McQuet, NT lose epic battle to Pats in state final

New Trier’s Mason McQuet elevates to fire a shot on goal against Lyons Township in a state quarterfinal. PHOTOGRAPHY BY GEORGE PFOERTNER

New Trier senior center-defender Mason McQuet held a bloodstained towel in his left hand and used his right hand to cover a bag of ice over his nose.

The Trevian had endured a broken beak in the championship game of the boys state water polo tournament at Stevenson on May 20.

It probably hurt to talk.

It probably hurt to breathe.

But McQuet stood poolside and fielded a few questions anyway, following his team’s agonizing — and riveting — 10-9 triple-overtime loss to Stevenson.

“Got hit in the second quarter,” he said. “Later, my nose felt a little off.

“Got hit in the nose again in the second overtime,” he added.

McQuet then appeared to crack a slight smile.

It probably was a wince.

“Mason willed his way to keep playing,” New Trier coach David Rafferty-Flatter said, adding McQuet — the son of Rick McNair, a member of the U.S. men’s water polo team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta — nearly had to sit out the third OT (sudden death) session because of incessant bleeding.

“That game,” the coach continued, “was the first Rocky [movie] to the final one, Creed, all rolled into one. Our guys didn’t quit. Our guys kept picking themselves up off the mat. Mason, in a way, was like Rocky when Rocky [with a swollen-shut eye] said to his trainer in between rounds, ‘Cut me, Mick.’ ”

New Trier’s boys water polo team in 2017 — a cut above. The Trevians’ runner-up showing marked the best state showing in program history, a year after NT finished third at state.

NT (33-3) defeated 2015 state champ Lyons Township 8-5 in a state quarterfinal on May 19 and edged nine-time state champion Fenwick 12-11 in a state semifinal on May 20.

“I wish I could play high school water polo forever,” said NT senior Danilo Scekic, who whipped in six goals in the semifinal and plans to play water polo at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, California. “It was such an honor for me to play with my teammates. This was the year, the year a lot of us thought would be our year to win state. [NT assistant coach] Gerrit Adams pointed to this year, too, when this year’s seniors were in middle school.

“We nearly did it.”

The three-OT final — the previous 15 state boys finals had all ended after four quarters — was part finesse, part UFC and filled with pool-wall-to-pool-wall drama. New Trier scored five goals and limited Stevenson (36-0) to two goals in the first half. Two-time reigning state runner-up Stevenson then outscored New Trier 4-1 in the second half and 2-1 in the first OT. A Scekic steal early in the second OT led to a goal by Trevians senior Henry Yavitt (on an assist from classmate Remy Musikantow), knotting the contest at 8-8. The ailing, University of California-Santa Barbara-bound McQuet — after another Scekic steal — fired a fastball past Stevenson goalie Charlie Day to put NT up 9-8 with 1:46 left.

McQuet’s lengthy shot came from near the mid-pool line.

Patriots junior Justin Ginsburg tied it again 18 seconds later and struck for the golden goal 30 seconds after the start of the sudden-death stanza.

“That was, by far, the craziest, most emotional game I’ve ever been a part of,” said senior Sam Yavitt, Henry’s twin brother. “Hard-fought battle, back and forth … close throughout. I’m proud of every single one of my teammates.”

McQuet and Henry Yavitt each finished with three goals and two assists in the final, while Danilo scored twice and provided a team-high three assists. Musikantow contributed a goal and two assists, and Trevians senior goalie Cole Maizel made 13 saves, including one with five ticks remaining in the second OT.

Musikantow — a JV player last spring — notched three goals (to go with three assists) in the Trevs’ state quarterfinal and the game-winning tally against Fenwick in the first semifinal on May 20.

The clincher against the Friars (25-9) followed a slew of quick passes along the perimeter, with Henry Yavitt flicking the final delivery.

Musikantow, treading in the left-wing slot, snared the toss with his right hand and came through with 27 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

“Remy was not afraid to take the big shot,” Henry Yavitt said.

What scared Scekic, a southpaw, back in his days as a third-grader: water polo. Adams, also a youth swimming and water polo coach, learned of Scekic’s Serbian bloodline.

Serbia is a perennial international power in men’s water polo.

“Gerrit told me, ‘You’re a lefty, and you’re Serbian. You should try water polo; you’d be good at it,’ ” Scekic recalled after NT’s semifinal win last weekend. “But I didn’t come out for water polo in the fourth grade because I thought I’d drown.

“Big guys,” he added, “play water polo.”

Three years later, Scekic became a water polo player. Several years after that, the North Beach Water Polo club member flew to Serbia to visit family members and train with the republic’s Junior National team for several weeks during the summer. He trained in Serbia and Montenegro last summer.

“Every coach I worked with in Serbia has an Olympic background,” said Scekic, who ended up with a combined 10 goals and six assists in the three state games last weekend. “The players over there are more aggressive, stronger, and if you don’t practice and scrimmage like a champion, the coaches kick you out of the pool.”

The compelling, uber-physical matchup in the pool throughout most of the state final was the one between McQuet and Stevenson senior Andrew Shashin, who had entered the Elite Eight with totals of 125 goals and 57 assists for the Patriots.

McQuet — with timely help from the tenacious Yavitt twins and others — held Shashin to four shots, one goal and one assist.

“On ‘D’,” Scekic said, “Mason is an animal. To play defense as well as he does, you have to know positioning, and he knows that better than anybody else in the state.”

Bruised and bloodied after the state final, McQuet, with a towel in his right hand, walked behind his team’s poolside bench. The Trevian turned to face a wall, reared back and then stopped abruptly in mid-throw.

The towel never left his hand.

The unsaid message from the classy teen: No need to make a scene here.

McQuet had hands to shake, a medal to receive, a nose to ice.

Besides, highly competitive athletes never throw (in) the towel.

Notable: With two victories in three games last weekend at state, third-year New Trier coach David Rafferty-Flatter improved his career record at the school to 87-17-2. … New Trier’s three losses in 36 games this spring were to Stevenson, which scored 27 goals to NT’s 23 in the matchups. … After nipping Fenwick 12-11 in a state semifinal on May 20, New Trier’s Trevians had about seven hours to kill before the start of the final. “Our guys will go home, eat and take a nap,” NT coach David Rafferty-Flatter said. “Me? I plan to work out. I need to move something heavy.” … NT outscored Fenwick 5-1 in the third quarter of the semi, with Trevians senior Danilo Scekic recording three of the goals and assisting on another. “That was the best quarter we played all season,” NT senior Henry Yavitt said. “Danilo has a great shot, and he reads goalies well.” … NT senior Mason McQuet’s water polo coach at UC-Santa Barbara will be Wolf Wigo, who played on Stanford University water polo teams with Mason’s father, Rick McNair. … NT strength and conditioning coordinator Jim Davis worked with many of NT’s boys water polo players in the offseason. “He set us up for success,” Scekic said. “What a great motivator. He came up to us [before the NT-Fenwick semi] and told us, ‘Hey, guys, I’m shaking with excitement just thinking about this game.’ ” … Rafferty-Flatter, on his 2017 squad: “Tight — these guys were super close as teammates. They truly cared about each other. Stand-up guys, all of them.”

New Trier girls water polo: The Trevians lost 12-4 to eventual state runner-up Naperville Central (32-2) in a state quarterfinal at Stevenson on May 18. New Trier senior Sarah Caywood poured in three of the goals; junior Allie Larkin tallied the other. Junior Megan Frentzel delivered a pair of assists for the Trevians (20-10).