PALO ALTO >> Soquel High’s offense went flat when it needed it most Wednesday night.

The No. 5 seed Valley Christian Warriors’ boys water polo team outscored the top-seeded Knights 3-1 in a pair of three-minute, extra stanzas to secure a 15-13 overtime upset in the Central Coast Section Division II semifinals at Palo Alto High.

It was a tough way for the Knights’ five seniors to finish their high school career, but a teaching moment for the 10 underclassmen expected to return next season.

“I’m super proud of where the team got to,” said Ryan Chapatte, the Knights’ first-year boys head coach after leading the girls’ program to unprecedented success the previous 20 seasons. “We do have a young team. We have freshmen getting minutes, and a bunch of sophomore contributors. Our whole bench is young. I’m really proud of where we started and where we’re at now.”

The teams went blow for blow and were tied four times in the first quarter. The Knights entered the second with a 5-4 lead, but gave up four answered goals over one stretch of the second quarter and trailed 8-7 at the half.

Senior goalie Jacob Henshaw made seven of his 14 saves in the third quarter, which allowed the Knights narrow a 10-7 deficit to 10-9. But junior Chase Blitzer’s skip shot with 11 seconds left in the third, put the Warriors ahead 11-9 entering the final period of regulation.

“Jacob has been awesome all year,” Chapatte said. “Of the goalies I’ve seen, the teams we’ve played, I think he’s the top goalie. I haven’t seen everyone play, but he’s got to be up there with the top goalies in the section.”

Knights junior Stryder Stelck converted a penalty shot, and classmate Tanner Connors scored to knot the score at 11-all with 4:20 left. Blitzer put the Warriors ahead again, 12-11, with 1:37 left.

Knights’ senior two-meter Cash Wolf swatted in a pass from Connors with 27 seconds left to force overtime.

“A lot of credit to that Valley Christian team,” Chapatte said. “They came out and moved, and we didn’t adjust well to it early on. I think their center had like four goals in the first half. We finally adjusted. They just capitalized on every mistake we made. Our shot selection wasn’t great, and we weren’t putting away our shots. We were just chasing the whole game after that first quarter.”

Sophomore Kalob Huesca, senior Garett Crabb and junior Joseph Shin scored in overtime for the Warriors. Shin took of advantage of Soquel’s poor positioning following a timeout for a breakaway goal.

Wolf capped scoring with his tally with 22 seconds remaining, which gave him five goals in the game and 105 on the season.

Valley Christian spread out and stalled to kill the remainder of the game clock.

“The final six minutes just highlighted really what they’d been doing the whole game,” said Wolf, who finished with the fifth highest goal total in the CCS this year. “They were really active on offense and we kinda were struggling, either sticking with our man or passing them off to a teammate, a lack of communication. And then on the offensive side, we struggled with putting shots away. We were shooting the ball high. We weren’t putting it on the water.”

Warriors coach Caleb Carlson said limiting Wolf was among his team’s priorities on defense.

Valley Christian received solid play from both its goalies, Kevin McCarroll and Roshan Khanna, but its defense helped their cause.

“Our defense in overtime was big,” he said. “Our backup goalie came in and made a big difference for us (after halftime).”

Several of the Knights’ shots didn’t come close their intended target. The Warriors produced more than five field blocks.

“A lot of field blocking,” Carlson said. “That’s been our focus for the last three weeks, I’d say. When we played SI (St. Ignatius), we knew we had to field block to take two of their players and their center away, and it carried right over to this game.”

The Warriors (10-18), the seventh-place finisher in the West Catholic Athletic League, need just one more upset to claim their first section title.

They beat No. 4 Saint Ignatius in the quarterfinals and the No. 1 Knights in the semis, and face No. 2 Leland (17-9) in the final at Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton on Saturday at 1:15 p.m.

The Chargers, the Blossom Valley Athletic League’s Mount Hamilton Division champion, beat No. 3 Pioneer of San Jose 14-7 in the other semifinal Wednesday.

The three-time section champion Chargers lost to Soquel in last year’s D-II final.

Senior Noah Piona and Stelck each scored three goals for the Knights, the runner-up in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League and winner of the SCCAL Tournament. Connors scored twice.

Crabb and Blitzer each scored four goals for the Warriors. Darius Deac scored all three of his goals in the third quarter. Shin scored twice, and Huesca and fellow sophomore Kaden Cochran each added a goal.

While it was the last game for several Knights seniors, some of them intend to continue their careers. Henshaw recently committed to play next season for UC Merced, a former club team that gained NCAA Division II status over the summer.

“They were a good team,” said Henshaw, of the Warriors. “I feel like we’re definitely on level with them. We have a young team. We weren’t supposed to be really that good this year, so I feel like I’m proud of our guys. We did good.”