The Seahawks showed up late, and they left quickly.

It was a solid showing for the Spartans, and just in time, too.

The Bainbridge High varsity boys water polo team took their first step down the road to season redemption Tuesday, as the so-far struggling Spartans turned out an epic 18-7 win at home over the visiting Peninsula High School.

The victory advanced the overall season record for BHS to 3-3, including the two wins they snagged at a recent tournament in Auburn — one of which was another big win over Peninsula.

BHS is simply a more skilled team than their opponent, Spartan Head Coach Jacob Millican explained, which may have actually hurt them in the big scheme of things.

“The weekend tournament was a lot better,” he said of Tuesday’s match. “When you play a team that’s a little bit less skilled, sometimes you play down to that level. It’s hard to play crisp when the team you’re playing is not.”

Saying that their recent loss to Stadium High was something of a wakeup call for the team, Millican explained that the players were working even harder now, and he expected better showings in the future.

“[It’s] not the greatest start after our undefeated league championship last year,” he said. “But they all get better as they play.”

The team lost a lot of talent to graduation, Millican said, and even the more seasoned players on the roster are experiencing for the first time continual, consistent playing time.

This year’s bench consists of only three seniors and three juniors.

The Spartans took the lead Tuesday and maintained a solid points advantage for the entire game.

Especially impressive was the Spartans’ scoring accuracy; they hardly ever miss when given a chance to take a shot.

“I got a couple of really good shooters on the team,” Millican said, citing the team’s passing and turnover ratio as areas in need of improvement.

“We have a bad steal-to-turnover ratio right now,” he explained. “So we’re going to be doing a lot of work with the passing, getting into the lanes. Man-up’s been OK. I know how crucial it is so we do it every practice. I’d like to see it get better, but it’s OK right now. It’s one of the better things they’re doing.”

“It’s like in football, you have the run game and you have the pass game,” he added. “We’ve got the straight thing going when we run that umbrella offense and everybody drives, but we’re adding those outside shots as a component of that.”

Overall Millican said that the team was definitely improving every game, and that this win at home might be the confidence booster some of the younger players needed.

“All the tools are there it’s just putting it all together and have these guys reach their potential,” he said.