Downey’s boys water polo team rips through MMC, ready for section playoffs

Downey High School’s boys water polo team wrapped up a perfect 12-0 league run last week, clinching the Modesto Metro Conference’s No. 1 playoff seed with 9-4 win over second-place Gregori last Thursday in its home pool.

It was the second consecutive league championship for the Knights who, until last season, had not won a conference title in water polo in the four-decade history of the program.

“I love the direction the program is headed in,” said coach Tim Vesey, whose frosh-soph team also posted a perfect mark this season. “We’ll only lose four seniors – three of them starters – off a team with 17 players. I lost more than that off last year’s team.”

The Knights graduated five players off last year’s team – including league co-MVP Sam Ciccarelli – which bowed out in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs with a 22-10 loss to Merced.

Downey gets an even tougher draw in this year’s tournament when it “hosts” Rocklin, the No. 1 seed from the Sierra Foothill League, in an 11 a.m. contest Friday at Johansen High School.

“We have a realistic approach to this match,” Vesey said. “We don’t have as deep a bench, and my starting seven will get pretty tired and it will be difficult to stay with them.”

The Knights are led by senior captain Severin Elste, who plays the defensive hole set, junior Cody Wickman, the offensive hole set who averages four goals per contest, and junior goalie Michael Hicks, who saves 10 shots per game.

“We just want to stay with them the first couple of quarters and keep it competitive,” Vesey said. “The guys are excited and ready for the challenge, definitely.”

The Knights won’t be the only Stanislaus District team in action Friday. MMC runner-up Gregori and Central California Conference powers Merced and Turlock also will see action at Johansen.

The Division II boys water polo playoffs start Thursday with Ripon taking on Ceres, Sonora facing Dixon and El Capitan versus Oakdale.

On Saturday, the Divisions I and II girls swing into action with Modesto facing Tri-City Athletic League runner-up St. Mary’s, Enochs meeting Delta League runner-up St. Francis of Sacramento, Merced taking on Monticello Empire League No. 2 Napa and Pitman playing MEL champion Vintage in Division I, and Oakdale facing Metropolitan Conference No. 3 River City (West Sacramento), Los Banos clashing with Capital Athletic League runner-up Christian Brothers (Sacramento) and El Capitan taking on Valley Oak League No. 2 Kimball (Tracy) in Division II.

Playoff action will heat up long before balls are dropped for water polo, starting today.

Boys soccer – Today’s slate features Modesto, Gregori and Pitman in Division I; Atwater, Davis, Merced and Golden Valley in D-II; Central Valley, East Union, Oakdale and Patterson in D-III; and Sonora in D-IV. On Thursday, Livingston (D-IV), Ripon, Riverbank and Delhi (D-V), Summerville and Gustine (D-VI) and Ripon Christian (D-VII) get going.

Most matches begin at 3 p.m.

Modesto Metro Conference champion Modesto, seeded fourth, will host No. 13 Pitman today at 3 while Gregori travels to take on Granite Bay. In Division II, an up-and-coming Davis squad, which was 1-10-1 just two years, travels to top-seeded Atwater for a 6:30 game under the lights. The top Division III matchup features No. 4 Central Valley, which has played in four of the last five section championship games, against visiting No. 13 East Union, which knocked out the Hawks in the 2011 Division IV semifinals.

Volleyball – The section has yet to release playoff brackets, but Divisions I through IV begin play Thursday with second-round matches on Nov. 11, when Divisions V and VI get underway. Pitman (35-1) is the team to watch after four consecutive Central California Conference titles and a second-place finish at the prestigious Stockton Classic, where its only loss came to San Jose’s Archbishop Mitty, the No. 1 team in the nation, according to MaxPreps.com.

Cross country – The Sub-Section meet will be held Saturday at Frogtown at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds in Angels Camp. The meet is slated to begin at 9:30 a.m. with a frosh-soph race. The varsity schedule is as follows: The D-I girls go off at 11:10 a.m., and each subsequent race starts 20 minutes later. After the D-I girls, it’s the D-II boys, followed by D-I boys, D-II girls, D-III girls, D-IV boys, D-V boys, D-III boys, D-IV girls and D-V girls at 2:30 p.m.

Girls tennis – Second-round action in the team tournament is today. In D-I, MMC champ Gregori will play St. Francis (Sacramento), while CCC champ Turlock hosts Stagg (Stockton). Enochs beat Tokay (Lodi) on Monday and will travel today to play Rocklin, while Merced topped Armijo and will visit Stockton today to face St. Mary’s. Also on Monday, Atwater lost to Napa.

In D-III, Los Banos, which again breezed through the Western Athletic Conference (the Tigers are a perfect 60-0 since joining the conference in 2010), takes on Oakdale, which beat River Valley (Yuba City).

The girls individual tennis tournament begins Thursday and concludes Friday at Johnson Ranch Racquet Club in Roseville.

This story was originally published November 3, 2014 at 11:10 PM with the headline "Downey’s boys water polo team rips through MMC, ready for section playoffs."