Fenwick makes it eight in a row

Updated: May 21, 2011 10:34PM

Fenwick’s boys water polo team has won state championships before and the kind of storied history that suggests they’ll win many more in the future.

But with Friars coach Dave Perry continuing to battle a reoccurrence of prostate cancer, this one was special.

Sophomore Matt Farmer had four goals, Connor Brown and Dominic Gallo each added three and goalie Dan Newell made eight saves to lead Fenwick to its eighth consecutive state championship with a 16-9 victory Saturday over St. Ignatius at Stevenson.

“It meant the world to [Perry], it meant the world to us,” Newell said. “He got sick at the beginning of the year and we were all torn up about it. Right before the game we all said, ‘This one’s for him.’

“[Playing without Perry] was difficult for us, but [assistant coach Kyle Perry] did a great job of keeping everyone together and once [Dave Perry] started to come back it was just a huge boost for our team.”

Perry teared up as got a huge cheer and standing ovation from the entire crowd when collected his winner’s medal and acknowledged it was probably as emotional as he’d ever been after a state championship.

“That was awesome, six stands of our fans and a stand of St. Ignatius fans… that took my breath away,” said Perry, who now has 17 state titles and a career record of 793-143-2.

It is the second undefeated state championship in three seasons – and 13th title in 14 years - including before water polo became an IHSA sport in 2002 – for the Friars.

Viken Huening and Rich Mueller each added a goal for Fenwick (36-0), which has only lost twice in their last 140 games against in-state opponents and finished undefeated for the sixth time.

“That definitely was our goal, we didn’t know if we could pull it off, but we worked our butts off and got it done,” Farmer said.

Mark Alvarado (five goals) led St. Ignatius (25-8). Keith Barth had two, Brayden Amendola and Tom Maloney each added one and Mike Fratto made six saves for the Wolfpack, which improved on their third-place trophy from last year.

“Last year, as a junior I really didn’t think about how much it meant, but this year as a senior, getting second place is something that means a lot and something we can all be proud of,” Alvarado said. “Getting five goals was great, but sharing all of this with my teammates was what was really meaningful.”

Earlier, Charlie Dowdle (five goals) and Time Netzel (four goals) paced Loyola to a 9-5 victory over Sandburg in the third-place game. Robbie O’Connor added six saves for the Ramblers (21-15). Tony Rogina (five saves) led the Eagles (29-7).

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