Foothill Falls in Overtime in Water Polo

Foothill High School’s water polo team pushed Long Beach Wilson to the limit Tuesday.

Using an aggressive style, Foothill took the No. 3-seeded Bruins to overtime at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

In the end, though, the plan backfired and all that mattered was the length of Andy Bruce’s fingers.

Bruce, a junior goalie, made a last-second save to preserve a 12-11 victory that advanced Wilson into the Southern Section 4-A semifinals.

Foothill (19-5) rallied from a 2-goal deficit to send the match into overtime. However, Wilson (17-2) took a 12-10 lead into the final minute of overtime on goals by Grant Bixby and Chi Kredell.

But the Knights came back again. Adam Musch took a pass from Craig Stuart and scored his fourth goal of the match with 41 seconds left in overtime.

A turnover by Wilson gave Foothill a chance to tie with 32 seconds left. The Knights ran the clock down and then worked a lob pass from Ron Scott to Musch, a play that had worked for two goals in the match.

However, Bruce, leaped high and managed to get a hand on Musch’s shot to deflect it down with 1 second left.

“We had our opportunities,” Foothill Coach Jim Brumm said. “The shot was there, Wilson’s goalie just made a great play.”