Sacred Heart Prep dashes fairytale finish for Carondelet, De La Salle water polo
CONCORD, CA (Dec. 19, 2024) — De La Salle and Carondelet upset the apple cart at the North Coast Section Open Division water polo playoffs by winning the boys and girls championships by beating higher seeds in all four games the Concord parochial schools won.
The Cougars and Spartans took that momentum into the Northern California playoffs a week later, winning two games each to reach the playoff finals. In the championship games Sacred Heart Prep of Atherton proved too strong in both games to bring a premature end to those post-season runs.
Robert Arroyo coaches De La Salle while his wife Cat Arroyo leads the Cougars. The Concord schools now have five Section water polo titles between them since 2021.
In the Open Division semi-finals both Concord teams came away with victories to reach the NCS championship game. The Cougars defeated three-time defending champions Miramonte 5-4 while De La Salle rose up as the fourth seed to topple No. 1 boys team Campolindo 8-7.
The boys final for the fourth successive year pitted Miramonte against DLS. The Spartans won the 2021 and ‘22 finals before the Orinda school turned the tables last fall. This go-round it was De La Salle taking a classic triple overtime sudden death win 14-13.
In the girls finale, Campolindo was the No. 1 seed and hosted Carondelet, third seeded, in a battle of Cougars. The Concord Cougars prevailed 8-6 in the only of four Open Division games played by the local schools decided by more than one goal.
At NorCals, De La Salle was named Division I top seed off its NCS exploits and defeated Buchanan 16-9 and Campo 14-8 before running into No. 2 Sacred Heart in the finals and losing 9-7.
Carondelet also eased into the NorCal finals with victories 11-6 over Acalanes and 10-5 vs. Arroyo Grande. The Cougars were second seeds while Sacred Heart upheld its top seed and No. 1 ranking in America with an 11-4 championship victory over Carondelet.
Caldwell caps prep cross country career 3rd at State
Northgate girls in Division III and Division II College Park boys each won North Coast Section cross country team championships while De La Salle senior Trey Caldwell won the NCS Division II boys individual title in dominant fashion and followed up at CIF State with a third-place finish.
College Park’s Jack Rattary was second at NCS to Caldwell and then finished 16th at State. Rattary and his Falcon teammates were seven points better than DLS in the D-II team standings at NCS.
Freshman Camila Terrazas was the top finisher for the Northgate Broncos at NCS as they overcame perennial power Campolindo for an impressive championship performance. Junior Gretchen Yakaitis of Carondelet placed fifth for the top individual placing.
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Jay Bedecarré
Jay Bedecarré is a long-time resident and writer in Concord and Clayton. He began his newspaper writing career while still a senior at Mt. Diablo High School and he has been part of The Pioneer since its inception in 2003. Jay also operates Bay Area Festivals, presenting events around the San Francisco Bay Area including Bay Area KidFest annually in Downtown Concord.