San Rafael, California – In 2019, the Tamalpais High School boys varsity water polo team defeated Redwood High School by a score of 9-8 to capture a North Coast Section (NCS) division one championship, the team has failed to bring home any hardware since. To make matters worse, Tam had a record of 1-7 against the Giants since their 2019 NCS matchup, and in the time that Tam’s varsity squad has failed to hang a banner, Redwood has won the last two league titles. The Hawks had an opportunity to reverse all of those narratives on Saturday afternoon.

Tam and Redwood clashed again in the NCS division one championship. This game came after the Giants thrashed the Hawks by a final of 15-5 during the regular season, the largest margin of victory in a game between the rivals since 2012. Redwood got the better of Tam again in this championship by a final score of 12-9.

This game was much closer throughout than the regular season clash. Tam led late in the third quarter by a score of 8-7 after a goal by junior Declan Murphy, assisted by senior Andrew Sternfels. Tam head coach, Steve Lacy, predicted this would be a closer affair before the game. “We’re a better team now. We’ve been playing better water polo in the last month.” 

The first quarter of the matchup looked eerily similar to the regular season game on Sept 25. Redwood started the game up 3-0. The quarter ended with Redwood up 3-1, only a one goal difference from the first quarter score of the September game between the rivals.

The Hawks stormed back to tie the game in the second quarter. They won the quarter 5-3 on the back of goals by freshman Jasper Feldman, senior Reed Hanna, Sternfels, and senior Bern Kent. Tam entered halftime with momentum on their side.

Redwood came out of the half with a nice goal to take the lead 7-6. This could have been an inflection point in the game, but Hanna found Feldman for another Hawks’ goal to even the scoring. In the process of delivering the pass, Hanna’s swim cap was ripped off by a Redwood defender. The freshman-senior duo were fired up after their equalizer. The tie was broken by the aforementioned Murphy goal which gave the Hawks their first lead of the night. Redwood called timeout after the goal, and immediately recaptured the lead by a score of 9-8. The game entered the final quarter tied after a late third quarter goal by Kent. 

The Hawks undoubtedly entered the fourth quarter with momentum. Tam parents, students, and bench players were all loudly supporting the boys in the pool. Redwood struck first in the fourth, but that was just a body blow. The knockout came by way of a second Redwood goal halfway through the fourth. The fateful shot deflected off of freshman goalie, Ethan Wallace’s hands and into the corner of the net. The Hawks tried to respond, but the momentum had deserted the nest. Redwood scored once more, and the game ended 12-9. The standout player of the match was Redwood’s junior goalie Owen Malone. The third year keeper answered every question asked of him by the Hawks attack.

Junior Rylan Coleman cited bench energy as the reason for the Hawks’ fourth quarter collapse, “We shut down. After they scored those two goals, we got quiet.” Reed Hanna, who led the Hawks in goals this year after announcing his commitment to the University of Southern California in April, also discussed the bench energy, “What actually led to (the second quarter comeback) was the bench energy. We were celebrating every stop, every goal. When we got down in the fourth, that kind of stopped.” Hanna was one of seven seniors who played their final high school water polo game on Saturday.