After several agonizing losses in the semifinals in the last two years, the Los Altos boys water polo team finally reached the Central Coast Section playoff summit with a Division I championship win against Serra Saturday.
The No. 1 seed Eagles (22-8) delivered its first CCS championship on the boys side in recent memory with a 9-7 win over the No. 2 seed Padres (18-12) in overtime.
“We’ve been talking a lot about being the best at the end of the season, and we showed that we were yesterday with our overtime win,” Los Altos head coach Seth Tasman said.
Los Altos held a slim 4-3 lead at halftime, but Serra took the lead in the second half. Los Altos had 10 ejections in the game, with only one for Serra, and the Padres scored most of its goals in 6 vs. 5 power plays. Los Altos struggled offensively and had one of its roughest shooting games of the season but relied on its defense to keep them in it. Luckily, Los Altos has been in close games this season in both wins and losses.
“The perseverance on this team and the fight and the grit and the never giving up has always been very consistent through the good and the bad, so I knew as long as the game was within reach, we always had an opportunity to come back,” Tasman said.
Los Altos was down by one goal with 45 seconds left in the final quarter but tied it up with a goal by senior captain Josh Tang. The Eagles then made a stop in the final minute to take it to overtime. In the first possession of overtime, Los Altos scored a goal and added another one a few minutes later to seal the win.
“That was pretty much it after that, they didn’t score any goals in overtime, and we shut them down defensively,” Tasman said.
The Eagles have run a hard defensive press this season and relied on center defender Tiernan Braun to shut down opposing centers in the playoffs. Los Altos has also counted on its three senior captains, Weston Carballar, William O’Shaughnessy and Tang, to lead the team.
“We’ve been focusing on defense the entire season,” Tasman said. “Our defensive has been really solid.”
Colby Sims, Tang, Joe Tadros and Braun all scored two goals in the game.
The CCS title is the first for Tasman at Los Altos in his 12 years coaching the Eagles and the first in recent memory for the boys. The boys lost by one goal to Palo Alto in the 2023 CCS semifinals and in 2022 to Archbishop Mitty.
Los Altos won its CCS quarterfinals matchup against Homestead 14-4 Nov. 9 and beat Sequoia 15-7 Nov. 13 to reach the final. Los Altos finished third in Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division play.The Eagles play Buhach Colony in the NorCal Division III playoffs Tuesday (after the Town Crier print deadline).
