Quick Take
As Santa Cruz County high school sports teams head into the holiday break, freshman Maya Calfee is doing it all for the St. Francis High girls basketball team, and senior Eddie Alvarez is on a goal-scoring spree for Aptos High.
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).
The St. Francis High School girls basketball team is off to an electric 5-2 start with heavy senior leadership and great play by freshman Maya Calfee. The 6-foot-3 Calfee has scored in double digits her past six games, including 16 points in a 48-30 win over Scotts Valley High School on Tuesday. Calfee also rebounds, passes and plays defense at an elite level for the Sharks. In a 47-42 loss to Morgan Hill’s Live Oak High School on Thursday, Calfee had 13 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 7 steals and a block.
Seniors Emily Raich and Nevaeh Litel also average at least 10 points a game for St. Francis. Both are also great defenders. Raich, who averages 11.7 points, also records 2.1 steals per game. Litel averages 10 points on the dot, and has 1.9 steals per contest.
Another senior, Aaliysah Gomez, is the top defender on the team with 5.7 steals per game. Gomez averages 4.3 points per game, pulls down 6.5 rebounds and passes for 2.8 assists per game under coach Jesse Yniguez.
Boys basketball
Monte Vista Christian School improved its record to 7-2 and the Mustangs have won two in a row after beating Live Oak High School of Morgan Hill 63-59 on Tuesday. Senior Bryce Brogan had a season-high 24 points to lead the team, and added 4 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal. Junior Nico Downie was the only other Mustangs player with double-digit points and chipped in 3 steals. Seniors Angel Martinez and Jack Ryan were big on the boards, combining for 16 rebounds.
Scotts Valley High School lost two nail-biters last week to fall to 2-5. In a 53-50 loss to Hollister High School on Tuesday, senior Chase Welle scored 25 points. A pair of juniors in Will Shilling and Taylor Knox combined for 15 points. Two nights later in a 63-50 loss to Mountain View High School, junior Alex Burgos led the Falcons with 14 points while junior Zach Shilling had 11 points.
Girls basketball
Watsonville High School is now 4-2 after defeating Soledad High School 42-34 on Tuesday. In a defensive battle, the Wildcatz had 20 steals.
In an unselfish, balanced offense, senior Isabella Love, junior Brianna Leon and sophomores Stephanie Martinez and Leilani Yasin are Watsonville’s scoring leaders, all within 3.2 points of one another. Leon also averages an incredible 6 steals per game along with 3 assists. Yasin and junior Fernanda Lazo are tied for the team lead with 6 rebounds per game each.
Aptos High School has a 5-3 record after splitting a pair of games in the past week. In the 34-29 victory at North Salinas High School on Thursday, freshman Gabby Wickham dominated, scoring 24 points and notching 5 steals. Junior Berkeley Ashby and sophomore Abby Sherwood came up big on the boards, combining for 21 rebounds. Defensively senior Guin Lines had 4 steals to go with 4 assists.
Harbor High School had three games in the past week, with the Pirates beating Anzar High School and KIPP San Jose Collegiate. In a 42-36 victory over Anzar, senior Keili Carriere and freshman Julianne Sanguinetti led the Pirates with 9 points each. Two days later, a trio of freshmen led Harbor with a combined 45 points in the 57-17 win over KIPP. Samantha Herrera scored 16 points, Malalai Etamadi had 15, and Gillian Hull chipped in 14 points.
Santa Cruz High School moved to 5-1 after a 46-28 win over Half Moon Bay High School. Junior Tiera O’Connor and sophomore Karolina Espinosa each had 11 points. Senior Natalia Espinosa was right behind them with 8 points.
Boys soccer
Senior Eddie Alvarez of Aptos High School now has 14 goals on the season after finding the back of the net four times in a 14-0 victory over Anzar High School on Thursday. Ulises Valdez and Oscar Ponce each scored two goals while Nami Banks, Carlos Gutierrez, Josiah Siqueiros, Damian Garia, Ben Baker and Nicolas Topete each added one goal for a 5-2-1 Mariners squad.
St. Francis High School moved to 2-2 on the season after beating Trinity Christian 3-0 on Friday. Senior Aaron Rocha-Diza, sophomore Abram Gonzalez and freshman Aiden Berrelleza-Hernandez each scored for the Sharks. Senior Andrew Garibay was in net for St. Francis, earning the shutout.
Harbor High School is now 4-1-1 after winning matches against Anzar High School and Pacific Collegiate School last week. In a 9-0 win over Anzar, Johnny Campbell had a hat trick and Romeo Marin and Brandon Jimenez each scored two goals.
Scotts Valley High School topped St. Francis 4-0 on Monday and the Falcons are undefeated at 3-0-2. Against the Sharks, senior Mars Davis had two goals. Contributing one goal apiece were Rex Denger and Seamus Drees.
Girls soccer
Harbor High School defeated Anzar High School 10-0 on Tuesday. Sonja Hulphers scored three goals while Ruby McAlister and Maisie McAlister each scored two goals.
Three days later, the Pirates defeated Pajaro Valley High School 2-1. Juniors Becca Vaca and Ava Bibighaus each scored a goal for Harbor, which has a 5-1 record. Pajaro Valley won its next game, 4-0 over St. Francis High School.
Aptos High School went 1-1-1 last week, with a win over Fremont High School and a tie against Valley Christian High School. In the victory over Fremont, Isabella Hartnett scored all three Mariners goals in a 3-0 shutout. Hartnett was key again against Valley Christian. With Aptos trailing 3-2 in the 79th minute, Hartnett scored her second goal of the game to tie it up and send the Mariners home with a draw.
San Lorenzo Valley High School is 5-1-1 and won twice last week, including a 2-1 result over Monte Vista Christian School. Senior Maya McGivney and junior Naomi Sifton scored for the Cougars while Sarah Reiland scored for Monte Vista Christian.
Scotts Valley High School beat North Salinas High School on Monday by a score of 3-0. The Falcons’ goal-scorers were junior Dillon Fiorita, sophomore Ella Ireland and freshman Taylor Ericson. The next day, Watsonville High School beat Scotts Valley 2-0.
Santa Cruz High School won an exciting 3-2 game over Carmel High School last Monday after Lia Gularte scored two goals and Tamar Deutsch tallied up one.
Soquel High School played three times last week and won against Liberty High School of Madera. Juniors Trinity Wilson and Kendell Kroeker scored for the Knights in the 2-0 victory.
Alumni
Cabrillo College men’s basketball is 12-0 and ranked No. 9 in the state. Freshman Christian Quintero of Watsonville High School has made an impact. In back-to-back games this month, Quintero scored 12 and 11 points.
This week in history
Coming off a Central Coast Section Division 1 title, the 2005-06 Watsonville High School boys soccer team was looking to repeat. The Wildcatz came close, finishing 23-3-1 before falling in the CCS championship. The road there is the most cherished, and on Dec. 19, 2005, goalkeeper Joshue Silva had to work hard in the 4-0 shutout of Gilroy High School. Gilroy was firing at the net all game, and Silva kept making stop after stop, racking up eight saves, tied for the sixth-most in school history.
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