Even though Royal gave away its chance to have sole possession of the Marmonte League boys' water polo title by losing to Agoura High on the last day of the season, the Highlanders have shown no signs of a letdown.

After crushing Malibu High in the first round of the CIFSouthern Section Division IV playoffs, 17-8, Royal continued to dominate in the postseason by beating Peninsula 14-2 Tuesday.

"We are really starting to gel as a team," Royal head coach Steve Snyder said. "I think today we played great and we were clearly the better team."

Blake Hubbell led the way for RHS with five goals.

"My teammates made it easy for me by giving me great passes on time when I needed them," Hubbell said.

Tyler McClure and Robert Lubell each had four goals, while Scott Snyder added a score.

While the Highlanders' offense was firing on all cylinders, the defense was stellar, too, with Stash Dabrowski in goal. Dabrowski made sure the game was never close, recording 10 saves.

"Our defense has been great; it created our offense," Lubell said.

Steve Snyder agreed that defense is an important part of Royal's game.

"We've concentrated on defense all season long-that's the key," Snyder said. "If our defense is good, the offensive opportunities will come."

Although it was a secondround playoff game, the score backed up some words by Royal players that said their real test hasn't come yet.

"This game wasn't much of a test for us," McClure said. "I don't want to sound like an ass or anything, but we were clearly the better team out there today."

The Highlanders' next opponent, Mira Costa, should be a bigger test, Snyder said.

"They are a very good team and we are going to have to play our best game in order to beat them," he said.

Royal will play Mira Costa today at 3:15 p.m. at Thousand Oaks High.

Although RHS is concentrating on today's game, a possible rematch with Agoura looms on the horizon.

Agoura will play Righetti at Oaks Christian today, and if Agoura and Royal win, the rematch of the top two teams in the Marmonte League will take place Monday at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach.

"Yeah, we're hoping to play (Agoura) in the finals," Lubell said. "But we have to take care of our game against Mira Costa. It doesn't matter who we play in the finals to us, but it would be nice to play them again."

Hubbell said RHS has had no ill-effects from the loss to Agoura.

"Our coach didn't really have to say anything to us after that loss," Hubbell said. "It was in our heads for a little while, but we got over it. Hopefully there will be a chance for redemption."