March 6, 2013
By Greg Mescall
Aptos (CA) High School recently played host to one of the most monumental victories in the history of Carmel High School boy's water polo.
It was on that day—November 3, 2012—that the Padres topped Soquel High 11-10 in triple overtime to claim the Monterey Bay League Tournament Championship.
Why monumental? Carmel snapped Soquel's 91-game winning streak in league play and gave Carmel its first victory over the Knights since the 1990s. In fact Carmel Head Coach, Dr. Aaron Gaily—a decade at the helm—doesn't remember ever beating Soquel in his playing days at Carmel.
The result should have sent shockwaves across the Monterey Peninsula and over the mountains into San Jose; but alas, much like Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point basketball game in the 1960s, the media didn't cover the Carmel win. Surely nobody saw a 100-point game coming, and indeed nobody saw the Padres topping Soquel, either.
Still, with a league title on the line and a berth to the CCS playoffs hanging in the balance, Gaily and the Padres put its long losing streak aside and turned in a performance for the ages.
Trey Coppinger tossed in a laser to force overtime for the Padres. One extra period gave way to a second. Carmel was a penalty shot away from victory, but Zack Olivas—owner of 90 goals on the season—missed it. To sudden death the teams went (the third overtime)…and Carmel's Ethan Atkins delivered on the counterattack on the squad's first possession of the period, sealing victory and breaking the lengthy Soquel streak.
Carmel would move on to the CCS playoffs, advancing to the quarterfinals before losing to Los Altos, 9-5. Despite the loss it was still progress for Carmel: It was only the third time the team had advanced that far in CCS, with three of those instances coming in the last six years. Add that to the win over Soquel, and Gailey's program is picking up steam.
Some who've followed water polo in Northern California for years might wonder what Carmel was even doing in that match with Soquel. "Carmel is a small public school of 750 kids," said Gaily. "We are tiny. Not every school up here even has water polo." Regardless of its size, Carmel, normally of the Mission Trail League, saw its league merge with three others to form the Monterey Bay League. As part of an equity program that attempts to get the best schools together in the same league, regardless of size, Carmel finds itself lumped in with the big boys in the upper division of this new super league.
Going against schools with enrollments in the thousands might be daunting for some, but Gaily and the Padres have embraced the challenge. "This was our second championship in the last three years. Up until five years ago we had spent 30 years playing in a four-foot pool," says Gaily. "Now we are starting to make some strides and be competitive with the bigger schools. The program has grown to nearly 60 boys this year; it's the school's second-largest sport." Gaily adds that Carmel is the only school in the league with a full freshman team.
Gaily also points to the community and his coaching staff as to why the program has begun to thrive. It was the parents of the water polo program who raised enough funds to make it foolish for the school district to not build a new pool on campus. While it's no secret that Carmel is a wealthy area—maybe best known for picturesque views and as the home of Clint Eastwood—that doesn't automatically guarantee everyone will be dedicated.
"It's an affluent area where parents are encouraging their kids to excel in school," said Gaily. "But we've created a community and culture about the sport and the high school, and a lot of that revolves around the growth of the program."
Carmel has been no stranger to success on the baseball diamond or the football field where the Padres have been a familiar sight at CCS finals in recent years—but now it seems as though it's water polo's turn. So Gailey and his six assistants—who he describes as excellent coaches and even better role models—continue to build just south of Pebble Beach.
While it's turned heads in the water polo community, Carmel also has potentially developed a new rival—Soquel High School.
"I think it really kind of kicked off a rivalry for sure," says Gaily. "They'll be good again, but we'll be good again, too."
For now the Padres prepare for next season, driving more than two hours to find competition, and continuing to put in the effort necessary to make Carmel High School a team worth talking, writing, and reading about.
This article appeared in the Spring 2013 issue of SkipShot Magazine
