Boys water polo: Naperville Central advances with lopsided win

It was complete and total domination at both ends of the swimming pool for Naperville Central on Friday night at the 16th annual IHSA boys water polo tournament.

The defending state champion Redhawks (28-5) flirted with becoming the only team to record a shutout in the Elite Eight.

They still wound up posting a very lopsided 18-2 victory over St. Ignatius (18-14-2) to roll into the semifinals at 12:45 p.m. Saturday against top-ranked host Stevenson (34-0), which has defeated Naperville Central three times this season by one goal each. The Redhawks are guaranteed their sixth top-four trophy in school history.

Redhawks sophomore goalkeeper Kent Emden got Naperville Central going right away when his long pass to teammate Lucas Nervig resulted in a quick goal just 1:01 into the contest.

The Wolfpack had no answer to the Redhawks' balanced offensive attack. Sophomore Brad Sanford lobbed a shot into the far left corner of the net for a 2-0 advantage.

Then came a fastbreak opportunity when Nolan Vaughn assisted teammate Cam Dougherty for an easy close-range goal and a 3-0 lead. Vaughn also assisted Dominic May for a solid 4-0 lead with 52 seconds left in the first period.

"Our offense is pretty balanced, and I think we match up pretty well (with Stevenson)," said Naperville Central coach Bill Salentine, whose team led 11-0 at halftime, 15-0 after three periods. "We know (a shutout) has never been done in the history of the state tournament. But our second-line guys deserve to play. (Emden) showed us his true form, the defense was outstanding top to bottom, and it was a solid team effort."

Naperville Central really turned up the heat in the second period as goals by Matt Reagan, Luke Klein-Collins, Vaughn and Michael Stern boosted the Redhawks' lead to 8-0.

St. Ignatius really struggled offensively as goals in the final 1:20 of the first half by Klein-Collins, Bender Russo, and Vaughn pretty much put the game away with an 11-0 lead.

Then in the third period, goals by May, Reagan, May, and May again made the score 15-0.

But could Naperville Central record a shutout or allow only one goal like Fenwick did in a semifinal game against Mundelein in a 2006?

The answer to that question would be no. With only one starter in the contest St. Ignatius' Andreas Christy broke up Emden's shutout with a shot into the right corner of the net with 6:13 to play.

"I couldn't ask for better defense. They had hardly any shots from the perimeter, and we had great communication between teammates," said Emden, whose team had 29 shots on goal overall. "We're going to have more motivation (against) Stevenson. I think in the second half we have to come down hard, get good counter attacks, and shots on goal."

Vaughn scored again for a 16-1 lead before teammate Matt Wooten's goal made the score 17-1. The Wolfpack scored again with 3:08 to go before Sean Jackson's 1-on-1 goal accounted for the 18-2 final score.