Belen Jesuit overcomes rival Gulliver to earn chance to win back-to-back state titles
A year ago, Belen Jesuit’s boys’ water polo team ended a six-season stretch without a state championship.
If the Wolverines are to have a chance to repeat, they knew one of their biggest obstacles was the team they supplanted at the top - Gulliver Prep.
The Raiders, who won the two previous state titles in the sport in 2019 and 2021, handed Belen its only loss of this season and split the season series in two close matches.
Led by senior Antonio Franco Perini, his brother, sophomore Juan Franco Perini, and senior Jack Costello, who each scored three goals, Belen Jesuit won the decisive match against Gulliver 13-10 Tuesday afternoon in a boys’ regional final at its home pool.
“Gulliver has always been one of our biggest rivals so we knew how crucial this game was,” Antonio Franco Perini said. “They’re the only team that’s actually beaten us this season so we prepared extremely hard for this game.”
The Wolverines (20-1-1) advanced to state for the second consecutive season and will once again host the state final four this weekend. Belen Jesuit, the top-ranked team in the state, will take on Winter Park in a state semifinal on Friday afternoon. Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas, which beat Miami Country Day 15-9 in its regional final, will face Boca Raton in the other state semifinal.
“We had a perfect season going until they beat us in a close game so we knew we had to respect them,” Belen coach Jimmy Aguilera said. “We knew we had to take the advantage early because they came in motivated to beat us and with a lot of confidence. You saw it at the end when they took advantage of an opportunity and almost came back, but fortunately we stopped them.”
The Wolverines did just that in the first quarter.
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Antonio Franco Perini scored Belen’s first three goals and helped them take the lead 5-3 and not trail again.
Gulliver would keep it close, led by Gabe Lewis, who had two goals. The Raiders narrowed their deficit to 12-8 in the fourth quarter before Juan Franco Perini scored with 2:31 to help stave off their comeback.
Most of the match, the Raiders scored a goal to keep the game close only to see Belen make a solid defensive play to keep them from stringing scores together and erasing the Wolverines’ lead entirely.
“We love emphasizing defense on this team because it always gives you the best chance to win,” Aguilera said. “The kids have really dedicated themselves to that and we work them hard in practice every day like it’s the state meet. We go full speed with a lot of desire in order to get these results.”
Antonio Franco Perini is one of six seniors on an experienced Belen squad which has mostly played together since middle school, which he credits for the team’s cohesiveness in the pool.
“Most of us have been playing together for four or five or even seven years together,” Franco Perini said. “I’m glad that we’re on this journey together and hopefully it ends with us winning states.”
