Bishop’s sweeps regular-season meetings with rival La Jolla in boys water polo

Regular-season bragging rights in the local boys water polo rivalry between La Jolla High School and The Bishop’s School went to Bishop’s this year as the Knights defeated the Vikings for the second time, 11-5, on Oct. 12 at the Coggan Family Aquatic Complex on the La Jolla High campus.

The teams won’t square off again unless they face each other in the postseason, as they have historically.

The Knights narrowly beat the Vikings, 12-11, in their first meeting this season Sept. 30.

But unlike the first matchup, in which the two teams rallied goal for goal, the Knights went up 4-1 in the first quarter on Oct. 12 and stretched the lead to 8-1 by the half.

Bishop’s coach Doug Peabody said the Knights “played really good defense. There was a lot of communication going and it went really well. We had our full focus on the defensive.”

La Jolla coach Tom Atwell agreed. “They jumped on us early and played faster and better,” he said. “[Vikings star] Kiefer Black didn’t have a goal because they worked at shutting him down. It was their day. They were more prepared. ... We weren’t playing at game speed.”

Bishop’s Casper Lightner looks for a place to go with the ball as he squares off against La Jolla’s Kiefer Black (12).

(Nicola Bugelli)

Chase Landa scored five goals and Charlie Martin added three for Bishop’s. Finn Bugelli scored three goals for La Jolla and Drake Bonaguidi tallied two.

Atwell said not playing a game since the Sept. 30 meeting against Bishop’s hurt La Jolla because “we weren’t able to work out some of the things we needed to work out from the last time we played Bishop’s to this time.”

“We have to make some changes to our offense,” Atwell added. “And that message got through to them, because the team captains asked if we could meet at lunch to see what they need to do [to improve the offense]. They are focused on [the CIF playoffs], so they want to be in a position to get there.” ◆