BOYS' WATER POLO NOTEBOOK: OAKS CHRISTIAN HALTS MALIBU'S 13-YEAR, 82-GAME STREAK.

Byline: Ramona Shelburne  Staff Writer

MALIBU - The history of Malibu High's boys' water polo team hangs in intimidating fashion on a wall around its pool. Eleven banners commemorating the school's consecutive Frontier League titles look down on every opponent.

Oaks Christian of Westlake Village didn't need a reminder. Last year, in the same pool, the Lions thought they had the talent to bring Malibu's reign to an end. They were wrong.

Turns out they were a year off.

On Wednesday, Oaks Christian finally beat Malibu, claiming an 11-7 Frontier League victory to end the Sharks' 82-game league winning streak.

One might suggest the win was a year in the making: Oaks Christian's talented junior class finally played at a level that could beat the Sharks, whose streak has spanned 13 seasons.

``They went a long time without losing, so it was definitely going to be tough to end (the streak),'' said Oaks Christian's Mike Blanchard, who scored three goals. ``They weren't going to let that streak go without having something to say about it.''

Wednesday's result wasn't unexpected. Oaks Christian (23-1 overall, 2-0 Frontier) beat the Sharks 7-6 Saturday in the semifinals of the Oxnard tournament, the captured the title - its third tournament championship this season.

Oaks Christian also thought it would beat Malibu at least once last year, but the Sharks won all three meetings - 16-10, 12-4 and 20-4.

Jonnie Pare scored five goals and fellow junior Ryan Balikian added three for Oaks Christian.

``We're growing up now, and we're ready to take over the top spot in the Frontier League,'' Balikian said. ``Our goal now is to finish out the season without a loss and then get a high seed in playoffs, where we can do some damage.''

Malibu was led by junior Joe Sloggy's five goals, but it received only one goal from its top player, Sean O'Neill, who was under heavy pressure from Oaks Christian defenders from start to finish.

``I knew the day would come - streaks are made to be broken,'' Malibu coach Mike Mulligan said. ``We played really well today, but we just came up against a strong Oaks Christian team that has really improved this year.''

The question now is whether Malibu has ceded command of the league to Oaks Christian for good. Sloggy doesn't think so.

``We're a little down this year,'' Sloggy said. ``But I think it'll just be for next year. We lost two of our best players in the offseason. Blake (Hubbel) transferred to Royal, and Bennett Sherman is only playing football. But we're still going to keep building and getting better.''

--Poll watching: La Canada remains the area's highest-ranked team in a Southern Section poll. The Spartans, No. 2 in the Daily News rankings, are No. 1 in Div. III for the fifth straight week.

The Div. IV poll is filled with local teams. Royal is fourth, Agoura fifth, Oaks Christian is seventh, Moorpark is eighth (dropping two spots after losing to Westlake 9-7 last week), and Westlake and Thousand Oaks round out the top 10.

If the playoffs began today, Royal would be the first-place team in the Marmonte League, followed by Agoura, Westlake and Moorpark. Thousand Oaks would be left out.

Ramona Shelburne, [phone]

ramona.shelburne(at)dailynews.com