It’s been eight years since the Coronado High School’s boys’ water polo team finished a season above .500. That was in the 2017 season, when the squad finished 16-13 and won the CIF San Diego Section Open Division title against La Jolla.
As it stands, the boys’ team is 12-9 with three regular season games remaining, two of which are against teams Coronado beat in their first match up – Patrick Henry and Francis Parker. At the very least, the Islanders will finish the regular season with a winning percentage of .500 – and they have a solid shot at finishing above for the first time in eight years.
Before the season started, CHS announced the hiring of David Throop as the head coach of both the boys’ and girls’ water polo teams. Throop has coached at CHS before, and either coached or worked in an administrative role from 1991-2015 and 2019-2021.
Throop has brought more of an interactive coaching style to this squad, and attributes much of the team’s success to the collective buy-in to each other.
“It’s about the group of guys creating a team culture that is focused on how the individual gets better as a byproduct of the group getting better,” Throop said. “I asked individually and collectively, what are some of your goals? I remind them that they have input … I’m most proud of their team attitude and their team focus.”
At the start of the season, the Islanders struggled on the offensive side of the ball. In the first three games, they were outscored 36-20 and didn’t put up double digits. Since then, they’ve averaged almost 11 points per game, and have scored at least 10 in each of their last seven games. They’ve put up 18 in each of their last two matchups.
“The offense has been a work in progress all season,” Throop said after the Islanders recent 18-9 victory over Clairemont High. “I think what you saw Friday night is a good example of the progress we made … The bodies are moving, repositioning, the ball is moving well. And that keeps the other team’s defense off balance,” he said.
The improvement on the offensive side has allowed the focus in practice to shift from offensive drills and sets to the defensive side of the ball.
“That’s kind of what we’re hammering home right now is the idea that offense will happen on its own,” Throop said. “We’ve spent a lot of time on it, so now we can refine how to take away the other team’s tendencies.”
CHS wins seventh in a row
Toward the end of the second quarter, with the Islanders ahead 8-2, Clairemont started to fight back. A few stops and scores got the game within four with under two minutes left before halftime. But the Islanders responded, went to halftime up 10-5, and proceeded to keep the Chieftains at arm’s length the rest of the way.
When Clairemont was showing signs of crawling back, Throop told his guys to keep playing their game.
“Just remind them that we’re in control of the game, as we had been, and just go back to the foundations of what our system is … most importantly, set our defense up. And that’s the key, using our offense to set up our defense.”
Coronado’s drubbing of Clairemont featured multiple impressive performances, including hat tricks from junior Russell Richardson, senior captain Luca Morocco and sophomore Devin Ertekin.
“Luca Morocco is the most experienced guy we have,” Throop said. “He’s kind of taken more of a vocal leadership role as the season’s progressed than he did in the beginning … Russell Richardson is, by position, foundational, he’s kind of the anchor of the offense, and his compatriot in that same role is Leo Salata, who both kind of solidify … Think basketball, they’re the centers.”
As the Islanders approach one of their best regular season finishes in recent history, Throop and the team carry the same mindset into each game.
“We have an objective goal, which is try to win every game, and then our subjective is to become better – as an individual and as a team – every single opportunity,” he said.
