Photo by Steve Galluzzo
By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
For the first time ever, the City Section will have two playoff brackets for boys water polo. The Open Division will be a four-team tournament featuring the highest seeded schools.
Palisades Charter High School is the No. 1 seed and hosts No. 4 Birmingham at 3 p.m. Monday, November 6, at Maggie Gilbert Aquatic Center. In the other semifinal, No. 2 Granada Hills will host No. 3 San Pedro.
The Division I bracket consists of 15 teams, with first round games on October 30, quarterfinals November 2 and semifinals November 6. The finals for both divisions will be Wednesday, November 8, (Division I at 5:30 p.m. and Open at 7 p.m.) at LA Valley College.
Palisades is seeking its 11th straight City title dating back to 2012 (there were no playoffs in 2020) and 17th in school history. Palisades won six consecutive titles from 1973-78 before the sport was discontinued for nearly three decades. It was reinstated as a co-ed sport in the winter of 2008, and separated into boys and girls sports that fall. Birmingham won four titles in five seasons before the Dolphins started its current run of 10 in a row.
Western League champion Palisades (15-12) won the Malibu Classic on September 9, and all of its losses this season have come in tournaments to Southern Section schools. The Dolphins have not lost to a City foe since a 9-5 early-season tournament defeat to El Camino Real in 2015. They have not lost in the City playoffs since being eliminated by Cleveland 14-3 in the quarterfinals in 2011.
Palisades beat Birmingham twice last year—first in the City final by a 16-10 score and again seven days later by a score of 15-13 in the SoCal Regional Division III semifinals. The Dolphins went on to edge Rancho Bernardo 10-9 in the finals two days later to capture its second straight regional crown.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
