San Bernardino boys water polo beats Arroyo Valley to reach Division 6 championship match
SAN BERNARDINO — San Bernardino High water polo standout Isaiah Rodriguez didn't play sports until last spring when he turned out for swimming as a junior.
Academic struggles dogged Rodriguez in his early high school years, preventing him from trying out. A weight problem also kept the teenager sidelined, as he thought he was too heavy to compete.
But encouraged by his brother and current teammate Jesus Rodriguez, Isaiah turned out for the water polo team this year. Tuesday night, he scored a match-high six goals to lead the Cardinals to an 11-10 victory over Arroyo Valley in a CIF Southern Section Division 6 semifinal at San Gorgonio High.
The victory puts the Cardinals (17-10) in the section finals for the third time in program history. Led by current Redlands East Valley coach Ryan Williams, San Bernardino won the Division 4 championship in 1993. The Cardinals also nabbed a second-place finish in 1997.
San Bernardino will play Montclair for the Division 6 title Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College at a time to be determined.
"My brother encouraged me to play," Isaiah Rodriguez said. "I didn't have the grades before. I was also kind of chubby, so I didn't think I would have the body to play."
Rodriguez trained like a demon and dropped a mind-boggling 43 pounds to get down to his current weight of 187. The Cardinals have been the beneficiary.
"Looking back towards our first game with Arroyo Valley (a 15-6 San Bernardino loss), it shows how far we've progressed," said San Bernardino's Jose Hernandez, who scored one goal Tuesday. "(Isaiah Rodriguez) went from not knowing how to swim to being one of the top scorers in the league."
Said San Bernardino coach Jason Mendoza of Rodriguez, "He's had an incredible journey. He came to our first-round water polo playoff game last year when we lost, and I think that gave him some inspiration to join the sport and also come out for swimming. Isaiah was a big factor for us."
Arroyo Valley (16-9) scored first on a goal by Joshua Zepeda and led 1-0 after one quarter and 4-3 at halftime.
But San Bernardino took its first lead with 2:44 left in the third quarter and never trailed again.
In fact, Jesus Rodriguez's goal with 1:17 left in the game gave San Bernardino an 11-9 lead and put the Cardinals on the cusp of victory.
But Arroyo Valley bounced right back, getting a goal from Joseph Munoz to cut the lead to 11-10 with 33 seconds left.
San Bernardino stalled out most of the time remaining, though the Hawks got one last chance with 2 seconds left. They couldn't get a shot off, though, and soon the Cardinals were hugging and splashing and celebrating their first title berth in more than two decades.
Besides Isaiah Rodriguez's six goals, Jesus Rodriguez had three goals for the Cardinals and Pablo Alonzo and Hernandez had one goal each.
Munoz and Zepeda had three goals each for Arroyo Valley and Sebastian Ortiz had two goals. Bryant Meza and Julian Munoz had one goal each.
Arroyo Valley coach Peter Gonzalez didn't think his team played its best game but was pleased with the effort of his players. He also knows the Hawks will return nine players in 2025.
"I think we could have played defensively a little better," Gonzalez said. "Overall, I think it came down to some dropped passes that could have been goals for us. But other than that, I think we played well."
Gonzalez lauded the play of Ortiz and Julian and Joseph Munoz.
