Naperville Central finishes second at state boys water polo

Another year and the Naperville Central boys water polo team had to deal with Fenwick in the IHSA water polo finals.

The Redhawks were in range of a first water polo championship, but the Friars prevailed again 11-8 on Saturday evening at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire.

"Anytime you come out of a state tournament with a trophy it's a success," Naperville Central coach Bill Salentine said, "We're the public school state champs."

The Redhawks (30-5) for the last three years can't seem to get past Fenwick (33-2) and met the Friars in the finals two of the last three years.

"We beat (Naperville Central) twice this year," said Fenwick coach David Perry, whose team has won seven straight championships. "We would have liked to get somebody else by going this far. It was kind of scary. That's the way the bracket goes. You've got play them as they come. We just prepare week by week."

Naperville Central let a first-quarter 1-1 tie slip away and trailed 4-1 by the half.

The Redhawks came alive in the third tying the game twice but still trailed 8-6 going into the final quarter.

"We just got to find a way to finish. We seem to get close and fall a part a little bit," Salentine said. "We didn't play four solid quarters of water polo."

"Their goalie (Daniel Francisco) did a great job. We've got some great shooters, and he made us look silly."

Francisco made 10 of his 15 saves in the first half and carried the Friars.

Meanwhile, Brian Stanley scored three times in the third and brought the Redhawks back into the game.

"I had the fire in my belly and I just wanted to win really bad," Stanley said. "We tried really hard, but there was nothing we could do about it."

Naperville Central's Tom Shamburek also had 3 goals and Mark Menis added 2 others.

"We believed all year that we could beat (Fenwick), that was our goal," Menis said. "Fenwick is a great team and there's a reason why they have won seven straight years."