Hillsdale water polo does one thing really well

I hate putting that kind of pressure on one or two kids — Hillsdale goaltender Justin McClure will also be key in jumpstarting the Knights attack — because it does a disservice to the rest of the team, but it is clear that the task for the opposition is simple: stop Yeager, stop Hillsdale.

Saying it is easy. Actually doing it? Well, defenses haven’t slowed him down yet. Since a 10-5 loss to Serra to open the season, the Knights have now won three in a row with Yeager piling up goals — 42 through four games.

Yeager followed up his Burlingame performance with 11 goals in a 17-7 win over Carlmont. He then set a school single-game scoring record Tuesday, finding the back of the net 16 times in a 28-7 win over Mills.

To be fair, Hillsdale is beating up on Ocean Division teams that were clearly overmatched. Newly promoted to the Bay Division this season, things will get tougher for the Knights.

And they won’t even have to wait until the start of Bay Division play, which begins in two weeks. They will get their first real test of the season when they travel to Palo Alto for a 6:30 p.m. match Thursday. The Vikings, led by former Serra head coach Bob Greene, advanced to the Central Coast Section Division I title game in 2021, falling to Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division champion Gunn.

Perhaps this will be the chance for the rest of the Knights to emerge from the shadow created by Yeager. He is going to command a lot of attention from defenses this year. The Knights still have time to find secondary and tertiary scoring options.

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Frankie Ferrari’s globe-trotting basketball career is on the road again as the 2014 Burlingame grad signed with Spanish club Zaragoza, which plays in Spain’s highest league, Liga ACB.

Ferrari, a 6-1 point guard, spent the spring with Zaragoza, appearing in seven games in April and May. It was announced in mid-August that he was returning to the team for the 2022-23 season.

It was a whirlwind 2021-22 campaign for Ferrari, which started with one game with Bamberg in Germany. After briefly retiring, Ferrari spent the rest of the season playing for his hometown team — hometown G-League team, that is. He made 30 appearances for the Santa Cruz Warriors, the minor-league team of the Golden State Warriors, averaging nearly 23 minutes per game, averaging 5.2 points and 5.2 assists per game.

At the conclusion of his G-League commitment, Ferrari was back on a plane and flying back to Europe for his first stint with Zaragoza. As spring turned to summer, Ferrari found himself running with other NBA hopefuls playing with Sacramento Kings’ summer league team, making six appearances, scoring a summer-high 16 points against Indiana during a Las Vegas league game.

Zaragoza is Ferrari’s third stop in Spain. He began his professional playing career with Baxi Manresa in 2019 and returned in 2021. In 2020, he signed with Gran Canaria.

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Today is my reminder to fall sports varsity coaches and scorekeepers to email results to sports@smdailyjournal.com so we can track your team’s progress throughout the season. With a small staff trying to cover nearly two dozen high schools in the county, we rely on the post-game stats to help us determine the course of our coverage. It helps us identify trends, players to track and highlight, and which games and matches to cover.

Nathan Mollat can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: 344-5200 ext. 117. To report scores or tips, email sports@smdailyjournal.com.