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Boys water polo: Barrington's trip continues after victory over Conant

Barrington, the top seed in the Hoffman Estates boys water polo sectional, was playing to form against No. 2 seed Conant early in Saturday's championship matchup.

Mitch Gavars finished a man-up chance. Steven Fischer made a nice isolation move and scored at the post. Scotty Robinson cleaned up a teammate's rebound. Kyle Mitchell skipped in a penalty shot.

When the Broncos' John Fischer scored with 1:41 left in the second quarter, Barrington led Conant 6-1.

Game over?

Not quite.

Before the second quarter ended, Conant's Alex Hirjoi rose up and rifled a long shot over Gavars and into an upper corner.

After another Mitchell penalty shot conversion, Conant was at it again, on another snipe from Hirjoi.

Cougars goalie Harris Dibek made a great reaction save, and at the other end Conant senior Alec Burke saved a possession with a miraculous lob from the general vicinity of the scoring table.

A subsequent denial of a Barrington man-up thanks to another big Dibek save had Conant within 7-4 midway through the third quarter.

"One thing I've learned about polo, that other team is always going to give you everything they've got," said Barrington's Mitch Gavars. "And Conant sure did that."

In the end, though, Barrington's senior-powered team was too tall a challenge for Conant. The Mid-Suburban League champs won 12-5, earning their second trip to the Elite Eight in the last three years.

Significantly, it helps ease the sting of an overtime loss in last year's sectional final.

"No doubt about it, I was nervous beforehand," said Barrington senior goalie Jack Krieps. "It was hard to not think about last year. But once the game got going, everything was fine."

Mitchell scored on a lob of his own, and John Fischer had 2 goals near the end of the third quarter as the Broncos' lead was quickly restored to a more comfortable 10-4. Goals from Robinson and John Fischer in the fourth quarter finished Barrington's scoring, and Conant's Burke scored on the last shot of his high school career on another gloriously long lob.

Barrington (29-2) enjoyed a decided experience advantage, starting all seniors except for sophomore Steven Fischer. And that helped lead to a 10-0 Broncos advantage in exclusions generated.

"The great thing about this group is seeing how they've changed over the four years we've been with them," said Barrington coach Scott Krasinski, whose partnership with head coach Rob Emary and JV leader Butch Gavars has taken the Broncos from one of the Mid-Suburban League's weaker teams to one of its top programs. "When these guys were freshman, they were like kindergartners, little puppies almost - always looking for permission, just unsure of themselves.

"But now it's completely different. You know, this season, I really haven't had to do much coaching at all. Instead of, 'Here's what we're going to do,' it became, 'What do you guys want to do?' "

For Conant (19-11), the game's outcome was not a victory - but for coach Tim Daniel, the season as a whole surely counts as a W.

The Cougars started three standout sophomores - Hirjoi, Justin Lim and Bryan Cho - along with Dibek, a junior. Complemented by Burke and senior teammates Cory Pedro, Taaha Adaamji, Alec Lawson and Tommy Walsh, Conant returned to a position of prominence in the MSL.

"We felt like we needed to hit the reset button in terms of our culture, the expectations we have of our athletes," said Daniel. "We made a lot of progress with that this year because of those seniors. And because of that, we're set up nicely for next year - maybe the next couple years."

Hirjoi (3 goals) and Burke (2) accounted for Conant's scoring.

"At the start of the year, I didn't think we'd even end up playing in this game," said Burke. "If you look at what we accomplished with such a young team, I couldn't be prouder."

John Fischer led Barrington with 4 goals, while Mitchell had 3 and Gavars and Robinson 2 apiece.

Next up for Barrington is a state quarterfinal test against Fenwick at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Stevenson. It won't be easy, as the Friars advanced by crushing a solid York team - one which defeated Barrington in the regular season - 20-5.

"We know how great it felt for our seniors a couple of years ago, and we just wanted to have that same experience for ourselves," said Robinson, who has excelled defensively for the Broncos.

Barrington's success has come with sacrifice. Krasinski took the opportunity to coach when he was living in Mundelein, but he's since married and resides in Phoenix. He's essentially spent the last two high school water polo seasons on a very long road trip, away from his new wife and home.

That road trip is over whenever Barrington's season ends, as Krasinski has announced that this season will be his last.

"There have been some challenges, for sure," said Krasinski, "but on days like today, you realize it's all worth it."

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