Hibernation came earlier than expected this winter sports season for Malibu High School teams. While each harbored expectations of advancing deeper into their respective CIF playoff divisions, the Sharks girls water polo, boys soccer and boys basketball teams suffered first-round defeats to bring their seasons to a close.
Fresh off its seventh consecutive league title, the girls water polo team traveled to Savanna High School in Anaheim for its first postseason contest in the California Interscholastic Federation Division VI playoffs. Despite four goals and an assist from both Linda Brown and Jenny-Hill Carta, the Sharks fell 16-10 to the Rebels.
Malibu finished its season 16-11 overall, including a 9-1 mark in the Tri-Valley League and another league championship banner to hang in the school’s gymnasium.
“The girls fought hard until the very end. I am so incredibly proud of their season. The seniors went out with pride and showed much respect to their opponents,” Malibu coach Meredith Butte said. “To me the girls have learned much more than how to win or lose. They have learned how to persevere and stick together as a team not only through the wins, but the losses as well.”
Boys soccer
After an impressive regular season that saw them outscore their opponents 72-11, and claim third place in the competitive Tri-Valley League, the Sharks ran into a quicker and more disciplined team from Chino High School. Playing a man down for most of the second half, Malibu was unable to rally from behind in a 3-1 defeat in a CIF Division IV match.
Tied at halftime 0-0, Chino scored four minutes into the second half on a penalty kick. The Sharks’ Luke Campbell was given a red card after bringing down a Cowboys player on a breakaway. The Cowboys converted the goal and seized the momentum of the game.
Due to the red card, Chino played with a man advantage the rest of the game and scored 10 minutes later on a two-on-one opportunity that gave them a 2-0 advantage.
Malibu (11-5-1) refused to give up and battled back to score on a header from Jonah Gooden. Cameron Smoller’s assist to Gooden at the 60th minute momentarily gave life to the Sharks. The Cowboys came right back, however, scoring the game’s final goal on a hard shot that deflected off the hands of MHS goalkeeper Max Watkin.
Boys basketball
With heavy odds stacked against them, Malibu fought valiantly but succumbed to Brentwood, 72-45, in a first round CIF Division IVA game.
Brentwood, the No. 2 seed, led the Sharks by only five points at halftime. But too much depth and athleticism by the Eagles ultimately hurt the smaller and inexperienced Malibu squad.
Center Justin Holmes concluded his junior season collecting 20 double-doubles on the year while averaging 17.2 points per game and grabbing 12.1 rebounds per game.
“We tried shocking the division but we just ran out of gas. It takes more than one horse to beat a team with nothing but horses,” said Malibu coach Bobby Tenorio. “This season was a learning experience at what level we need to get to in order to become successful in the Tri-Valley League.”
After winning the Frontier League in 2012, Malibu finished 7-20 overall and 1-9 in the ultra-competitive TVL.
“We will work hard this offseason to get us to the level where we need to be at for 2013-14,” Tenorio said.
With the winter season now over, hope ‘springs’ eternal for the eight MHS programs that begin their seasons next week.