Lion Sports Update (09/27)

Water Polo
The varsity water polo team took a trip out to California this past weekend to take on some of the top competition in the country. Competing in the Villa Park Classic, the Lions would face Los Osos in the first game. The Lions would come out swinging taking an early 5-3 lead with goals from sophomore Kevin Hong and juniors Ben Chen, Jaden Ouyang and Leo Scheiner (2). The second quarter saw the Lions lock down defensively allowing no goals all while adding 3 additional goals from the senior class: co-captain Ethan Gao, Dawson Yao, and Howard Zhang. The third quarter saw the Lions add two additional goals as Scheiner would tally his third goal of the game and sophomore Oliver Geheb would add his first goal of the weekend. In the fourth quarter, sophomore Matthew Liu and Ben Chen would each notch a goal and the Lions would bring home the W defeating Los Osos 12-7 (scoring: Scheiner 3, Chen 2, Hong, Liu, Gao, Yao, Geheb, Zhang, Ouyang).

The second game of the day was a much closer contest as the Lions would make a few silly mistakes but still find a way to win 14-13 vs. Yucaipa High School. In the first quarter, St. Mark’s would go down 4-3 and find themselves trailing until 2:46 left in the fourth quarter when junior Ben Chen would hit the game tying goal. Chen then scored the go ahead goal and then the eventual game sealer with the last three scores in the game, giving him four total goals on the game. Leo Scheiner and Matthew Liu would add two each while Ethan Gao and Howard Zhang would add a goal each. Juniors Sam Light and Reagan Brower along with Doan Nguyen and Oliver Geheb added a tally each.

Game three vs. San Marcos would be the first loss of the weekend as the Lions were slow to come out having the worst half in recent memory down 3-11. From there they were able to claw back, but their slow pace out of the gates was too much to overcome. Final score SM 7 – San Marcos 14. Game four was a tough matchup that saw the Lions again coming out victorious against Servite by a score of 10-9. It was a battle from start to finish, the Lions got multiple scores from Matthew Liu (3), Leo Scheiner (2), and Jaden Ouyang (2). Reagan Brower, Howard Zhang, and Anderson Selinger would add a goal each.

In the final game of the tournament against Carlsbad, the Lions would again come out slow and being the fifth game of the weekend, the team struggled to put the ball away when it counted. Carlsbad would take the game 15-7 and the Lions would end up sixth overall out of the 32 teams. After all would be said and done, the Lions would look back on a great trip with pride as they would end up sixth overall with three wins and two losses against some of the best teams on the west coast. This week, the Lions face Jesuit on Tuesday.  

On Friday night the Lions’ football team traveled to Oklahoma City for a non-conference matchup with Casady. After going down 7-0, the Lions rallied to take a 15-14 lead heading into the half, thanks to touchdowns from Jimmy Francis and Baker Long. The Lions' offense was buoyed by 26 completions for 429 yards, distributed between eight receivers. In the second half the Cyclones, helped by strong field position, amounted two scoring drives to amass a 29-15 lead. Though the Lions came back late to score, their onsides kick attempt failed and Casady sealed the 29-21 victory. Defensively, Jack Baker led the Lions with 12 tackles and one QB pressure. The 3-2 Lions return home this week to host St. John's in their first SPC 4A divisional matchup of the season.

The varsity volleyball team played two games last week. On Tuesday, the Lions hosted the Dasche Spartans Club team and took the match 3-0. Then on Friday, the volleyballers traveled to OKC along with the football team to face Casady. This would be the first SPC North Zone game for the team as Casady is still a member of the conference in boys volleyball. The Lions showcased a high powered offense while the Cyclones hung in the match with scrappy defense and hustle. The Lions won the first two games, Casady answered with a G3 win, and then the Lions finished the match with a victory in G4. The team finished the night in the stands supporting the football team. This week, the Lions host Ft. Worth Country Day in a non-counter match and then travel to Northlake, TX (near Denton) on Thursday to face the Red River Rattlers Club.  

The varsity cross country team ramped up their training regimen last week and then took the weekend off of competition to recover. This weekend, the team travels to Fayetteville to compete in the Chile Pepper Festival at the University of Arkansas that will feature some of the best teams in the south region of the United States. 

Paxton Scott ’20, a wide receiver for the Dartmouth Big Green football team, has started in the team’s first two games of the season. He has amassed 13 catches for 164 yards and a touchdown in those two games.