McHenry in water polo sectional final

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BARRINGTON – McHenry’s boys water polo team got through a jittery first half and defeated Schaumburg, 13-8, in the Barrington Sectional semifinal Friday.

McHenry will play top-seeded Palatine at 1 p.m. today in the sectional championship. Palatine defeated fourth-seeded Buffalo Grove, 15-9, in the other semifinal.

The second-seeded Warriors outscored the third-seeded Saxons, 6-2, in the third period to give themselves a little breathing room after being tied at the half, 3-3. Reilly Shanahan scored three times in the third and four goals total.

Also for McHenry (27-4), Matt Feltes scored four goals, two of them unassisted.

Before the game, Warriors coach Craig Fowles told Feltes, a senior, it was time to have some fun.

“He just plowed two guys into the net with the goalie,” Fowles said of Feltes’ two unassisted goals.

McHenry could not connect on offense in the first half, which Fowles attributed mostly to nerves.

“We were struggling with putting the ball in the net,” Fowles said. “It’s not that they were taking shots at the wrong time, they were just flat out missing the net.”

The second half the Warriors found their rhythm. Fowles said he was happy that the offense was spread around and he didn’t have to depend as much on leading scorer Shanahan.

“We couldn’t miss in the second half,” Fowles said. “I was happy to see that Reilly didn’t have to score eight or nine goals.”