JSerra, Newport Harbor, Harvard-Westlake, Oaks Christian are teams to watch in water polo

A year ago, everyone knew which team would be best in Southern Section boys’ water polo — JSerra. It was as certain as the temperature reaching 100 degrees in Death Valley because the 30-0 Lions had Ryder Dodd, the best high school player in America. He’d go on to start for the U.S. Olympic team in Paris and earn a bronze medal.

Now comes life after Dodd, which means No. 1 in Southern California is up for grabs. JSerra, Harvard-Westlake, Newport Harbor and Oaks Christian all look capable of finishing on top and they’ll be playing one another in tournament and nonleague matches before the Open Division playoffs.

JSerra coach Brett Ormsby certainly has someone to build around in goalie Jonas Ransford, the starter as a sophomore on last year’s unbeaten team. There’s also 6-foot-5, 291-pound junior Tyler Anderson, one of the most imposing players in the pool.

Jonas Ransford returns as goalkeeper for JSerra’s water polo team that went unbeaten last season.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

“As a center, you can’t cover him with one player,” Ormsby said.

Taylor Bell scored five goals in the season opener and freshman Sean Anderson, Tyler’s brother, had three goals.

Oaks Christian is an intriguing team in that coach Jack Kocur’s top player is his son, Cam. There’s also Wyatt Williamson, who joined the team late last season from Hawaii, and Pepperdine commit Max Burstein. Hall of Fame water polo coach Rich Corso has joined the program to coach goalies.

Harvard-Westlake came close to toppling JSerra in several games last season. Otto Stothart, a senior, is one of the most sought after college recruits in the state. Collin Caras is committed to Stanford.

Newport Harbor, which has made five consecutive Southern Section finals, has added transfers from Harvard-Westlake and Mater Dei in Lucca Van Der Woude and Santino Rossi to join returnees Connor Ohl and Luke Harris (goalkeeper).