The Cathedral Prep water polo team kicked off their season last weekend at the annual McDowell Cup. The tournament started on Friday when the Ramblers took on Worthington Kilbourne. Any doubts about the polo team’s success this year was quickly put to rest as the boys crushed Kilbourne 21-9.
The team’s most impressive feat of the entire weekend was when they defeated reigning state champs for two years, the North Allegheny Tigers. Last year Prep was victorious against the Tigers in the same tournament, while they were still the reigning state champions. That game was close all the way to the final buzzer, and Prep won by only one point. This year, on the other hand, started off like last year, tense and close, but the Tigers seemed to lose their energy at the turn of the half. The Ramblers, however, managed to stay strong and fast, which led to their 13-6 victory.  The team held on to this fury throughout the next game against Thomas Worthington, triumphing at 16-8.
Going 3-0 so far for the tournament, the Ramblers were feeling good going into their final game of the weekend against their long time rivals, the McDowell Trojans. Due to the fact that the McDowell has not beaten Cathedral Prep in at least 5 years, they have been working very hard to final be the team that is successful. As the players lined up for the swim-off, you could see the intensity in their eyes. The Trojans came out very fast and strong, and shockingly managed to put up a good fight for the first half, to the point where it was tied at half time. But just like the Tigers, the Trojans tired out while the Ramblers went on a scoring frenzy led by Daniel Bauman who set a new school record for goals in a single game, 12. Daniel said it was one of the most exiting moments of his career. The game ended with an impressive score of 21-10.