Boys rematch goes to Saxons
Much to Rolling Meadows' disappointment, the rematch of last week's Mid-Suburban League championship game went much like the first meeting.
Schaumburg's speed edge led to numerous turnovers and fastbreak opportunities, and the Saxons made the most of them in a 23-10 victory during Barrington boys water polo sectional semifinal play Friday.
Top-seeded Schaumburg (29-2) will face No. 2 seed McHenry (19-6), which defeated No. 6 seed Palatine 15-10 Friday night, in the sectional title game at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
Rolling Meadows scored first on a goal by Danny Vockeroth, but the emotional lift from that moment proved short-lived. Brandon Kase scored twice and Aaron Johnson scored 3 straight to put the Saxons back in command 5-1 with 2:56 left in the first period.
"Our guys were pretty pumped for this," said Rolling Meadows JV coach Art Senteno, filling in for varsity coach Bill Christiansen, who was attending a Vietnam veterans meeting. "We talked about being ready for the long haul, about being ready for them to score first. I know it sounds odd, but I think it actually worked against us a little bit when we got the lead."
Damien Fitzsimmons led Rolling Meadows (20-5) with 4 goals, and Pat LeBuhn had 3.
For Schaumburg, Johnson finished with 6 goals, Kase and Chris Corbett finished with 5 apiece and Mike Kehoe and Anthony Darovec both scored twice. Schaumburg led 22-7 after the third quarter, and coach Tom Gallagher got some sectional experience for every player on the roster.
"I thought we looked real sharp when we had our first six in there," Gallagher said.