Editor’s note: Welcome to Lookout’s high school sports coverage. Our coverage is made possible by our members. Please become a member here today. Thomas Frey, an alum of Cabrillo College who has covered high school sports locally, will lead our coverage. His column — rounding up the week and looking forward to the next — will run each Monday. He’ll also profile an athlete of the month. We welcome your input — email thomas@lookoutlocal.com and news@lookoutlocal.com (with high school sports in the subject line).
After winning the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League and the Central Coast Section, Harbor High School volleyball won a match Tuesday in the NorCal state playoffs before falling in the second round Thursday.
Isla Johnson serves for Harbor High during Tuesday’s five-set victory over visiting Acalanes High. Credit: John P. Hefti / Lookout Santa Cruz 
Gwen Grigsby serves for Harbor High during Tuesday’s five-set victory over visiting Acalanes High. Credit: John P. Hefti / Lookout Santa Cruz 
Sabine Kemos swats one for Harbor High in Tuesday’s postseason win over Acalanes High. Credit: John P. Hefti / Lookout Santa Cruz 
Harbor High took down visiting Acalanes High in five sets Tuesday. Credit: John P. Hefti / Lookout Santa Cruz 
Sabine Kemos (left) and Isla Johnson defend at the net for Harbor High against visiting Acalanes High. Credit: John P. Hefti / Lookout Santa Cruz 
Harbor High took down visiting Acalanes High in five sets Tuesday. Credit: John P. Hefti / Lookout Santa Cruz
Tuesday’s Division III game was a five-set thriller over Acalanes High School in Lafayette. The top-seeded Pirates won the first two sets before the No. 16 Lady Dons won sets 3 and 4 to send the game into a decisive fifth set. Harbor regained the momentum and won decisively, 15-5, to advance. Senior Maren O’Farrell had eight kills and two blocks and juniors Isla Johnson and Sabine Kemos combined for 22 kills.
The Pirates’ amazing season came to an end Thursday against eighth-seeded Lowell High School of San Francisco. Despite falling in three sets, the Pirates gave it their all until the very end. Johnson and senior Holly Pendergraft each had five kills. Junior Sandy Eniquez had four kills and helped facilitate the offense by dishing out eight assists.
Harbor High players walk off the court after Thursday’s season-ending loss to Lowell High. Credit: John P. Hefti / Lookout Santa Cruz 
Junior Isla Johnson serves the ball during Harbor High’s loss to Lowell High. Credit: John P. Hefti / Lookout Santa Cruz 
Harbor High’s Sabine Kemos (7) and Holly Pendergraft (2) attempt to block a ball at the net in the Pirates’ playoff game against Lowell High. Credit: John P. Hefti / Lookout Santa Cruz
Football
Soquel High School 35, Carmel High School 14
The Knights have reached the Central Coast Section semifinals for the second consecutive season after taking down Carmel with a second-half push on Friday night in Division II.
The game was tied 14-14 heading into the fourth quarter when No. 2 seed Soquel (9-2) turned on the jets to send the seventh-seeded Padres (10-1) to their first loss. Sophomore quarterback Sam Whelan tossed two touchdowns and completed 81.2% of his passes. Five of those passes went to senior Jordan McCord III, who finished with 70 yards and two touchdowns. McCord also had an interception defensively.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Soquel had pulled ahead by three touchdowns.
On the ground, junior Tyreis Lundy had a career game, rushing for 201 yards and two touchdowns including a 98-yard score. Senior Braylon Noble added a rushing score in the victory.
Next up for the Knights is a home game Friday against No. 6 seed Monterey High School (8-3), with a trip to the CCS finals on the line. It’s a rematch from Sept. 29, when Soquel won 21-7.
Scotts Valley High School 33, Aragon High School 21
The Falcons won their 10th game of the season and advanced to the Central Coast Section Division III semifinals with a 33-21 victory over Aragon.
Sixth-seeded Scotts Valley (10-1) got out front early with an Eli Velez rushing touchdown. Up 7-0, defenders Marshall Dodge and Niko Iles combined to bring down Aragon’s ball carrier in the end zone for a safety. The Falcons continued their scoring with a 58-yard rushing touchdown from Brady Siechen.
Third-seeded Aragon (8-3) began to claw back, but Quinn Turowski made an interception on defense. Scotts Valley continued its scoring after junior quarterback Lucas Ringel ran for a touchdown. Ringel then hit Turowski for a 34-yard score as the Falcons wrapped up the 12-point victory.
Up next for Scotts Valley is a home game Saturday against Alisal High School, which defeated Capuchino High School 20-17. Alisal has a 10-1 record. These squads squared off in a regular-season game in 2022 and Scotts Valley came out with a 29-25 win.
Tennis
Aptos High School fell in the Central Coast Sections playoffs to Santa Catalina School on Monday by a score of 4-3. Seniors Holly Hegna and Tiana Smith and junior Aviana Andrews each won their singles matches, but Santa Catalina and its strong doubles unit won all three paired matches.
Cross-country
Several Santa Cruz County runners will be competing at Woodward Park in Fresno on Nov. 25. Scotts Valley High School qualified its boys and girls teams, the girls led by senior Ashlyn Boothby and sophomore Ava Decleve and the boys team by Aaron Weiss, Mason Lantz and Eli Granados.
Santa Cruz High School junior Heidi Green qualified as an individual. The boys team, led by Eli Fitchen-Young, qualified as a team for state.
From Aptos High School, both senior Rachel Hoops and sophomore Maya Schiro qualified individually for state in the girls race. Senior Evan Niles will race for the Mariners at state in the boys race.
Santa Cruz local Evie Marheineke of Archbishop Mitty won her race and finished with the third fastest time among the five races and will head to state.
Mount Madonna School freshman Kenzie Culbertson is headed to state after finishing among the top of the pack.
Watsonville High School junior Katelynn Ruiz finished seventh in the Division I race to qualify for state.
Monte Vista Christian School is sending its entire boys team consisting of Justin McCullick, Conor Gilliam, Bradley Orland, Gavin Beckmen and Eli Kieft to state. From the girls team, junior Kylie Brunelli will represent the Mustangs in Fresno.
Boys water polo
Soquel High School beat Leland High School 13-8 on Saturday to win the Division II Central Coast Section Championship for the first time since 2002. Tied up 2-2 heading into the second quarter, the Knights went on a 5-1 scoring ambush in the second quarter to take a 7-3 lead into halftime. Junior Cash Wolf had five goals in the game while seniors Hayes Pizzica and Malloy Wiens combined for seven goals. Junior Jacob Henshaw got the win in the net for Soquel.
It was a big week for the Knights, who on Tuesday took down Santa Cruz High School to advance to the finals. Soquel was able to pull out the close 13-10 victory as Wiens, Wolf, Pizzica and sophomore Stryder Stelck each had multiple goals. Santa Cruz, which saw its season end with the loss, had multiple-goal games from junior Pakalani Vaka-Saxton and Matthias Cruz and sophomores Nikolaus Kay and Hayden Johnson.
Soquel (21-4) moves on to play in the NorCal state playoffs on Tuesday against Garces Memorial High School (24-9) of Bakersfield.
Girls water polo
Soquel fell 9-6 to Sacred Heart Prep in the CIF Central Coast Section Open Championship on Saturday. To get to the finals, the Knights defeated Leland High School 9-7 on Tuesday in the semifinals. Senior Leah Murphy had four goals and a steal in the contest while senior Kayla Matthies and freshman Elizabeth Penny each scored two goals.
The trip to the finals earned Soquel (21-6) a trip to the NorCal state tournament, which begins on Tuesday against when the fourth-seeded Knights take on No. 5 seed Acalanes High School (19-7).
Aptos High School reached the Division II CCS Championship after taking down Harker High School 9-6 in the semifinals on Tuesday. Senior Fiona Carey had three goals while juniors Adriana Santillano and Scarlet Gleitsman-Miller each had two goals.
The season ended in the finals against Stevenson High School by a score of 6-3.
Alumni
University of Memphis tight end Brendan Doyle from Monte Vista Christian School had two catches in the Tigers’ 44-38 win over Charlotte on Saturday. The 6-foot-4, 255-pound redshirt sophomore has four catches in his past two games, two of which went for touchdowns for an 8-2 squad primed for a bowl game.
This week in history
Seven-footer Tim Young of Harbor High School made his NBA debut with the Golden State Warriors on Nov. 16, 1999, against an Elton Brand-led Chicago Bulls team. Young played 7 minutes in the games and scored 2 points. The second-round pick out of Stanford University played 25 games in his NBA career, averaging 2.2 points and 1.4 rebounds per game. He scored a career-high 6 points on April 14, 2000, against a Sacramento Kings team featuring Chris Webber and Vlade Divac. Young also played professionally in Poland and Spain.
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