Bears Keep Calm, Carry On With Boys Water Polo Win Over Clovis North

Clovis North’s Bodhi Bowden (left) fights for position against Buchanan’s Tyler Mrkaich. PHOTO BY GABE CAMARILLO/CLOVIS ROUNDUP

The Buchanan and Clovis North boys water polo teams squared off Tuesday evening at the Broncos Aquatics Complex to settle a debate once and for all: who is the best in the TRAC?

With both the Bears and Broncos being a perfect 4-0 in league play headed into Tuesday, one squad was guaranteed to finish the night undefeated and in the driver’s seat for a TRAC title.

Despite the high stakes, if you asked Bears coach Nic Maes, this was just another regular-season game for the Bears.

“Every game is important, and we approach it all the same,” said Maes. “It does not matter whether both teams are 4-0 or 0-0.”

The Bears endured the Broncos physicality and managed to put together a solid offensive showing, defeating the Broncos 12-8 Tuesday to take sole possession of first place in the TRAC with four games left.

The match started as close as anticipated between the two perennial local powers.

Buchanan’s Tyler Mansheim opened the scoring, but Clovis North’s Bodhi Bowden answered with a goal of his own, a ball lofted past Bears goalie Cooper Hatton into the back of the net.

The theme of back-and-forth scoring continued for much of the first half; Buchanan mustered a pair of goals, only to have Clovis North respond with consecutive scores to tie the game at 3.

Another major theme of the game early was physical play; both sides shoved and kicked underwater for possession and the result was a low-scoring first quarter. The Broncos were especially aggressive and flummoxed the high-powered Bears’ attack for the opening minutes.

The Broncos defensive mastery could not hold on for very long.

Buchanan broke away with a flurry of scoring late in the second quarter, tallying three straight goals in two minutes. Once again, Clovis North had a quick response; a long scoring strike from the Broncos Lance Vukajlovic with ten seconds remaining in the first half.

Vuklajlovic’s goal put the Bears halftime lead at 6-4.

In the second half, however, Clovis North could no longer respond to the Bears attack.

Or, more accurately, to Tyler Mrkaich.

Mrkaich, the Bears junior who transferred from Edison this summer, shot four of his game-high five goals in the second half. He scored in a variety of ways; shooting through traffic, shooting from the far side of the goal, or bouncing the ball off the water into the net.

He did it all, and the Broncos could not find a way to defend him, much less keep up with his scoring.

Mrkaich said it took a while for him to get going, but got locked in when he made an in-game realization.

“I was going into this game a little nervous, but as I played more and got some assists, I thought to myself ‘This is a little easier than I thought and I got focused,” said Mrkaich.

“I psyched myself out at the beginning, but once I got into the mindset, I just started scoring.”

As soon as Mrkaich started scoring, the Bears started pulling away from the Broncos and would win perhaps the most important game of their season so far, by the final score of 12-8.

If there was any team built to win such a high-stakes game, it would be the three-time defending Central Section D-1 champion Buchanan Bears.

They’ve done it before so many times in the past that it’s just another typical game for them.

Buchanan (14-6) will continue league play Thursday at home against Clovis East. Clovis North (6-2) will play Thursday as well, at Clovis West.

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Gabriel Camarillo has written for the Clovis Roundup since August 2019 and follows high school athletics, Fresno State football and former Clovis Unified student-athletes. Gabe also writes for The Collegian as a staff sports writer and works at One Putt Broadcasting as a board op for 940 ESPN radio.