Chris Parrish is back coaching water polo at Dos Pueblos High, and his Chargers are off to a good start, winning four of their first five games.
On Monday, he returned to the podium in the Ranchero Room to talk about his team at the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Press Luncheon.
“Wow, honestly, it’s been six years since I’ve been here, and didn’t know I was coming back,” said Parrish, who is coaching the boys water polo team in the fall and will guide the girls team during the winter months. “I’m extremely excited to be back.”
Parrish left coaching after 14 years at DP to take a job in the private sector in 2016. In that first stint, he guided the Chargers to back-to-back CIF-SS boys titles in 2004-05 and led the girls to the Division 1 crown in 2011, the program’s fourth straight CIF championship. Parrish served as an assistant on the first three title teams.
His sons, Blake and Ethan, were standout water polo players at DP and continued their careers at Stanford. Blake graduated as an All-American player and an Academic All-American in 2018. Ethan is in his junior year.
Parrish expressed his appreciation for the press luncheon.
“I know as coaches we sometimes take this for granted,” he said. “It can be a distraction, or we have other things going, we get busy.
“But this is a lovely event. I know these athletes will appreciate it when they look back. I had two kids in high school and they love these things.”
Parrish introduced seniors Johnny Bish and Brody Luke and cracked, “They deserve to be here because they’re putting up with me.”
He said Bish is one of the leaders on the team.
“He has a great attitude and it rubs off on everyone, because I give them plenty of reasons not to have good attitudes,” he joked But he maintains a good attitude.”
Luke is the team’s leading goal scorer, but he has a tendency to get into foul trouble, Parrish pointed out.
“There’s one thing I can’t really coach and the other one I probably can help, which are the kick outs. “If we can clean that up, he’ll be in the game a little bit longer.”
MORE BOYS WATER POLO
San Marcos
The Royals start their season on Friday at the Long Beach Poly Tournament.
Coach Peera Sukavivatanachai said “he’s fortunate to have such role positive role model” in goalie Matt Dembuski. “He leads by example and is an extremely hard-working athlete.”
Santa Barbara
Coach Mark Walsh has been impressed with twin brothers Jerrard and Jaxon Burford since they came into the program as freshmen.
“They are the epitome of what you want out of a high school athlete. They’re always looking to get better and always looking to work harder in any opportunity. They always look to help teammates.”
The brothers have helped the Dons get off to a 4-1 start to the season. Jerrard is the team’s leading goal scorer and Jaxon is a standout goalie.
Walsh said both players are being recruited by Ivy League schools and the high-academic schools in Southern California like Claremont McKenna and Pomona Pitzer.
Next week (Sept. 10-13), the Dons will host their annual Santa Barbara Invitational, which draws many of the best teams in California.
“It’s an extremely difficult tournament,” said Walsh. “We had an outstanding team last year and I think we lost to somebody by like 15 goals. They were like college men playing high school water polo. We’re excited to have that crop (of athletes) here.”
FOOTBALL
San Marcos
Two-way senior lineman Ebrahim Alfar-Diaz is a next-level player, said coach Ralph Molina.
“Last year, we had Andre (McCullough) run for over 1400 yards and it was 95 percent behind this guy. And nothing has changed.”
He said Alfar-Diaz is the strongest player on the team. “We implemented the 1,000-pound club and he’s like 1400-plus. He’ll be playing somewhere next year.”
Patrick Kelly is another bright spot on the Royals.
“What an improvement from last year,” said Molina. “He’s been in the weight room. He’s another athlete I found from the baseball team.”
Kelly caught seven passes and picked off a pass in the end zone in last week’s 28-9 win over Santa Maria. He also had an interception in the opener at Morro Bay.
“He started for us at corner, he’s been a slot receiver and a top running back,” said Molina. “He’s a captain and he leads by example. He’s having a lot of fun and I’m so proud of him. We expect big things for him.”
San Marcos (2-0) opens Channel League at Rio Mesa (1-1) on Friday night.
Santa Barbara
The Dons (2-0) travel to league favorite Pacifica (1-1) on Friday night for the Channel League opener.
Stone said the Tritons are “the best team in the 805, in my eyes. The good thing is our team has played them fairly well. We lost to them by three points last year.
“We’ve been waiting for this moment to get back at these guys. We feel like we’re one of the better teams in the league, and this is a big one for us.”
Stone introduced senior linebacker/tight end Julian Castro and sophomore wide receiver Kai Mault.
He said Castro “is our ambassador, a full-on leader. Whenever we need something done, he’s the guy that’s there, no hesitation.”
Mault has distinguished himself with his pass-catching ability and runs after the catch.
“If you’ve been to our games, you’ve seen what he does when he touches the ball,” said Stone. “And he’s just one of three guys we have that can run after the catch.
“I’m just very proud of this kid, and I’m glad a lot of people get to see a multi-sport athlete like this kid. We’re definitely going to utilize his speed this week because we’re facing a lot of speed.”
Bishop Diego
Qu’Ran Gossett’s performance against Capital Christian in Sacramento last Friday created a buzz on social media. He rushed for 181 yards on 9 carries and scored five touchdowns, including an electrifying 64-yard run in which he broke several tackles and made several cut backs.
“The run everybody is talking about was truly one of the most incredible runs we’ve seen as coaches,” said longtime Bishop assistant Steve Robles. “He is talented. He’s blessed with that talent in terms of a running back. He has great vision and is very well balanced. On that play, he never stopped his feet, he always kept his feet moving and that just kept him going down the field.”
Robles also marveled at how the linemen and fullback continued down field looking for blocks.
Henry Benoit is the fullback and middle linebacker for the Cardinals.
“He is the leader of our defense,” said Robles. “The great thing about Henry is he simply wants to win and does it takes. He has great work ethic and preparation, and he’s very encouraging to other players.”
The 2-0 Cardinals return to La Playa Stadium on Friday to play host to Central Section power Garces Memorial of Bakersfield.
Dos Pueblos
Coach AJ Pateras got good performances from junior Matt Welch and senior David Buso in different roles in last Friday’s win over Nordhoff.
“A week ago, in his first taste of varsity football, he did really well running the football,” Pateras said of Welch. “And this week, we tasked him to taking more of leadership role in the back end of the secondary and he turned that into three interceptions and one touchdown that was called back.”
On Buso, Pateras said he played a little running back and was a standout on defense in the Week Zero win at Burbank.
“This week, we decide that we needed to switch his role and take more of the load at running back. The yards don’t really show where he’s at, but he had three touchdowns Friday night and finished runs very impressively.
“We’re really excited what he did for us in the run game. But, more importantly, what he’s doing in pass protection and keeping our quarterback upright.”
The (2-0) Chargers host 0-2 Buena in a Channel League opener on Friday night. Buena was the CIF-SS Division 8 runner-up last year.
“The boys know what’s at stake and they know how important this week is. We’re excited to host the game,” said Pateras.
Laguna Blanca
Athletic Director Matt Steinhaus introduced quarterback Kent Dunn, running back Sam Narva and lineman Spencer Hlavarty, three players who played big roles in the Owls’ 40-38 season-opening 8-man football win over Orcutt Academy.
Dunn threw for two touchdowns, ran for another and engineered five successful 2-point conversions.
“We won by two points, so you can see how critical that is,” said Steinhaus.
Narva, a sophomore, had two touchdowns and a conversion before suffering a broke bone in his leg. He’ll be out 4-6 weeks, according to Steinhaus.
He praised the two-way performance by Hlavaty.
“We suited up only 14 players and Orcutt’s roster was double our size,” said Steinhaus. “We had a lot of guys play two ways the whole game and this guy did it literally in the trenches. That is just completely amazing.”
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
Dos Pueblos
Sophomore Halle Rillie has been a “big surprise” as the starting setter for the Chargers,” said coach Megan O’Carroll.
“She’s taken on a big role for our varsity team as our setter. We run a 5-1 (lineup), so she’s controlling our whole offense. She’s one of our captains, and that’s something very uncommon for a sophomore to take on.”
COLLEGE NOTES
UCSB
Kristen Keller, the new associate athletic director for communications, reported that Salvador “Chava” Aguilar was named the Big West men’s soccer offensive player of the week. He scored two goals in two games, a 1-1 draw at No. 19 Missouri State and a 2-0 win over Cal Baptist.
The Gauchos host Cornell on Friday night.
The men’s water polo opens the season Saturday at the Triton Invitational at UC San Diego on Saturday.
Patrick Mahon, a women’s soccer assistant coach, said the Gauchos became the first team to score against Stanford in their 5-1 loss on Sunday. Stanford had three shutouts, including a 1-0 win over the Chinese National Team.
UCSB (0-3-1) plays host to Pepperdine on Thursday.
Westmont
Women’s soccer coach Jenny Jaggard said her team is “bonded and ready go.”
The Warriors are off to a 2-0 start and ranked No. 8 in the NAIA. They host Lincoln University, a Division 2 team from Oakland on Thursday.
Johnny Whallon, the men’s soccer assistant coach, said the Warriors “are going to surprise people this year.”
San Marcos alum Michael Palmer and Landon Amaral are the teams captains. Both are defenders.
After playing exhibition matches against UCLA, UCSB and Cal State San Bernardino, the Warriors officially kick off their season at Azusa Pacific on Friday night.
SBCC
New Athletic Director LaDeane Hansten attended her first luncheon. She comes from Columbia College in Sonora.
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