Wolverines down Javelinas in first UIL match at PSJA Natatorium
By BRYAN RAMOS
Staff Writer
PHARR — Saturday was a historic one for the PSJA Natatorium, the newest home of swimming, diving and water polo in the Rio Grande Valley.
PSJA Memorial and PSJA Southwest played in the first UIL-sanctioned water polo match at the natatorium, with the Wolverines prevailing 13-5 in a non-district meeting between two of the RGV’s 11 high schools competing in the sport’s inaugural season under the UIL banner.
“We were excited about it being the first non-district game, the first UIL game, the first game at the natatorium — a lot of firsts. We just came in really focused,” PSJA Memorial head coach Benjamin Waddell said. “The past two weeks, we’ve been working on teamwork and trying to get them to build a relationship with each other. When we were coming out here on the bus, they were just talking about what they were going to do, visualizing what’s going to happen. I think after the first few goals, they got their pace, realized what they could do and who could do what.”
Said PSJA Southwest head coach Erika Amador, “We’ve been waiting for this for a long time, ever since we’ve had club water polo. It’s always been, ‘Once it’s UIL, once it’s UIL’, and now it is UIL, so we’re very excited to get started here in this facility.”
PSJA Memorial junior Matt Martinez broke the scoring seal with the game’s first goal with the first period winding down. It was just a preview of the points to come.
Martinez finished with seven of the Wolverines’ 13 goals, including four during the third period.
Memorial’s Joseph Juarez added three goals, Joaquin Garza scored two and Joaquin Espinoza chipped in with one.
Joaquin Portal and Anthony Ramos spearheaded Southwest’s offense with two goals apiece.
“We were spreading out across the pool, communicating, getting the ball to each other and trying to keep it away from them,” Martinez said. “We did better than expected. We still have stuff to fix, but there’s still time to work on it and practice.”
The next water polo match at the Pharr Natatorium is slated for 6 and 7 p.m. Monday as PSJA High hosts Mission High in a non-district match. The Bears and Eagles girls teams are scheduled to play first, followed by the boys teams.
