The Pioneer boys’ water polo team advanced to the finals last weekend before falling to Rockford 11-9 in the 2023 Michigan Water Polo Association (MWPA) championship game after a busy weekend of water polo at Birmingham Groves High School.
Rockford won the West Regional while Pioneer won the East Regional.
Pioneer won a few close ones to advance to the finals including a 15-13 win over East Kentwood in the first game of the tournament. Sawyer Thompson had 5 goals, Mark Flautner scored four times and Jensen Wood scored three to lead Pioneer. Isaac Almeida had 2 goals and Luke Silva scored 1 in the win. Calvin Anderson was in goal and had 13 saves and 2 steals.
In the first game on Saturday, Pioneer faced Jenison and it was tied at the end of regulation when Silva skipped one in from two meters to tie the game. Silva also scored the go-ahead goal in the overtime. Thompson and Flautner each had five goals in the win for Pioneer. Silva had three goals while Wood scored twice.
Pioneer Isaac Almeida’s hand was fractured by a follow-through from a Rockford shooter (no ill intent). “So he was out for most of the game and that put us behind on defense because that’s his specialty,” said Pioneer Coach Don Packard. “Thomas McTigue did a great job at set defense all tournament long.”
Anderson, who had 19 saves against Jenison, had 13 in the Rockford game.
Silva, McTigue and Wood were the Pioneer captains this past season.
Huron
This year’s state finals were highly competitive with a number of evenly matched teams. During the two-day tournament, 12 games were played and seven were decided by three goals or less.
Huron opened with one of those close games, falling to Hudsonville 13-10 in Friday’s opening-round match.
“We played hard against a very strong Hudsonville team but came up just short,” said Huron Coach Paul Barnett. “We were led by captains Graham Baker and Kal Bunnell. We also had a very strong game from senior goaltender Dean Molnar as well as young players Luke Bunnell and Ayaan Patel.”
The River Rats dropped to the 5-8 bracket and knocked off District 4 rival Dexter 17-3 in one of the few lopsided games.
“Against the Dreads, we played probably our most complete game of the year,” said Barnett. “We had goals from multiple players including a nice penalty shot goal by Ethan Yung and a pretty catch and shoot goal by Aiden Dooley. Our goaltending was again very strong by Molnar as well as by Max Grieneder and Rohan Patel who all saw action.”
Huron defeated a very strong and highly-rated East Kentwood team 12-10 to finish fifth overall.
“We fell behind early by a couple but clawed our way back behind solid defensive play from Kal Bunnell and goaltending from Molnar,” said Barnett. “East Kentwood played an aggressive zone defense, putting three and four players on center Graham Baker to try to take him out of the offense.”
Patel, Bunnell and Caleb Beach rose to the challenge, each scoring multiple goals to pull ahead. Huron also had goals from seniors Alex Harris, Jack Humphries and Omar Abdulhak. Remarkably, Dean Molnar, the goalie also scored.
“With a complete team effort we pulled ahead and held onto a two-goal victory, placing fifth in the state tournament,” Barnett said.
All-Tournament Team
Huron’s Baker was voted First Team All Tournament and the tournament MVP.
Pioneer’s Calvin Anderson and Sawyer Thompson also were named to the First Team. Pioneer’s Jensen Wood was named to the Second Team.
Huron’s Bunnell and Patel, a freshman, were voted All-Tournament Honorable Mention. Pioneer’s Mark Flautner and Luke Silva along with Dexter’s Liam MacNeil also were Honorable Mention.
