Quick Take
Tournament championships were on the line over the weekend in Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League basketball, with Santa Cruz High taking the boys crown and Aptos High winning on the girls side.
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 Santa Cruz High School boys basketball team and the Aptos High School girls basketball team won their respective Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League championship games Saturday night at Cabrillo College.
This is the second consecutive season the Cardinals won the boys title, and they did it by taking down Aptos High School 43-36.
Great scoring games by senior Ben Dotten (15 points) and junior Kirby Seals (12 points) helped to seal the title for Santa Cruz.
Senior Mateo Calfee scored relentlessly for the Mariners, pouring in 17 points.
The girls game was also Santa Cruz vs. Aptos, with the Mariners winning 46-36. Santa Cruz won the regular-season title with a perfect 10-0 league record; two of those victories came against Aptos by a combined 31 points.
Aptos got payback in the tournament final, pulling away in the third quarter to take the crown. Sophomore Abby Sherwood and freshman Gabby Wickham led a balanced scoring attack for the Mariners, finishing with 11 points apiece. Sherwood also came up big defensively, blocking a monstrous six shots.
Senior Ava Lord led Santa Cruz with 11 points.
Boys basketball
Monte Vista Christian School is second in the Pacific Coast Athletic League Cypress with a 10-3 record and one game left in league play. After falling to first-place Rancho San Juan High School on Tuesday, the Mustangs topped Soledad High School 63-38 on Thursday. The game against Soledad was senior night for Monte Vista Christian and a pair of Mustangs had double-doubles in their final home game. Jack Ryan had 19 points and 11 rebounds while Angel Martinez scored 15 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.
In the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League tournament, Soquel High School beat Harbor High School 54-49 and Scotts Valley High School topped San Lorenzo Valley High School 70-68 in the first round. Junior Nico Ramirez and D’Rell Hopkins led the way for the Knights; Ramirez had 13 points while Hopkins had 11 points and a key block. Harbor was led by junior Guerande Houssin, who had 12 points.
In Scotts Valley’s 70-68 victory over San Lorenzo Valley, senior Chase Welle had 10 points while juniors Will Shilling, Taylor Knox and Kit DeForest combined to score 46 points. San Lorenzo Valley was led by seniors Dominic Chiechi (12 points) and Aiden Nounnan (11 points) and juniors Noah Steiger (18 points) and Jacob Sanders (16 points).
In the semifinals Thursday, Aptos High School took down Soquel 73-71 and Santa Cruz High School topped Scotts Valley 88-51 to set up the Aptos vs. Santa Cruz final.
Junior Isaiah Ackerman absolutely dominated for the Mariners in the tight win over Soquel. Ackerman scored 32 points and knocked down nine of his free throws. Senior Mateo Calfee and junior Nick Tovani each scored 11 points. For Soquel, Ramirez and Hopkins combined to score 41 points.
Santa Cruz was led by sophomore DeMarco Hunter, who scored 26 points, and senior Demeke Smith, who tallied up 24 points for the Cardinals. Welle, Shilling, Knox and junior Zach Shilling all scored in double figures, combining for 42 points.
Girls basketball
St. Francis High School leads the PCAL Cypress with a perfect 12-0 record with two games left to play. The Sharks locked up the league title last week after defeating Gonzales High School 71-43 on Tuesday and North Monterey County High School 48-45 on Thursday. Freshman Maya Calfee dominated against Gonzales by scoring 25 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Senior Emily Raich tacked on 19 points while senior Nevaeh Litel added 10 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.
Pajaro Valley sits in fifth in the Cypress with one game left after topping Gonzales 43-35 on Thursday. Seniors Giselle Quintero and Jasmine Luengas led the Grizzlies with 27 combined points.
In the first round of the SCCAL girls basketball tournament on Tuesday, San Lorenzo Valley High School defeated Soquel High School 40-37 and Scotts Valley High School moved on after beating Harbor High School 57-27. Scotts Valley was led by sophomore Brooklyn Williams, who scored 24 points, and freshman Hanna Shehorn, who tallied up 14 points.
In the semifinals, Aptos High School defeated Scotts Valley 62-53 and Santa Cruz High School won over San Lorenzo Valley 61-32. Those wins set up the Aptos vs. Santa Cruz final.
In the victory over Scotts Valley, Aptos freshman Gabby Wickham saw nine field goals and 13 free throws go through the net for 35 points. She also added 9 rebounds and 3 assists. Junior Berkeley Ashby came up big with 11 rebounds and 3 steals for the Mariners.
Boys soccer
Pajaro Valley High School finished the regular season with a 5-5-2 record in the PCAL Mission. A 3-1 win on Friday over Palma High School locked up fourth place in the loaded league. Seniors Jesus Alvarado and Giovanni Bedolla and junior Kristof Garcia scored for Pajaro Valley.
St. Francis High School has one game left in the PCAL Santa Lucia, on Monday against Anzar High School. The Sharks have locked up the league with a 9-1-1 record. This will be the second time in the span of a week that the Sharks will take on Anzar. On Monday, St. Francis took them down 4-1. Seniors Elias Garcia and Aaron Rocha-Diaz, sophomore Liam Rawson and freshman Colton Stevens each scored for the Sharks.
The Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League heads into the final week of the season and Aptos High School is currently atop the standings with a 6-1-1 record. On Wednesday, the Mariners took down Santa Cruz High School 3-0 and on Friday, they tied Harbor High School 2-2.
Against Santa Cruz, Damian Garcia and seniors Esteban Garcia and Eddie Alvarez each scored. Then against Harbor, Alvarez notched his 20th goal of the season and Andrew Lopez also scored for Aptos. Brandon Jimenez scored both goals for Harbor.
San Lorenzo Valley High School is right in the thick of things at 3-4 in the SCCAL. In a 2-0 win over Scotts Valley High School on Wednesday, Owen Garrahan and senior Aiden Nounnan each found the back of the net.
Girls soccer
Watsonville High School sits in the middle of the PCAL Gabilan after defeating Alisal High School 2-0 on Tuesday. Shaylah Melendez and junior Gimena Nunez each scored for the Wildcatz.
Pajaro Valley High School closed out the final week of the PCAL Mission in second place after winning each of its games this past week. First, the Grizzlies beat Carmel High School 5-2, then they topped Monte Vista Christian School 4-1.
Pajaro Valley junior Valeria Acosta scored three goals in each of those games. Sophomore Scarlet Gomez also scored twice against Carmel, while junior Leslie Carrisoza had a goal against Monte Vista Christian.
Pacific Collegiate School locked up fourth place in the league with a 4-3-5 record. In a 2-0 victory over North Salinas High School, Amelie Pan and freshman Kaia Gurdak found the back of the net.
Aptos closed out the SCCAL on top with a 9-0-1 record. The Mariners beat Santa Cruz High School 4-1 on Tuesday, then tied Harbor High School 1-1 on Thursday. Sophomore Alexa Castaneda and freshman Isabella Hartnett each scored twice against Santa Cruz. The Cardinals’ goal was scored by Joy Roberts. In the tie against Harbor, senior Ella Shoemaker scored for Aptos, while junior Ava Bibighaus scored for the Pirates.
Soquel High School finished second with a 7-3 record after a 2-1 win over Harbor and a 2-1 win over Scotts Valley High School. In the victory over Harbor, senior Julia Inkles and junior Trinity Wilson scored for the Knights. Senior Olivia Chen scored for Harbor. Against Scotts Valley, Inkles scored again and junior Isela Gonzalez also got a goal. Junior Jordan Ericson tallied up the goal for the Falcons.
Alumni
Soquel High School alum Dillyn Vasconcellos has started her softball season at Cabrillo College by recording hits in four of six games for the 4-2 Seahawks. Last season, Vasconcellos had a .398 batting average.
This week in history
On Feb. 3, 2013, Santa Cruz High School alum Brendon Ayanbadejo won Super Bowl XLVII in the Baltimore Ravens’ 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. He played 27 snaps in the game.
Ayanbadejo played in all 20 games, regular and postseason, for the Ravens, compiling 44 tackles. He played in the NFL from 2003-12 with the Miami Dolphins, Chicago Bears and Ravens and tallied 254 tackles and 4.5 sacks in his career.
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