The Texas Classic water polo tournament finished up Saturday night as the men and women from Baytown Sterling took home the first place trophies. Sterling, which hosted the tournament, was one of twenty teams competing in the three-day classic.

“This tournament will be a highly competitive water polo tournament. The best teams from the Houston area will be in the tournament,” said Scott Slay, Sterling head coach.

The Athletes Connection made it to Baytown and walked into a very warm natatorium. The gentleman who escorted us to the stands suggested we pick a fan and sit by it. Even the players had rosy cheeks.

Playing for fifth place for the women was Atascocita vs. St. Agnes. At the half, Atascocita led 5-4. The Eagles continued to score as they beat St. Agnes 13-8, placing 5th in the women’s division. For the men, Cypress Creek played Clear Brook for fifth place. Only three men scored in the first quarter, as play was tight. Then Cy-Creek broke out, scoring a total of 14 to give them the 5th place win (14-3) over Clear Brook.

Cypress Creek and Clear Brook faced each other again, but this time it was the women, who were playing for third. The Cougars scored first, which turned out to be the only score in the first quarter. They scored again, and that was the only score of the second quarter. Cy-Creek defeated Clear Brook 5-2 for the 3rd place trophy. The third place game for the men was Clear Lake vs. Strake Jesuit. Lake, as they call themselves, dominated Strake Jesuit, 15-4, for 3rd place, perhaps due in part to the support from parents in the stands that cheered and chanted, “Way to go! Way to go!”

Forty-eight games later, and over twelve hours of water polo each day, it finally came down to the championship games.

“Hopefully, [Sterling and Greenwich (Connecticut) High School] win all of our games so we can see who is the best high school team from Texas to New York,” said Slay.  The Sterling coach felt that Greenwich was one of the best teams in the United States coming into the tournament.

Before play began, the stands were filling up with what could have only been Sterling fans, there to cheer on the Rangers.

The Lady Rangers took on Clear Lake for the big trophy. Sterling came out scoring three unanswered points. Lake bounced three hard shots off the goal posts until they finally put one in. Play was intense, as both teams wanted the title. Sterling had great defense as they shut down Lake to win 13-5. The women of Sterling haven’t lost a single game all season, and it showed as they took home 1st place at this classic.

The final match-up of the day was Greenwich vs. Sterling for bragging rights. The men followed the women’s lead as they came out scoring three unanswered. Then Greenwich came back with two scores. The play was very fast and competitive.  In the second quarter, Greenwich tied it at three. But Sterling scored three more to end the first half, 6-3. Sterling fans were on their feet the entire game. And there were even a few claps from the Connecticut-based team.

Greenwich scored two goals early in the third to come within one point. And Sterling came right back with two. At the end of the third, the score was 10-7, Sterling. In the final minutes of the game, it got exciting. Both teams were scoring. Greenwich came within two, then within one, and then they tied it at 12 with 2:00 left. Sterling scored, what ended up being the winning goal, with 1:45 left in the game. Greenwich had the opportunity to tie it again, but Sterling’s goalie blocked the hard shot, to win the game, 13-12.

This water polo tournament was the best of the best as the Sterling men and women proved they are the teams to beat.

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