TOWAMENCIN-The North Penn water polo squad displayed their armor once again, in defending their home waters against crosstown rival, La Salle High School.

“We like competing against them every time when we face off in the water.They bring the best out of us and we know every game is going to be close,” said junior Sean Faikish.

The Knights would go on to win by a score of 14-9 over the Explorers, improving their record to 3-0 with an offense led by Sean Faikish with 6 goals on 8 shots, AJ Patterson with 3 goals on 6 shots, and juniors Chris Killion and Carter Mitchell with 2 goals each.

Faikish understands the attitudes each team has before jumping into the pool to square off against one another.

“A rivalry win can always get the team going especially in the beginning of the season, and that’s what we were looking to do against La Salle today,” said Knights Head Coach Jason Grubb..

In the first 20 seconds of the match, La Salle struck the back of the net in their first possession which allowed the Explorers to grasp the early momentum of the game. This would however soon be drained from the Explorer’s side of the ball once the Knights capped of a first half lead of 9-5 with Junior, Evan Mancini, holding down the defense in net for North Penn.

“From the pre-season to tonight, we’ve improved in every aspect of our game from communication to finding the open man on man ups,” said Mancini regarding what the team has endured throughout the early parts of their 2018 season.

The second half opened up with the Knights tacking on to their 4 point lead with a Faikish missile to the right side of the Explorer’s net, putting the Knights up 10-5 at just under a minute into the 3rd quarter. The two juniors, Faikish and Mancini, would connect and pick up assists following a skip shot by junior, Greyson Campbell, which would find twine and send the Knights into the last quarter maintaining their lead still over the Explorers. When asked about the play styles and challenges the Knights had to alter and take on in the intense matchup, Senior AJ Patterson responded with what the team did well well as what can improve before the team’s next game.

“The team played great and we just gotta keep swimming and clean up our passes.Our conditioning and ability to fix our man up plays while La Salle fought back, showed how hard we work and gave us the win,” Patterson explained.

The Knights defense and goalkeeping would shut down the late minute opportunities from La Salle’s offense with a team total 11 steals as well as 8 saves by Mancini in between the goal posts.

Regarding the greater number of underclassmen on the Knight’s water polo roster, Patterson recognizes the excitement of the younger squad.

“It’s been exciting to get this season underway and with the younger talent on our team; many opponents see us as the team who graduated all our starters,all of our talent…and are looking to take us down,” Patterson said.

The Knights are set to square off against the Indians from Souderton High School, another rivalry game, on Thursday, September 20th.