VISALIA - Hanford High boys water polo coach Vince Roeber held his young son Carson in his arms and easily found the words to describe what had just happened.

"Desire, desire, desire."

And, indeed, Tuesday's results were exactly what the Bullpups desired all season long.

Hanford overcame a three-goal deficit early in the fourth quarter to tie it, then dominated in overtime, to defeat Dinuba 14-11 for the Central Section Division II championship at Golden West High School.

The Section crown was the first for the top-seeded Bullpups (27-5) since 2004 and also Hanford's third straight postseason win in an out-of-town pool.

"The kids just kept getting stronger as the game went on," Roeber said. "Of those four goals we scored in overtime, two were by a sophomore (Christian Sook) and one by a junior. The younger kids really picked us up and showed they were ready to go."

Little Carson can look forward to more private time with dad as well.

"This is my last game as a Bullpup, for a while," Roeber said. "I will still be a part of these young men's lives, but just not in a leadership role."

That thought was on the forefront for the Bullpups as well.

"We just never gave up. It was like the Hanford West game," said Sook, who ended the game with five goals. "We've got a great team, grad coaches and great fans cheering for us."

An overflow crowd - including Dinuba's cheerleaders and the Hanford Bullpup mascot - that squeezed into every spot available on the deck at Golden West got their money's worth out of this one.

Hanford led 2-1 after the first period, both goals by Sook, but Dinuba (21-5), the No. 2 seed in the playoffs, rallied to take a 5-3 lead with 2:04 to go before intermission on a shot by Justin Lopez-Lamb.

The 'Pups battled back for the tie, however.

Josh Ornellas scored with 49 seconds left to make it a one-goal game.

After another huge save by Ryan Dias, Hanford tied it on a power-play goal by Ben Hoover with four seconds left.

Dinuba appeared to take command in the third period, outscoring Hanford 3-1 over the final 3:02 to take a 9-7 lead, with a Lopez-Lamb goal with 6:23 remaining giving the Emperors a 10-7 lead.

But the Bullpups weren't through yet.

Michael Conway scored off a rebound to make it 10-8. Ornellas scored on a power play with 3:35 to go. And when Sook scored with 2:58 left, things were all square at 10-10.

Both teams missed on man-up situations down the stretch, forcing overtime.

"Those last few minutes of regulation were probably the worst," Roeber said. "I kept thinking 'we're up, we're up ... we're not up, and what do we do.'"

Dinuba's Derek Perez gave the Emperors the early lead in the first three minutes of overtime, but Hanford got four goals in final 1:32, turning the final three minutes into a glorified game of keep-away, as the bench and fans chanted "Vall-ley! Val-ley!"

Conway's goal with 1:32 tied the game at 11, with Davey Moroles scoring on a breakaway with 55 seconds to go to put Hanford ahead for good.

Cook added two in the final 31 seconds, including one that floated into the net just as time expired.

"It was nothing special," said Conway of his last goal. "We just never let up."

Sook was followed in the scoring for Hanford by Moroles with three, Ornellas with two and Conway and Hoover with one each.

Hoover also had nine steals, Ornellas seven and Coway six, while Dias had four saves.

Lopez-Lamb led the Emperors with five goals.

(Nov. 18, 2009)