By GERARDO RECINOS
Martinez Tribune
So far so good for the Alhambra boys water polo team. Two games in league play, two 20-goal scoring outputs, those numbers are huge at any level.
Ok, so we expected the Bulldogs to start off their league campaign hot, but the magnitude of how dominant the Bulldogs were in their 24-8 win over Concord High on Sept. 21, holds.
Tony Moore led the team with a game-high eight goals, while Luke Brown had five, and Nico Taliaferro and Justin Davis each had four.
Most impressively, the outrageous scoring numbers came without Dylan Hammond, one of the team’s principal shooters.
Like many Alhambra fans got used to seeing in league play for the past couple of years, the Minutemen seemed game for about four of five minutes, before the pace of the game took its toll on them.
Aiden Concepcion’s goal was the one that sparked the run from Alhambra that would ultimately prove to be Concord’s undoing. Moore scored twice before the first quarter ended, and then the scoring came in bunches.
Taliaferro scored on Alhambra’s second possession of the second quarter, slinging a shot in after receiving a pass from Donovan Ballott. The Bulldogs scored four unanswered goals before the half, and the Minutemen were reeling.
It was clear at this point that they couldn’t keep up with the speed of the Bulldogs coupled with their physicality on defense.
Alhambra outscored the Minutemen 8-1 in the third quarter, with substitutes like Davis getting in on the action to supplement a flurry of goals from starters.
Concord struggled to find the mark, and barely registered shots on goal in the third quarter. Alhambra’s distribution was excellent, and made it so that most possessions were launched by long outlet passes by the goalkeeper, Adam Pakman.
By the time the fourth quarter had started, the Bulldogs had already crossed the 20-goal threshold, but didn’t seem to be stopping. They were clearly keen to keep scoring as they pleased.
The Minutemen did get a pair of consolation goals in garbage time, but even then the Bulldogs continued to answer.
Alhambra managed to outscored Concord 4-2 in the final quarter of play, even despite the fact that they were starting to shoot for fun, from all angles.
The win puts them with a perfect record of 2-0 in league play, and a big showdown on Sept. 28 with the rival College Park Falcons.
Alhambra has won two out of the last three meetings between the rival schools, but it was the Falcons who won last year by a score of 12-11 in their home pool.