Having seen a huge fourth-quarter lead rapidly vanish, the members of the Burroughs High boys’ water polo team looked to quickly regroup.
It meant the Bears would have to work overtime while trying to regain their composure and seize momentum with potential victory still at large.
Fortunately for Burroughs it was up to the task, as it recorded an 11-9 Pacific League overtime home win against Hoover on Tuesday afternoon.
Burroughs (10-9, 2-1 in league) seemed practically certain of a regulation win after it held a seemingly comfortable 8-4 lead heading into the waning moments of the fourth quarter. However, Hoover (10-7, 0-3) had other ideas, storming back to catch shell-shocked Burroughs, capped by a tying goal with 3.9 seconds to go in the fourth quarter.
“Hoover came back in the fourth quarter and we knew we had to reset and regroup,” Burroughs assistant coach Martin Ortega-Jennison said. “Hoover is a very strong opponent. We ran through some stuff before overtime and we were able to come through at the end.”
Burroughs got the jump on Hoover, ranked No. 9 in CIF Southern Section Division IV, early in the first of two three-minute overtime sessions.
Harrison Siegel scored to give the Bears a 9-8 lead with 2:40 to go in the first overtime before converting on a five-meter shot with 1:17 left to make it 10-8. Dean Yuzna capped the scoring in the first overtime with a goal with 37.3 seconds remaining to extend the lead to 11-8.
The Tornadoes closed out the scoring on a goal from David Tarkhchyan with 32.7 seconds to go in the second overtime.
“It was definitely a physical match, probably more than we had expected it to be,” said Siegel, who finished with a match-high four goals. “After the fourth quarter, we knew we had to come out and respond right away. We talked about having better communication and we had to stick with other things that we had been doing well. You can’t be too high or too low in those situations.”
Burroughs had taken an 8-4 advantage on a goal from Logan Turla with 2:34 to go in the fourth quarter.
Hoover responded with four unanswered goals, including the tying goal from Armen Tarakhchyan in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter.
The Bears led 5-2 at halftime and 6-4 after the third quarter.
Burroughs received three goals each from Turla and Ian Duffield. Hoover got three goals from Tarkhchyan and Tarakhchyan.
