Quick Take
Taking a look back at Soquel HIgh's run to the CIF Division 4-AA championship, plus how the boys and girls basketball seasons are shaping up around Santa Cruz County, soccer highlights and more.
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).
Soquel High School won the first football state championship bowl game in Santa Cruz County history, and what a season it was for the Knights.
The Knights were coming off a second-round Central Coast Section playoff run in 2022, and the 2023 squad zoomed past that by winning the first CCS title in school history and the first state championship bowl game in Santa Cruz County history. Soquel took down Fontana’s Jurupa Hills High 28-7 in Pasadena on Friday to capture the California Interscholastic Federation Division 4-AA title.
Soquel High finished 13-2 overall, winning its final 10 games.
Former Soquel High legend and veteran of 116 NFL games as a player, Dwight Lowery entered his sixth year as head coach with an experienced senior class featuring Jordan McCord III, Cruz Ferris, Braylon Noble, Justice Grauel-Tebong, Malakai Ross-Graves, Troy Vienna, Cade Petersen, Esteban Gonzalez Cruz, Owen Cattaneo, Luke Battey, Tito Ramirez and Jacob Magana.
The Knights had a very difficult nonleague schedule and picked up victories against Burlingame High School, Santa Cruz High School and Scotts Valley High School.
Then in league play, Soquel won games against Palma High School, a team that won the Division 4-A state championship, and Aptos High School, a squad it hadn’t beaten since 2009.
Soquel stepped up even more when the playoffs arrived. In the five playoff wins, the Knights allowed an average of just 7 points per game and pitched shutouts over Monterey High School and Christopher High School.
Boys basketball
Monte Vista Christian School moved to 6-2 on the season with victories over Watsonville High School and Greenfield High School, and losses to Damonte Ranch High School (Reno, Nevada) and Scotts Valley High School.
The win over Watsonville was a close 46-39 game where the Mustangs trailed by a point entering the fourth quarter. Seniors Bryce Brogan and Jack Ryan each scored in double figures for Monte Vista Christian, while senior Brody Legions was Watsonville’s leading scorer with 15 points.
Monte Vista Christian vs. Scotts Valley was tied heading into the fourth, but the Falcons persevered and walked out of the gym with a 55-50 victory. Juniors Taylor Knox and Will Schillings along with senior Chase Welle tallied up a combined 44 points. Ryan led the Mustangs in scoring with 12 points while adding nine rebounds.
That was the only game of the week for Scotts Valley, which has started the season 2-3 while navigating a very difficult schedule.
Soquel High School and St. Francis High School squared off Saturday and the Knights came up with a 66-58 win. Junior Nico Ramirez led Soquel with 20 points while fellow junior Peyton Bortz had 12.
For St. Francis, senior Sam Braun chipped in 25 points. Senior Joseph Rose and sophomore Robert Gomez tallied up 26 total points.
Girls basketball
Girls basketball teams in Watsonville are off to big starts this season.
St. Francis High School has roared out to a 4-1 record and defeated Soquel High School 38-30 in its only game last week. Freshman Maya Calfee and senior Nevaeh Litel led the team with 12 points each. Calfee had 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks. Senior Aaliysah Gomez also contributed in a mighty fashion with 11 rebounds and 8 steals.
Watsonville High School is 3-2 and won their lone game of the week over King City High School 56-24. Sophomore Stephanie Martinez had 16 points and senior Isabella Love finished with 12.
Monte Vista Christian School is 5-4 after wins over Westmont High School and Soquel High School last week.
Boys soccer
Monte Vista Christian School evened up its record at 2-2-1 last week after defeating San Lorenzo Valley High School 2-0. Sophomores Joaquim Ortinpedragosa and Maxx Montenegro scored the goals for the Mustangs.
It was the Elias Garcia show at St. Francis High School against Downtown College Prep of San Jose on Tuesday. The senior scored all three goals for the Sharks, who improved their record to 1-1 in the early going.
Aptos High School is 4-1 and won games over Wilcox High School and Los Gatos High School last week. In a 3-2 thriller over Wilcox, senior Eddie Alvarez had two goals and senior Kaleb Plascencia also found the back of the net. Nami Banks, Andrew Lopez and Ulises Valdez assisted on the goals.
Scotts Valley High School is 2-1 after a win over Pacific Collegiate School 3-1. Senior Mars Davis had two goals and Cooper Wickum had one.
Girls soccer
Aptos High School is 2-2 on the season and defeated Watsonville High School 2-1 on Tuesday. Senior Angelique Nunez and Isabella Hartnett each scored a goal to open the second half. Ella Shoemaker and Scarlete Stateler assisted the scores.
San Lorenzo Valley High School remained undefeated after beating Ceiba College Prep 3-1 on Tuesday. Sophomore Simone Mugnier had one goal and junior Jessica Stoelting scored twice.
Scotts Valley High School beat Pajaro Valley High School 2-0 on Tuesday. The Falcons evened up their record at 2-2-1 after freshman Taylor Ericson scored both goals. She was assisted by juniors Jordan Ericson and Dillon Fiorita.
Santa Cruz High School is 2-1 and took down Alisal High School on Monday 2-0. Lia Gularte and senior Clara Willet scored second-half goals for the Cardinals in that victory.
Harbor improved to 3-1 with wins over King City High School and Watsonville High School. The Pirates scored two goals in each win. Against King City, senior Ruby McAlister and freshman Maisie McAlister found the back of the net. Two days later in the victory over Watsonville, senior Olivia Chen and freshman Kallista Whitmore scored.
Alumni
Santa Cruz High School alum Claire Thompson is starting her college basketball career at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. On Thursday, in her eighth college game, she made all four of her shots and scored a career-high 8 points, adding 2 steals and a block on defense.
As a high school senior last year, Thompson helped lead the Cardinals to the Northern California playoffs after going undefeated in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League.
This week in history
On Dec. 14, 1985, Watsonville High School’s Sherman Cocroft played for the Kansas City Chiefs, intercepting future Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway in a game against the Denver Broncos. Cocroft had seven interceptions in his five-year NFL career, including two against Elway and one against another Hall of Famer, Warren Moon.
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