High school sports roundup: Aptos, Santa Cruz lead local contingent into CCS hoops quarters

Editor’s note: Welcome to Lookout’s high school sports coverage. We’ll send you an email each week as it is published each Monday — just sign up here. Thomas Frey, an alum of Cabrillo College who has covered high school sports locally, leads our coverage, his column appearing weekly and his athlete of the month feature mid-month. We welcome your tips and stories —email thomas@lookoutlocal.com and news@lookoutlocal.com (with high school sports in the subject line).

Aptos High School and Santa Cruz High School are on a collision course to meet in the Division III Central Coast Section basketball playoffs on both the boys and girls sides. The teams are all in the quarterfinals, which take place Tuesday. The semifinals are set for Thursday, with the Division III finals taking place Friday at a site to be determined. 

The Aptos (18-8) boys are led by junior Isaiah Ackerman, who averages 18.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game. The Mariners will host Burlingame High School (11-14) on Tuesday night and the winner will move on to Thursday. Aptos seniors Mateo Calfee, Johnny Cornejo and Lawrence Ingram IV also can put up valuable performances.

On the other side of the boys bracket sits top-seeded Santa Cruz (20-5). The Cardinals will host Saratoga High School (12-13) on Tuesday. Santa Cruz is led by senior Ben Dotten, who averages 16.2 points per game, and sophomore Demarco Hunter, who puts up an average of 15.5 points per night. Junior Kirby Seals has contributed an additional 12.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.

Aptos will take on Del Mar High School (17-9) on the girls side of the bracket. Led by freshman Gabby Wickham, who averages 15.1 points and senior Laurel Southall, the Mariners are 18-7.

On the other end of the bracket is Santa Cruz (20-6), which will host Presentation High School (7-15) on Tuesday. Junior Tiera O’Connor leads the Cardinals at 11 points per game. Sophomore Kina Espinosa and senior Ava Lord combine to average 16 points and 13 rebounds per game.

Boys basketball

In Division IV, Monte Vista Christian School (18-8) defeated San Jose High School in the first round before falling to Palma High School (13-13) 49-47 in the second round. In the victory over San Jose (12-13), senior Jack Ryan had 14 points while fellow senior Vid Levak added 10. Ryan and senior Angel Martinez were also big on the boards, combining for 25 rebounds. 

Against Palma, the Mustangs held a 40-34 lead heading into the fourth quarter before the Chieftains roared back to win. Senior Bryce Brogan led the Mustangs with 14 points while junior Nico Downie added 10 points. 

Harbor High School, Soquel High School and San Lorenzo Valley High School were also seeded in Division IV. Harbor (12-14) fell to Stevenson High School (10-16) 62-38 in the first round. Stevenson went on to play Soquel (14-13) in the second round, a game the Knights won 62-36.

Soquel was led by juniors D’Rell Hopkins and Nico Ramirez, who each had 15 points. Senior Braylon Noble (11 points) and junior Tyler Harway (12 points) both contributed double-digit efforts as well. Soquel will travel to face Menlo School (14-10) on Tuesday in the quarterfinals.

San Lorenzo Valley (11-15) beat Oceana High School (14-11) 64-60 in the first round before narrowly falling to Pacific Grove High School (15-10) 59-53 in the second round. 

In Division V, Pacific Collegiate School (12-7) battled and fell 54-46 to Summit Tahoma High School (11-5). It ended a great run for Pumas, who finished the season as league champions. 

Girls basketball

St. Francis High School (21-2) is in the CCS Division V quarterfinals and will host Notre Dame High School of Salinas (16-10) on Tuesday. The Sharks are led by freshman Maya Calfee, who averages 16.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 4.7 steals per game. Seniors Emily Raich, Nevaeh Litel and Aaliysah Gomez combine to average 31 points, 17 rebounds and 6 assists per game. 

Also in Division V is Pacific Collegiate School (11-11), which plays Crystal Springs High School (8-12) on Tuesday. The Pumas took down Santa Catalina High School (11-8) 55-20 in the second round.

In Division I, Watsonville High School (11-14) fell to Santa Teresa High School (16-10) 68-30 in the first round. Senior Iliana Garcia had 6 points for the Wildcatz, while juniors Fernanda Lazo and Hailey Brooks tallied up 12 points.

In Division IV, Harbor High School (7-18) fell to Design Tech (11-10) 47-23 in the first round, while Scotts Valley High School and Monte Vista Christian School both play quarterfinals games Tuesday.

Scotts Valley (11-13) is coming off a 73-37 second-round win over Oceana High School (9-14). Sophomores Brooklyn Williams and Samatha Rebbert lead the scoring Scotts Valley, which next takes the floor Tuesday against Half Moon Bay High School (14-9).

Monte Vista Christian (15-10) will take on Menlo School (15-9) on Tuesday after beating Pacific Grove High School (7-17) 52-33 in the second round of the playoffs on Saturday.

Boys soccer

Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League champion Aptos High School (14-3-3) narrowly fell in the Division II Central Coast Section playoffs to Junipero Serra High School (11-5-5) on Saturday. The two squads were all tied up at 4-4 heading into overtime before Serra won on penalty kicks to advance. Andrew Lopez scored two goals for Aptos, and fellow seniors Kaleb Plascencia and Carlos Gutierrez each found the back of the net as well.

In Division IV, Harbor High School (12-4-4) fell 3-1 to North Salinas High School (10-8-3) in the first round. Danny Garcia scored the goal for the Pirates.

Girls soccer

Just like the boys, the Aptos (15-3-3) girls team also lost in penalty kicks in the first round of the Division II Central Coast Section playoffs. The Mariners were tied 1-1 with Leland High School (14-4-2) at the end of regulation before falling 5-4 in penalty kicks. 

Pajaro Valley High School (10-6-3) reached the Division IV playoffs before falling to Everett Alvarez High School (13-6-1) 4-1 in the first round.

Soquel High School (11-7-2) qualified for the Division V playoffs and lost to Rancho San Juan High School (13-6-1) 5-1 in the first round. Senior Julia Inkeles scored the goal for the Knights.

Alumni

JoJo Keldsen of Monte Vista Christian School has started off his collegiate career on fire on the mound. The freshman pitcher at California State University Stanislaus has pitched in four games and hasn’t allowed an earned run in three innings. The former Mustang also has struck out two batters coming out of the bullpen.

This week in history

On Feb. 22, 2020, the Santa Cruz High School girls soccer team began a run through the Central Coast Section playoffs that ended with the Cardinals holding up the cherished section banner. On Feb. 22, the Cardinals beat Leland High School. Four days later on Feb. 26, Santa Cruz took down Homestead High School in a close 3-2 game. Then on Feb. 29, the Cardinals pitched a shutout over South San Francisco High School 2-0 as senior Jaden Moore scored both goals for Santa Cruz.

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