East falls in sudden death

For an event that was literally thrown together in about a week, Monday’s Tulare-Kings All-Star boys’ water polo game evolved into an instant classic for its first go-around.

As the shot clock winded down in sudden death overtime, Redwood’s Dylan Holford fired a desperation heave that careened off Porterville’s Titus Moore’s cap and into the net to give the West a 7-6 victory over the East.

“It was a great shot,” Monache and East All-Stars coach Brandon Weaver said. “If you’re gonna lose a game, that’s the way to lose it. There’s nothing bad about walking away from a game played that well by both sides.”

Rivals Porterville and Monache united to score all six goals for the East, including two each from the Panthers’ Michael Duncan and the Marauders’ Nic Lalanne, but the West got a game-high three goals from El Diamante’s Graham Wickliffe to put them over the top.

After the game, however, both squads posed for photos and congratulated one another with no hint as to who lost.

“I think we did really well,” Weaver said. “Our energy level was high and we took a good team into overtime.”

When the East fell into an early, 2-0 hole, Duncan single-handedly brought them back to a 2-2 tie with two goals — one a 10-meter shot that rattled off the cross bar and another off an assist from Monache’s Josh Woods.

Duncan, who had been on vacation over the weekend when Weaver tried to contact him, was a game-day addition.

“I got a call from the coach on Saturday; I called him back today and he was like, ‘Do you wanna play?’” Duncan explained. “I said, ‘Sure.’”

For his two-goal, one-assist performance, Duncan earned East MVP honors. The Porterville grad who will be attending Porterville College this fall set up Moore for a flashy, tip-in shot early in the third to keep up with the West at 4-4.

“We do that all the time,” Duncan said of connecting often with Moore during last season’s strong run in league. “It was a good reunion.”

Lalanne came through for the East with both of his goals in the second half — a no-look wrap-around shot and the other a critical shot that squeezed into the right side of the net late in the game to go up 6-5.

After a couple heated battles during the season between the Panthers and Marauders, Moore said it was nice to play on the same side for a change.

“We all used to play together for about three years before we went to high school,” Moore said. “It’s definitely a rivalry but we’re all good friends.”

Added Duncan, “We hate ‘em in the pool, love ‘em outside.”

With 37 seconds left, Duncan fouled for a kickout, leaving the West with a man-up advantage. West coach Rick Nordell called time and drew up a play that had Holford setting up Lemoore’s Nate Fravor for an alley-oop shot to tie the game at 6-all.

The West drew the first possession of sudden death, setting up the brilliant — if not lucky — shot by Holford, who seemed genuinely surprised as anyone after it ricocheted in off Moore’s head.

When asked about being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Moore simply shook his head at a loss for words.

But Monache’s Darren Roan, who minded the net for the East, had a quick answer for his teammate.

“The deflection on the last one was ridiculously hard to position yourself for,” said Roan, who even blamed himself for some of the West’s other goals. “It’s all about the angles and I wasn’t where I was supposed to be a lot.”

But to be fair, Roan — normally a hole guard for the Marauders — had played goalie just twice all year.

Weaver called Roan’s effort “tremendous.”

“I think Darren should be commended for stepping up,” Weaver said. “Both the goalies for the West were starting goalies for their teams and Darren held his own with them. I was very impressed.”

Weaver was also impressed with the Panthers, a team he has grown familiar with over the years.

“The Porterville group did great,” he said. “Mikey stepped it up big time, Titus, Kevin had some great steals out there. Cody was banged up from a motorcycle accident and still got in and did well for us.”

Monache’s leading scorer last season, Marc Wolfe, scored the East’s third goal early in the second period. The West also got two goals from Holford and another from Lemoore’s Michael Grove in a show that, no doubt, pleased the crowd at El Diamante High.

“It was pretty cool,” Moore said of the All-Star game. “You always wanna win, but we just wanted to play a good game.”

Mission accomplished.