On Friday, Oct. 6th, the boys water polo team competed in their second district round robin. Throughout the course of the tournament three games against familiar opponents were played — Midway, Round Rock, and Cedar Ridge — all of which had district implications. For the Warriors, this was a tournament they had invested weeks of training into. Since they had won the previous Round Robin, they were in a good position to become District Champions.

Starting off strong, the Warriors tested their set plays against Midway as captain Freddy Browarski ‘24 fired off a shot to claim a goal within the first two minutes of the game. Following suit, Marek Browarski ‘27, Zack Hobbs ‘24, and Miles Pischetsrieder ‘24 consecutively scored to round off the first quarter with a score of 4-1 . 

In the second and third quarters, the Warriors began to up their attack. They scored seven points and kept the defense tight as they only allowed one goal from Midway to slip past. Freddy, Marek, Hobbs, Pischetsrieder, Jack Beneviste ‘24, Ethan Clark ‘26, and Caden Bradford ‘26 all contributed to the score. In a clean finish in the last quarter, Pischetsrieder and Bradford swept the board with two more goals, winning the game with a score of 13-2. 

However, victory was sweet but short. As the girls played, the boys huddled together to discuss strategy for their next opponents. Over the past few weeks, the team had been training hard to prepare for this tournament, and in particular, the next game against their biggest rivals the Round Rock Dragons.

At 5:30 p.m. the long-awaited game began with a sprint for the ball. Spectators for both teams flooded the stands, breaths held in anticipation. At first, the Warriors fell short with zero goals in the first quarter, leaving the score at 3-0. In the second quarter, Marek slung the ball, claiming the first goal and closing the gap. Although it seemed like the Dragons and the Warriors were at a stalemate, after a successful goal by Freddy in the third quarter, both teams picked up on  offense. Playing hard, the Browarski brothers and Beneviste racked up the score to match the Dragons at 5-5. Slowly, momentum began to build for the Warriors. With 9 seconds ticking on the clock and to the thundering roar of surprise from spectators, Bradford launched a soaring midpool shot that sailed right into the net. 

“I was in the zone,” Bradford said. “I wasn’t thinking about anything else. I was like this [ball] is going in [the net]. I got it from Jack or Zach. I saw the goal, and I saw the goalie slide in over to the right, and I just fired.”

Spurred by the sudden change in the score and the support from the sidelines, the Warriors gained two more points and pulled away from the Dragons. Still, the Dragons refused to surrender and scored three unanswered goals roaring back. As the clock hit zero   in the last quarter, the score was tied at 8-8 bringing the game to overtime. 

After some deliberation with the referees, it was decided that there would be two three-minute quarters played into overtime. Tension filled the Natatorium as the two teams discussed their strategies. As the whistle blew to initiate overtime, the girl’s water polo team began chanting their support for the boys  as they lined up on the stands. Parents waved their pom poms and cheered as loud as they could. 

“It was getting close to how loud a football game is,” Bradford said. “It was indoors, you couldn’t hear anything, everyone was going crazy. The goals in overtime in the first quarter where we set a 3 point lead silenced [Round Rock].”

Energized and locked-in, the Warriors successfully scored three goals in the first quarter of overtime and prevented any Round Rock players from getting past their defense. Although the Warriors had fallen behind  the Dragons for the first half of the game, they had quickly bounced back and were now ready to drive all their ambition and perseverance over the past weeks home. Staying steady and calm, Freddy pitched a goal in the second quarter of overtime, creating an insurmountable gap for the Dragons in little time, and finalizing the score at 12-9. 

Collectively, the boys have made huge improvements to their gameplay since the start of the season. This includes perfecting multiple plays to use in official games. 

“We run this play called Fish where it’s called screening,” Bradford said. “I noticed that once they screen, the two people go to the post, except there’s no one at point so I just decide to slide in to point. Since my defender went to guard the attackers, I was wide open. And I just noticed that every time we did that I would slide over and I would have an easy shot.” 

Riding high on the wave of their success, the Warriors readied themselves to play their last game after an exhausting day. In the first quarter, Browarski, Hobbs, Beneviste, and Harrison Vaughn ‘25 scored a total of five successful goals. Confident in their lead, Coach McBrearty sent in other players, such as Sawyer Grimaldi ‘25 who scored in the second quarter, combining with Freddy to bring the score to 7-2. Confidently racking up points, the Warriors block shooting attempts from the Raiders as they score eight more goals in the last half, concluding the game with a score of 15-4, and taking the district trophy home. 

The Warriors will play next on Monday, Oct. 9, in the playoffs at the Round Rock Natatorium.