Valhalla High School’s girls water polo team proved to be the bracket buster in the Division II championship field after the sixth-seeded Norsemen (12-6) upset the top-seeded Helix Charter Highlanders (11-6) by a tight 8-7 score last Saturday at Granite Hills High School.
Valhalla was the lowest-seeded team to score a division championship among the eight gender finals, matching sixth-seeded Ramona’s heroics in the Division III boys game.
“It feels amazing,” explained VHS coach Breezy Gatavasky, whose team derailed the championship hopes of the third-seeded El Camino (6-5 in the quarterfinals), second-seeded Clairemont (14-12 in double overtime in the semifinals) and lastly top-seeded Helix in the championship round.
“This year has been unreal. At one point we didn’t know the season would even happen. But the girls came to compete. They earned everything.”
Valhalla and Helix had split their two Grossmont Hills League encounters. Thus the teams were very familiar with one another. Gatavasky pointed to that as her team’s trump card.
“We knew their strengths and weaknesses,” she said.
And vice versa.
The championship game was tied four times before the Norsemen finally were able to build a 6-4 edge on a goal by Kaia Jennings with 2:26 to play in the third quarter.
But the Highlanders responded with freshman Riley Hull’s third goal of the game midway through the fourth quarter to narrow the score to 7-6.
Valhalla’s Devyn Ruffer advanced the score to 8-6 with 1:45 remaining in regulation.
A key moment in the game occurred when Helix failed to convert on a five-meter penalty shot with 1:16 left. The miss was magnified when Sadie Henry made it a one-goal game on a rebound shot with 33 seconds to play.
Valhalla goalie Cadyn Ruffer won a scramble in front of the cage with four seconds left to seal the exciting victory.
Devyn Ruffer paced the newly crowned champions with three goals while Jennings and Emily Hansen both scored two goals. Annika Prado rounded out the scoring for the Norsemen.
Hull led the Highlanders with three goals.
“We’re always up at the top, but it’s hard to finish,” said Helix coach Lenelle Wiley, whose 2017 team recorded a runner-up finish in the Division I final. “We’re already starting to get ready for next year. Next year starts now.”
Orange Nation
Valhalla’s boys team, seeded third in the Division I bracket, dropped a 10-7 finals decision to fourth-seeded Poway.
“It was close,” first-year VHS coach Ken Toma said. “We had our opportunities. We just didn’t put them in the basket.”
The Norsemen narrowed the score to 8-7 on a goal by Vito Russo early in the third quarter but couldn’t get no closer.
Six players scored for Valhalla, including Tate Clapham with two goals.
Tournament director Brian Wilbur lauded the efforts of all teams competing in all rounds.
“For us to have 80 games between both the boys and girls, working around graduations, online learning, AP testing, proms and a few other things, it couldn’t have exceeded our expectations any more than it did. I couldn’t be more proud of the way things went.”
