For the seventh straight year, BOHS’s boys’ varsity water polo team is heading to the post-season.
Wildcats water polo wrapped up its regular season with a victory over Troy High School, 14-11, in Fullerton Oct. 22 to clinch a spot in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division 3 playoffs.
The Wildcats’ offense struck early and often as Kyle Franks (‘26) scored the game’s first three goals.
The dominance against the Warriors carried into the second quarter with a trio of goals from Adam Danesh (‘27) and two from Ayrk Marquez (‘26), to extend the Wildcats’ lead to 10-2 at the half.
A key factor in the Wildcats’ first half success was goalie Jacob Macshane (‘27). Macshane managed 11 saves and converted multiple Troy shots into counterattacks to Franks and Ethan Tergina (‘26).
“Jacob had a good game and we countered really well which got us a lot of goals,” Franks said.
BOHS’s tactic against Troy, according to Franks, was to drain the game clock and give the Warriors little time to score. “We scored most of our goals in the last ten seconds of the [shot] clock,” Franks said.
With an eight point lead heading into the third quarter, Wildcats head coach Damien Madrigal pulled the starters to give his younger players some game experience.
“It was good to give some of the younger guys some experience in the pool since we had the advantage and the starters could save their energy,” Macshane said.
Against the Wildcats’ bench, the Warriors cut the gap to two, prompting Madrigal to put the starters back in the game.
The final minutes were back-and-forth, with Troy matching the Wildcats goal-for-goal. On the line for BOHS: the post-season.
But the Wildcats, behind Franks’s team-high six goals and five steals, held onto the lead to secure a three-goal win over the Warriors.
“It got close at the end but we were confident we’d win because we knew we’re the better team,” Tergina said.
Macshane added, “That game was do or die which definitely pushed all of us to play harder.”
With the victory, BOHS, with a 12-11 overall record, advances to the first round of CIF as an at-large team.
The Wildcats will face the 11-11 Agoura Hills Chargers, who finished third in the Marmonte League, at the BOHS pool deck Oct. 30 at 5 p.m.
