RANCHO PENASQUITOS ---- Trailing the Valley League leader by one game with just two games to play in the regular season, the Mt. Carmel High boys water polo team had one last shot at the league championship.

The Sundevils turned their pool into a hostile environment and much more.

Holding a slim one-goal lead late in the third quarter, the Sundevils went on a scoring barrage by scoring five consecutive goals en route to a 13-8 victory over Canyon Crest Academy on Wednesday afternoon.

The Sundevils moved into a first-place tie with Canyon Crest. The teams could wind up sharing the title by winning their final game.

That's fine with the Sundevils, considering that the Ravens could have clinched sole possession of the league crown with another win over Mt. Carmel.

"We played this game with the mind-set that they weren't going to do this in our pool,'' Mt. Carmel junior Danny Ettelson said. "We wanted to set up an atmosphere of hostility toward them to gain an advantage.

"We were pretty intense, but we still came up big today. No way we were letting them have the league title without a fight.''

The score was tied four times in the first quarter before Evan Heise and Drew Carlson scored in the second to give the Sundevils a 6-4 halftime lead. When Christian Ogawa scored for the Ravens with 2:10 left in the third quarter, Mt. Carmel's lead was just 8-7.

Then the surge began. Ettelson scored the final goal of the quarter with 1:55 left, Heise tallied his fourth goal at the 6:41 mark of the fourth period, and Ettelson added another goal with 5:28 left, pushing the lead to 11-7.

With Canyon Crest (17-7, 10-1) fading, Carlson scored his third goal with 4:07 left and Grant Still added his first goal with 3:20 to go for a safe 13-7 lead.

"We decided enough is enough,'' said Ettelson, who led the Sundevils with five goals and two assists. "We went out and won it right there in the third quarter.

"This feels really great to have done this. I've been wanting to win a league title since I got here. Everything we've done has gotten us to this moment.''

Canyon Crest stopped the blitz with Ogawa's fifth goal with 2:47 to play, but it was way too little and way too late.

"We played our hearts out, but Mt. Carmel took care of business,'' Canyon Crest coach Ian Davidson said. "This is a learning experience of how to play in a hostile environment, just like we'll see in the playoffs. This was a tough place to play with the loud crowd and the band and the way they played at the end.

"Everything we've done this year has been to get us to November.''

Contact staff writer Terry Monahan at 760-739-6648.