Kearns boys, Skyline girls make a splash

MURRAY — The Kearns boys' water polo team won the Division I state championship Friday and Skyline won the girls' championship over Kearns after losing to the Cougars earlier in the day.

The Kearns boys defeated Hunter 12-11 and Skyline defeated the Kearns girls 7-6 in the final games.

The Cougar boys led 11-9 with three minutes to play before Hunter scored twice to tie the game with just over a minute to play.

Kearns also jumped out to a 6-1 lead midway through the second quarter before Hunter went on a 6-1 run of its own to tie the game in the third quarter.

"It's never over until the whistle blows," Kearns head coach Brad Peercy said. "We were fortunate to hold on. They kept battling back."

Hunter head coach Shawn Marsing said he knew his team was still in the game despite the large deficits.

"I know my kids weren't panicking," he said. "My boys don't quit. There's no quit in them."

Todd Bradley scored five goals for the Cougars, including the game-winner with 25 seconds left, and Albert Kang added another three. John Harvey and Andrew Christensen each scored four goals for Hunter. It was Kearns' first championship since 2001.

Kearns nearly swept both the boys' and the girls' titles. The Kearns girls led 6-4 going into the fourth quarter before allowing Skyline to score three goals for its second straight championship.

"I was skeptical," Skyline head coach Rod Horton said. "Going into the fourth quarter, I told them this was about desire and they've got to want it. And they showed it."

Eagle goalie Sara Nicponski had eight saves in the final period and held the Cougars scoreless.

"She's a heck of a player," Horton said. "She's only a sophomore. She doesn't get the accolades she deserves, but saved our butts so many times in so many games. It's nice to have someone back there to put up a barrier like that."

Horton said he was nervous every time he saw Kearns shoot the ball in the fourth quarter.

"Every time you see them shoot, you just hold your breath and hope it doesn't find that corner one more time," he said. "I was afraid we were going to lose it."

Peercy said this was the first time Kearns allowed Skyline to score that many goals.

"Every time they had scored five goals and this time they scored seven," he said. "I thought we were going to hold them again to five."