Boys water polo: Quick start helps Lyons top Stevenson, win state championship

After emerging from a pair of tough semifinal wins Saturday morning, both Lyons Township and Stevenson each sought their third IHSA state title at the Patriots home pool in Lincolnshire Saturday evening.

And thanks in large part to a strong early start that established control of the contest in their favor, the Lions will be taking home to their LaGrange campus their first championship trophy since 2015 as they defeated the Patriots, 10-7.

Lyons (27-3) got off to a 3-0 lead after one and then senior Finn Vahey found senior teammate Brendan Whelton just 79 ticks into the second stanza making it a 4-0 advantage.

Senior co-captain Olin Kusevskis got Stevenson (24-9-1) on the board at the 4:28 mark of the second followed by the person who fed him for that goal, sophomore Armeet Gill, 45 seconds later that had the Patriots within 4-2.

After the Patriots pulled within 5-4 just 75 seconds into half No. 2, Vahey found sophomore Luke Jackson for the second time at the 2:54 mark followed by junior Sami Rabah's second tally that gave LT a 7-4 edge.

The Patriots made one final rally with a pair of scores in the final 41 seconds that closed the gap to 8-6 on Gill's third goal with 10 ticks left in the quarter.

Lyons would settle matters with both Jackson and Rabah completing their respective hat tricks with the latter coming with 10 seconds remaining.

Vahey, who ended up with five assists, spoke of how it came down to simply finding the open man.

"I just passed it and they finished and they're always finishing their shots,“ Vahey said. ”We (executed) our plan. This is magical. This is a once in a lifetime thing."

Patriots coach Sean Wimer paid homage to his four seniors — Gill, Joshua Moreyno, Nazar Mytrofanyuk, and Kusevskis — for guiding a young squad that lost 12 seniors from a state finalist last spring.

"Our seniors were outstanding,“ Wimer said. ”We're a very young team and the fact that we were even in this position, I am so proud of this group and how we were able to develop."

Third-place game:

Thanks to a five-goal outburst in the opening period of play, Naperville North (31-5) won the third place game over Whitney Young 17-9 Saturday afternoon.

Senior Brett Grady paved the way for the Huskies with seven goals as they bounced back from a 7-6 semifinal loss to Stevenson.

Juniors Mason Hofmann (5 goals) and Jack Reif (4 goals) also rang up the Dolphin cage for North.

Junior Luka Spasic and sophomore Yahir Jimenez each tallied three times for Young who finished 24-8 on the season.