Murray edged out Tooele in both boys and girls water polo state championship games May 10 at Kearns High School.

In boys competition, Tooele led for three quarters only to drop a heartbreaker 8-7. The Murray girls defeated Tooele 4-1 for the grand prize.

Tooele fans and coaches were upset with some of the officiating in the championship games.

“It’s still a little cloudy, things happened that shouldn’t have in the boys game,” said coach Mike Wells.

“We’re mad. Things could have been different with different calls,” said Matt Ricci who was named the tournament MVP.

Two of Tooele’s starters were taken out in the championships game and it resulted in a penalty shot off of an illegal substitution. “Well quite honestly, we out-played the other team, and we desired the win more, but the refs really cheated us out,” Josh Slater said.

Ricci was able to score five goals, and make four steals, but it wasn’t enough to get the victory against the Spartans. Mat Snarr and Stefan Chevalier each scored a goal.

Tooele was strong on defense in the title bout as Kyle Cooper blocked 10 shots and the team accumulated 17 steals. “Murray is a very tough team, and they work well with each other making them very difficult to defeat.” said Andrew Adams.

A lot of fouls were racked up in the girls game as well with Murray able to shoot penalty shot after penalty shot in its 4-1 victory.

Tooele goalie Stacie Hughes did all she could to try and keep the ball out of the net with nine blocked shots. Mary Burden was the only scorer for the Lady Buffs, but she wasn’t the only one contributing to the team. Meredith Bridges was able to steal the ball six times while Tiffany Smith and Erika Andrews each swiped the ball twice.

“Murray was our biggest competition, and we did a great job playing them,” Burden said.

Boys Game 1

Tooele 20 Utah County 1

Blowout is the only word to describe this game. The Buffs came out strong and held it through out the match. Cooper was able to block seven attempts and only let one ball hit the net. Ricci was a scoring machine and was able to earn Tooele seven points out of the 20. Chevalier and Snarr were able to score seven points between them. Also helping with the scoring were Josh Slater, Cody Dalton and Skyler Smith.

“Our chemistry was great, we came together as a family and did what had to be done.” Andrew Adams said.

Boys Game 2

Tooele 6 Steiner 6

The game ended with a tie, but Tooele was able to advance in the tournament because of a better win-loss record. Ricci was yet again the main scorer and came out with three points. Dalton, Smith, and James Stoddard each had a goal of their own. Cooper stayed out the whole game and was able to block 10 shots. “Steiner is tough competition, they came out and played as hard as we did.” Wells said.

Boys Game 3

Tooele 18 Olympus 5

Snarr and Ricci scored five points each. Dalton and Chevalier both scored three, Slater and Dalton Ryals each had a goal. Cooper was able to block six shots. Ricci was also able to make three assists and seven steals, proving he is worth his MVP title.

Girls Game 1

Tooele 15 Copper Hills 3

The whole Buffs’ offense contributed to the scoring in this game. Burden, Andrews and Chelsea Smaellie each had three points. Bailey Dalton and Kylie Riding had two points each. Tiffani Smith and Meredith Bridges had goals. Stacy Hughes and Lauren Howsden shared time guarding the net. Both of them proved that they deserve to be out in the water with four blocks each. “The girls came out and handled things very well,” Wells said.

Girls Game 2

Tooele 6 Utah County 6

The girls came out and had similar results as the boys in the second game. Smith and Burden were the only scorers for the Buffs with three points each. Hughes stayed in most of the game and had eight blocks. The defense played very well and were able to accumulate eleven steals. “Our defense really stands out; they prevent a lot of goals from going in.” Wells said.

Girls Game 3

Tooele 13 Cyprus 6

Burden proved to be a force racking up the tallies in the stat book with four points and three steals. Andrews and Smith did the same with three points, three steals and three assists each. Hughes was able to record five blocked shots.

“All of our girls played well, we all had our shining moments,” Courtney Stubbs said.