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Waving his arm, Jean Castel ’29 guards the goal from a McNeil player. The team has put a lot of work into their defense during practice, and it paid off.
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Reaching his arm back for maximum power, Jameson Helmueller ’29 readies a pass to one of his fellow teammates. As goalie, Helmueller was in charge of receiving the ball and passing it back to his teammates.
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Gripping the ball, Vishwaa Parakkuth ’29 prepares to pass the ball to a teammate. The Warriors tightened up their passes during tonight’s game, which helped them to succeed.
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Brawling for the ball, Jean Castel ’29 works to distract the McNeil player. Castel played a lot throughout the game, and had multiple assists.
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Readying to attempt a goal, Asher Montgomery ’29 works to keep the ball away from the McNeil Mavericks. The Warriors had a bold strategy, attempting as many goals as they could.
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Hurling the ball through the air, Marek Browaski ’27 attempts to avoid a player from the opposing team. Browaski was a key player for the Warriors, scoring multiple goals throughout the night.
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Scanning the water to see who’s open, Asher Montgomery ’29 prepares to pass the ball. The Warriors had a strong game tonight, much of which hinged on strategic passes and clear communication.
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Grabbing the arm of his opponent, Caden Bradford ’26 uses an aggressive strategy to keep the ball in Westwood’s possession. Bradford scored multiple goals for the team, helping them to emerge victorious.
On Tuesday Sept. 30 at the RRISD Aquatic Center, Westwood boys water polo won a decisive victory against the McNeil Mavericks, beating them 13-10 on the Warrior’s Senior Night. This was the last game of the regular season, with this win on their belt the team can move ahead to playoffs on a high from tonight’s win.
Westwood started off strong, scoring the first goal of the game. The team followed it up with two more goals in quick succession, from Marek Browaski ‘27 and Jett Henson ‘28, putting the score at 3-0. McNeil retaliated, scoring a goal of their own as the first quarter reached its end. The Warriors responded swiftly as the quarter came to a close, with Browaski throwing an especially strong shot from the opposite end of the pool that scored the final point of the first quarter in Westwood’s favor. This goal ended the quarter with the Warriors leading by three as the score sat at 4-1.
“[When I’m playing] I always try to keep an eye on my defender and keep a level head with no distractions,” Asher Montgomery ‘29 said. “I just keep my head turning, looking around, and reading the situations, so I can see where I can move to.”
In the second quarter, the energy of the game reached a stalemate as both teams tried, and came up short of scoring any goals. Eventually, Browaski found his momentum and scored a point for Westwood after weaving through Maverick defense. McNeil called a timeout to reassess their gameplan. Later the Mavericks returned to the water with a newfound drive, scoring two goals in quick succession. The second quarter ended with a score of 5-3, with Westwood maintaining the lead.
“I feel like we were doing good passing, mostly, and we just worked on [implementing] the stuff we did [in practice],” Des Lane ‘28 said. “[I think we need to] just get better on offense, since we’re already really good defensively.”
Westwood entered the third quarter with lots of energy, and managed to score the first point of the quarter. However, McNeil was able to score two more goals, narrowing the Warriors lead to only one point. However, Westwood was able to regain their rhythm and scored two more easy goals. After some back and forth between the two teams, Henson was able to score another goal, and was quickly followed by Caden Bradford ‘26 who managed to score their twelfth goal of the night, bringing the score to a decisive 12-5 to end the quarter.
“It feels pretty nice [to be in the water],” goalie Jameson Helmueller ‘29 said. “I try to be relaxed when I’m doing that so I’m not stressing out.”
McNeil came out strong in the fourth quarter, scoring within the first couple minutes. Westwood quickly called a timeout, hoping to shut down McNeil’s momentum early. Despite that recalibration, McNeil was able to score again, bringing the score to 13-7. Browaski was able to score for the Warriors, hoping to pull his team back into the game, but the Mavericks had regained their fighting spirit and were able to score three more times in an attempt to even the score. However, Westwood’s defense proved itself to be strong and they still emerged victorious with a final score of 13-10.
“After our win against Cedar Ridge, that kind of really showed us that we can, we have the ability to beat these really good teams,” Montgomery said. “So that kind of gives us confidence to face these better teams, especially Westlake and LASA. They’re quite good and we’re just going to fight out there. As [Coach Matt McBrearty] said, you’ve got to fight with some spirit.”
Boys Water Polo is now entering the Playoff stage of their season, and will take on their next opponent on either Oct. 6 or Oct. 7.
