St. Charles boys win Ohio high school water polo state title
In the boys championship, UA kept state Player of the Year Liam Miller out of the scoring column but Cardinals senior Wyatt Julian picked up the slack, leading top-seeded St. Charles (39-2) to a 9-7 win and its first championship since 2021.
Three of Julian’s four goals came in the second half, after St. Charles erased a 4-0 deficit and tied the game by halftime. Each of those scores put the Cardinals ahead by two goals, the last coming with 1:51 left to provide the final margin.
“This was definitely my best game ever,” Julian said. “It might be my last time playing water polo, so I really wanted to make it a good one. We just never gave up, never put our heads down. We just persevere. We knew they would come out hot, but we normally have pretty strong second halves.”
Junior Pierce Bateman added two goals and senior Luke Conway and juniors Ayden Fortney and Gabe Nixon finished with a goal apiece for St. Charles in the first all-area final since 2019, also between these programs.
Juniors Jack Boyle and Griffin O’Neill both scored twice for second-seeded UA (33-5).
The Bears got one goal each from seniors Caden Blamer and Braden Moss and junior Charlie Archer in finishing as state runner-up for the second year in a row.
Conway gave St. Charles, which won its eighth title all-time, the lead for good at 5-4 late in the third quarter.
“We didn’t hit certain shots we normally hit,” UA co-coach Dave McGraw said. “We couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net on a lot of opportunities we thought we had and we gave up a couple goals we probably shouldn’t have.”
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