SLO boys water polo earns first-ever state tournament bid with triple-overtime win
The San Luis Obispo High School boys water polo team had never advanced to a state CIF tournament before Thursday.
In a thrilling Division 1 CIF-Central Section first-round match, the No. 2 Tigers (22-6, 11-1 Mountain League) scored in sudden death with 22 seconds left of triple overtime to win 14-13 against Clovis North, qualifying for the state tourney.
In its nail-biting home victory, SLO avenged a 19-6 playoff loss against Clovis North that thwarted SLO High last year.
The game-winning goal came from Bobby Teitge, who snuck a right-handed fastball past the No. 7 Broncos (12-16), who matched the Tigers the whole way, despite their losing record on the season.
The match was a seesaw battle down the stretch with shots fired on both sides, each gaining one-point leads as time wound down and the match undecided until the finale sent fans into a frenzy.
“It was awesome,” Teitge said. “We’re the first team ever to qualify for state. We’ve never had sudden death before, so it was a big one.”
SLO Coach Grant Evans said his squad used some rarely practiced plays to show the opponent a different look, including a goalie shot.
“We had to pull some plays in overtime that we kind of did as jokes,” Evans said. “They were emergency options just in case we needed to throw something at them that they hadn’t seen before.”
Evans said his team, including several returners from last year’s 18-12 playoff squad, used the motivation from its previous loss to Clovis North to muster the win.
“We graduated a few starters, but a lot of our guys were playing in that game last year and remember that one,” Evans said. “This is our first Division-1 win at our school for Central Section so it makes us eligible for state regionals for the first time. That’s pretty cool.”
The Tigers face Clovis West at home on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
This story was originally published November 3, 2023 at 10:25 AM.
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