energy games from a spectator perspective. Fourth place is still a strong achievement as the competition was very tight at the top this season. Our boys know that they gave it their all and on another day it could have just as easily gone the other way.”
Senior Caiden Titus was selected to First Team All-State, joined by fellow seniors Rohan Faber and Forrest Hedberg on Second Team and senior goalie Jaden Johnson Honorable Mention.
Titus said: “I would say that I am really proud of how the team grew in the season and how much energy was on the team. I am super hopeful for the years to come and had fun playing my last year.”
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