High school sports roundup: SCCAL volleyball showdown, football fireworks & Aptos’ tennis roll

Editor’s note: Welcome to Lookout’s high school sports coverage. Our coverage is made possible by our members. Please become a member here today. Thomas Frey, an alum of Cabrillo College who has covered high school sports locally, will lead our coverage. His column — rounding up the week and looking forward to the next — will run each Monday. He’ll also profile an athlete of the month. We welcome your input — email thomas@lookoutlocal.com and news@lookoutlocal.com (with high school sports in the subject line).

Harbor High School and Santa Cruz High School will meet in girls volleyball Tuesday for the second time this season, with a Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League title on the line. The Pirates are undefeated at 10-0 in the league while Santa Cruz sits at 10-1; the Cardinals’ lone loss came to Harbor on Sept. 21.

Since then, the Cardinals have been nothing but perfect. Led by senior Antonia Wilson and sophomore Natalie Monroe, Santa Cruz has won 15 sets in league while losing just four since that Sept. 21 match.

Harbor has also lost just four sets in its past five league matches, including sweeps over Mount Madonna School, San Lorenzo Valley High School and Aptos High School. With seniors Gwen Grigsby, Dakota Johnson and Holly Pendergraft on the floor, Harbor has a chance to lock up its first SCCAL crown since 2019. But it won’t be easy: The past two times Santa Cruz has hosted Harbor, the game has gone to five sets. On Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., Harbor will have to win on the Cardinals’ home court.

Football

Scotts Valley High School 33, Monte Vista Christian School 8

Scotts Valley is now 3-0 in the Pacific Coast Athletic League Mission North Division after taking down the Mustangs. Senior running back Niko Iles started the scoring in the first quarter for the Falcons (6-1 overall) and junior quarterback Lucas Ringel tossed touchdowns to seniors Quinn Turowski and Brady Siechen. Monte Vista Christian (3-4) got on the board when junior quarterback Dom Pierini ran for a touchdown.

Next up for Scotts Valley: At Seaside High School (5-1) on Saturday.

Next up for Monte Vista Christian: Hosts Santa Cruz High School (0-6) on Friday.

Soquel High School 14, Hollister High School 10

Soquel remains near the top of the Pacific Coast Athletic League Gabilan Division after defeating league foe Hollister 14-10. Senior Jordan McCord caught two touchdowns from sophomore Sam Whelan as the Knights moved to 3-1 in league play and 6-2 overall.

Next up for Soquel: At Palma High School (5-2) on Saturday.

Palma High School 52, Aptos High School 41

In a back-and-forth Pacific Coast Athletic League Gabilan Division ballgame, the Mariners trailed by just three heading into the fourth quarter before falling by 11. Aptos now sits at 1-2 in league play (2-5) with three to play.

Seniors Matt Hood and Lawrence Ingram IV were dynamic all night. Ingram had two different 44-yard touchdown runs. The first gave Aptos a 21-14 lead in the second quarter. His second touchdown scamper gave the Mariners a 35-31 lead in the third quarter. Hood went 10-for-12 passing for 147 yards and two touchdowns. Both those TD throws went to senior Jasiah McKenzie, who now has four scoring receptions this season.

Next up for Aptos: At Monterey (5-2) on Saturday.

Stevenson High School 36, Pajaro Valley High School 29

Next up for Pajaro Valley (1-6): At Harbor High School (4-3) on Friday.

Gonzales High School 14, San Lorenzo Valley High School 9

Next up for San Lorenzo Valley (2-6): At Marina High School (1-7) on Friday.

North Monterey County High 48, Santa Cruz High School 0

Next up for Santa Cruz (0-6): At Monte Vista Christian (3-4) on Friday.

Seaside High School 40, Watsonville High School 28

Next up for Watsonville (2-5): At St. Francis High School (3-4) on Saturday.

Bye weeks: Harbor High School and St. Francis High School

Next up for Harbor: Hosts Pajaro Valley High (1-6) on Friday, Oct. 20.

Next up for St. Francis: At Watsonville High School (2-5) on Saturday.

Volleyball

In the Pacific Coast Athletic League Mission Division, the fight for the title is coming down to the wire. Watsonville High School sits at 8-2, tied with Monterey High School (8-2) and behind Stevenson High School (8-1). Watsonville gets both next week. The Wildcatz are coming off a 3-0 victory over Pajaro Valley High School. In the win, junior Daisy Cornejo had 8 kills and senior Destiny Montes had 4.

Coming off a sweep of Aptos High in which four juniors — Callahan Stone, Sandy Enriquez, O’Farrell and Holly Rejfir — all had big games for Harbor High School, the Pirates had a battle on senior night against Scotts Valley High School.

In a five-set Harbor win, senior Holly Pendergraft had 8 kills and 7 digs. Junior setter Maren O’Farrell had a triple-double, dishing out 23 assists, picking up 16 digs and climbing the ladder for 14 kills. Isla Johnson had 14 kills and digs and Sabine Kemos added 11 kills.

The Falcons were led by a trio of seniors in Natalia Cash, Grace Emanuelson and Paige Bariteau. Bariteau, also an excellent soccer goalkeeper, had 24 assists as Emuelson picked up 16 kills and Cash recorded 14.

Tennis

In a match between the top teams in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League, Aptos High School remained undefeated after beating Scotts Valley High School 4-3 on Tuesday. It’s the second time Aptos has narrowly held on against the Falcons.

With the match all tied up heading into the No. 3 doubles match, senior Natalie Victory and sophomore Neci Hoeptner won 6-1, 6-3 to clinch the match and the league title.

Also winning for Aptos was senior Tiana Smith, junior Aviana Andrews and sophomores Isabella Calderon and Natalia Calderon.

Scotts Valley was led to victories by seniors Stella Cheney and Maya Benson and juniors Sofia Niklaus and Erin Szymanski.

Soquel High School moved to 2-3 in the SCCAL after a 7-0 win over San Lorenzo Valley High School on Tuesday as Isla Garcia-McDougall, Avery Amsden, Elle Woods, Addie Somerville, Mia Gorsweiski, Mikayla Freiberg, Lucy Federspiel, Malia Martin, Camryn Jensen and Sage Kelly were victors.

Two days later, Santa Cruz High School picked up a win over Soquel on senior day to improve to 4-2 in the SCCAL. Senior Sasha Wolfsen dropped the first set before pulling out a win for the Cardinals, and another senior, Polina Doronkina, picked up a victory. Julia Kennedy, Rainey Ruff and Clara Weaver also picked up wins for Santa Cruz.

Cross-country

Monte Vista Christian School took first in the boys 3-mile Pacific Coast Athletic League Mission Division race and Watsonville High School took fifth on Thursday. Wildcatz senior Giancarlo Mendo won the race and teammate Rodrigo Barranco took sixth.

Monte Vista Christian occupied three of the top six spots as sophomore Conor Gilliam and Gavin Beckmen and junior Justin McCullick all finished with times of 16 minutes, 26 seconds or less.

In the girls race, junior Katelynn Ruiz won the race for Watsonville, which finished second as a team. Monte Vista Christian junior Kylie Brunelli finished second in the race.

Boys water polo

Soquel High School and Santa Cruz High School are now tied atop the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League after the Knights beat the Cardinals 6-5 on Thursday night.

Soquel seniors Malloy Wiens and Connor Garde each scored twice as the Knights held a 4-1 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Santa Cruz sophomore Hayden Johnson did everything he could to get the Cardinals back into the game, scoring multiple goals in the final frame in a losing effort.

Girls water polo

Soquel High School looks to close out the league season undefeated with matches against San Lorenzo Valley High School and Aptos High School this week. The game against Aptos will be senior night and the Knights will honor legendary seniors Kayla Matthies, Leah Murphy, Summer Stelck and Amelie Stotland, who have never lost in league play.

Girls flag football

Aptos High School took down Everett Alvarez High School 32-12 on Tuesday. Quarterback Gaby Dow completed 83.3% of her passes and two touchdowns, both to Izzy Graff, who also had a 40-yard rushing score. Dakota Bamford also played quarterback and tossed two touchdown passes herself, to Nancy Cervantes and Mia Parello.

Alumni

Santa Cruz High School alum Ashtyn Davis of the New York Jets picked up his first interception of the season Oct. 1. The interception came against the league’s best, two-time NFL Most Valuable Player Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs were up 17-5 and driving in the second quarter when Mahomes looked to make a long pass. With the ball sailing through the air, Davis leaped up and came down with the football. The Jets started the drive on the Chiefs’ 42-yard line and it led to a touchdown drive as Zach Wilson hit C.J. Uzomah for the score.

This week in history

Glenallen Hill of Santa Cruz High School appeared in the 2000 World Series for the New York Yankees. Hill, who had 186 career home runs, made his World Series debut on Oct. 21 of that year and played in three games as the Yankees beat the New York Mets in five games. At Santa Cruz High School, Hill was also a great football player, picking up gridiron scholarship offers in the process.

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