High school sports roundup: MVC, St. Francis, Santa Cruz High lead pack as hoops league play hits high gear

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).

Monte Vista Christian School boys basketball sits in a tie atop the Pacific Coast Athletic League Cypress Division after defeating Rancho San Juan High School on Wednesday and a 63-53 loss to Soledad High School on Friday. All three of these teams are tied for first.

After trailing by 10 at halftime at Soledad, the Mustangs cut the deficit to five heading into the fourth before the Aztecs clawed out the victory.

In the victory over Rancho San Juan, junior Dominic Pierini had one of his best games this season, scoring 14 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Senior Jack Ryan also had a superb night, scoring 11 points while adding 8 rebounds. Senior Ethan Quizon didn’t take a single shot, but blocked two shots and dished out 3 assists while recording a steal. 

Rancho defeated Soledad in the opening league game of the season.

Boys basketball

Watsonville High School has a 4-2 record in the PCAL Mission. The Wildcatz defeated both Stevenson High School and St. Francis High School. 

St. Francis defeated North Monterey County High School 58-56 on Thursday. Senior Sam Braun drilled five 3-pointers on the way to scoring 29 points. Braun has had some very good games this season, scoring 42 against Scotts Valley High School on Dec. 29 and 33 against Harbor High School on Dec. 28.

Sharks senior Joseph Rose had 11 points and 8 rebounds while senior Markel Parker and sophomore Jacob Jimenez each grabbed 11 rebounds. 

Santa Cruz High School sits atop the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League with a 6-0 record after topping San Lorenzo Valley High School 52-31 on Tuesday and Harbor High School 67-31 on Friday. 

In the win over San Lorenzo Valley, senior Ben Dotten had 14 points and 10 rebounds while seniors Demeke Smith and sophomore DeMarco Hunter each had 10 points. Junior Jacob Sanders was the leading scorer for the Cougars. 

Aptos High School and Soquel High School are tied for second with 4-2 records. Aptos beat Scotts Valley 57-35 and Harbor 65-39 last week. In the victory over Scotts Valley junior Isaiah Ackerman had 15 points on offense and 4 steals on defense. Junior Owen Warmerdam had a pair of blocks to go with seven points.

Soquel took down San Lorenzo Valley 63-42 and Scotts Valley 54-48 last week. In the close game over Scotts Valley, senior Braylon Noble and juniors Nico Ramirez and D’Rell Hopkins each had 10 points. Juniors Will Shilling and Kit DeForest combined to score 30 points for Scotts Valley.

Girls basketball

St. Francis High School has a perfect record of 6-0 in the PCAL Cypress after victories over Gonzales High School and North Monterey County High School.

In the 62-38 win over Gonzales, freshman Maya Calfee had 19 points, 11 rebounds and 11 steals while senior Emily Raich added 14 points and 4 steals. Senior Aaliysah Gomez had 10 steals.

In the close 48-43 win over North Monterey County Raich had 26 points while knocking down five 3-pointers. Senior Nevaeh Litel had 10 rebounds and 4 assists. Calfee had 11 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals.

Santa Cruz High School is at the top of the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League and undefeated at 6-0 after taking down San Lorenzo Valley High School 58-38 and over Harbor High School 44-7 last week. Against San Lorenzo Valley, senior Linneah Keence led the team with 14 points. Senior Ava Lord and junior Tiera O’Connor each had 12 points. Senior Natalia Espinosa had 5 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.

Aptos High School moved to 5-1 after topping Harbor and Scotts Valley High School. In the 51-24 win over Harbor, senior Laurel Southall had 11 points and freshman Gabby Wickham had 12. Wickham came up big again in the 50-35 win over Scotts Valley, dropping in 19 points and passing for 5 assists. Sophomore Abby Sherwood scored 12 points with 9 rebounds and 4 blocks for the Mariners.

Boys soccer

Monte Vista Christian School tied Gonzales High School 1-1 on Wednesday and beat Pacific Collegiate School 4-0 on Friday to move to 1-2-1 in the PCAL Cypress. Sophomore Conor Gilliam scored the Mustangs’ goal against Gonzales. He again scored against PCS on Friday, along with senior Trent Hendricks, junior Brandon Kelley and sophomore Saiyur Patel. 

Watsonville High School moved to 2-2-1 in the PCAL Gabilan after beating Everett Alvarez High School 2-1 on Friday. Senior Cristian Flores and junior Orlando Valtierra each scored for the Wildcatz.

Pajaro Valley High School improved its record in the PCAL Mission to 3-1-1 after defeating King City High School 1-0 on Thursday. Senior Efrain Martinez scored the goal for the Grizzlies.

St. Francis High School is undefeated in the PCAL Santa Lucia with a 4-0 record. In the 2-0 victory over Oakwood School, senior Micah Cervantes and sophomore Liam Rawson each scored.

On Saturday, the Sharks took down York School 3-0. Rawson scored again and he was joined on the goal sheet by senior teammates Elias Garcia and Thiago Caetano.

Harbor High School leads the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League with a 3-0 record. In a 3-0 victory over San Lorenzo Valley High School on Wednesday, Romeo Marin had two goals while Alex Aparacio had a goal and an assist. Danny Garcia also had two assists. Garcia scored a goal Friday in a 3-1 win over Soquel High School. Marin also had two goals. 

Aptos High School and Soquel High are both 2-1 in the SCCAL. The schools squared off on Wednesday and the Knights won 3-2. Soquel had two goals in the first 22 minutes but Aptos clawed back in the game with goals from senior Eddie Alvarez and Nicolas Topete.

Girls soccer

Monte Vista Christian School is 5-0 in the PCAL Mission after topping Seaside High School 3-0 and Pacific Collegiate School 2-1 this week. Senior Julia Reiland, sophomore Kanaya Falce and freshman Tea Knowles-Osmeni each scored in the win over Seaside. In the win over PCS, Reiland and junior Riley Retter each found the back of the net. The Mustangs have a big game on Tuesday against Pajaro Valley High School, which is 3-1-1 in the league.

Aptos High School leads the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League at 4-0, with all four matches being shutouts. This past week, the Mariners defeated Soquel High School 2-0 and Santa Cruz High School 7-0. Sophomore Alexa Castaneda and freshman Aubrie Ford scored in the win over Soquel. Junior Anahi Macias had two goals against Santa Cruz. Castaneda and seniors Kaitlyn Murphy and Ava Churchill, sophomore Isabella Doolittle and freshman Isabella Hartnett scored one goal in the game. 

Scotts Valley High School is tied with Soquel for second in the SCCAL. The Falcons took down Santa Cruz High School 1-0 and San Lorenzo Valley High School 2-0 over the past week. Sophomore Ella Ireland scored the lone goal against Santa Cruz. Against SLV, junior Skylar Dufour and freshman Taylor Ericson each scored.

Girls volleyball

St. Francis High School or looking to hire a girls head varsity volleyball coach. Anyone interested should contact athletic director John Ausman at ausman@stfrancishigh.net.

Alumni

Soquel High School alum Max Walters has appeared in six games this season for the Chico State men’s basketball team. The Wildcats are 12-4 and Walters had a career-high 12 rebounds in just 15 minutes against Simpson on Dec. 19.

This week in history

On Jan. 28, 2001, Aptos High School alum Trent Dilfer threw for 153 yards and a touchdown as the Baltimore Ravens defeated the New York Giants 34-7 in Super Bowl XXXV. Dilfer threw for 20,518 yards and 113 touchdowns in an NFL career that lasted from 1994 to 2007.

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