TUSTIN — For more than three quarters, the CIF SS Division 1 boys water polo semifinal between Foothill and Laguna Beach was too close to call.
In fact, the score was tied after regulation and six minutes of overtime were needed to decide the winner.
That’s when the Breakers took control of the contest and came away with a 12-11 victory.
The victory sets up an all-Surf League final on Saturday at Mt. SAC in Walnut between the Breakers (18-12), the No. 2 team in the division, and Huntington Beach, the top-ranked team.
The Oilers defeated Mira Costa, 13-7, in the other Division 1 semifinal Wednesday.
Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach have played four times this season, with the Oilers winning three of those contests.
With the victory over Foothill (7-12), the Breakers got a measure of revenge after being knocked out of the Division 1 semifinals last season by the Knights.
“Ever since last year we’ve been thinking about that, about the game against Foothill,” the Breakers’ Diego Audebert said. “So, we were really excited to get this back and I’m really happy to get this win.”
Audebert and Cade Anderton scored four goals each to lead the Breakers.
Corbin Stanley scored four goals to lead the Knights.
The Knights scored three quick goals in the opening minutes of the match to take a 3-0 lead.
But the Breakers followed with three quick goals to tie the score and one more to take a 4-3 lead.
Foothill scored in the final seconds of the first to make the score 4-4 going into the second and neither team had a decided advantage until overtime.
Maxwell Schlaich scored with under a minute left in the first three-minute overtime period to give the Breakers an 11-10 lead.
Gavin Good then scored a huge goal on a pass from Aderton to give Laguna Beach a 12-10 lead with 1:12 left in the second overtime period.
Stanley scored for the Knights with eight seconds left but the Breakers kept possession to run the final seconds off the clock.
“We’ve always been a really conditioned, fit program, so we swim a lot, and I think that really, really helped,” Laguna Beach coach Cameron Hauer said. “I think we were pretty calm, cool, composed the whole time, and sometimes we get really amped.
“I just don’t think we ever had that moment where my team looked gassed.”
Foothill coach Dean Crow said his team wanted to hold the Breakers to no more than eight goals.
“We could have played a little better on defense,” Crow said. “It wasn’t quite there for us. I told the guys, this far into the tournament, it’s going to come down to the fourth quarter and overtime. The game is going to be won or lost in the last three minutes.”
