WALNUT — “San Bernardino High School Cardinals. CIF Southern Section champions.” San Bernardino’s Jesus Rodriguez (2) positions to shoot in front of Monclair’s Manuel Mota (10) during the CIF Southern Section Division 6 boys water polo championship at the Mt. San Antonio College Aquatics Complex. San Bernardino won 9-8 in Walnut on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG) San Bernardino’s goal keeper, Luis Montiel, stays focused on the ball in the CIF Southern Section Division 6 boys water polo championship game against Montclair. San Bernardino won 9-8 at the Mt. San Antonio College Aquatics Complex in Walnut on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG) San Bernardino’s Isaiah Rodriguez takes a shot against Montclair during the CIF Southern Section Division 6 boys water polo championship at the Mt. San Antonio College Aquatics Complex in Walnut on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024. San Bernardino won 9-8. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG) San Bernardino’s Jose Hernandez (22) positions himself against Montclair’s Manuel Mota (10) in the CIF Southern Section Division 6 boys water polo championship at the Mt. San Antonio College Aquatics Complex. San Bernardino won 9-8 in Walnut on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG) The San Bernardino Cardinals celebrate after beating Montclair in the CIF Southern Section Division 6 boys water polo championship. The game ended with a 9-8 victory at the Mt. San Antonio College Aquatics Complex in Walnut on..Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG) San Bernardino’s Alejandro Lopez (1A) blocks Monclair’s Noah Guzman (7) in the CIF Southern Section Division 6 boys water polo championship at the Mt. San Antonio College Aquatics Complex on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG) The San Bernardino Cardinals celebrate after beating Montclair in the CIF Southern Section Division 6 boys water polo championship. The game ended with a 9-8 victory at the Mt. San Antonio College Aquatics Complex in Walnut on..Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG) Show Caption1 of 7San Bernardino’s Jesus Rodriguez (2) positions to shoot in front of Monclair’s Manuel Mota (10) during the CIF Southern Section Division 6 boys water polo championship at the Mt. San Antonio College Aquatics Complex. San Bernardino won 9-8 in Walnut on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG) Expand Prior to Saturday morning, the last time those words were heard was in the fall of 1993, when Ryan Williams scored goals at record pace and helped the boys water polo team bring home the Division 4 section title. So maybe it’s fitting the same program was the one to end the lengthy title drought. Jesus Rodriguez scored a match-high seven goals, as San Bernardino outlasted Montclair 9-8 in Saturday’s Division 6 section championship match at the Mt. San Antonio Aquatics Complex. “This means everything to us, to our school and our city,” Rodriguez said of the school’s first section title in 31 years. “We have been working for this moment for nearly two years, waking up early for morning practices and just trying to get better each and every day. “It’s a great feeling to see all of our hard work paying off like this.” Rodriguez wasted no time getting his name into the scorebook. San Bernardino (18-10) won the opening sprint, and Rodriguez drew an exclusion and quickly recorded his first goal. Montclair (16-13) settled in after conceding that early goal. Manuel Mota had three steals in the opening period to stifle San Bernardino’s attack. Noah Guzman fired in a goal on a backhanded shot, and Phone Koko added another goal to give the Cavaliers their first lead of the match. Rodriguez earned a penalty shot and converted from 5 meters away to knot the score at 2 after one period. The brothers Rodriguez (Jesus and Isaiah) combined for three goals in the second frame to give the Cardinals a 5-3 lead at half. Guzman scored Montclair’s lone goal in the second quarter. Montclair had its best offensive stretch of the match at the start of the third quarter, as Nicklas Pedraza, Guzman and Koke each scored a goal in a span of 2 minutes to help the Cavaliers regain the lead with 3:55 left in the period. Jesus Rodriguez continued to be a thorn in Montclair side, however, scoring twice more to level the score at 7 after three quarters. Rodriguez earned another penalty shot and fired into the cage to give San Bernardino an 8-7 lead with 5:15 left to play, but Montclair countered 90 seconds later with a goal by Marco Banuelos. The score remained knotted with about 3 minutes left to play. Jesus Rodriguez drew an exclusion, and Isaiah Rodriguez scored the decisive goal for the Cardinals with 2:40 showing on the clock. The defense made sure this lead stood up. Montclair had four chances for an equalizer, but two shots were saved by Luis Montiel and a backhand by Guzman clanged off the bar. The final seconds ticked away, and the Cardinals made the customary leap into the pool to celebrate. The student section also celebrated from the elevated seating area by singing the school’s alma mater. “I have always tried to instill in our players to have pride in where they come from,” said Cardinals coach Jason Mendoza, who himself graduated from San Bernardino in 2018. “I played here for four years. I never got the chance to go this far as a player, so to come back and get here as a coach is truly special. I have a lot of pride for my city and school.” Montiel played 2 1/2 quarters in the cage as a goalkeeper and finished up with eight saves. He played the entire second quarter and the first half of the third period in the field. “We’ve put so much into getting here,” Montiel said. “We cry, we sweat, we bleed. This moments means so much to everyone.” Montclair had a historic season, as well. This was the program’s first trip to a section final. “When I started coaching here three years ago, we only had seven players,” Valadez said. “We come from an area where a lot of people don’t even know how to swim. “Hopefully a season like this helps us grow as a program and gets more kids excited to come out here and give water polo a try.” Guzman is Montclair’s leading scorer and added three more goals to his season total. “Noah has been great all season,” Valadez said. “I think at the end we were relying too much on him and forced passes into the hole set when opportunities just weren’t there.” Mota turned in a stellar performance for Montclair, He scored one goal while adding six steals, three assists and two field blocks. 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