The Curtis Vikings boys water polo team finally toppled the defending champ with everything on the line in the Washington state title game.
Curtis derailed Bellevue’s bid to win their fifth consecutive state championship, registering a 9-7 overtime victory against the Bellevue Wolverines on Nov. 14 at the Curtis Aquatic Center in University Place.
Curtis junior JJ Spoja scored two goals in the final 1:47 of the second overtime session, clinching the win for the Vikings. Bellevue’s Zack Rossman scored with 58 seconds left in the second overtime, cutting Curtis’s lead to 8-7 but Spoja answered with the final goal of the night with 46 seconds left to put the game out of reach.
Vikings’ head coach Dennis Piccolotto was jovial following the biggest win his team experienced this decade.
“We have a core group of guys who just busted their tails the last couple of years. Last year we got close and lost by two (Bellevue defeated Curtis 8-6 in the 2014 title game),” Piccolotto said. “These guys grinded for the past 365 days and did a lot of out of season work. One of our mottos is, ‘Out of season work, in season results’. This year the theme was to finish what we started and we did that.”
The game was a battle the entire way. Curtis appeared to be in the drivers seat after back-to-back goals by Ryan St. John gave Curtis a 4-1 lead with 4:13 remaining in the third quarter. The Wolverines wouldn’t succumb without a fight. Rossman and Mario Abdel Shahed scored back-to-back goals, cutting Curtis’s lead to 4-3 with 1:36 left in the third quarter. Vikings’ senior Garrett Friedman scored with 47 seconds left in third extending the lead to 5-3 after three quarters of play.
With their season on the line, the Wolverines responded with a 3-0 run in the early stages of the fourth period. Bellevue’s Mina Abdel Shahed scored with 5:11 left in the game, cutting Curtis’s lead to 5-4. Cameron Hayes found the back of the net with 4:48 left and once again with 4:20 left in regulation, giving Bellevue a 6-5 lead. Bellevue was a mere 10 seconds left from clinching their fifth state crown in a row until Curtis’s David Ling tied the game at 6-6 with 9.1 seconds left in regulation forcing overtime.
“To be up by two in the fourth period and then be down by one, that was our last possession. We had no more left. David Ling stepped up and got that one in to send it into overtime,” Piccolotto said.
Curtis outscored Bellevue 3-1 in the two three-minute overtime sessions to take the title.
“I have a lot of respect for Bellevue. Their coaches (Ed Brovick, Evan Kaseguma) are both class act guys. We had a feeling that it might be us and Bellevue at the end again. We wouldn’t want it any other way. If we were going to win it, we wanted to win against the best,” Piccolotto said of Bellevue.
Kaseguma was proud of his team for fighting through adversity despite trailing 4-1 in the early stages of the third period.
“We just talked about sticking to our game-plan. We had a lot of shots in the first half that didn’t quite fall. We knew that if we kept working, we would get great shots, great looks and eventually they would start falling,” Kaseguma said. “The boys believed. They just kept going and kept grinding. We were able to get back in the game.”
The Wolverines were humble and gracious in defeat.
“It is a great rivalry. They bring out the best in us and I’d like to think we bring out the best in them,” Kaseguma said. “We are two programs that are constantly pushing each other. This year they got us. It is a credit to their coaches and players. We have a lot of respect for them. We give them all the credit in the world.”
Shaun Scott: 425-453-5045; sscott@bellevuereporter.com
