Milford High School’s varsity boys water polo squad entered its own invitational with an overall outstanding record of 32-4.
Gary Tameris is the only head coach the Eagles have had in their water polo history that began with the 1990-91 season. He has amassed an career record of 316-218. His 300th win came this year in a win over Princeton’s Vikings.
His very successful philosophy is simple. “Winning makes it fun for me and as long as this is fun I’ll keep doing this. . .
“My seniors this year have all played a major roll, but because we have so many seniors this year, next year I think we’re possibly going to take a hit.”
The Red and White’s head honcho had nothing, but praise for his charges
“Dave Matulis is our returning first team all-state player. He’s the backbone of the team.
“Our goalkeeper (Nick Brown) has put in a tremendous year.
“Alex Frank is our leader in steals and possibly assists.
“Thomas Prus and Zak Woodson are two more of our outstanding players this year.”
Among the 21 player roster are eight seniors. The Milford seniors are goalkeeper Nick Brown and fielders co-captain Alex Frank, Zak Woodson, Thomas Prus, Beau Robinson, Jon Wood, Andrew McDarty, and co-captain David Matulis.
The remainder of the roster, all fielders, are juniors Nick Warwavesyn, Joel Keefer, Bruce Rich, Magnus Emde Larsen (an exchange student from Czechoslovakia), Dylan Williams, Zack McClain, John Montgomery, Mitchell Connor, and Russell Hausfeld, and sophomores Jacob Yoest, Garrett Byrd, Alex Hahn, and Josh Fritz.
The assistant coach is Paul Splitt.
Entering the Milford Invitational, the boys scores were East Kentwood (Mich.) 7-5. Huron (Mich.) 1-4, Athens (Mich.) 19-2, Okemos (Mich.) 6-5, Thomas Worthington 10-6, Kilbourne 7-0, Napoleon 10-2, Sylvania 10-6, Sycamore 11-5, St. Xavier 18-2, Napoleon 18-3, St. Charles 11-9, Mason 13-4, St. Xavier 14-6, Upper Arlington 6-7, Sycamore 7-3, Mason 13-8, Princeton 11-6, Napoleon 13-1, St. Charles 10-8, St. Francis 8-6, Upper Arlington 13-12 (overtime), Sycamore 10-6, Princeton 11-4, Glen Oak 14-9, Thomas Worthington 9-7, Chicago Aquatics 10-6, Upper Arlington 10-12, Thomas Worthington 16-14 (shootout), Mason 14-2, Sycamore 12-6, Napoleon 10-5, St. Charles 7-6, Kilbourne 7-6, St. Charles 6-8, and Princeton 8-6.
Concerning next year and continuing the winning tradition, said Tameris, “We’re going to have to have people out there to make things happen. This year’s group has worked very well together. Us and Upper Arlington have been ranked one and two in the regionals and the state this year.
“On our team all of them are working very hard to get prepared and stay prepared for the rest of the season. They are very dedicated year ‘round. We expect a real strong finish, but we need to bring our A game with us every game.
”We are learning to use our strengths and to defend against our weaknesses.”