ATHERTON >> On the biggest stage and in front of its home crowd, Sacred Heart Prep’s boys water polo team wasn’t going to walk away with second-place medals.

After losing a tight game to De La Salle in the regular season, second-seeded SHP got its revenge as the Gators defeated the top-seeded Concord school 9-7 to capture the CIF NorCal Division I title for the fourth consecutive year.

“I’m just so proud of this team,” SHP senior Nelson Harris said. “We lost to De La Salle earlier in the season, so it’s just so great to come back. We worked so hard and we put our hard work to the test by beating them on the biggest stage.”

Nelson led SHP with a team-high four goals and sophomore Gates Gamble had three goals. Murdoch Baker-Matsuoka was a standout as SHP’s goalkeeper, recording 13 saves.

De La Salle senior Lukas Peters finished with four goals.

“This championship just keeps setting a new standard,” SHP coach Brian Kreutzkamp said. “I keep telling them, ‘Don’t think this is normal because it’s not.’ It’s just the standard that the seniors keep passing down to the next group and the next group, and I promise you, the next group is going to be just as hungry.”

Division II

No. 2 Menlo School 12, No. 5 Clovis 6 >> For the full 28 minutes of Saturday’s championship match, Menlo was in the driver’s seat.

The Knights put on an offensive display, beating Clovis to capture their first NorCal title. According to coach Jack Bowen, it’s the first NorCal title Menlo has won across any sport in the school’s history.

Freshman Hunter Coleman scored a game-high five goals. Adam Afar and Calvin Barad each scored twice for Menlo and goalkeeper Connor Burks had 12 saves.

“We were looking before the game at the spot the banner would be in our gym,” senior captain Jackson Coleman said. “We felt like we had nothing to lose, even though it was the title game and we played like it. It’s a special feeling.”

Division III

No. 1 Ripon 16, No. 3 Los Altos 10 >> Ripon got off to a hot start and didn’t look back as the Central Valley school defeated Los Altos to capture the Division III title.

Ripon took a 6-1 lead in the first period behind quick scoring from McKeane Beier and Brody Biedermann, who each scored three goals.

Senior William O’Shaughnessy led Los Altos with five goals and junior Ferran de Witt had four.

Girls water polo

Division I

No. 1 Sacred Heart Prep 11, No. 2 Carondelet 4 >> SHP’s girls team set the stage for the Division I sweep, dominating Carondelet just an hour before the boys team took the pool.

The Gators captured their first NorCal title and were the first team outside of the East Bay to win the NorCal Division I crown since the tournament started in 2017.

“To have this moment here is just so special,” senior Vivian Golub said. “This is the pool where we’ve done swim sets, where I literally thought I was going to cry and where we put in all our hard work. So to win it here is definitely emotional and definitely really special.”

Both teams went at each other throughout the first half. After two quarters, SHP led just 5-3.

But the game turned early in the second half.

The Gators got two goals from Golub and scores from Kiernan Hogan and Natalia Szczerba to take a commanding 9-4 lead going into the fourth quarter.

The Gators’ defense was solid throughout the second half with goalkeeper Ellison Brush recording 12 saves, five of which came in the fourth period.

Golub had a game-high five goals and Hogan added three.

Division II

No. 5 San Ramon Valley 12, No. 2 Stevenson 10 >> The Wolves captured their first-ever NorCal title, beating Stevenson in a back-and-forth match to finish the season 23-8.

Leading by a goal after three quarters, SRV outscored the Pirates 3-2 in the fourth to seal the win.

Olivia Anderson led SRV with four goals and senior Natalie Buck had three goals.

“It feels good,” Anderson said. “We worked really hard to get here.”