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2011
June 26. Sentinel, Sports YEAR IN REVIEW: 2010-2011 In Review
Santa Cruz County’s Highlights From 2010-2011, of just SC players

Nov. 6. SC girls water polo team clawed their way to a post season berth with a 10-9 win over regular season champion SLV. The Cards had to win to keep their season alive after a late CCS ruling declaring only the league champions could advance. Both teams lost their CCS Division II first round games.

Nov. 7. Seven local girls volleyball teams, which included SC, received spots in the CCS playoffs.

Jan. 7. The Wharf to Wharf Race gave its largest gift to SCHS of $78,000 for its new track facility. The race started in 1973 and has grown into one of the premier road races in the country. This past year more than 15,000 people ran the race from Santa Cruz to Capitola.

Jan. 24. Achley Claussen makes history with a quadruple-double of 18 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 11 steals in the Cards 65-47 win over Harbor.

March 5. SC boys soccer team wins second consecutive CCS D-III title 2-0 over Live Oak. The championship is the schools sixth overall.

March 27. SC graduate Austin Swift leads Cal Poly-Pomona to its first NCAA Division II men’s basketball national title in a 65-53 win over Indiana Pennsylvania in Springfield, Mass. Swift added 12 points and six rebounds and was named the Elite Eight Tournaments Most Outstanding Player.

April 21. State Wrestling Association Honors Ferrell. Longtime area coach Ed Ferrell will be honored by the California Wrestling Hall of Fame with the lifetime Service Award at a banquet in Lake Forest on May 14.
Farrell wrestled for the first teams at SC from 1951-55 and Cabrillo 1962 and San Jose State 1965-67. After his competitive career Ferrell began coaching and running local tournaments. He helped start the Coast Classic 40 years ago, making it the longest running tournaments in the state. The former Harbor coach also serves as director and commissioner of the Santa Cruz County middle school tournaments for over 30 years.
(Ferrell has coached wrestling and other sports at SC and Harbor. In his time at Harbor it seems that he is on the schools regular teaching staff, he does so much work at the school.
He also serves on fund raising committees)
Sentinel Dec. 10, 2004. The Sentinel Preview of the league wrestling race. Ferrell is in his fourteenth year as the Harbor coach after his time at SC. He has high hopes for his boys he’s raised from pups. But more importantly he likes his wrestler as both athletes and people. No big head in this bunch and Ferrell is grateful. They are really good kids. You can’t help but love them. They are smart. Look at freshman Tyler Naman, He gets A-pluses”
Ferrell got to know his kids at Shoreline and Branciforte junior highs. The wrestlers love Ferrell, the jovial doughnut maker turned wrestling coach. A player said of Ferrell, he has a really positive outlook, who is a fixture at any wrestling event in the county. I have so much respect for the guy. He’s seen it all, done it all, coached it all. He’s the man.”
Ferrell makes sure wrestling a intense and difficult sport is fun for his team. His athletes have responded by filling the schools wrestling room every afternoon. Ferrell has also established in these athletes a sense that they can win and win big.

May 7. Santa Cruz’s new Memorial Track and Field is unveiled and hosts the SCCAL boys and girls track championships. The field underwent a much needed $1.7 million renovation, which lasted almost two years. The Cardinals christened the track by winning the boys title and the girls took second place.

May 13. After just barely making it to the CCS playoffs, the SC baseball team goes on a run of postseason upsets to advance all the way to the CCS Division III final, where the Cards lost 4-0 to Menlo School. SC seeded eighth and was one of two teams with a losing record to qualify for the playoffs, beat number one seed Palma and fifth seeded Half Moon Bay en route to its appearance in the title game. SC beat Harbor 4-0 in their last league game and won a third place tie breaker over Scotts Valley for the berth in CCS.

May 13. Sentinel Picks for BEST OF THE YEAR for Boys Athletes in the county: Of eight boys chosen, John Chronopoulos, junior soccer player was included. John a forward led the county with 31 goals to carry the Cards to the SCCAL and CCS Division II titles.

Jan. 29. DOUBLE, DOUBLE, DOUBLE, DOUBLE. Santa Cruz’s Claussen Notches One Of The Rarest Feats In Sports. Quote from former San Francisco Warrior Nate Thurman, who notched one of the NBA’s only four Quadruple-doubles. “The reason why it is such a hard thing to accomplish is because it requires a player o be completely dominant on both ends of the court without being too selfish.”
In basketball a quadruple double refers to a game in which a player posts double-digit totals in four or five major statistical categories, points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. It has happened only four times in NBA history. When a person earns a quadruple-double, it makes you wonder if there’s anything that person can’t do. Perhaps no other milestone shows an athletes skill in all facets of their sport.
At the high school level, even triple-doubles are rare, since players have only 32 minutes in regulation to rack up stats, versus 48 minutes in the pros. SC’s junior point guard Ashley Claussen had never had a triple-double heading into this season. (No records have been found or individuals know of anyone in the area who knows of any player who has done it)
Claussen scored 18 points, had 14 assists and 10 rebounds in a win over Evergreen on Dec. 16. On Jan. 12, Claussen did it again with 23 points, 12 steals and 10 assists against Aptos.
On Jan. 25, Claussen got her QUADRUPLE-DOUBLE in a comeback victory over Harbor with 18 points, 11 steals, 10 rebounds and 10 assists
Thurmond in a 2009 interview with ESPN said, “A lot of guys can get the points, rebounds and assists, but it’s the defensive stuff that messes everybody up. You have to love defense to get a quadruple-double. There’s no way around it.”
Always a defensive specialist, Claussen was never known for her scoring before this year. But after working with her shooting coach in the off season and doing a bit of self coaching with ball handling and shooting drills, she is leading SC with 11.84 points per game. She is also well in the lead in the county for steals with 129 and assists with 126
SC plays at an up tempo pace with a full court pressure defense, which results in a significant number of turnovers and more possessions for players to accumulate numbers. In the same game Claussen had her quadruple-double, Kali DeHart had a triple-double, scoring 15 points with 10 rebounds and 10 steals.
Claussen said she had no idea she was approaching history during her remarkable game. Amazingly, she actually thought she was having a bad night. “I felt like in order for our team to get going I would have to step up and create those shots for my teammates and play a solid game throughout. I couldn’t play well one quarter then play bad. It just made me want to work harder.” Her performance has been award worthy so far.

2011
VARSITY FOOTBALL
Practice games: Carlmont22-44, Watsonville 13-12, Pajaro Valley 39-0, Los Altos 27-27,
League: Aptos 24-15, Soquel 24-21. Scotts Valley 12-7, Harbor 42-6, SLV 24-28, St. Francis 17-7. League record 2-4 for sixth place. 4-5-1 overall record.
League records followed by overall season records. SLV 6-0, 9-1; Aptos 3-1-2, 5-3-2; Scotts Valley 3-1-2, 3-5-2; St. Francis 2-3-1, 3-6-1; Soquel 2-3-1, 2-7-1; SC 2-4, 4-5-1; Harbor 0-6, 1-9.

Roster:
SENIORS:
NAME POS HT WT
Dominic Bonner DB/RB 6-1 165
Bryon Williams LB/RB 6-1 185
Philip Ahn WR/DB 5-10 155
Derick Delucchi RB-DB 5-10 165
Dennis Webb WR/DB 6-3 165
Roma Dmitriyey TE/LB 6-0 200
Brandon Thomas WR/DB 5-6 140
Matt Dietz DB/WR 6-0 170
Bjorn Berg RB/LB 5-11 180
JUNIORS:
Robert Schultz WR/DB 5-10 160
Bakari Broadnax RB/DB 5-9 160
Yabi Abraham WR/DB 5-11 170
Chris Kovats-Wildenradt WR/DB 5-8 160
Trevor Clark QB/PUNT 6-1 165
Beto Qlmedo KICKER 5-10 165
Joe Rocha QB 6-1 175
Jonah Hodges RB/DB 5-10 170
Cesa Enriquez RB/DB 5-6 150
Brady Halbleib RB/LB 6-0 185
Justus Kovats-Wildenradt WR/DB 6-0 180
Nick Locatelli RB/DB 5-7 155
David Ledwith WR/LB 6-0 175
Patrick Sepe RB/LB 5-11 180
SOPHOMORE
Dominick Vaughn RB/LB 5-11 180
Mezziah Williams RB/DB 6-2 185

Sept. 3. Eat Sleep Live FOOTBALL After Living On Campus For a Week, Santa Cruz Players Feel Like Family. One of the challenges a high school football coach faces is turning his team into a family. As many of us know, being related by blood isn’t a guarantee for harmony and teamwork. So imagine trying to get dozens of unrelated teenage boys united to achieve a common goal, in this case, wins and championships. It isn’t easy, but the family mentality is a vital component of a team’s success.
SC coach Bubba Trumbull took it a step further. For six days in August, the Cards were a real family. They lived together in the school cafeteria. They ate, slept and played together. They practiced twice a day and sweat together. For 22 hours a each day, players were given two hours of free time to leave campus, they learned about each other than they expected. The players bonded. Not just with teammates, but their coaches too. Trumball and all the assistants took part in the sleep over.
“It was great,” said junior quarterback Joe Rocha. “There was a lot of chemistry. That’s what was lacked on winning some games last year.” Last year the Cards were homeless. They played all of their ten games on the road. This year they will have eight home games.
Several players say the team’s mindset has changed this year and attribute the change more to the camp than the new field. “We came closer as a family,” said Matt Dietz, a running back and linebacker. “Sure there was a couple of conflicts between teammates, but that’s football. I want to do it again. I wish every day was camp. For us seniors, we don’t get to do it again.”
It was the first time Trumbull, now in his fourth season, tried the on campus sleep over as a coach. He said he and his assistant coaches also benefited. “All our coaches have a better understanding of what it takes to motivate them and understanding what’s going on in their lives. Trumbull participated in one as a SC senior under then coach Ron Mehuron, who held overnight camps multiple times in his 21 years as coach of SC (‘74-79 and 83-97) and Harbor (‘98-01)
“As a player, it was something we would look forward to all summer and talk about,” Trumball said. “It still is. We still talk about it. I hope these kids had the same experience.” different games and activities helped liven up the free time in camp.
Players jotted down their goals and team goals. Un-be-known to them, they had to read their letters to the team by the light of a flashlight on the football field at night. Players said the experience was raw and emotional. Every morning at seven, Turnbull woke up his kids with a whistle. The kids dined like kings on donated food.
Trumbull organized the camp as a means of immersing his players’ minds and energy in football for a whole week. The plan worked from the start.
Sentinel Sept. 4. Friday Night Lights On, County Teams Lit Up. Santa Cruz’s Loss to Carlmont Is One In a String of Bad Starts. A near capacity crowd turned out to watch SC play its first home football game in more than a year. The fans had little to cheer about in as the Cards fell to Carlmont 44-22 in both teams season openers. “We showed our inexperience. We mad about every mistake you can make. It wasn’t physical, it was mental. Physically we can play this game,” said coach Bubba Trumbull. At times it was hard to tell. Carlmont’s top runner finished with 265 yards rushing on 17 carries.
Last year the team played all ten games on the road, while the football field was being resodded. “We’ve got a lot to work on,” said Dominic Bonner, who scored on a 75 punt return in the first quarter to tie the score 7-7. SC finished with 87 yards rushing and 61 passing. SC trailed 20-14 at halftime, despite struggling to produce a rushing attack with its fly based offense. “I thought we were going to have a more success on the ground,” said Coach Trumbull, who returns seven starters on offense, including two All SCCAL lineman.
Junior running back Jonah Hodges finished with a team high 52 yards on seven carries, including a four yard touchdown run with two minutes left in the game. He also had the longest reception of the night of 20 yards. Junior quarterback Joe Rocha finished 9 of 19 passing for 61 yards and three interceptions. SC finished with four turnovers. It lost only one of them.
The low light of the game came in the third quarter with the Cards on their own 36 yard line, but with a medley of errors moved them backward, including three penalties on three straight plays. It ended with SC being tackled in the end zone for a touchback and two points. “A safety from 40 yards out?” Trumbull said. “We defied the laws of physics right there.
Come on!”

Scoring: Dominic Bonner, 79 punt return. Beto Olmedo kicked the extra point. Matt Dietz fumble recovery in the end zone. Olmedo kicked extra point. Jonah Hodges four yard run. Bonner scored two points on pass from Joe Rocha with 2:04 left in the game.

Scoring by quarters
Carlmont 7 13 2 22 44
SC 7 7 0 8 22

Carlmont SC
First downs 14 6
Rushes-yards 39-402 36-71
Passing yards 0 61
Comp-att- int 0-2-0 9-19-3
Fumbles-lost 2-2 4-1
Penalties- yards 5-50 9-52

Individual stats: Rushing by carries- yards: Jonah Hodges 7-52; Dominic Bonner 3-15; Derick Delucchi 13-15; Byron Williams 2-8; Brady Halblieb 3-7; Mezziah Willams 1-4; Yabi Abraham 1-5; team minus 16; Trevor Clark 2-minus 39.
Passing by completions, passes attempted, yards gained and interceptions: Joe Rocha 9-19-61-3.
Receiving by catches and yards: Bonner 3-23; Hodges 2-20; Delucchi 1-8; Aabraham 1-6; Kevin Cox 1-4; B. Williams 1-0.
Defensive stats: Fumble recoveries: Nick Locatelli and Matt Dietz.

Sept. 11. Rival Revival. Area Grudge Matches Live Up To Their Billing. Cards Take Upper Hand By One Point. SC provided as many bloopers as highlights against longtime rival Watsonville, but the important picture was the one the scoreboard showed at the end. SC held on for a 13-12 victory over visit Watsonville as both teams showed their y0uth down the stretch.
SC started the game with a 73 yard touchdown run by Derick Delucchi on the first play from scrimmage. “It was the same play that was wasn’t working for us last week and we worked all week on fixing it. That’s how it should have looked,” coach Jesse Trumball.
This week, SC will probably work to protect the football. It ended the game by fumbling five times in the last ten minutes, twice losing possession. Watsonville capitalized on one of those turnovers with 2:33 left with a two yard TD run to make the score 13-12. The Cats went for a two point conversion for a possible win, but were stuffed inches from the goal line.
SC gave the Wildcats one more chance with 1:37 left when the Cards got confused on a handoff and fumbled the ball again. But Watsonville couldn’t come up with any more fourth quarter magic. Trumball admitted that’s not how he wants his team closing out games. Trumball said, “Yes, but it’s winning. The important thing is we survived that against a very good Watsonville team and got the W.”
SC’s defense made up for the offense’s mistakes, as Cards Jonah Hadges and Victor Luna each came up with interceptions. Luna’s led to quarterback Joe Rocha’s one yard keeper for a touchdown in the fourth quarter that gave SC a 13-7 lead.
“We talk about rivalry, we talk about how important it is to the county as a whole. If they didn’t understand it before, they do now,” Trumball said.

Scoring by quarters
Watsonville 0 6 0 6 12
SC 6 0 7 0 13

WAT SC
First downs 15 8
Rushes-yards 39-210 36-345
Passing yards 58 27
Comp-att- int 5-13-2 2-3-0
Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-7
Penalties- yards 9-50 7-70

Individual stats: Rushing by carries- yards: Derek Delucchi 10-135, Bryan Williams 8-62, Mezziah Williams 1-8, Dominic Bonner 3-4, Joe Rocha 7- minus 2, Jonah Hodges 6- minus 5 and Team 1-0.
Passing by completions, passes attempted, yards gained and interceptions: Rocha 2-3-0-27
Receiving by catches and yards: Jason Patel 1-27, Bonner 1-0
Defensive stats: Fumble recoveries: 0. Interceptions 2

Sept. 18. Hodges’ 3 TD’s Lead Cardinals Over PV. Jonah Hodges took the handoff and ran it 65 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage for SC. That started a trended for Hodges a running back/defensive back, who put on a show on both sides of the ball. Hodges ran for 124 yards on only four carries, caught a 53 yard touchdown pass and added a interception on defense as host SC defeated the Pajaro Valley Grizzles 39-0. “He has potential,” said fourth year coach Bubba Trumball. “He really showed what he can do out there. He played great on both sides of the ball.”
Hodges and the rest of the offensive starters were pulled in the second half after taking a 39-0 lead at halftime. It was the second week in a row SC opened the game with a long score. Last week, Derick Delucchi ran for a 73 yard TD in the 13-12 win over Watsonville. Delucchi added two rushing touchdowns against PV and finished with 108 yards on 10 carries in one half of work.
“We really worked hard tonight and everyone stepped it up tonight. Every player on our team played their A game and I’m proud for all of them,” said Hodges. PV had no answers for SC’s size, strength and quickness.
“Our second and third groups did a good job of keeping the shutout going in the second half,” Trumball said. SC will host Los Altos in their final non-league game next Friday.
“It will be one good test before SCCAL play starts. I feel we have a playoff team here and a win will be a big boost for us before league starts,” Hodges said.

Scoring By Quarters
Pajaro Valley 0 0 0 0 0
SC 19 20 0 0 39

PV SC
First downs 5 11
Rushes-yards 3-minus 5 37-383
Passing yards 38 53
Comp-att- int 1-8-2 1-1-0
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1
Penalties- yards 2-10 9-70

Individual stats: Rushing by carries- yards: Jonah Hodges 4-124, Derick Delucchi 10-108, Mezziah Williams 7-53, Nick Locatelli 6-58, Bryan Williams 2-12, Dominic Bonner 2-11, Brady Halbieib 3-28, Trevor Clark 3- minus 11.
Passing by completions, passes attempted, yards gained and interceptions: Joe Rocha 1-1-53-0.
Receiving by catches and yards: Hodges 1-53.

Defensive stats: Fumble recoveries: Matt Dietz
Sacks: Michael Schuhe and team one each.
Interceptions: Jonah Hodges and Brandon Thomas one apiece.

Sept. 25. Santa Cruz Comes From Behind To Tie Los Altos 27-27. RB Delucchi Scores Three TDs For Cards. SC rallied back from a 20-0 second quarter-deficit, but couldn’t hold off Los Altos’ own late surge with 1:56 left in the game. With the Cards holding a 27-20 lead, Los Altos went 87 yards for a score and with an extra point kick tie the score.
Derik Delucchi had 20 carries for 126 yards and three touchdowns. “We never quit. We battled hard all game, we just couldn’t close the game out. I feel this well be a big confidence booster for us when we start league next week.” Delucchi had a 32 yard touchdown reception to go along with two rushing scores. SC is now 1-3-1.

Scoring By Quarters
Los Altos 12 8 0 7 27
SC 0 6 6 15 27

LA SC
First downs 17 11
Rushes-yards 37-229 41-263
Passing yards 197 53
Comp-att- int 13-27-1 3-8-0
Fumbles-lost 1-1 3-3
Penalties- yards 14-120 4-26

Individual stats: Rushing by carries- yards: Derik Delucchi 20-129, Jonah Hodges 11-125, Byron Williams 5-23, Joe Rocha 5- minus 2.
Passing by completions, passes attempted, yards gained and interceptions: Rocha 3-8-53-0
Receiving by catches and yards: Delucchi 2-40, Hodges 1-13
Defensive stats: Fumble recoveries: Michael Schuhe
Sacks: David Ledwith
Interceptions: Hodges

Oct. 2. Aptos Tops SC In Homecoming. Delucchi Shines For Cardinals. Aptos bent but didn’t break against SC in the team’s league opener. Aptos came up with two crucial goal line stands to hold on for a 24-15 victory before a large homecoming crowd. SC trailed 10-0 at halftime, but pulled to within 10-9 in the third quarter, after linebacker Matt Dietz sacked the Mariner quarterback in the end zone for a safety. On the ensuing Card possession running back Derick Delucchi scored on a 12 yard run.
Delucchi rushed for 107 yards on 16 carries and returned a kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Delucchi’s return made the score 17-15 with 7:42 left in the game. SC elected to go for two to tie the game, but quarterback Joe Rocha was tackled at the two yard line as he scrambled for the end zone.
It was the second time Aptos made a big play at their goal line. Aptos maintained its halftime 14-0 lead after stopping SC within inches of the goal line as time expired in the second quarter. SC had the ball at the one yard line with .01 seconds left and elected to go for the touchdown rather than attempt an 18 yard field goal.

Scoring By Quarters
Aptos 0 10 0 14 24
SC 0 0 9 6 15
SC APTOS
First downs 12 21
Rushes-yards 29-166 56-255
Passing yards 68 48
Comp-att- int 9-18-1 4-7-0
Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-0
Penalties- yards 11-105 5-35

Individual stats: Rushing by carries- yards: Derik Delucchi 14-107, Jonah Hodges5-28, Dominic Bonner 2-27, Byron Williams 2-5, Ben Albrecht 1-minus 1
Passing by completions, passes attempted, yards gained and interceptions: Joe Rocha 9-18-1-68
Receiving by catches and yards: Hodges 3-44, Delucchi 2-16, Jason Patel 1-6, Abraham 1-6, Bonner 2- minus 4
Defensive stats: sacks: Matt Dietz one.

Oct. 9. Soquel Beats Back Cardinals. Soquel is keeping the stump. With the score tied 21-21 and 55 seconds left in the game, Soquel made a field goal to win 24-21. Soquel now leads the lifetime series 38-10-1. After SC fumbled on its second play from scrimmage, Soquel scored. Later in the quarter, SC came back on a 93 touchdown run by Jonah Hodges on a sweep to the left. SC took the lead in the second quarter after Derick Delucchi intercepted a pass and returned it 81 yards to the Soquel 12 yard line. Dominic Bonner took in it on a one yard touchdown run to make the score 14-7 SC. With 2:37 left in the first half, Soquel blocked a punt in the end zone and recovered to tie the score 14-14.
With 4:34 left in the game, Soquel went ahead 21-14. But Hodges came up with another big run to pull the Cards even. He dove into the end zone to finish a 11 yard scamper to tie the score 21-21. A play earlier, Delucchi kept the drive alive with a diving 28 yard catch on a pass from quarterback Joe Rocha on third and 10.
SC fumbled on its own 20 yard line and Soquel recovered and drove to the three yard line and prepared to go for it on fourth and goal. But Soquel was whistled for a delay of game penalty. Soquel then kicked the winning field goal.
SC is now 2-3-1 overall and 0-2-0 in league.

Scoring By Quarters
Soquel 7 7 7 3 24
SC 7 7 7 0 21

Soquel SC
First downs: 11 9
Rushes-yards 45-276 40-182
Passing yards 8 79
Comp-att- int 1-7-1 5-7-0
Fumbles-lost 2-2 2-2
Penalties- yards 10-65 4-40

Individual stats: Rushing by carries- yards: Hodges 14-146; Delucchi 16-44; Mezziah Williams 1-3; Bonner 4-3; Byron Williams 1-0; Rocha 1 minus 14.
Passing by completions, passes attempted, yards gained and interceptions: Roacha 5-7-0-79
Receiving by catches and yards: Delucchi 2-36; Bonner 1-26; Hodges 1-10; Abraham 1-8
Defensive stats: Fumble recoveries: Michael Schuhe one and team one.
Interceptions: Delucchi one

Oct. 16. Falcons Run To First Win Of Season. Ground Attack, Defense Lift Scotts Valley Over Santa Cruz 12-7. Jonah Hodges scored SC’s lone touchdown in the first quarter on a 5 yard run to give SC a 7-3 lead. SC winless in their last four games is now 2-4-1 overall and 0-3 in league. “That was a big game based on the playoffs. Now we have to hope something weird happens in league to get back in. We’re going to keep playing hard,” said Hodges.
Running back Derick Delucchi led SC with 10 carries for 94 yards. SC endured an 18 minute stretch from the second to fourth quarter without a first down. SC has a bye next week and hopes to work out the kinks. “We don’t finish our drives. We don’t capitalize on mistakes. The only team that beats us is ourselves”, Hodges said.

Scoring By Quarters
Scotts Valley 3 6 3 0 12
SC 7 0 0 0 7

SV SC
First downs 19 10
Rushes-yards 51-241 26-138
Passing yards 25 35
Comp-att- int 4-6-0 3-6-0
Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-0
Penalties- yards 2-15 6-35

Individual stats: Rushing by carries- yards: Derick Delucchi 10-94, Jonah Hodges 6-28, Mezziah Williams 1-10, Dominic Bonner 4-19, Byron Williams 2-7, Joe Rocha 3- minus 20.
Passing by completions, passes attempted, yards gained and interceptions: Joe Rocha 3-6-35-0
Receiving by catches and yards: Bonner 1-24, Hodges 1-7, Delucchi 1-4
Defensive stats: Sacks: David Ledwith one

Oct. 30. Cardinals Push Back Pirates 42-6 at SC homecoming and battle for The Shell trophy. Running backs Dominic Bonner, Jonah Hodges and Derick Delucchi each ran for more than 100 yards, as SC scored six rushing touchdowns to win its fourth straight over Harbor. Bonner scored twice in the first quarter and SC never looked back.
At the 8:42 mark in the first quarter, Bonner scored on a 16 yard run. Beta Olmedo kicked the extra point as he did after each touchdown. At 4:22 left in the second quarter Bonner scored again on a 20 yard run. Delucchi scored on a five yard run with 1:26 left in the first half.
With 11:04 left in the third quarter, Bonner scored his third touchdown on a 51 yard run. At the 6:19 mark, Delucchi ran 46 yards for a touchdown. At the 11:29 mark in the fourth quarter Byron Williams scored on a 31 yard run, to end the SC scoring.
“It feels good to get our first win in a while,” said Bonner, who ran for 123 yards and three touchdowns on seven carries. “Our line was blocking really well. There were a lot of holes to choose from. There was a lot of bounce back room too.” SC finished with 455 yards in 43 attempts.
Delucchi ran for a team high 128 yards for two touchdowns on 11 carries. Hodges ran for 107 yards on 10 carries. Bryon Williams ran for a 31 yard score. SC improves to 3-4-1 overall and 1-3 in league.
A hearty umbrella toting crowd saw SC jump out to a 21-0 halftime lead. In the third play of the third quarter Bonner scored on a 51 yard run. Delucchi added a 46 yard score to up the tally to 35-0.
SC fumbled the ball four times, losing it twice on turnovers. Thanks to a strong defensive front, the Cards held the Pirates 24 yards rushing and 136 yards passing. SC sacked the quarterback four times.
SC next plays league leader SLV.

Scoring By Quarters
Harbor 0 0 6 0 6
SC 14 7 14 7 42

H SC
First downs 12 22
Rushes-yards 26-24 44-455
Passing yards 136 11
Comp-att- int 10-25-0 1-2-0
Fumbles-lost 3-0 4-2
Penalties- yards 7-60 7-52

Individual stats: Rushing by carries- yards: Delucchi 11-128. Bonner 7-123. Hodges 10-107. Byron Williams 2-33. Nick Locatelli 4-32. Brady Halbieib 2-16. Trevor Clark 4-12. Erik Columbini 1-8. Bakari Broadnax 1-3. Dominick Vaughan 1-2. Joe Rocha 2 minus 9.
Passing by completions, passes attempted, yards gained and interceptions: Joe Rocha 1-2-11-0
Receiving by catches and yards: Bonner 1-11
Defensive stats: Sacks: Michael Schuhe three, Erik Columbini 0.5 and Chase Simons 0.5

Nov. 5. Sentinel pre-game write up. Last year SC and SLV played to a 28-28 tie. SLV is 4-0 in league and 7-1 for the season and SC is 1-3 in league and 3-4-1 overall with one more league game left. SC has given SLV more fits than any other SCCAL team the past decade. SC has won five of the past seven meetings. SLV is seeking its first win over SC since 2005. Still SLV leads the lifetime series 21-15-2.

SLV Escapes With Win, League Championship by rallying in the fourth quarter to knock off SC 28-24. SLV is now 8-1 overall and 5-0 in league, while SC is 3-5-1overall and 1-4 in league. SC had two scoring chances thwarted on the same drive by a flurry of pivotal penalties. SC was penalized four times for 45 yards after working the ball the ball from their own 39 yard line to SLV’s 5. They were called for holding three times and also a unpartisan like conduct after the Cardinal’s coaching staff protested the third holding call. Conversely, SLV was flagged 15 yards during the same drive for roughing the passer after SLV had intercepted a pass into the end zone. With 2:11 left, SLV ended the threat with an interception that counted.
SC got the ball back with 55 seconds left, but the threat ended with four incomplete passes. “We had two opportunities late to score,” said coach Bubba Trumbull. “Their defense rose up and we couldn’t execute.”
SC took the lead twice in the first quarter on touchdown runs from running backs Dominic Bonner and Derick Delucchi. Each time SLV responded with a pair of touchdowns as the score board showed a tie score 14-14 at half.
SC broke away for a 24-14 lead midway through the third quarter. Quarterback Joe Rocha, playing with a separated shoulder on his non-throwing shoulder, hooked up with 6-1 receiver Dominic Bonner for a 19 yard touchdown pass. SC got within the five yard line with fourth down coming up and kicker Beto Olmedo added a 20 yard field goal to end a nearly seven minute drive to open the second half. Rocha played sparingly in the second half.
In the third quarter, SLV went on a 89 yard scoring drive and scored on a diving ten yard pass into the right corner of the end zone.
SLV rushed for 284 yards on 40 carries, while SC ran for 299 yards on 49 carries. Passing SLV gained 102 yards. Delucchi ran for 148 yards on 18 carries.

Scoring By Quarters
SC 14 7 3 0 24
SLV 14 0 7 7 28

SC SLV
First downs 19 19
Rushes-yards 49-299 40-284
Passing yards 19 102
Comp-att- int 1-10-2 9-15-2
Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-0
Penalties- yards 8-80 9-70

Individual stats: Rushing by carries- yards: Derick Delucchi 18-148, Dominic Bonner 9-99, Jonah Hodges 20-74, Joe Rocha 2 minus 19
Passing by completions, passes attempted, yards gained and interceptions: Rocha 1-4-19-2, Trevor Clark 0-6-0-0
Receiving by catches and yards: Bonner 1-19
Defensive stats: interceptions Bonner and Hodges one each

Nov. 12. Delucchi, Cardinals Sink Sharks. SC’s Hodges Has INT, TD. Senior night will be remembered as the Cards completed a second half comeback to beat St. Francis 17-7 in the last game of the season. “This was awesome for our seniors,” said coach Bubba Trumball. “They couldn’t ask for a better memory.” SC ends with a 2-4 record in league for sixth place and 4-5-1 overall.
Senior Derick Delucchi had a big night on the ground. He rushed for 130 yards in 16 carries, including a 46 yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. That score ended up being the game winner. “We wanted to try to get Derick 1,000 yards this season,” Trumbull said. Mission accomplished. He entered the game with 905 yards and ten touchdowns rushing on 122 carries. “It was one of my goals at the start of the season,” said Delucchi after the game, his cardinal uniform stained with grass and mud. “I’m just happy.”
Delucchi didn’t have an easy time reaching his goal. He was held to 33 yards in the first half. St. Francis had a 7-0 lead at halftime. “At halftime, I really challenged the seniors. And the came out with a changed mentality,” said Trumbull. That mentality was on of defense. On the first play from scrimmage in the second half, Jonah Hodges intercepted a pass and returned it deep into St. Francis territory. Two plays later, Hodges scored on a 4 yard touchdown run.
With the crowd behind them, the Card defense went to work, sacking the St. Francis quarterback six times and forced three fumbles, one of which was recovered by SC. On offense, SC gave St. Francis a heavy dose of Delucchi. “Our blocking was a lot better in the second half. They opened a lot of holes,” Delucchi said.
With 8:44 to play in the fourth quarter, Delucch broke free for a 46 yard touchdown for some insurance points after Beto Almedo made a field goal to put SC up 10-7. Almedo also had two extra point kicks. Delucchi’s TD was the last score of the game. “All the seniors had this goal. We really wanted to win this game,” said Delucchi.

Scoring By Quarters
St. Francis 0 7 0 0 7
SC 0 0 10 7 17

SF SC
First downs 9 8
Rushes-yards 34-65 31-180
Passing yards 5 38
Comp-att- int 1-5-1 4-10-1
Fumbles-lost 3-1 1-1
Penalties- yards 7-50 7-60

Individual stats: Rushing by carries- yards: Delucchi 16-130; Hodges 7-44; Bonner 6-22; Rocha 2 for minus 6.
Passing by completions, passes attempted, yards gained and interceptions: Rocha 4-10-38-1
Receiving by catches and yards: Ben Albrecht 2-25; Hodges 1-7; Bonner 6
Defensive stats: Fumble recoveries: David Ledwith one and fumble caused by Albrecht
Sacks: Bryon Williams two, one each for Ledwith, Matt Diez and Michael Schuhe
Interception: Hodges

Final stats covering Santa Cruz County compiled by Sentinel sports writer Jim Seimas.
RUSHING
By place, name carries, yards gained and touchdowns.
PL NAME CAR YD TD
3 Delucchi 138 1035 11
8 Hodges 88 746 8
16 Bonner 40 323 4
Byron Williams 22 117 0
Mezziah Williams 13 11 1

RECEIVING
By place, receiving, yards and touchdowns
PL NAME REC YD TD
17 Hodges 10 154 1
Bonner 11 104 1
Delucchi 8 104 1
Patel 2 33 0
Albrecht 2 25 0

PASSING
By place, name, completions-attempts, yards, touchdowns and interceptions
PL NAME com-att YD TD INT
8 Rocha 38-78 444 3 7
Clark 0-6 0 0 0

SCORING
By place, name, points
PL NAME TD
3 Delucchi 78
9 Hodges 54
19 Bonner 44
Olmedo 29
Dietz 8
Hodges was fifth in the county with five pass interceptions. Michael Schuhe was sixth in sacks with 6.5. The team scored 227 points in the season and allowed 184.

Matt Dietz was the only player in the county to recover a fumble for a touchdown.
Johna Hodges had the longest running play from scrimmage for 92 yards against Soquel.

Dec. 12. Sentinel ALL COUNTY Offensive and Defensive teams. SC was blanked on the offensive team. On Defense: Senior, lineman, 6-3, 230, Michael Schuhe; Senior linebacker, 6-0, 220 Eric Colombini. Junior kick returner, 5-10, 170, Jonah Hodges.

Sentinel Dec. 6.
ALL SCCAL Junior of the Year: Jonah Hodges. First team offense: Senior Derick Delucchi, running back. First team defense: Senior Michael Schuhe, defensive line; Senior Eric Colombini, line backer.

JV FOOTBALL
Yearbook.

FROSH-SOPH FOOTBALL
Yearbook.

CROSS COUNTRY BOYS
Yearbook.
Nov. 14. No boys placed at CCS Division III.

Nov. 5. At the SCCAL meet SLV won with 25, followed by SV 49, Aptos 65, Harbor 110, St. Francis 151, SC 155 and Soquel 170. The top Card runner was Anthony LaFrance who took fifteenth place in 17:55.

Oct. 1. In a tri-meet SC lost to Scotts Valley 16-47 and Soquel 20-43. Anthony LaFrance led SC with a fifth place finish in 12:50.0.
Oct. 15. In a tri-meet SC lost to SLV 15-49 and to Harbor 22-33. Top runner for the Cards in the 5 kilometer run at Schwan Lagoon was Anthony LaFrench in 18:24 for second place.

Oct. 30. At the SCCAL Quad Meet at Pinto Lake, Anthony LaFrance took fourth in 17:27 and Mats Allen took ninth in 18:00.

The Cardinals had no runners in the top twelve finishers at the SCCAL finals

CROSS COUNTRY GIRLS
Yearbook.

Nov. 14. SC came in fourth with 103 points just behind Aptos with 93 points in CCS Division III action at Toro Park in Salinas. Mimi Eckhardt came in third at 18:55 and Mandy Cole eleventh in 19:56. Other placers and there times were 18, Carmela Roberts.20:36. 35, Tanya Naranjo 21:23. 37, Selena Friedman 21:34. 40, Cassidy Burr 21:38. 45, Elena Venable 21:57.

Nov. 13. Sentinel outlook for the SCCAL in the CCS Division III meet at Toro Park in Salinas. Leading the Cards are Amanda Cole and Amelia Eckhardt.

Nov. 5. At the SCCAL meet Aptos won with 51 points followed by SLV 54, SC 60, SV 61, St. Francis 150 and Harbor 153. Mimi Eckhardt took fourth place in 18:42, Mandy Cole ninth at 19:39, Carmela Roberts 20:11 and Tanya Naranjo in 20:37. The SC team qualified for the CCS championship meet.

Sentinel Sept. 12. At the Early-bird Invitational at Toro Park near Salinas, Amelia Eckhart was the fastest Card at 20:27, edging teammate Amanda Cole at 20:28. SC finished fifteenth out of 39 teams.

Sept. 15. Pres-league write up in Sentinel. Ones To Watch in Santa Cruz County Girls Cross Country. Junior Amelia Eckhart will be a strong runner for the Cards this season along with Amanda Cole who finished within a second of each other in last weeks Early-bird Invitational, giving SC a sold 1-2 finish.

Sept 26. Mimi Eckhardt took fifth place at the Ram Invitational at Westmore High in Daly City. Mandy Cole was tenth in 16:57.

Oct. 1. SC defeated Soquel 18-45 and lost to Scotts Valley 23-38. Against Soquel Mandy Cole took second in 13:51.3 and Mimi Eckhardt third in 13:57.3

Oct. 15. In a tri-meet SC beat Harbor 20-41 and lost to SLV 22-37. (SLV is rated fourth in the CCS by the San Jose Mercury) Mimi Eckhardt placed second in 19:51 at Schwan Lagoon.

Oct. 18. SC placed third with 113 points at the Monterey Bay Invitational at Toro Park in Salinas. Carmela Roberts was the fastest Card runner with a time of 20:43 pm a three mile track, good enough for fourteenth place. Mandy Cole took twenty-fourth in 21:06. Sacred Heart won the event with 71 points, followed by Leland with 90.

At the SCCAL Quad Meet at Pinto Lake, Mimi Eckhardt took second in 18:39. Mandy Cole fifth in 19:30. Carmela Roberts was eighth in 20:02. Tanya Naranjo ninth in 20:22 and Selena Friedman tenth in 20:33.

ALL SCCAL Junior Mimi Eckhardt, finished fourth in 18:42 at the SCCAL finals and thirty-first in 18:55 at the State meet. Senior Mindy Cole finished ninth in 19:39 at the SCCAL finals for honorable mention and was ninety-fourth in 19:57 at the State Meet.

Dec. 23. CCS coaches voted Mimi Eckhardt to the All CCS second team, Eckhardt placed third in 18:55 at the CCS Division IV meet, which qualified her independent of the team to run in the state finals in Fresno.

GIRLS TENNIS
League: Soquel 6-1, 7-0; St. Francis 7-0, 7-0; Aptos 3-4, 2-5; SLV 7-1, 6-1; Harbor 5-2, win; Scotts Valley 3-4, win. League standings: Scotts Valley 11-1, Aptos 10-2, SC 9-3, Harbor 5-7, St. Francis 5-7, Soquel 2-10, SLV 0-12.

Yearbook.

Nov. 2. At the SCCAL individual tournament Tatiana Podolsky won her first singles match 1-6, 6-1, 6-0 in a comeback win, but lost in the semifinals 4-6, 1-6. Emma Brokaw lost in the first round 1-6, 1-6. In doubles play Laura Aitken and Alice Mintz won 1-6, 6-0, 7-5 in the first round and came back again the semifinals to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 to advance to the finals.

Nov. 3. The senior duo of Laura Aitken and Alice Mintz won the SCCAL doubles title 7-5, 6-1 at Seascape Sports Club. They will continue on to CCS play. They usually play singles, but they felt comfortable and were happy with their performance. “It feels great to win the championship. We were a little nervous to start, but the more we played, the more we got comfortable, said Mintz. Alice is a great partner and I like playing with her. I hope we can keep this going into the CCS playoffs. Aitken credited former coach Thomas Silverstein, who would often have all his players, including the singles players, practice doubles. “He gets a lot of props,” said Mintz, who throughout this season has predominantly been a singles player. “Laura’s a great teammate and together we kept each other going strong throughout the match.”

Sept. 28. Sentinel. Santa Cruz County Girls Tennis Players to Watch. Freshman Tatian Podolsky plays in tournaments year round and has helped SC start off 4-1 from the top singles spot. Junior Laura Aitkin a four year varsity player is stepping up in singles this year.

Sept. 15. SC 6, Soquel 1. Alice Mintz won the number one singles match 6-3, 9-3. Tatiana Podolsky won the two singles 6-0, 6-0. No. 3 Laura Atken won 6-1, 6-1. No 4 Rachel Chung won 6-1, 4-6, 6-2. In number two doubles Agathe LePagney and Huijia Yu won 6-3, 6-2. No. 3 Alexis McNeal and Katie Walton won 6-1, 6-1.. No. 1 Emma Brokaw and Kiauna Day-Smith lost 6-7, 4-6. The Cards are now 2-0.

Sept. 24. SC beat St. Francis 7-0. Laura Aitken rallied in her second set tiebreakers for a straight sets win at number three singles. She was down 5-4 in the second set and won 6-1, 8-6. The number two doubles team of Agathe LePagney and Huijia Uyu was down 4-3 in the second set and won three straight games to win 6-2, 6-4. SC improves to 4-0.
In number one singles, Tatiana Podolski won 6-2, 6-0. No. 2 Alice Mintz won 6-3, 6-4. No. 4 Rachel Zhang won 6-3, 6-0. In number one doubles, Emma Brokaw and Kiauna Day-Smith won 6-1, 6-1. No. 3 doubles, Alexis McNeal and Katie Walton won 6-1, 6-0.

Sept. 28. Aptos Hands SC First League Tennis Loss by edging SC 4-3. SC is now 4-1 in league. SC winners were in singles No. 2 Alice Mintz 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(2). No. 4 Jordi Wisamer 6-3, 6-3. In No. 3 doubles Agathe LePagney Kaitlin Begin 2-6, 6-2, 6-0. SC losers were No. 1 Tatiana Podolsky 2-6, 3-6. No. 3 Laura Aitken 2-6, 5-7. In doubles No. 1 Rachel Zhang and Huijin Yu 6-7(3), 2-6. No. 2 Alexis McNeal and Katie Walton 4-6, 2-6.

Oct. 1. SC won three matches by default and rolled over SLV 7-0. No. 1 singles player Laura Aitken won 6-1, 6-1. No. 2 Emma Brokaw 6-0, 6-2. No. 3 Rachel Zhang 6-0, 6-0. No. 4 default by SLV. Doubles Madie Harlen and Katie Walton 6-0, 6-1. No. 2 and 3 defaulted by SLV. SC is 5-1 in league.

Oct. 6. SC defeated Harbor 5-2. The top match was when Laura Aitken won the number three singles coming from behind in a tiebreaker to win 7-6(11-9), 6-3. Other singles winners: number two Alice Mintz 6-3, 7-5 and number four Emma Brokaw 6-0, 6-1. Number one Tatiana Podolsky lost 4-6, 2-6. In number one doubles Rachel Zhang and Juijia Yu lost 3-6, 6-2. Double winners were Kiauna Day-Smith and Agathe LePagney 7-5, 6-3 and number three winners Katie Walton and Cibel Quinteros 6-0, 6-0. SC is leading the league with a 6-1 record.

Oct. 8. SC swept Soquel 7-0 and is now 7-1 in a three way tie in the SCCAL. The number one doubles team of Rachel Zhang and Huijia Yu won 6-3, 6-0.Agathe LePagney and Kiauna Day-Smith won 6-1, 6-0; The number three doubles team of Alexis McNeal and Shannon Johnson won 7-5, 6-0. Singles team members in order of the ladder, starting with number one player Tatiana Podolsky 6-2, 6-0; Alice Mintz 6-0, 6-0; Laura Aitken 6-0, 6-2; Emma Brokaw 6-0, 6-0.

Oct. 14. Santa Cruz won three matches by forfeit in a 6-1 win over SLV. Emma Brokaw won number one singles 6-1, 6-2 and Rachel Zhang won number two singles 6-0, 6-2. SLV forfeited the next two singles matches. In number one doubles Kianua Day-Smith and Cibel Quinteros lost 6-7 (4), 7-5, 4-10. Alexis McNeil and Madie Harlan won the two doubles 6-0, 6-0. SLV forfeited the three doubles.

Oct. 15. Scotts Valley beat SC 4-3, by beating the Cards number two doubles team of Kianua Day-Smith and Agathe LePagney 4-6, 2-6. The Falcons win broke a three way tie for first place with a 8-1 record to SC’s 7-1 record. Card winners were number one singles Tatiana Podolsky 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 and number two Alice Mintz 6-3, 6-3. Alexis McNeil and Katie Walton won the number three doubles 6-3, 6-2. Number one double of Huijia Yu and Rachel Zhang lost 3-6, 3-6. Number three singles player Laura Aitken lost 4-6, 1-6 and number four singles Emma Brokaw lost 2-6, 2-6.

Oct. 20. SC defeated St. Francis 7-0. Singles players in order of the ladder: Number one Tatiana Podolsky 6-4, 6-2. Alice Mintz 6-4, 6-0. Laura Aitken 6-4, 6-3. Juijia Yu 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. Doubles: Alexis McNeal and Kiauna Day-Smith 6-2, 5-7, 6-3. Emma Brokaw and Cibel Quiners 6-4, 6-1. Katie Walton and Agathe LePagney 6-1, 6-2. SC is 8-2 in league and overall for the season.

Oct. 22. Aptos secured second place by defeating SC 5-2. At second doubles, Kiauna Day-Smith and Agathe LePagney won 6-7, 6-2, 7-5. The loss ends SC’s season in third place in league. Number two singles player Alice Mintz won 6-4, 6-1. Singles losers were Tatiana
Podolsky at number one 4-6, 5-7. Number three Laura Aitken 6-4, 6-7, 3-6. Number four Huijia Yu 2-6, retired. Emma Brokaw and Rachel Zhang in one doubles lost 2-6, 2-6. Numbed three double Alexis McNeal and Katie Walton lost 6-7, 2-6. SC ended the season 8-3.

Nov. 23. Locals Fall In First Round. SC Duo Close Season At Section Tournament. In the CCS individuals double tournament at the Courtside in Los Gatos, the doubles team of Alice Mintz and Laura Aitkins fell 6-1, 6-0 in the first round to the fourth seed of Saratoga. Mintz and Aitkins, both seniors were playing in their first CCS match. “They actually played pretty good,” said coach Julian Sunn. “ The other team played a lot quicker. It took them a little while to figure out how to play at that speed, but once they did, the points were a lot more competitive.”

JV GIRLS TENNIS
Yearbook.

BOYS WATER POLO
Practice games: John Schmidt tournament: Clovis 4-14, Live Oak 6-14, Valley Christian 8-13. Mt View 7-8 and Fairfield 12-4. Practice record: 1-4. League: Harbor 8-1, won; Aptos 2-13, 6-12; Soquel 3-17, 2-17, SLV 9-6, 7-4. Lost to Aptos 5-12 in league tourney semifinals. League record 4-4 and third place at the league tournament 7-10 overall (according to the Sentinel).

Mbayprep.com. Roster by name, position and year in school
NAME POSITION
SENIORS
Cole Garner 2M-D Primary
Dylan Manning 2M-D

JUNIORS
Matt Allen 2M Primary
Greg Frank Driver
Jesse Honig Driver
Phoenix Pelstring Goalie
Joe Raimondi Driver

SOPHOMORES
Daniel Fields Driver
Austin Park Driver
Turner Roll Driver
Alex Waggoner Driver

Question for year
Alexi Munishkin Driver/Goalie

Nov. 4. At the SCCAL meet Aptos beat SC 12-5 in the semifinals. SC will meet SLV in the consolation game.

Nov. 6. SC topped SLV 7-4 in the final round of the SCCAL tournament to claim third place. Mats Allen and Austin Park each scored two goals and goalie Phoenix Pelstring had nine saves. SC closes the year out with a 7-10 overall record and 4-4 in league.

Leaders in the eight league games:
Scoring leaders: Matt Allen 14, Cole Garner 10, Turner Roll. Alex Waggoner 8 and Austin Park 7.
Assist leaders: Matt Allen 9, Turner Roll 6 , Austin Park 5, Cole Garner and Alex Waggoner 4 each.
Steal leaders: Matt Allen 16, Turner Roll 13, Alex Waggoner 8, Cole Garner 7 and Austin Park 4
Goalie Phoeniz Pelstring had 69 saves in eight league games.

Rest from Sentinel
Sept. 9. Boys Water Polo Preview. League players to watch. For SC, Cole Garner, senior led the Cards in scoring last year, when he was named to the All SCCAL first team and is the primary hole defender and is the fastest player on the team.
Mats Allen, junior returning All SCCAL second team is a ‘cardio monster’ who leads the Cards in steals and is one of the team’s most intelligent players in terms of water polo IQ.
Most teams in the league have small turn outs. Coach Chris Melcer said a strong turnout to play water polo in the Cards new pool could help his team leap frog last years second place Aptos team in the league standings. Soquel is still thought to win the title. There are only five teams in the league.

Sept. 15. SC 8, Harbor 1. Mats Allen and Alex Waggoner each scored three goals for the Cards. Phoenix Pestring was solid in goal with ten saves for the Cards, who are 2-4 season and 1-0 in league

Oct. 1. Aptos Boys Over SC 13-2. Aptos took a 10-2 halftime lead. Turner Roll scored SC’s first goal in the second quarter on an assist from Cole Garner and Matt Allen added a 5-meter shot later in the period. Goalkeeper Phoenix Pelstring finished with 12 saves. SC is 2-2 in league and 4-8 overall.

Oct. 22. Soquel wins 16Th straight title by defeating SC 17-2. Cole Garner scored both SC goals and goalie Phoenix Pelstring had eight saves. SC is now 5-10 overall and 4-3 in league.

Oct. 31. SC 7-11, split its games at to Oktoberfest tournament at Homestead High in Cupertino. SC defeated Los Gatos 11-10 in overtime, then lost to Gunn 15-4. Against Los Gatos Matt Allen scored four goals, Cole Garner added three and Greg Franks chipped in two. Against Gunn, Turner Roll and Alex Waggoner chipped in two goals apiece and Phoenix Pelstring made eight saves.
The third seeded Cards will face the second seeded Aptos in the SCCAL tournament at SLV.

Stats from Mbayprep: listed by name, scoring, assists, shots on goal and steals.
NAME SC A SG ST
Allen 14 9 29 16
Garner 10 4 31 7
Roll 9 6 20 13
Waggoner 8 4 21 8
Park 7 5 17 4

ALL SCCAL players from Sentinel Dec. 6. First team: Junior Matts Allen. Second team: Senior Cole Garner. Honorable mention: Alex Waggoner and Phoenix Pelsting.

BOYS JV WATER POLO
Yearbook.

GIRLS WATER POLO Co-Champions with SLV. SLV won the league round robin and SC won the SCCAL tournament.
None league: Clovis Tournament: Clovis 6-12, Tulare 5-2. Aptos Invitational: Soquel 4-3, Aragon 2-8 in third place game. Stevenson 9-6. Practice record 3-2.
League: Harbor 8-1, 9-1; SLV 8-13, 8-9; Soquel 4-3, 3-4; Aptos 5-2, 6-4. League record 5-3.
SCCAL league tournament semifinal, defeated Soquel 7-5 and in the finals defeated SLV 10-9 for the SCCAL co-championship. Regular season SCCAL standings: SLV 7-1, SC 5-3, Soquel 5-3, Aptos 3-5, Harbor 0-8. SC and Soquel tied for second place. CCS Division II playoff, lost in first round against Pioneer 5-14. Overall 13-8 (according to the Sentinel)

MBAYPREPS show SC winning the SCCAL championships in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011.

Roster: Kelsey Rollo, Alexi Scott, Chloe Bynes, Molly Ghilhom, Molly Grossi, Lindsey Frankel, Bridget Pearson and Alyssa Strong.

Nov. 10. Pioneer Pushes Past Cardinals. Keeper Gilholm manages game high 16 saves. Making it to the CCS Division II playoffs was an accomplishment in itself. The eleventh seeded Cards fell behind early and never were able to catch up as number six Pioneer cruised to a 14-5 victory in the opening round. Coach Mark Townsend, “Our main goal every year is to compete for a SCCAL title and everything after that is a bonus.”
Seniors Kelsey Rollo with three goals and Alex Scott with two goals contributed all five goals for SC, who ended with a 16-9 overall record. “We did a lot better than everyone else expected of us this season. Everyone really likes each other on this team and I’m really proud of everyone this year,” said Rollo.
A big upset of the regular season champion SLV in the league playoffs made SC league co-champions and qualified the Cards for CCS. “This is the most fun group of girls I have ever coached here at SCHS. I really enjoyed them this season and despite the defeat the girls are still smiling,” Townsend.
SC jumped out to a 2-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, but then Pioneer went on a 11-3 run over the second and third quarters to put the game out of reach. Pioneer controlled the perimeter and their passing was against the smaller Card defenders.

Nov. 5. At the SCCAL semifinals number three ranked SC defeated number two ranked Soquel 7-5. Scoring for SC were Alex Scott and Chloe Bynes each with two goals. Those scoring one goal were Kelsey Rollo, Bridget Grossi and Lindsey Frankel. Molly Ghilhom had 12 saves. SC is 15-8 for the season.

Nov. 7. Santa Cruz Snags Spot At CCS With Win to force a split of the SCCAL title by beating SLV 10-9 in the league tournament. SLV won the regular season title with a 6-1 record, but must now share the title with SC. SC was tied with Soquel with 5-3 records, but by winning the league tournament will share the SCCAL title.
Goalkeeper Molly Gilholm had 15 saves. “Molly always has a good game. We try to concentrate on defense and the goalie is the center of the defense,: said coach Mark Townsend.
Neither team led by more than two goals in the final, which was competitive from the beginning. Both scored twice in the second quarter for a 4-4 tie at halftime. “This was our best game all season. It was our closest game with SC all year, said the SLV coach.
Chloe Bynes finished with a team high three goals, scoring her last one late in the fourth quarter to put SC on top 10-8 in the last minute. “Chloe had an incredible performance today. Her growth over the course of the season has been key to our run on this tournament,” said coach Townsend. SLV scored with less than 30 seconds to play to cut SC’s lead to 10-9. SC lost possession, but goalie Gilholm stopped the shot attempt and then tracked down the loose ball as time expired.
Kelsey Rollo, Alex Scott and Lindsey Frankel all score two goals. “Our core three stepped up as they normally do, said Townsend, still soaking wet after being pushed into the pool by his players. “But a lot of our younger players, especially Chloe stepped up as well.”
Both SC and SLV will play in the CCS Division II tournament.

Nov. 8. At CCS, SC at 16-8 is seeded eleventh and will play sixth seeded Pioneer 16-6. SC had to win in the SCCAL finals to qualify for CCS as the league is only able to send a league champion this year. Coach Mark Townsend has a lot of faith in the seeding committee and feels either the ten or eleventh spot is right for his team. He said he was very happy with the SCCAL title. The next few days should be fun practices.

Sept. SC went 1-1 over two games in 104 degree temperatures at the Clovis tournament. The Cards dropped their first game to host Clovis 12-6 despite Alex Scott’s three goals. SC defeated Tulare 5-2 in its second game of the day.

Sept. 10. SC 8, Harbor 1. Alex Scott 2 and Kaila Person 2 goals; Kelsey Rolo, Bridget Grossi, Lindsey Frankel and Alyssa Strong one goal. Goalie Molly Gilholm allowed one goal. SC 4-2.

Sept.17. SLV 13, SC 8.. Kaila Pearson, Kelsey Akiyama and Bridget Grossi each scored two goals, Alex Scott and Chloe Bynes each scored a goal for SC, which now has a 1-1 record.

Sept. 28. Kaila Pearson scored the game winning goal on an assist from Kelsey Rollo with five minutes left on the clock for a 4-3 win over Soquel. Alex Scott scored two goals and Lindsey Frankel scored one goal. SC is now 2-1 in league and 8-4 overall.

Oct. 1. Kelsey Rollo lead with three goals and Alex Scott scored the other two as SC defeated Aptos 5-2. SC is now 3-1 in league and 9-4 overall. Goalie Molly Gilholm logged 12 saves. The Aptos Invitational is next
Oct. 3. At the Aptos Invitational the Cards lost to Aragon 8-2 in the third place game. Lindsey Frankel and Alex Scott each scored a goal. Goalie Molly Gilholm made 12 saves. Earlier in the day, SC took down Soquel in a shootout 4-3. Kalla Pearson, Chole Bynes, Lindsey Frankel and Allie Weigel each scored a goal. Molly Gilholm had 7 saves. SC is now 3-1 in league and 11-6 overall.

Oct. 6. SC 9, Harbor 1. Kelsey Rollo led the Cards with four goals followed by Bridget Grossi 2 goals, Alex Scott 2 goals and Dede Eckerhdt one goal. SC is 11-6 overall and is tied for the league lead with SLV both with 4-1 records.

Oct. 22. Soquel edged SC 4-3. Goalie Molly Gilholm made 11 saves, while Kelsey Rollo, Alex Scott and Lindsey Frankel each scored a goal.

Oct. 27. SC closed out its season with a 6-4 win over Aptos. Alex Scott and Kelsey Rolly each scored twice and Kaila Pearson and Chloe Bynes each added goals. Molly Gilholm made 12 saves. SC ended the season with a 13-8 record and 5-3 in league.

Oct. 30. Kelsey Rollo scored four goals and made an assist to lead SC past Stevenson 9-6 in a
Non-league game. Alex Scott and Chloe Bynes each scored twice and Kaila Pearson added a goal. Goalie Molly Gilholm had 17 saves. SC will face Soquel in the SCCAL semifinals Thursday.

Dec. 3. SCCAL MVP Molly Gilholm was named to the All Central Section second team and was one of three CCS goalies named to the section’s all-star team for the Pacific Zone Senior All Star Game. The CCS all stars face the North Coast Section all stars at the Soda Aquatic Center in Moraga.
Gilholm and two other SCCAL players will play for the Division II against the Division I team at the CCS All Star game at Sacred Heart Prep.

Nov. 26. ALL SCCAL Molly Gilholm, Most Valuable player and top goalie. Freshman of the Year Bridget Grossi, Kelsey Rollo, senior and Molly Gilholm, junior. Alex Scott, junior and Chole Bynes, sophomore second team. Kaila Pearson, senior and Lindsey Frankel, sophomore Honorable Mention. Coach of the year Mark Townsend.

GIRLS JV WATER POLO
Yearbook.

BOYS AND GIRLS SWIMMING AND DIVING
Yearbook.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
Practice games: Yerba Buena San Jose 3-0, Pajaro Valley 3-2. San Ramon Valley Tournament: Chico 1-2, Deer Valley 2-1, San Mateo 0-2. Don Bosco tournament: Mt. Madonna 0-2. Pajaro Valley 2-0, Oak Grove 2-1 and Soquel 0-2. Harbor Invitational: Harbor 0-2, Palo Alto 0-2, Soquel 0-2, Notre Dame Salinas 0-2 and Deer Valley 2-0. Practice record 4-5.
League: Aptos 0-3, 0-3; St. Francis 3-0, 3-1; Harbor 2-3, 0-3; Soquel 0-3, 0-3; SLV 3-1, 3-0; Scotts Valley 3-1, 3-0; Mount Madonna 2-3, 1-3.. League record 6-8 for fifth place.
League standings: Soquel, Aptos 12-2, Harbor 10-4, Mount Madonna ?, SC 6-8
First round of SCCAL tournament lost to Mt. Madonna 0-3.
First round of CCS Division III. Lost to Notre Dame San Jose 0-3
Overall record 12-18. (Maxprep has 11-16.)

Roster: Nicole Peterson. Franny Gardner, Becca Morse, Katie Attema, Pauli Pappas, Marley Hemmen, Gabrielle Corbett, Naomi Baxter-Rubach, Bella Rich, Danielle Robin, Sophia Sierra and Edie Sullivan.

Nov. 2. In the first round of the SCCAL tournament, Mt. Madonna defeated SC 25-14, 25-12, 25-21. (No info on SC)

Nov. 7. Seven Local Teams CCS bound. Five of the eight teams in the SCCAL qualified for CCS. SC 15-15 is seeded eleventh in Division III and will face number six Notre Dame of San Jose.

Nov. 10. Notre Dame of San Jose Beats Santa Cruz. Troubles with consistency doomed eleventh seed SC in the first round of CCS Division III against number six Notre Dame 25-18, 25-7, 25-12. Coach Phoebe Miller said senior Nicole Peterson stepped up as a leader while making nine kills, five digs and three blocks. Franny Gardner added 11 digs and Becca Morse made 15 digs. SC finished fifth in league and ended their season 15-16 overall and 6-8 in league
“Overall, I think we had a really good team. We worked well together. It was just a matter of finishing a game that kind of got us. All and all, they worked really hard and played as a team and that’s pretty much all you can ask for,” Coach Phoebe Miller..

Sept. 5. In the Notre Dame-Salinas tournament SC took third place. In pool play the Cards took second with wins over Oak Grove, Pajaro Valley 3-2, Yerba Buena 3-0 and St. Francis.

Sept. 8. Gabby Corbett made 11assists and six aces as SC beat Yerba Buena 25-13, 25-14, 25-10. Becca Morse made two kills and four digs; Sophia Sierra made two kills; Marley Hemmen and Pauli Pappas each made three kills. SC is now 4-2.
At the Don Bosco Invitational at St. Francis on Saturday, the Cards lost to second place Mont Madonna 25-15, 25-17.

Sept. 9. SC beat Pajaro Valley 25-20, 17-25, 16-25, 25-13, 17-15. Highlights: Nicole Peterson 17 kills; Gabby Corbett 28 assists and Pauli Pappas 12 kills. SC is 5-2.

Sept. 15. Aptos defeated SC 25-20, 25-5, 25-14. SC highlights: Cabby Corbett made 14 assists and an ace, while Nicole Peterson knocked down three kills and four blocks. Franny Gardner and Pauli Pappas also made three kills and Becca Morse made three digs and one kill. SC is now 4-3 overall and 0-1 in league.

Sept. 17. Soquel defeated SC 25-17, 25-14, 25-16. SC highlights: Gabby Corbett 25 assists, Nicole Peterson 10 kills, Becca Morse 7 digs and 4 kills, Naomi Baxter-Rubach 9 digs and Pauli Pappas 5 kills. SC is now 5-4 overall and 0-2 in league.

Sept. 20. At the Harbor Invitational, SC lost to Harbor in the Silver Bracket semifinals 15-25, 19-25.

Sept. 28. Harbor defeated SC 25-14, 21-25, 25-27, 25-20, 15-10. SC is now 1-4 in league and 6-9 overall. Nicole Peterson led SC with 12 kills and Becca Morse added five. Naomi Baxter-Rubach made seven digs and Gabby Corbette made 23 assists.

Sept. 30. Sentinel Ones To Watch in Santa Cruz County Girls Volleyball. Senior middle blocker Nicole Peterson is a four year starter.

Oct. 1. SC defeated SLV 25-12, 17-25, 25-19, 25-22. Highlights: Gabby Corbett 30 assists, 3 aces. Becca Morse 8 kills, 13 digs. Katie Attema 5 kills, 4 digs. Naomi Baxter- Rubach 13 digs.

Oct. 6. SC Stops Falcons In Four Games. Nicole Peterson made 12 kills, eight digs and an ace as SC beat Scotts Valley 26-24, 25-9, 24-27, 28-26. Jaime Sensey 2 aces and 5 assists. Becca Morse 8 kills and 13 digs. Gabby Corbett added 22 assists and three aces as the Cards are 8-9 overall and 3-4 in league for fourth place.

Oct. 8. Aptos defeated SC 25-14, 25-20, 25-17. Nicole Peterson had four blacks, eight digs and eight kills. Jamie Henis 15 assists and one ace. Franny Gardner had 4 aces and 4 blocks. SC is now 8-10 overall and 3-5 in league

Oct. 15. Gabby Corbett had 16 assist and two aces to help SC sweep St. Francis 25-18, 25-20,, 25-19. Becca Morse made two aces, 12 digs and 6 kills. SC is now 9-11 overall and 4-6 in league. Pauli Pappas had 9 digs and Naomi Baxter-Rubach 10 digs.

Oct. 20. Mount Madonna defeats SC 26-24, 19-25, 25-17, 27-25. Gabby Corbett had 28 assists and 4 aces, Pauli Pappas 26 digs and 13 digs.

Oct. 22. Harbor swept SC 25-16, 25-19, 25-16. Gabby Corbett made 14 assists and an ace. Pauli Pappas 3 kills, 11 digs, Nicole Peterson 3 kills and 4 aces. SC is 9-13 overall and 4-8 in league.

Oct. 27. Seniors Gabby Corbett, Ede Sullivan, Katie Attema, Naomi Baxter-Rubach, Nicole Peterson and Franny Gardner helped SC hold on for a 25-15, 25-20, 18-25, 25-20 win over SLV played on their senior night. Corbett had 24 assists and 4 kills; Sullivan had 6 kills, Attema had 7 digs, 2 aces and 5 kills; Baxter had 17 digs and one ace; Peterson 7 kills,4 blocks and 7digs. Gardner 6 blocks, 4 digs,5 kills and 4 aces. SC is now 5-8.

Oct. 29. Becca Morse had ten kills and 14 digs to help SC sweep Scotts Valley 25-22, 25-22, 30-28 in the final league match. Nicole Petersen had seven kills and 13 blocks. Jamie Fenisey 10 assists. Pauli Pappas 12 digs. SC 11-13 overall and 6-8 in league.

Nov. 16. ALL SCCAL first team: Nicole Peterson senior, middle blocker. Second team: Becca Morse sophomore, outside hitter. Honorable mention: Niami Baxgdf-Rubach, senior.

JV GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
Yearbook.

GIRLS GOLF
League: Scotts Valley 153-164 and 188-200 Wins; Aptos 171-166 Loss, 147-157 Win; Harbor 155-137 Loss; SLV 141-171 and 157-173 Wins; Soquel 141-170, Win.
Harbor won with a 9-1 league record. League record 5-5.

Roster: Juniors Annie Soares and Emma Cook. Sophomores Chelsea Ficklin, Erica Tinetti and Kristina Davis. Freshman Mara Julin, Paige Sliney and Rachel Sliney. Coach Pete Pappas.

Yearbook.

Nov. 2. A preview of the CCS Girls Golf Championship. Chelsea Ficklin is one of the five girls from the SCCAL to compete as individuals. Harbor is the only SCCAL team in competition. The top four golfers will advance to the Northern Cal tournament.

Sept. 9. SC 153, Scotts Valley 164 at DeLaveaga golf course a par 23, 1617 yards for holes 1-6 in the first league match. Kristina Davis was medalist with 33 strokes followed by Chelsea Ficklin 38; Erika Tinetti 39; Emma Cook 43; Anne Soares 48; Mara Julin 49.

Sept. 10. Aptos 166, SC 171 in a close match at Seascape. Kristina Davis 40, Erika Tinetti 41, Chelsea Ficklin 42 and Emma Cook 48.

Sept. 15. Harbor 137, SC 155. Kristina Davis led SC with a 36, followed by Chelsea Ficklin 36, Erika Tinetti 39 and Emma Cook 44. SC is now 1-2.

Sept. 17. SC 141, SLV 171. Sophomore Kristina Davis shot a 5 over par 25 on the first six holes at DeLavaega golf course. Davis birdied the 293 yard fourth hole. Other SC scorers Chelsea Ficklin 31, Erika Tinetti 39, Mara Julin 43, Annie Soares 45 and Paige Sliney 51 as the Cards evened their record to 2-2.

Sept. 23. SC 144, Soquel 170. Kristina Davis and Chelsea Ficklin shot the low rounds of the day at 34. . Other players: Erika Tinetti 36, Emma Cook 40, Mira Julian 51 Annie Soares 54.

Sept. 24. Santa Cruz defeats Scotts Valley 188-200. Kristina Davis was the top golfer for the Cards, shooting a 43. Others were Chelsea Ficklin 46, Erika Tinetti 49, Mara Julin 50. SC is now 3-2.

Sept. 30. Davis, Ficklin Share Medalist Honors each shooting a 33 at DeLavaega, in a SC 147-157 win over Aptos. The win leaves SC with a 5-2 record and Aptos at 4-2. Other players were Emma Cook 39, Mara Julian 42, Erika Tinetti 42, Annie Soares 49.

Oct. 6. Kristina Davis shot 33 over seven holes in a par 26, 1634 yard on the front nine at the Boulder Creek Golf and Country Club as the Cards won 157-173 over SLV. Chelsea Ficklin shot a 36, Erika Tinetti 44, Emma Cook 44 filled out the Cards team which is now 6-2 in a tie with Aptos for first place in league..

Oct. 27. At the SCCAL golf tournament at DeLaveaga Golf Course Chelsea Fickland tied for second place with a nine hole score of 98, which qualified her to compete at CCS. Harbor won the league title with a 9-1 record. Fickland was one of the few players feeling good about her round from the start. She opened with a par on number one, the most difficult hole on the course and settled into a groove. “I was ready to come out and play. It really helped because the back nine is really hard for me because I don’t play it very much. My tempo was just on,” Fickland said.
Kristina Davis scored a 103 for sixth place.

Nov. 23. ALL SCCAL Kristina Davis, Sophomore of the Year. Chelsea Ficklin, first team. Erika Tinetti, second team

BOYS VARSITY BASKETBALL SCCAL CHAMPIONSHIP.
Practice games: St. Francis of Mt. View 65-74; Dads Club tournament: Pioneer 75-45, Salinas 59-62, Scotts Valley 68-42: Salinas Champs; Los Gatos 64-48: Palma tournament: St. Mary’s of Berkeley 51-59, Pacific Grove 91-35, Soquel 60-55. Monterey 82-49: St. Ignatius Tournament: Miramonte of Orinda 69-68, Burlingame 42-53, Mission of SF 89-55. League: Harbor 62-53, 52-64; SLV 73-41, 58-47; St. Francis 58-51, 63-45, Aptos 57-60, 68-59; Scotts Valley 91-60, 78-59; Soquel 66-55, 62-48. League record 10-2 for the round-robin championship. SCCAL final records: SC 10-2, Aptos 9-3, Harbor 9-3, Soquel 5-7, St. Francis 5-7, SLV 3-9, Scotts Valley 1-11. SCCAL playoffs: SC 59, Soquel 38 in the semifinals and SC 91, Aptos 81 in the finals for the SCCAL title outright. In the CCS Division IV playoffs, SC had a first round bye. Beat Harker School in the quarterfinals 70-30. Beat Palma 76-52 in the semifinals.

Yearbook.

Roster by name, position, height and year in school
NAME POS H YR
Cody Love G 6-0 12
Etai Levy-Richards G 5-7 11
Johann Schmidt G/F 6-1 12
Zen Maki G 6-1 12
Keith Williams G/F 5-11 12
Jonah Hodges G 5-8 11
Beto Olmedo G 5-9 11
Clayton Conroy F/C 6-2 11
Walker Hansen G/F 6-1 11
Yaabi Abraham G 5-10 11
Dominic Bonner G/F 6-1 12
Jamie Saint-John G/F 6-1 11
Chris Martin F 6-2 11
Ty Demeo F/G 6-2 11
Michael Adams C 6-4 12
Head Coach Bill Domhoff. Assistants: Joel Domhoff,

Dec 4. SC fell to host St. Francis of Mt. View 74-65 in the Cards first game of the season. Walker Hansen scored 25 points and grabbed five rebounds. Jaime Saint Johns scored eight points and Keith Williams made four assists. Scoring: Love 1, Demeo 1, Maki 5, Williams 6, Hodges 5, Conroy 6, Hansen 25, Bonner 8, St. John 2, Adams 2.
Scoring by quarters:
SC 16 18 14 13 65
SV 19 22 13 20 74

Dec. 10, Emmett Thompson Memorial Dads Club Tournament. SC 75, Pioneer 45. Zen Maki scored a game high 13 points, followed by Keith Williams and Jamie Saint John each with eight points. Other scoring; Love 6, Levy-Richards 6, Schmidt 0, Hodges 3, Conroy 2, Abraham 2, Bonner 6, Martin 7, Demeo 6, Adams 4.

Dec. 11. SC GIVEN THE SLIP. Salinas Denies Cardinals Shot At Title For Second Year, This Time In The Semifinals. Salinas sure knows how to crash a Santa Cruz party. Cowboys upended the Cards 62-59. Last year Salinas beat SC in the championship game 56-55. Senior Johann Schmidt said, “I think we just wanted to get them back for last year. We didn’t come out intense enough and that made it that much harder down the stretch.”
SC had three chances to tie the game in the waning seconds, but couldn’t connect form three point range. SC fell behind by ten points midway through the fourth quarter, before second year coach Bill Domhoff put in a lineup of speedy guards to push the pace. The plan worked, as SC forced five turnovers down the stretch and made four threes to pull within two with 1:24 left. SC had two would be tying shots from short range trickle out with a minute to go, but Salinas made just enough free throws down the stretch to hold on.
“In the end we had our chances and our shots, they just didn’t go in. I’m very proud of the effort at the end of the game. We need to do that the whole time. That’s the lesson we need to learn.” Domhoff said. SC held Salinas’ 6-8 senior center to 14 points, but paid for it by leaving shooters open on the perimeter.
Keith Williams, senior guard, led SC with 15 points and five steals and Schmidt added 13 points and three steals off the bench. Junior center, Ty Dimeo had 11 points. Other scorers: Levy-Richards 5, Maki 5, Conroy 1, Hansen 5, Saint John 4.

Dec. 12. SC defeated Scotts Valley 68-42 for third place in the Tournament. It took SC one quarter to shake the funk brought on by their team’s narrow loss to Salinas. Scotts Valley built a 15-2 lead thanks to hot shooting from three point range, SC came back and outscored SV 22-6 in the second quarter and 24-3 in the third quarter. The Cards full court pressure forced 19 steals, leading to easy baskets.
Junior forward Clayton Conroy led SC with 20 points and eight rebounds. Ty Demeo added 14 points and five boards. “We were really mad about last night. We weren’t over it until after the first quarter. After that we just decided to go off and just play our game,” Conroy said.
Other scorers: Love 2, Levy-Richards 5, Schmidt 2, Makk 3, Williams 6, Hodges 2, Olmedo 2,Abraham 3, Bonner 2, Martin 7.
Johann Schmidt was given the tournament hustle award. Zen Maki and Jaime Saint-John were name to the ten man All Tournament team (with the major part of the selection coming from the vote of the eight tournament coaches)

Dec. 18. Ti Demeo scored 21 points with five rebounds and Chris Martin scored 15 with five rebounds to lead SC to a 64-48 win over Los Gatos. Clayton Conroy scored four points and had nine rebounds. Zen Make scored four points and had five steals. Other scorers: Levy-Richards 2, Williams 4, Hodges 9, Olmedo 3, Saint Johns 2. SC is now 3-2.

Dec. 21. In the opening round of the Palma Tournament, SC lost 59-51 to St. Mary’s of Berkeley. A down second quarter where St. Mary’s outscored SC 12-4 was part of the down fall of the Cards. SC also was outscored 19-11in the first quarter. SC came back in the second half and out scored St. Mary’s 19-12 in the third quarter and 17-16 in the fourth.
Clayton Conroy had eight points and nine rebounds. Walker Hansen and Cody Love scored team highs of nine points each. Love added four steals. SC is now 3-3. Other scorers: Schmidt 5, Hodges 2, Bonner 3. Saint John 7, Martin 2, Dimeo 6 and 6 rebounds.

Dec. 22. Keith Williams scored 20 points with five steals as SC beat Pacific Grove 91-35 in the second day of the Palma Tournament. Chris Martin scored 16 points with seven rebounds and Ti Demeo scored ten points. SC outscored Pacific Grove 40-25 in the first half and 49-10 in the second half and had 26 steals in the game. Other scorers: Love 0, Levy-Richards 2, Schmidt 3, Maki 6, Hodges 6, Olmedo 5, Conroy 6, Hansen 5, Abraham 6, Bonner 2, Saint John 2, Adams 0. SC is 4-3.

Dec. 23. Keith Williams scored 12 points to lead SC over Soquel 60-55 in the consolation final of the Palma Tournament. Williams a senior forward was named to the All Tournament team. Chris Martin matched Williams with 12 points and Clayton Conroy was the rebound leader with eight. SC is now 5-3. Other scorers: Cody Love 4 and three steals; Levy- Richards 2, Maki 5, three assists: Hodges 3, Olmedo 5, Conroy 6, Hanson 9, Demeo 2.

Dec. 24. Keith Williams had 15 points and seven rebounds to help SC beat Monterey 82-49. Walker Hansen had ten points and five steals. SC took a 24-19 lead into the second quarter, then outscored Monterey 20-6 to lead 44-25 at halftime. Other scorers: Maki 14, Conroy 8 and 7 rebounds, Demeo 6, Schmidt 6, Levy-Richards 4, Adams 4, Saint John 4, Martin 4, Olmedo 3, Abraham 2, Hodges 2. SC is now 6-3.

Dec. 26. Sentinel High School Boys Basketball Preview. FULL HOUSE FOR CARDS. Defending SCCAL co-champs Return Plenty Of Firepower. SC won’t have the element of surprise on its side this year, but it might not need it. Last year, featuring a roster of junior varsity call ups and a few veteran seniors, the Cards were unexpected contenders in the SCCAL. They improved from 13-17 the year before to 19-10 under first year coach Bill Domhoff. After finishing second to St. Francis in the league regular season, SC upset St. Francis in the tournament final for a share of the league title.
The Cardinals return basically the same roster this season and most league coaches consider them the front runners to win league again. The league is tough this year, but SC should be the favorite, They virtually have everybody back and had an impressive summer,” said Coach Walters of Soquel.
Santa Cruz has a team oriented style of basketball that allows it to win without relying on one or two scorers. SC led the county with a 65.7 points per game average last season, yet didn’t have a single player average more than nine points a game. That depth was the Cards biggest weapon considering the team liked to push the pace and wear opponents down. It’s also the area Domhoff thinks the team improved the most this year. So many players have varsity experience, he’s comfortable putting all of them in pressure situations.
“It’s been fun coming back not having to start from scratch and re-teach everything. We are two or three deep at a couple of positions. If we get into foul trouble or somebody gets tired, we should be able to adjust,” said Coach Domhoff.
Returning second team All SCCAL second team players Jamie Saint John and Clayton Conroy as well as four year varsity player Zen Maki, who missed time last season with a thumb injury, but returned with a break out performance in the SCCAL title game. Other returners include starting center Ti Demeo, scoring threats Walker Hansen and Dominic Bonner, three point specialist Keith Williams and seniors Cody Love and Johann Schmidt.
“We improved our teamwork. We know the plays, the defense. We developed individually, too, but as teammates we improved,” Maki said.

Dec. 29. Zen Maki and Keith Williams each scored 22 points and SC held off Miramonte in the final seconds to win 69-68 in the first round of the St. Ignatius of San Francisco tournament. SC 7-3 were up by one point with 23 seconds remaining, when Miramonte missed from the outside and then from under the basket. Ti Demeo, who scored 10 points, grabbed the ball with 2 seconds left on the clock. He had seven rebounds in the game. Williams topped the Cards with 7 steals. Other scoring: Schmidt 5, Hodges 0, Conroy 2, Hansen 3 and 4 assists, Bonner 0, Saint John 4, Martin 1, 6 rebounds.

Dec. 30. Walker Hansen scored a game high 20 points, which included six 3-pointers as SC lost to Burlingame 53-42 in the semifinal round of the St. Ignatius Tourney. (The main difference in the game were three 3-pointers made by Burlingame as the horn sounded in the first three quarters) It was a low scoring tight game for the first three quarters. The first quarter ended 7-7. Burlingame went ahead 26-23 at halftime by making a 3-pointer as the buzzer went off. Burlingame up their lead to 36-32 at the end of the third quarter with another buzzer beater. Scoring: Schmidt 5, Maki 6, 3 steals; Williams 2, Conroy 2, 6 rebounds; Saint John 5, 3 steals, Demeo 2. SC is now 7-4 and Burlingame 9-2.

Dec. 31. SC routed Mission of San Francisco 89-55 to take third place at the St. Ignatius Tourney. Chris Martin led the Cards, 8-4, with 15 points. Jaime Saint John added 12 points.
SC went out to a 19-7 lead in the first quarter and 46-20 at halftime. Scoring: Levy-Richards 5, Maki 5, Williams 6, Hodges 10, Olmedo 5, Conroy 2, Hansen 4. Bonner 9, Saint John 12, Martin 15, Demeo 6, Adams 10. SC is now 8-4 and Mission 6-8.
Zen Maki and Walker Hansen earned All Tournament honors.

Dec. 31. Boys league teams practice record, before league starts tomorrow. Aptos 11-1, St. Francis 10-2, Harbor 9-3, SC 8-4, Scotts Valley 5-5, SLV 4-7, Soquel 4-8.

Jan. 5. Cardinals Outlast Pirates In Opener. SC Surges For Forty Straight Win Over Cross-town Rival. Harbor jumped out to an early lead in front of a packed home crowd, before reigning SCCAL co-champions SC took control in the second quarter and went on to win 62-53. SC now 9-4 overall and 1-0 in league have now beaten their cross town rival four straight times, but this time they needed to overcome some early-game jitters.
“I felt like we were kind of freaking out a little bit,” said junior center Ti Demeo. “I was trying to keep everyone calm. We have experience losing in the beginning and winning in the beginning and I was telling everyone it could go either way.” Harbor jumped out to a 21-13 first quarter lead. SC concentrated on Harbors best shooter and allowed their point guard open looks he scored four three-pointers.
Coach Bill Domhoff said, “You have to pick your poison. I thought we had a good game plan. We had been planning on guarding their shooters in their spots in our zone, but for some reason we were so worried about the top scorer, we overreacted and left their point guard open for four threes.”
It didn’t take long for the Cards to make the adjustment. They switched to a full court pressure defense and opened the second quarter on a 14-0 run thanks to nine turnovers by Harbor, which had 19 for the game. The press stopped Harbor from getting a shot off through the first seven minutes of the second quarter as SC led 31-27 at halftime.
Harbor cut the lead to six points in the final quarter, but couldn’t overcome senior Zen Maki’s three clutch threes down the stretch. Maki finished with 21 points. Demeo added 13 and ten rebounds. Clayton Conroy scored ten points with seven rebounds and four assists.
After we calmed down, we seemed to play better basketball. It’s so intense for these guys to have to walk into the other gym and have to play and the gym was definitely alive tonight,” said coach Domhoff. Other scoring: Schmidt 4, Williams 5, Hodges 2, Hansen 5, Saint John 2.

Jan. 8. Beto Olmedo and Keith Williams finished with 11 points each as 13 Cards entered the scoring column in a 74-41 league win over SLV. Ti Demeo had 4 points and six rebounds. Williams grabbed five rebounds and Jonah Hodges had five steals for SC with a 10-4 overall record and 2-0 in league. Other scoring: Love 5, Levy-Richards 4, Schmidt 7, Maki 3, Conroy 5, Bonner 4, Saint John 5, Martin 8, Adams 2.

Jan. 11. SC broke away in the second half for a 58-51win over St. Francis. Ti Demeo scored 16 points and gathered six rebounds to lead SC in a game that was tied 26-26 at halftime. Johann Schmidt followed with 12 points and Clayton Conroy grabbed 12 rebounds, scored 2 points and had 4 assists. SC is now 11-4 overall and 3-0 in league. SC out scored St. Francis by two points in the third quarter and won the fourth quarter 17-12. Other scorers: Levy-Richards 3, Maki 4, Hodges 5, Olmedo 7, Saint John 5, Martin 4. Bonner 0.

Jan. 13. Aptos with a 14-1 overall record and 3-0 in league defeated SC 11-5 overall and 3-1 in league 60-57 in a game that had Aptos leading 16-12 at the end of the first quarter and 31-29 at halftime. Aptos continued with a 47-44 lead at end of the third period, but SC came back to tie the score and then take the lead during the fourth quarter. Aptos tied the score in the last minutes, SC went ahead, but Aptos took the lead again and SC had to foul and Aptos made their foul shots to win. Chris Martin led the Cards with 10 points and nine rebounds. Clayton Conroy scored eight points and grabbed ten rebounds. Johann Schmidt added 12 points and three steals. Zen Maki had 5 points and 4 assists. Other scorers: Love 1, Levy-Richards 3, Olmedo 2, Bonner 3, Saint John 5, Hodges 2, Hansen 0, Demeo 6.

Jan. 19. SC dominated Scotts Valley 91-60. Zen Maki led SC in scoring with 13 points. Clayton Conroy scored 12 points and had six rebounds. Keith Williams back from illness, scored nine points and had five steals. SC went out to a 22-5 lead in the first quarter, but then only outscored Scotts Valley 18-15 in the second quarter. Twelve Cards scored. SC is now 12-5 overall and 5-1 in league. Other scorers: Love 6, Schmidt 7, four steals, Hodges 5, Olmedo 3, Hansen 5, Abraham 2, Bonner 9, Saint John 7, five rebounds, Martin 9, Demeo 2, Adams 2.

Jan. 22. SC defeated Soquel 66-55 to end the first round of league. Soquel went out to a 22-18 first period lead and kept the lead at 35-32 lead at halftime. SC came out with increased defensive pressure in the third quarter to outscore Soquel 21-6 an gain a 53-41 lead. SC is now 13-5 and 5-1 in league to tie for the league lead with Aptos at the end of the first half of the league schedule.
Zen Maki scored 15 points and Clayton Conroy had 12 points, seven rebounds, two assists and three steals. Ti Demeo had seven points and five rebounds. Keith Williams had four points and four steals. Other scorers: Love 3, Levy-Richards 0, Schmidt 2, Hodges 2, Olmedo 2, Hansen 7, Bonner 0, Saint John 4, Martin 8, Adams 0.

Jan. 26. Harbor snapped a four game losing streak against SC with a 64-52 win. Keith Williams led SC in scoring with 13 points, followed by Zen Maki with 9. Harbor led 10-7 in the first quarter and 26-24 at halftime. SC came back in the third quarter and took a 36-33 lead at the end of the third period. Other scorers: Schmidt 2, Hodges 7, Olmedo 6, Conroy 2, Hansen 5 Martin 6, Demeo 2, Bonner 0, Love 0, Saint John 0, Levy-Richards 0.

Jan. 29. Zen Maki scored four three pointers on his way to 18 points to lead SC over SLV 58-47. Ti Demeo was just shy of a double-double with 14 points and eight rebounds. Keith Williams scored 12 points. Clayton Conroy scored three points, had eight rebounds and seven steals and four assists. SC led 15-8 in the first period, but SLV came back and out scored SC 18-11 in the second period to tie the score 26-26 at halftime. SC won the third period 19-13 to take the lead 45-39. Other scoring: Love 0, Schmidt 4, Hodges 2, Olemdo 0, Abraham 0, Bonner 2, Martin 3, Adams 0.

Feb. 1. A balanced scoring effort helped SC beat St. Francis 63-45. SC came out strong in the first quarter taking a 22-12 lead and continued on with a 36-22 lead at halftime. A good third quarter opened up the score even more as the Cards were up 44-33. Chris Martin and Keith Williams led the Cards in score with 11 apiece. Martin was tops in rebounds with 10. Clayton Conroy scored two points, had 6 rebounds and 3 assists. SC is now 15-6 overall and 7-2 in league. Other scorers: Love 6, Schmidt 4, Maki 7, Hodges 6, Olmedo 6, Bonner 2, Saint John 2, Demeo 3, Adams 3, Levy-Richards 0.

Feb. 3. A Half Game Ahead. Cardinals Take Lead Atop SCCAL Standings With Win Over Aptos. It’s getting crowded atop the SCCAL standings. SC took a half game lead over Aptos for first place with a 68-59 win. SC is 8-2 in league and 16-6 overall and Aptos is 7-2. SC is trying to defend their SCCAL title which it shared with St. Francis last year. It nice to be back on top. We still know we have a couple of games left before we can talk championship, but it’s good to be in this position. Unfortunately, we couldn’t be there until now, but it’s sweet now,” said coach Bill Domhoff.
SC set the tone early with its full court pressure defense, forced Aptos into 11 turnovers with many turning into transition baskets in the first half. SC closed the first quarter on a 11-2 run to take a three point lead. Then continued pressing to lead 36-32 at halftime. “We felt the last time we played them we got on our heels a little bit. We wanted to come out and push the tempo,” coach Domhoff.
Ti Demeo took over out of the break. He scored eight straight points on good passes from teammates. Chris Martin added four free throws to stretch SC’s lead to ten points. Demeo led all scorers with 19 points, Zen Maki added 17 and Keith Williams hit two three pointers, both in the second quarter on fast breaks and finished with ten points.
“I wanted to be able to look back on this game and not have to say, I didn’t do anything. I wanted to come out strong in the second half and say I contributed,” Dimeo said. Aptos’ leading scorer hit the winning shot in the first game of the series and got open shots to score 25 points. But in this game, the Cards had one defender on him at all times, which made it hard for him to get open shots. The Cards came out in the second half in a man-to-man defense, which they played well in the whole second half. Senior Dominic Bonner defended the Aptos Ace and with his speed made the shooter work just to touch the ball in the third quarter.
SC scored 19 of their second half points on free throws and finished 21 of 26 from the line. “We were just pumped, said junior forward Clayton Conroy, who finished with a team high 10 rebounds. “Last game, we lost and we knew we had to come in and play hard. We needed to win, wanted to win and knew we could win,” said Conroy.
Harbor is one game behind with three losses faces Aptos next week could alter the leagues champion.
Other scorers: Schmidt 7, Hansen 2, Martin 8, Love 0, Hodges 0, Bonner 0, Levy-Richards 0.

Feb. 9. Dominic Bonner scored 18 points with seven steals. Zen Maki had 18 points with five steals, as SC beat a scrappy Scotts Valley squad 78-59. Keith Williams scored a team high 23 points. Senior transfer, Michael Adams scored four points and had seven rebounds. On one of his tries for a dunk, he was way over the rim, but bounced the ball off the back of the rim.
Other scorers: Love 4, Schmidt 2 and five rebounds, Hodges 1, Conroy 0, Hansen 0, Abraham 2, Saint John 4, Demeo 0. SC is now 17-6 overall and 9-2 in league tied for first.

Feb. 12. SC Boys Stake Claim to Hoops Title. Keith Williams scored a game high 20 points to go with four assists and five steals as SC defeated Soquel 62-48 in their SCCAL finale to claim full possession of the league regular season title. Zen Maki scored 12 points and Ti Demeo was shy of a double-double with eight points and eight rebounds, plus 4 assists, one block and 2 steals. Dominic Bonner had 4 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals.
SC led 19-15 at end of the first quarter and 33- 25 at halftime. SC lead 49-40 at the end of the third quarter, before closing out the game with a 13-8 final quarter. SC is 18-6 overall and 10-2 in league, while Aptos and Harbor are tied for second place with 9-3 records. Other scoring: Love 0, Schmidt 4, Hodges 7, Olmedo 0, Conroy 4, Hansen 3, Saint John 0, Martin 0.

Feb. 18. SC as the SCCAL round robin champion received a bye in the first round of the league playoffs. They won their semifinal game with Soquel 59-38. Keith Williams scored a game high 19 points and Zen Maki scored 14 for SC, who is now 19-6 overall and 10-2 in league. Ti Demeo added ten points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks.
Soquel went out to a 9-8 lead in the first quarter, but SC came back to lead 22-19 at halftime, then 35-29 at the end of the third quarter, before pulling away by outscoring Soquel 24-9 in the fourth quarter with a strong press defense. Other scorers: Love 0, Schmidt 3, Hodges 0, Olmedo 0, Conroy 5, and 5 rebounds, Hansen 2 and five rebounds, Bonner 4 and 4 steals, Saint John 2 and 5 rebounds..

Feb. 20. SC Fends Off Aptos Charge, Locks Up Title. Cardinals 30 point Lead Cut to 8 In fourth Quarter. Clayton Conroy converted a free throw on a 3 point play midway through the third quarter to give SC a 30 point lead in the league playoff final. But Aptos made sure SC had to wait until the final buzzer to begin celebrating. Aptos made a remarkable fourth quarter comeback before falling 91-81 in a game SC completely dominated through three quarters. Aptos cut the lead to eight with a minute to play before free throws by junior point guard Jonah Hodges closed the deal.
“I think we knew they were going to make a run. We talked at halftime about Aptos being a championship caliber team. We said we’ve got to go out and play the second half like we did the first,” coach Bill Domhoff.
SC 20-6, avoided its own upset and a monumental letdown thanks to clutch free throw shooting down the stretch. Hodges went 8 for 10 from the line in the fourth quarter and the team scored 15 points on free throws as the Cards tried to use up time on the clock.
“I’m just shocked that the lead came down to ten. I need to give Jonah a hug for making those free throws,” said senior guard, Keith Williams. Junior center, Ti Demeo led SC’s attack as the Cards put on a clinic in up tempo basketball to take control in the second quarter. Demeo scored 12 of his team-high 22 points in the period to help SC stretch a one point lead after the first quarter to a 54-36 lead at halftime. The onslaught continued in the third quarter, when SC opened on a 10-2 run with its smothering press. Aptos was forced to call timeout to stop the surge with 4:42 left in the quarter after committing three straight turnovers that led to easy SC baskets. SC’s full court pressure defense helped force Aptos into 21 turnovers in the game.
Senior point guard, Zen Maki scored 19 points, before fouling out in the fourth quarter, Williams had 11 and Hodges finished with 10.
Aptos with a 22-5 record scored 27 points in the fourth quarter to put the pressure on SC. Depth has been the Cards strength all season and it showed in the final. SC rotated players in and out of the game at nearly every stoppage in play down the stretch to keep fresh legs on the court and defensive match-ups intact.
SC survived regular season losses to Aptos and Harbor to capture its eleventh title since 1996. (A fifteen year span) “I think it’s a testament to the hard work these kids put in this off season. They all have that passion for the game and it made it really enjoyable to coach these kids. It’s been a real special group,” said coach Bill Domhoff. “My heart just goes out to all my teammates. It feels like a very big accomplishment for all of us. I love those guys,” Williams said. Other scorers: Schmidt 7, Conroy 9, Hansen 9, Bonner 7, Martin 0, Olmedo 0, Saint John 0.

Feb. 27. In a quarterfinal CCS Division IV game, Zen Maki scored a game high 19 points as SC defeated Harker School 70-30. The last few minutes were played with a running clock, by CCS rules, if a game has a score spread of 40 point or more. Clayton Conroy scored 10 points as the Cards out scored Harker by ten or more points each quarter. The score was 36-15 at halftime. Ti Demeo was a triple threat, scoring seven points, with five blocks and five rebounds. Other players: Williams 5, Hodges 5 and 4 steals, Walker Hansen 5, Bonner 9 and 4 steals, Saint John 8: Love, Olmedo, Martin, Adams, Abraham and Levy-Richards 0.

March 2. Cardinals take Command. Revenge Fuels Santa Cruz Squad In Win Over Palma 76-52. Williams Leads Santa Cruz with 16 points To Help Set Up A Grudge Match Final Against CCS Division IV Defending Champions.
SC will be playing last years CCS Division IV champions Sacred Heart Prep, who beat SC 53-52 on a three pointer with five seconds to play in the semifinal game last season.
Jonah Hodges dove into the Palma bench to save a loose ball from rolling out of bounds. Before he collided with the row of seated players and coaches, he flicked the ball to a teammate, who passed to another. That player took a shot and missed, but his teammates were right there scrapping for the rebound and when they did with six seconds left in the third quarter, Coach Bill Dumhoff called time out and set up a play to get the ball to Zen Maki, who sank a three pointer with 1.6 seconds left.
No, the Cards weren’t in a dogfight to win their CCS Division IV semifinal. They were leading Palma by 20. But that’s how the second seeded Cards played for four quarters on their way to dismantling third seeded Palma 76-52.
“I think SC is playing the best I’ve seen them play. They had unselfish play and made a great effort,” said the Palma coach. “They’re on a roll. Whoever they play in the final is really going to have to work.” That will be top seeded Sacred Heart Prep at 24-2, who beat Carmel in their semifinal game 78-39.
It is the first time the Cards have reached the final since they claimed the Division III title in 2005 on their way to winning the state championship behind coach Pete Newell Jr. Senior Keith Williams, who led SC with 16 points and three steals, said the chance for revenge against SHP fueled the Cards. “We’re really excited to get a second game against them. That’s definitely one of the things that kept us wanting to win,” said Williams,
SC won’t be serving revenge cold, though. Not if the Cards play the way they have been of late. SC 22-6 frustrated Palma 17-9 from the start with their flying press. The press forced most of the Chieftain’s nine first quarter turnovers and helped SC establish a tidy 23-15 first quarter lead. Palma adjusted to the press in the second quarter going on a six point run and eventually closed to within four points, 30-26 just before halftime. But SC finished strong with a fast break layup to Clayton Conroy from Hodges, then started the second half with a patient shot from Maki. His jumper keyed a 22 point quarter in which SC pulled away for good.
Conroy finished with 14 points and four rebounds. Maki added ten points, two assist and two steals. Dominic Bonner scored eight points with four rebounds and three steals. Ti Demeo powered the Card post game with eleven rebounds, two blocks and seven points. Other scorers: Hansen 5 points and 6 rebounds. Hodges 4, Schmidt 5, Love 4, Martin 3. Others who played: Saint John, Olemdo, Levy-Richards, Adams, Abraham.

March 4. Cardinals Harnessing Chaos. Santa Cruz Has Used Speed, Teamwork To Reach Section Final. Coach Bill Domhoff calls his team’s style of play “controlled chaos” a paradox much like the Cards themselves. The have a roster full of star-caliber players, but no actual star. SC is the highest scoring team in the area, yet its two highest scorers, Keith Williams and Zen Maki each only average about 10.5 points per game. A player could score 20 points one night and then hardily play the next game.
The Cards are a traditionalist’s dream for their team-oriented style, but also a nightmare for the old school because they play a modern up tempo pace based on quick shots and full court pressure defense. Sometimes the Cards can seem uncoordinated and undisciplined. Running around haphazardly and taking ill-advised shots. But when their system works, few teams look more in sync or explosive. Lately it’s been working a lot.
SC is riding a streak into the CCS Division IV finals against Sacred Heart Prep of Atherton at Santa Clara University. “We’re just pushing the ball more,” said Maki. “That’s how we wanted to play from the start. Sometimes it didn’t work, but lately it’s clicking. Now we need to win, otherwise we don’t get another game. We need it that much more.” SC will get at least one more game as it is automatically qualified for the Division IV NorCal tournament, which begins Tuesday, by making the CCS finals.
SC has been clicking since scorching Aptos 91-81 in the SCCAL finals. SC, the second seed, earned byes through the first two rounds of CCS play before playing Harker School in the quarterfinals winning 70-30. Next came Palma in a 76-52 rout in the semifinals to qualify for the finals tonight. It is the first SC final since the 2005 team, which went on to win state. It’s also a chance to avenge a heartbreaking 55-54 loss at the buzzer to Sacred Heart Prep last year in the Division IV semifinals. SHP is 24-2 and ranked fifth in Division IV in the state, while SC is ranked fifteenth.
“I’ve been watching them on film and it looks like we’re going to play ourselves in a scrimmage. “They bring a lot of pressure,” Domhoff said. “It’s going to be a tough challenge for us, but we’re excited to get a rematch. Some of the boys have been talking about it.” SHP may be able to match SC’s tempo, but few teams can match the Card’s depth. The Cards push the pace and pressure opponents with intensity, but never wear down because of their seemingly endless supply of speed. Just when opponents think SC might be giving them a break, Domhoff calls in the reinforcements from the bench. SC sometimes works in shifts like hockey teams, subbing five guys at a time. The result is an offense that never stops. The Cards are averaging a county best 67.8 points per game this season. “We’re trying to run the other team to the point of fatigue or the point of exhaustion, where our guys are just starting to get warm and get going,” Domhoff said. The players have bought into the system both on and off the court. Domhoff said the only reason they play this style is because of their dedication to conditioning. Keith William’s uncle Tyler Williams is a professional trainer, who designed a program for the team.
With so many talented players putting in the work, Domhoff’s toughest job is dividing up the 160 minutes available in a game between 15 players and keeping everybody happy. “Its been difficult. There’s always kids at the end of the game that look at you like ‘I should have played more’. Well, yeah, you should have, but on this team its not always going to be about you and your minuets. It is going to be about what we need. We need defensive stoppers, or a little more offense, or a three-point shooter to break a zone, or do we need someone against-a-man to man who can run the offense. It all depends on what the other team is doing, as well as how hard are you playing.”
“Its easier to sell players on less playing time if the system is working and so far the results are hard to argue. One more win today and “controlled chaos” might describe the Cards celebration.

March 5. TITLE HOPES OUT OF REACH. No. 1 Sacred Heart Prep 61, Santa Cruz 51. SHP Pushes Cardinals Around. Gators Give Santa Cruz Taste Of Its Own Medicine. Two run-and-gun teams collided in the CCS Division IV championship game and SC got the worst of it. Top seeded defending champion SHP beat second seeded SC at its own game 61-51. All season, SC has been pushing opponents out of their comfort zones with its frantic style, but SHP had enough speed to keep up and plenty of size to push the Cards around the few times the game settled down.
“I told the guys we picked a bad night to have a bad night,” coach Domhoff said, “Sometimes this happens and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. We’ll pick it up again in NorCals and hopefully, we’ll be better for it.” With the finals appearance SC earned a spot in the Northern California Regional Tournament beginning Tuesday with the winner advancing to the state championship. But the Cards were hoping for a win as they entered their first CCS title game since winning the Division III title in 2005 on their way to the state title.
SC 22-7, went into the final Friday on a nine game winning streak, but could never get its explosive offense ignited against the Gator’s length defenders. SC shot just 31 percent from the field and went 3 for 16 from three point range. “I think we started rushing our offense,” Domhoff said. “It was a matter of putting the ball in the hoop and tonight we didn’t do it.” It was also a matter of keeping control of the ball, something Domhoff said was a key heading into the game. With both teams pressing, SHP and SC combined for 45 turnovers. The Gators made the most of their extra chances, scoring 25 points off their takeaways, compared to 15 for SC.
Even when playing a sloppy game, SC managed to keep it close. They trailed 33-31 at halftime thanks to a big first half by senior Dominic Bonner, who scored all of his team high 12 points before the break. SC took the lead early in the third quarter on a three-point play by junior Clayton Conroy, who finished with 11 points and a team high nine rebounds. The lead was 41-37 midway through the period and then everything changed. Senior Keith Williams, who finished with ten points, collided with a SHP player going for a loose ball with 3:52 left in the quarter. Walker Hansen, who later went down after a collision, scored a basket on the Cards next possession, but SHP closed the quarter on a 7-0 run to enter the fourth up 45-41. The coaches said we took it to the chin, literally,” said Williams rubbing his jaw. “We needed to fight past it and tonight we couldn’t.”
SHP took over in the fourth quarter, outscoring SC 17-10 down the stretch. The Cards got their first taste of the championship atmosphere. “The game kind of had a more comfortable feel going into the second half, said junior Jaime Saint John, “but we broke down defensively and couldn’t finish.” Other scoring: Schmidt 7, Maki 6, Hansen 6, Demeo 2, Hodges, Saint John, Love 0.

March 5. CCS Commentary from Ryan Moses. Blinded By The Light: Venue’s Size Intimidates. Too big. The arena, the stakes, their opponents, all were larger than the Scotts Valley girls and SC boys could handle Friday night at Santa Clara Universities spacious Levy Center. Usually it is SC that runs opponents ragged with its frenzied style, then makes them play for their mistakes with quick buckets. But against defending champion SHP, the Cards were the ones whose passes were tipped off fingertips and whose shots rattled out.
Scott Valley and SC had two things in common going into their finals, neither team had a player, who had played in a CCS championship game before and in both cases it showed. The players mentioned it was hard to adjust to the seats and fans behind the baskets, rather than a wall as a normal background, plus the college rims seem to be less forgiving and it threw off their shooting.
“I think both teams were making similar mistakes, but I think it was a matter of us trying to settle in,” said coach Domhoff. SC had to face a Gator squad that won the title on the same court last year. “Our coaches talked about how SHP had been here before and were here to take care of business,” said Williams. “And we needed to come in and be ready to play right from the start and we weren’t.” The good news is SC will bring back nine players next year. Hopefully the big stage will soon feel like home.

March 7. SC Boys, SV Girls Host NorCal Openers. “We’re very happy and excited to have another game, said second year Card coach Bill Domhoff. “Hopefully, we can take care of business at home.” The top seed of Division IV is Salesian of Richmond, coached by former SC athlete Billy Mellis, who led his team to the state championship two years ago. Their record this year is listed as 22-11, but ten of these games were forfeited, because of a mistake made on the entrance application by one of players who transferred to Salesian. It was finally worked out and the player turned out to be the top athlete on the team. Fellow league school, St. Mary’s of Berkeley is the second seed at 22-10. Third seed is CCS champion Sacred Heart Prep at 25-2 and fourth seed is Colfax the champion of their league with a 22-9 record. The top four seeds have a bye in the first round.

March 9. RULING THE FIRST ROUND. Number 5 seed, SC 87, Number 12 seed, Marin Catholic 69. Demeo Steps Up For Santa Cruz To Help Dominate Marin Catholic. SC coach Bill Domhoff said he dressed for the big dance. His team played through the final song. SC broke open a close game with a strong fourth quarter to deliver Domhoff, who patrolled the sidelines in a suit and tie, for his first Northern California Division IV playoff win. “I figured it’s Cinderella time. You get asked to the ball, you’d better be ready,” said Domhoff, who usually dresses in a Cardinal polo shirt and khaki pants.
SC seeded fifth with a 23-7 season record was ready against twelfth seeded Marin Catholic 20-12, a semifinal loser to runner-up St. Mary’s in the North Coast Section. SC showed no signs of a hangover from its lost to Sacred Heart Prep in the CCS finals two days ago. SC had a 29-14 lead at the end of the first quarter. Many of those points came from junior center Ti Demeo, who scored ten straight of his game high 24 points during a 1:35 minute streak in the first quarter, in which he also made two of his three steals.
The Wildcats didn’t like the game’s fever pitch. Frazzled at first by the Cards full-court press and flying offense, Marin Catholic slowed down the tempo in the second and third quarters by clogging the fast break lanes and driving to the basket to draw fouls. The Wildcats went on a 14-5 run to draw within 46-35 at the half. Then scored the first ten points of the third quarter to pull within a point, 46-45 with 5:43 left in the quarter.
The Marin Catholic coach said, “They made us play hard every pass and I think that caught up with us in the fourth quarter.” Led by Jonah Hodges and Clayton Conroy, SC wrestled back the lead to make it 60-56 heading into the final quarter. With the Wildcats showing signs of fatigue, the Cards pushed the pace in the fourth quarter to outscore their opponent 27-13 and cruised to the buzzer.
Hodges finished with 12 points, five rebounds and two steals. Conroy added 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Keith Williams scored 16 points. “We have the hardest working team around,” said Demeo, noting the Cards in-season weight lifting and off-season beach workouts. We were really good shape and it showed. They looked tired.”
The Cards will need all of that fitness to survive the road ahead. The travel to play fourth seeded Colfax, near Auburn Thursday. Colfax, the Sac Joaquin Section Division IV champion should be rested as it had a first round bye.
“We’re going up there to do our thing, that’s our goal, to play our game. We’re not going to change anything, except for the suit.” said Domhoff. Other scorers: Love 3, Levy-Richards 2, Schmidt 3, Maki 1, Hansen 8, Abraham 0, Bonner 2, Saint John 3, Olemdo 0, Martin 0, Adams 0.

March 11. SC STOPS COLFAX COLD. Road Gets Much Tougher As Cardinals Prepare To Take On No. 1 Seed Salesian. SC sped through the long section of the road through the Northern California Division IV playoffs. Next comes a steep uphill climb. The fifth seeded Cards looked right at home in a 73-43 second round victory over host fourth seeded Colfax, despite playing 200 miles away from the sandy shores of Santa Cruz. The mountain air in the small town 50 miles northeast of Sacramento seemed to refresh the Cards after a long day on a bus. SC pressured the Falcons from the start and opened a 20-8 lead in the first quarter. Colfax never got back within ten points.
Zen Maki led the charge with 15 points and three- 3 pointers and fellow senior guard Keith Williams added 13 points and two 3’s. “We came out and handled it pretty well,” said coach Domhoff. I think the press got us in the right frame of mind. It got everybody going and started us off with a couple of quick baskets and picked up our energy, which is what we needed after the long bus ride.” The next stop for SC is a little closer to home, but significantly more challenging, when they face top seeded Salesian. Salesian won their game against Orland 68-20.
Maxpreps.com has Salesian ranked as the twelfth in the state. “Pray for us,” Domhoff said. “Getting to this game was a big accomplishment and knowing we’re going to play the number one seed is exciting in itself. We’re going to go in and give it our best shot.” SC had it’s “A” game against Colfax, which was playing without its offensive leader, who injured his knee in their section final. From the Colfax coach, “He would have made us better, but that’s not to say he would have been the difference in the game. I told them some of the passes we usually make in practice just aren’t going to work against SC, because we don’t have anybody on our team who’s that fast. It’s kind of like saying, go out and hit a 90 mile and hour pitcher, when you’ve never done it before. Its hard.”
The Cards had to contend with the Falcon’s “sixth Man Crew” student fan section, which filled up 30 minutes before tip off and jeered SC the rest of the night. Cardinal coaches and players said the electric atmosphere, and the win, made the long trip worth it. “I feel like the crowd kind of pumped us up. I liked that,” said junior Walker Hansen, who finished with 10 points and two 3’s. “They knew our names and everything. When I hit a free throw, I just had to smile.” Other scorers: Levy-Richards 2, Schmidt 4, Olmedo 7, Conroy 2, Bonner 4, Martin 9, Demeo 6. Others who played but didn’t score: Hodges, Saint John, Adams, Love, Abraham.
In the two other semifinal games, No. 11 seeded St. Patrick/St. Vincent defeated No. 3 seeded Sacred Heart Prep 49-46. No. 2 seeded St. Mary’s of Berkeley defeated No. 10 seeded Summerville 68-58.

March 12. NorCal D IV Boys Basketball Commentary. BILL vs. BILL. Two Coaches In Semifinal Showdown Started At Santa Cruz. Two branches of the Pete Newell Jr. coaching tree will cross today in the NorCal Division IV tournament. Bill Domhoff the SC coach will face Bill Mellis coach of top ranked Salesian Pride of Richmond in the regional semifinals at Contra Costa College. Both coaches played under Newell Jr. the legendary Card coach of 30 years in the 1980’s. Millis’ older brother Foti was a sophomore on the SC varsity team when Domhoff was the team’s starting senior point guard. Bill Mellis remembers going to Card games as a seventh grader and looking forward to the day he would run the show. “I actually remember looking up to Bill Domhoff. He was kind of one of my idols. He wore number 11 and when I got to SC, that’s the number I picked. It was kind of like, ‘Oh, I wanna be the next Billy D,” Mellis said.
The coaches basketball roots may be planted in the same soil, but it’s tough to tell when watching them work. “We both played for coach Newell, but I think I’m a little more like coach Newell in terms of being vocal and kind of yelling,” Mellis said. “I think Bill is more reserved.” Mellis and Newell have another thing in common, a state title. Newell famously won his in his final season in 2005. (Newell coached his first high school game as the Salesian coach) Mellis led the Pride to their first ever state title two years ago. Now in his thirteenth season as head coach at Salesian and eighteenth with the program, Mellis is well on his way to another state title with the top ranked Division IV team in the state. Mellis’ team lost in overtime of the NorCal finals to St. Mary’s last year. But, that was before it added sophomore transfer Jahari Bird, who is already one of the top college recruits in the country. Junior point guard Dominic Artis is also a Division one talent, plus 6-8 center Freddie Tagaloa, one of the nations most prized offensive tackle recruits.
Domhoff said it will take a Disney-movie worthy upset to take down Salesian. Still, in just his second season coaching the Cards, he’s already restored the program to Newell like success. Domhoff is enjoying the ride and the chance to share the sideline with an old friend. The two families have been long time friends. Foti Mellis is now the senior associate athletic director at Cal and he invited Domhoff’s team to stop by the Berkeley campus on Thursday to stretch their legs as they made the bus ride up to Colfax for their second round game. The team toured the Cal facilities where Newell Jr.’s father built a NCAA champion in 1959. They also received some inspirational words from Taylor Kientzel, who played on last years team and graduated. He received a scholarship to Cal as a triple-jumper. SC went on to crush Colfax, setting up tonight’s trip to Salesian.
Bill Mellis said he’s made a point to catch a few SC games this season, both for sentimental and scouting purposes. “I’ve been impressed with them. They shoot the ball really well and I think they get up and down the floor really well. The do a good job pitching the ball ahead. I think they play extremely hard, and that’s one thing I try to ingrain in my teams head. We’re about to play a team that plays extremely hard,” said Mellis. That should make for an exciting Battle of the Bills.

March 13. Salesian Bounces Cards. Top Seed To Much For No. 5 Santa Cruz In Semis.
‘I really wish we could’ve played them in the finals, but it didn’t work out that way’ Bill Mellis, Salesian coach and a SC alum.
SC may have been playing the number one ranked Division IV team in California, but that didn’t stop them from doing what they have done all season, pressure, run and run some more. The fifth seeded Cards did not back down, but Salesian’s 6-8, 315 pound junior center scored 24 points, which proved too much as the Spirit rolled to a 85-66 victory in the Northern California semifinals to advance to the title game for the third straight season and run its consecutive win streak to 18 games. “It was really a bitter sweet victory, because I have the utmost respect for SC and its coaches,” said Salesian coach Bill Mellis a former SC player.
SC who defeated number 4 Colfax 72-43 on Thursday, advanced to the NorCal semifinals for the first time since the 2004-05 season, when the Cards won the Division III state title under coach Pete Newell Jr. “I’m just so proud of how this team performed, not only this game but all season,” said second year coach Bill Domhoff. “We knew coming in we were playing against the number one team in Division IV in California and we played our game. If we didn’t perhaps come out so cold in the first half, the game could have been a bit closer. But they put a lot of pressure on us. Big Freddie had a huge game.”
Ti Demeo had a team high 19 points and senior guard Zen Maki scored all of his 14 points in the second half to go along with a team high of four assists. After outscoring the Cards 23-10 in the first quarter, Salesian only outscored SC by six points the rest of the way. The Salesian center has football scholarship offers from Cal, Stanford, Oregon and USC, plus two other Salesian players are highly ranked as division I college players.
“They played a great all-around game and they put a lot of pressure on us from the start. We played as a team throughout. Our entire bench players came in and gave it everything they had. I’m proud of this team for fighting until the end. And if your going to go out, who better to go out to than the number one team in California,” said senior Zen Maki.
Clayton Conroy had nine points and Keith Williams added seven. SC got within 11 points on two occasions late in the third and early in the fourth quarters, but were not able to get within single digits in the game.
SC won both the regular season SCCAL title and the SCCAL tournament this year. SC will lose six seniors, including first team ALL SCCAL selections Maki and Williams, plus a third starter Johann Schmidt and quick, top reserve Dominic Bonner, plus Cody Love and Michael Adams. Domhoff hopes to return as many as nine juniors, including starters Demeo and Conroy.
Demeo said, “Honestly, I feel our team was the hardest working team around this season. We lifted during the season and during the off season we ran on the beach because we really don’t have the size, so we just try to outrun everybody. I definitely feel that if we continue to work as hard in the off season as we did this season we can be back here in the NorCals again next season.”
Scoring by quarters:
SC 10 11 26 19 66
Salesian 23 12 28 22 85
Scorers: Love 0, Levy-Richards 6 Schmidt 4, Maki 14, Williams 7, Hodges 0, Olmedo 0, Conroy 9, Hansen 5, Abraham 0, Bonner 0, Saint John 0, Martin 2, Demeo 19, Adams 0.

From Prep Feed CCS Basketball Home by David Kiefer, who has covered high school sports in the CCS area for 30 years with papers: San Jose Mercury, San Francisco Examiner, Santa Cruz Sentinel and Peninsula Times Tribune. He publishes a top Twenty List for sports in the CCS area. For all the basketball teams in the section, no matter the division they will end up playing in on the playoffs, on March , he has SC ranked twelfth with a 23-8 record. Only number one Salesian at 34-1 will still be playing. Other teams that SC has played are number 3, Burlingame at 27-5; no. 6, Sacred Heart Prep 25-3; no. 8 St. Francis of Mt. View 15-14; No. 14 Salinas at 23-2; 16, Aptos at 23-6, No. 18 Palma 20-8 and no.20, Harbor at 20-7.

SC went 10-2 to win the SCCAL for a .833 win average and 24-8 overall for a .750 winning average. SC scored 2,175 points and gave up 1,746 points.

Cal-Hi Sports Rankings for the top 10 Division IV teams in Northern Cal: No. 1 Salesian 34-1; No. 4 St. Mary’s of Berkeley 21-10, No. 5 Sacred Heart Prep 25-2; No. 9 Colfax 22-9; No. 10 St. Patrick/St. Vincent 25-8. Santa Cruz and Marin Catholic 20-10 were others listed.

The San Francisco Chronicle Metro top twenty lists Salesian as number one.

From Max Prep, for the SCCAL top five players in the following categories: Scoring: Keith Williams fifth in scoring at 11.0 points per game; fifth in three pointers at 1.5 per game: fourth in steals with 2.5 per game. Zen Maki 3.6 per game in assists and fourth in foul shooting with 56 made foul shots in 70 attempts for 80 percent accuracy. Dominic Bonner was fifth in steals with 2.3 per game average. Ti Demeo was fourth in blocked shots with 1.2 per game.

In CCS Division IV, SC was ranked tenth with a overall record of 24-8 for a twenty-one overall rating in CCS. SC’s Division IV record was 15-4 and a schedule strength of 11.5 and an opponents won loss record of 493 wins and 369 losses.

From Max Prep, rebounding records for the CCS by place, individual, games played, offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds, total rebounds and average rebounds per game.
PL NAME G OFF DEF TO AV
72 Conroy
142 Martin 24 45 40 85 3.5
162 Schmidt 24 39 39 78 3.3
197 Maki 26 52 21 73 2.8
253 Saint John 24 37 16 53 2.2
258 Williams 24 28 24 52 2.2
283 Bonner 26 22 28 49 1.9

March 20. Sentinel All County. First five: Keith Williams and Zen Maki. Second five: Ti De Meo. Honorable mention: Johann Schmidt and Clayton Conroy.
Coach of the Year, Bill Domhoff
Williams had a 11.0 per game scoring average and Maki 10.3 points a game and 3.6 assists a game. Williams was the teams most consistent shooter, making 46 percent of his shots and leading the team with 44- three pointers.

March 5. ALL SCCAL. First five: Seniors Zen Maki and Keith Williams. Second five: Ti De Meo, junior. Honorable mention: Johann Schmidt, senior and Clayton Conroy, junior.

JV BOYS BASKETBALL
Yearbook.

FROSH BASKETBALL
Yearbook.

GIRLS VARSIIY BASKETBALL
Practice games: Mills tournament: El Camino 64-38, Mt. View 54-48, Mills 54-62. Salinas tournament: Alvarez 76-25, North Salinas 49-46, King City 57-41. Tournament champs. St. Ignatius Tournament: San Francisco University High 83-59, St. Ignatius 23-58, Olympian of Chula Vista 58-62. Practice record: 6-3. League: Harbor 52-32, 65-47; SLV 60-25,85-21; St. Francis 52-45, 66-57; Aptos 79-54, 64-53; Scotts Valley 49-61, 60-73; Soquel 55-58, 49-51. League record 8-4 for third place. League final records: Scotts Valley 12-0, Soquel 10-2, SC 8-4, St. Francis 6-6, Aptos 4-8, Harbor 2-10, SLV 0-12. SC third in league.
SCCAL playoffs: In the first round, Harbor 63-56 in overtime. In semifinals lost to Soquel 68-61. In the CCS quarterfinals, SC defeated Branham 72-31, but were forced to forfeit the game and nine other games, because of a mid-year graduate being ineligible.
Not counting the forfeited games the overall season record was 16-8.

Yearbook.

Roster: Pauli Pappas, Ashley Claussen, Micaela Whelan, Sheena Conroe, Kali DeHart, Maggie Myall, Cheyenne Oropeza, Niki Paulin, Jenny Figueroa, Chloe Bonbardieri

Dec. 2. Pauli Pappas recorded a double-double and four Cardinals scored in double figures, as SC routed El Camino 64-38 in the Mills Classic Tournament. Pappas had team highs with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Ashley Claussen did a bit of everything with 10 points, 8 steals and 10 rebounds. Micaela Whelan scored 13 points and Sheena Conroe added 10. Other scorers: Kali DeHart 4, Maggie Myall 5, Cheyenne Oropeza 6.
.
Dec. 3. Pauli Pappas scored 21 point and pulled down 12 rebounds to lead SC past Mt. View 54-48 in the semifinal of the Mills Classic in Millbrae. Ashley Claussen had 12 points and 7 rebounds. Other scorers: Micaela Whalen 3, Kali DeHart 7, Niki Paulin 2, Sheena Conroe 2, Cheyenne Oropeza 4.

Dec. 10. Pappas Leads Cardinals To Victory. Pauli Pappas had 17 points and 14 rebounds in a 76-25 rout of Alvarez at the Salinas tournament. Pappas also blocked a shot. Ashley Claussen also scored 17 points, 3 assists and pulled down seven rebounds. Kali DeHart and Cheyenne Oropeza each score ten points. Other scorers by name, points, rebounds, assist and steals.
NAME PT R A S
Whalen 3 1 2
Dehart 10 3 3 2
Myall 4 1
Conroe 8 8 1
Oropoeza 10 3 2
Paulin 2 8 1 1
Figueroa 4
Bombardieri 1 9 2

Dec 11. SC outscored North Salinas by eight in the fourth quarter to earn a 49-46 victory in the second round of the Salinas tourney. Micaela Whalen scored 14 points on four three pointers, including the go ahead three pointer with two minutes remaining. Ashley Claussen hit two free throws with six seconds remaining to extend the Cards lead to three.. Pauli Pappas added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Dec. 12. SC jumped out to an early lead 26-8 in the first quarter and never looked back beating King City 57-41 for the title the Salinas Tournament. Ashley Claussen scored 14 points and made five steals. Cheyenne Oropeza finished with 10 points, seven steals and four assists.
Other scorers: Dehart 3, Myall 2, Conroe 11. Paulin 7. Figueroa 2, Bombardieri 4, Schmidt 2, Pappas 2 and 6 rebounds,
Pauli Pappas was number tournament MVP after averaging nine points and 11 rebounds in the three games. Claussen was All Tournament.

Dec. 12. Conroe Leads SC Girls Past Alisal. Sheena Conroe scored 11 points and Kali DeHart made all nine of her points in the first half and had four steals, as SC defeated Alisal 54-27. Ashley Claussen scored five points, and added five rebounds, four assists and seven steals. Chloe Bombardieri led the team in rebounds with seven. Others scoring: Whalen 4, Pappas 6, Myall 6, Paulin 0, Figueroa 2, Bombardieri 2, Schmidt 0. SC is 6-1.

Dec. 17. Claussen’s Triple-Double Lifts Cards. SC beat Evergreen Valley 83-70. Ashley Claussen’s feat was the first triple-double for SC in the last ten years, according to Patrick and Monique Jones, who have coached the team during that time. Claussen a junior, scored 18 points, with 14 assists and ten rebounds for the 7-1 Cards. Kaly DeHart scored 17 points followed by Micaela Whalen 15, Maggie Myall 14 and Pauli Pappas 12. Other scorers: Conroe 2, Oropeza 3, Bombardieri 2, Schmidt 0.

Dec. 22. Ashley Claussen scored 16 points with seven assists to lead the Cards over Santa Teresa 69-50. SC trailed 11-8 in the first quarter, but shot ahead once the Cards got warmed up, outscoring the Saints 23-8 in the second quarter. Micela Whalen scored 12 points, Pauli Pappas had 12 rebounds and eight steals. Sheeena Conroe scored seven points with ten rebounds. Other scorers: DeHart 7, Pappas 4, Myall 6, Oropeza 4, Paulin 4, Figueroa 5, Bombardieri 4, Schmidt 0.

Dec. 30. Point guard Ashley Claussen scored 16 points, made 13 assists and had eight steals as the Cards defeated University of San Francisco 83-59 in the first round of the St. Ignatius tourney. Micaela Whalen and Maggie Myall each scored 17 points. Niki Paulin grabbed ten rebounds. SC ran up a 30-16 lead in the first period and never looked back. Scoring: Whalen 17, DeHart 13, Claussen 16, Myall 17, Conroe 4, Oropeza 8, Paulin 6, Figueroa 6, Schmidt 2.

Dec. 30. SC had to play two games in one day, as the University game was canceled the night before, because of power failure. Against St. Ignatius in the semi-finals that evening SC lost 58-23. Nikki DeHart had a team high of nine points for the 9-2 Cards. St. Ignatius went out to a 24-7 first quarter lead, but the rest of the game was fairly even. Scoring: Whalen 3, DeHart 9, Claussen 2, Myall2, Conroe 7.

Dec. 31. SC fell to Olympian 62-58 to finish fourth at the St. Ignatius Tourney. Kali DeHart scored 15 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had six steals while being named to the All Tournament team for SC with a 9-3 record. Ashley Claussen logged 13 points and eight assists. SC took a 18-13 lead in the first quarter and 31-22 lead at halftime, but were not able to hold on. (No doubt tired from playing two games the day before, while having some players
missing for the tournament) Other scoring: Whalen 8, Myall 5, Conroe 13, ten rebounds and Oropeza 4.

Jan. 3. Santa Cruz County Girls Basketball Preview.
The SCCAL is full of girls basketball teams on the rise this season, which means it could get crowded atop the league standings come February. “There are probably five teams that can contend,” said Pat Jones coach of the two time reigning league champion SC. “On any given night, most of the league can beat each other. The league champion can have three or four losses and still come in first place.” Soquel coached by former SC athlete John Wilson won seven straight league championships from 2002-2008, didn’t graduate a single player from last years team is considered one of the top contenders.
SC graduated six players from last years team. Still SC can never be counted out after winning the league title, and the CCS title two consecutive years and making the CCS final four years in a row. It will be even tougher to do it again this year as the Cards are moving up from Division IV to Division III.
The team lost their leading scorer and rebounder Pauli Pappas indefinitely with mononucleosis. Pappas is the teams tallest player at 5-8. “I think it’s a different team. We’re much smaller than last year. We don’t have the length that we did and we don’t have the rebounding. I think we miss that the most,” said coach Jones.
SC has a bevy of 3 point shooters and veteran point guard Ashley Claussen, who can get them open looks. Claussen was one of the best defensive players in the league last year and has come on strong on the offensive end this season with a 12.2 points per game average and a county high 44 assists.
Ones to watch from SC
Pauli Pappas, junior the teams top rebounder and one of the teams best scorers, but out with mononucleosis.
Ashley Claussen, junior point guard with 12.2 points a game, and leads the county with 44 assists and 40 steals.

Teams in the league practice records before the league season starts tomorrow: Aptos 9-2, SC 9-3, St. Francis 6-2, Soquel 7-4, Scotts Valley 6-4, Harbor 5-7, SLV 1-7.

Jan. 8. Cheyenne Oropeza’s 18 points led the Cards to a 60-25 victory over SLV. Ashley Claussen had 6 points, 9 steals and 7 assists. Micaela Whalen chipped in with 14 points and Sheena Conroe had 8 points and 12 rebounds for the Cards who are now 11-3 overall and 2-0 in league. Other scorers: DeHart 5, Myall 3, Paulin 4, Figueroa-Rico 2.

Jan. 11. Ashley Claussen spearheaded a big comeback win as SC edged St. Francis 52-49. St. Francis led by nine after the first quarter and by 15 at halftime 29-14, before SC caught fire. Claussen finished with 16, points, 12 steals, 8 assists and six rebounds. Micaela Whalen scored a game high 18 points. Kali Dehart scored nine points and had 10 rebounds. Sheena Conroe had 5 points, 11 rebounds and 4 steals. SC is now 12-3 overall and 3-0 in league. Other scorers: Myall 4, Conroe 5.

Jan. 13. Ashley Claussen had her second triple-double of the season with a game high 23 points, 12 steals and 10 assists as the Cards remain unbeaten in league play with a 79-54 win over Aptos. Sheena Conroe had 9 points, 11 rebounds and 4 steals. Pauli Pappas returned to play after missing action due to mono and scored 11 points in some what limited action. SC went out to a 26-15 lead at the end of the first quarter and 37-28 at halftime. SC didn’t let up and outscored Aptos 25-10 in the third quarter. Other scorers: Whelan 15, Schmidt 2. DeHart 10, Myall 6, Figueroa 2, Bombardieri 1.

Jan. 19. Scotts Valley topped SC 61-49 in a battle between the two unbeaten SCCAL teams. “In order to put ourselves in a good position for the second half of league, our next game against once beaten Soquel, will be a big game,” said coach Pat Jones. SC got off to a slow start, but the girls found their legs in the second quarter and used them to make the press work to their benefit. They forced seven turnovers in the period to pull within three points, but then fell behind 35-26 at halftime. That same pattern continued through out the second half. Scotts Valley stretched its lead, then SC reeled it back in. SC normally a strong three-point shooting team attempted 29 shots from beyond the arc, but only sank six.
“I thought we came out flat. We were not as aggressive as we wanted to be. We were in spurts, but we couldn’t maintain it,” Jones said.
Pauli Pappas, back from being sick, led SC with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Sheena Conroe scored 11 points and had 10 rebounds. Kali DeHart had 12 points. Other scorers: Claussen 7, Myall 4.

Jan. 23. Soquel used a big fourth quarter to overtake SC 58-55. SC is now 13-5 overall and 4-2 in league. The first quarter ended in a 15-15 tie. Soquel led at halftime 31-30. SC lead 44-41at the end of the third period, but Soquel outscored the Cards 17-11 in the fourth quarter to pull out the win. Scoring: Whalen and DeHart 11 each, Pappas 9 and 8 rebounds, Claussen 10, 8 assists and 8 steals, Myall 2, Conroe 10, Oropeza 2.

Jan. 26. SC’s Claussen Nets Quadruple-Double in a 65-47 win over Harbor. Claussen scored 10 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter. Claussen has two triple-doubles this season finished with 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 11 steals. Kali DeHart had a triple-double as well, scored 15 points and had ten rebounds and ten steals. SC is now 14-5 overall and 5-2 in league.
Harbor led 27-25 at halftime, but SC came back to outscore Harbor 25-8 in the fourth quarter. Other scorers: Whalen 5, Schmidt 0, Pappas 6, Myall 6, Conroe 9, Paulin 2, Bombardieri 4.

Jan. 29. Pauli Pappas and Ashley Claussen each had a double-double and SC beat SLV 85-21. Pappas scored 13 points with 12 rebounds, five assists and three steals. Claussen scored 13 points with 10 steals and six assists. Micaela Whalen and Cheyenne Oropeza each scored ten points. SC out scored SLV 41-9 in the first half. Other scorers: Schmidt 7, DeHart 5, Myall 9, Conroe 6, Paulin 6, Figueroa 2, Bombardieri 2, Gardner 2.

Feb. 1. Another Rally? It’s In The Cards. SC Breaks Up Tight Game With Late Surge For The Win. After rallying from a 15 point deficit to prevail in their first meeting in Jan. 10, the Cards did it again. They made up a eight point deficit and pulled away for a 66-57 win, much to the delight of their enthusiastic fans. The Cards jumped for joy and exchanged high fives and hugs after their latest win.
“This was a fun game,” said Pauli Pappas, who finished with 12 points. “It’s always more fun when you come out on top.” Ashley Claussen had 19 points. SC had four players in double figures. Kali DeHart 16 and Micaela Whalen 15, who hit a clutch three pointer in a game closing run.
SC pressed the whole game and St. Francis broke down when it matter most, in the last three minutes. After fans booed a foul call on Claussen with 3:05 left and the score tied 56-56, the height challenged Cards shifted their up tempo offense into overdrive, going on a 10-1 run to finish the game. “Our defense strives to make our offense good. We worked as a team more in the second half,” said Pappas.
With the win, the second place Cards 16-5 overall and 7-2 in league stayed within striking distance of league leading Scotts Valley at 17-4, 9-0.
The pesky Card defense and ability to create turnovers and fast break baskets kept SC hanging around. “We made a couple of mistakes early on, but we knew if we stayed focused and cooled down, we’d be fine,” said Claussen. “We’re really excited. It’s hard to beat a competitive team twice. So I really enjoyed this win.”
There were several highlights from Whelan, who turned in a four point play in the second quarter after she was fouled while making a three pointer and drained the ensuing free throw. She also made three free throws in the third quarter after she was fouled on a three point attempt. Claussen made a layup while running into a brick wall of a St. Francis sophomore forward.
SC was down 31-27 at halftime, but closed the gap to 46-45 in the third quarter. A 20-11 fourth quarter turned the tide. Other scorers: Conroe 3.

Feb. 3. Ashley Claussen contributed all over the floor in a 64-53 win over Aptos. Claussen scored 22 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, made seven assists and collected five steals. Micaela Whalen scored 19 points and Pauli Pappas had eight points, four assists and ten rebounds. SC is 17-5 overall and 8-2 in league, two games behind undefeated Scotts Valley, who they play next Tuesday. Other scorers: DeHart 4, Myall 2, Conroe 6, Oropeza 4.

Feb. 9. Scotts Valley ended their undefeated league season with a 73-59 win over the Cards on senior night. SC started all seniors and was down 10-0 before the Cards were able to score. The Cards came back and were down only one point 15-16 at the end of the first quarter. The half ended with a tie score of 31-31. SC was led by Ashley Claussen with a game high of 23 points and Pauli Pappas with 14 points five assists and 15 rebounds for a double-double. Sheena Conroe scored six points and had 11 rebounds. Other scorers: Whalen 5, DeHart 5, Schmidt 0, Myall 0, Oropeza 4, Paulin 2, Figueroa, Bombardieri and Gardner all 0.

Feb. 12. Soquel, under former Card athlete and later coach John Wilson, defeated SC 51-49 in a hotly contested contest to avoid a second place tie with his old school. Micaela Whalen scored a game high 21 points and Pauli Pappas scored nine. The first quarter ended with Soquel ahead 13-11. SC took a 22-21 lead into half time and kept the one point lead into the fourth quarter as both teams scored 15 points in the third quarter. Soquel outscored SC 15-12 in the final quarter for the win.
SC is 17-7 overall and 8-4 in league for third place. Other scorers: Schmidt 0, DeHart 8, Claussen 8, Myall 0, Conroe 1, Oropeza 0, Paulin 2, Figueroa 0, Bombarderi 0, Gardner 0.

From MbayPreps.com on Feb. 12. Two Cards are in the top five scorers in the Monterey Bay area. Ashley Claussen with a 13.22 per game average in 23 games and Pauli Pappas a 10.65 per game average in 17 games.

Feb. 16. Harbor Within A Hair Of Upsetting Santa Cruz. Number 6 Pirates Force OT Against Lackluster number 3 Cardinals before taking loss. The third seeded Cards needed a second half comeback and an overtime period to win over Harbor 63-56 to advance to the SCCAL semifinals against Soquel. The Cards had not lost to Harbor since January 4, 2005.
Harbor jumped out to a 13 point lead in the first half and held a 52-51 lead with 1:46 left in regulation. SC 18-7 overall, briefly took a one point lead on free throws by senior Kali DeHart, but Harbor made a free throw to tie the score up at the end of regulation.
“We told them at the end of regulation, if they lost then they would have to practice with us for a week, I think that was a little motivation,” said coach Pat Jones. The Cards finally started playing like the two time defending SCCAL and CCS champions, as they forced six straight turnovers to start the extra period. The takeaways resulted in five straight layups.
A speech by Card co-head coach Monique Jones during a timeout with two minutes left in the first half seemed to spark the team, which closed the second quarter on a 9-1 run to trail 30-25 at halftime. Jones said slow starts have plagued the team all season. Leading scorers for SC were DeHart and Ashley Claussen each with 18 points followed by Maggie Myall with 10. Other scorers: Whelan 5, Conroe 4, Oroperza 6, Paulin 2.

Feb. 18. Soquel Surges, Sweeps Santa Cruz in SCCAL playoff semifinals. The first time Soquel beat SC they won by three points. The second time, it was by two. In this game the Cards closed to within a point after three quarters of play. “In the fourth quarter, I think the whole team didn’t want to make this a close game,” said Soquel’s ace player, who was a rebounding and shooting machine in the fourth quarter on her way to a 20 point game. Soquel outscored SC 21-15 in the quarter and won by seven points 68-61.
SC led 16-15 at the end of the first quarter, but Soquel went ahead 32-21 at halftime. To start the second half, SC came out of the locker room fired up and hit a hot streak with a bundle of three-point plays. Kali DeHart, Pauli Pappas, Sheena Conroe and Maggie Myall started hitting from behind the arc. Ashley Claussen and DeHart both were fouled while making layups and converted their free throws, to briefly take a 46-45 lead.
DeHart finished with 20 points, while Pappas and Claussen added 13 apiece. “If we’re up, we start to play soft. We have to know to keep pushing and pushing,” Claussen said. Other scoring: Whalen 7, Oropeza 4, Myall 3, Conroe 1, Paulin 0.
After winning the CCS Division IV title last year, SC is moving up to Division III this year with the first round of play starting on Tuesday.

Feb. 25. Cardinals Make Quick Work of Branham. Number five seeded SC routed number 11 seeded Branham 72-31. SC 19-8 overall had a bye in the first round and looked energized early. Three straight lay-ups off turnovers gave SC a 35-13 lead with two minutes left in the half and SC cruised from there SC’s full court pressure defense hassled Branham into 19 first half turnovers to lead 42-16 at halftime. “We’ve had a little time off this week and the girls are really excited about making a run and seeing what happens. Tonight was one of the best all-around games we’ve played in a long time,” Coach Pat Jones said.
Ashley Claussen led SC with 23 points, eight steals and seven assist. She scored 13 of her points in the third quarter. Pauli Pappas finished with 11 points. “It’s definitely a good feeling. We haven’t been play our best and this game we finally played a good four quarters,” Pappas said. Sheena Conroe scored 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. She also teamed up fellow senior captain Kali DeHart to contain the Branham leading scorer. Other scorers: Whalen 7, DeHart 7, Oropeza 7, Paulin 4, Gardner 1, Frankel 2,
The Cards next game will be in the quarterfinals against the third seeded Valley Christian, who coach Jones said are very talented and will press us like we pressured Branham. We need to take care of the ball and take good shots.

Feb. 26. Forfeit Finishes Cardinals Season. Early graduate deemed ineligible for playoffs. The Cardinals must forfeit their second round CCS win over Branham as well as five league victories, because one of its players graduated at the end of the first semester on January 21, making her ineligible for SC’s last ten games, some of which were losses. According to CCS/CIF rules, players are not eligible after graduating in the first semester of the year. But players are eligible after second semester graduation, as some schools end earlier than others and before playoffs and state meets are completed.
“When I found out I was just, I didn’t believe it at first,” said Pauli Pappas, who said she didn’t blame her teammate. “It was such a shock. We worked so hard, so it’s hard to see it go away that fast.” SC who won the CCS Division IV title the last two years was attempting to claim their third straight title.

March 20. Sentinel All County. First Five: Ashley Claussen. Second five: Kali DeHart. Honorable Mention: Micaela Whalen and Pauli Pappas.
Do everything junior point guard Ashley Claussen was picked for her tenacious defense. Claussen, who had a rare quadruple double during league play led the county with 177 steals and stepped up on the offensive end this season with a 13.1 points per game average and a county best 164 assists.

Feb. 26. ALL SCCAL first five: Junior point guard, Ashley Claussen. Second five: junior guard, Pauli Pappas. Third five: Senior forward, Kail DeHart and Senior guard, Micaela Whalen. Honorable Mention: Senior forward: Sheena Conroe.

GIRLS JV BASKETBALL
Yearbook.

WRESTLING
League dual meet scores: Harbor 45-31, Scotts Valley 30-43, SLV 31-33, Aptos 24-53, Soquel 42-35. SC record 2-3 for fourth place. League final dual meet records: Aptos 5-0, Scotts Valley 4-1, SLV 3-2, SC 2-3, Harbor 1-4, Soquel 0-5.

Yearbook.

Feb. 27. At the CCS meet this is how the SCCAL scored by place in the meet, school and number of points.
15. SLV 58.5. 17. Aptos 56. 35, Scotts Valley 28. 41, SC 21. 46. Harbor and Soquel 18 each.

Feb. 19. Aptos won the SCCAL wrestling championship meet with 172.5 points, followed by Scotts Valley 139, Harbor 119, SLV 112, Soquel 93.5, SC 82. Aptos also won the league dual meet season with a 5-0 record followed by Scotts Valley. The top two wrestlers in each weight class move on to the CCS meet at Independence High in San Jose. The top three wrestlers at CCS advance to the State meet in Bakersfield.
How the SC wrestlers did: Three Cards qualified for the CCS meet. At 140 pounds Trevor Kumec won by a 4-3 decision. Josh Burr lost in the finals of the 103 weight class. At 171 Dylan Keel placed second. Other Cards who placed: Nick Guerrero lost by pin in the semifinal round of the 112 pound class. Phillip Ahn at 135 placed third. Cody Kiff at 152 took fourth place.

Dec. 18. At the Coast Classic SC came in thirtieth with 16 points.

Jan. 9. The Apple Cider Classic At Watsonville High at 142 pounds, Trevor Kumec took third place.

Jan. 20. SC got seven pins, including Alex Morris’ clincher at 125, to beat Harbor 45-31 in the teams’ SCCAL opener. Morris pinned his man in 1:20 for one of the four first period pins for the Cards, including Nico Guerrero’s 52 second win at the 119 weight. Other Cards who pinned their opponents: At 103, Jacob Ritz in 5:02; At 112, Josh Burr in 1:18; At 135, Philip Ahn in 1:36; At 140, Cody Kif in 2:58; At 171, Dylan Keel pined his man in 4:36.
At 145, Trevor Kumec won a 7-3 decision. Those who lost were At 189, Tony Ferrer and at 215, David Takahashi. Two matches were forfeited. This was SC’s first dual meet.

Jan. 27. Scotts Valley defeated SC 43-30. Winning by pins were Alex Morris at 125 pounds; at 135, Ahn Phillip: at 140 Trevor Kumec and at 171, Dylan Keel. Lost by decision: Josh Burr at 103, 8-7; At 119, Nico Guerrero, 7-2; Rafael Reyes at 152; Toney Ferrer at 189;
Those who lost by pin were: Jake Ritz at 112; Ray Ortega at 130; David Takakashi at 215;
Those winning by forfeit: Tervor Kumek;

Feb. 3. In a close match SLV defeated SC 33-31. SC gave up four forfeits, which could have been the match. Cody Kiff earned a 14-6 major decision in the feature match of the evening, but he needed a pin to tie the score. SC won six of the eight contested matches and dominated the middle weights. Trevor Kumec at 140 won by pin and winners by decisions were Phillip Ahn at 130 won 5-2, Rafael Reys at 160 won 7-3 and Dylan Keel at 171 won 5-0. Josh Burr at 103 and Ryan Renteria won by forfeit. At 125, Alex Morris lost by decision 8-4. Tommy Ferrer at 189 lost by pin. SC is now 1-2 in league dual meets.

Feb. 10. Undefeated Aptos took the Cards 53-24. Aptos won five matches by forfeit. Card winners by pins were Nico Guerrero at 112 in 1:45; Trevor at 140 in 2:30; Dylan Keel at 171 in 3:14. Josh Burr at 103 won by forfeit. SC losers by pins were Alex Morris at 119; Phil Han at 135; Cody Kiff at 145. At 189 Tony Ferrer lost by a 3-6 decision. SC is now 1-3 in league dual matches.

Feb. 15. SC defeated Soquel 42-35 as Knights forfeited four matches. SC is 2-3 in league dual meets and Soquel is 0-5. Cards who had pins were Trevor Kumec at 145, Byron Williams at 160, Dylan Keel at 171. Cards who won by forfeit were Josh Burr at 103, Nico Guerrero at 112, Zeebo Goulden at 119 and Alex Morris at 125. Those who lost by decision: At 135, Phillip Ahn in a 5-7 decision; At 140, Cody Kiff in a technical fall; At 215, Tony Ferrer in 1-5 decision. Those who lost by pin: At 152, Bilen Sondossi in 3:04; At 189, David Takashi in 5:34.

Qualifying for CCS makes Trevor Kumec, Josh Burr and Dylan Keel All League.

BOYS VARSITY SOCCER SCCAL CHAMPIONS; CCS DIVISION III CHAMPIONS FOR SIXTH TIME. DIV II CO-CHAMPIONS IN 1991, 2002. CLEAR CHAMPIONS IN 2003, 2004. DIVISION III IN 2010 AND 2011.
Practice games: Mitty 2-3, Sacred Heart Cathedral 5-3, Pajaro Valley 0-0: Golden Gate Invitational: Bellarmine 0-1, Loyola of LA 0-1, Buchanan of Clovis 1-4, Alisal 6-1. Practice record 2-4-1. League: Soquel 3-4, 4-2; SLV 3-1, 7-1: St. Francis 11-0, 12-0; Harbor 1-0, 3-1; Aptos 8-0 Scotts Valley 7-0, 6-1. Final League records: SC 11-1, Soquel 9-3, Harbor 8-2-2, SLV 5-6-1, Scotts Valley 4-7-1, St. Francis 1-11, Aptos 1-11.
In the CCS Division III playoffs, number one seeded SC received a bye in the first round, then defeated Gonzales 5-0 in the quarterfinals and Sacred Heart Cathedral of San Francisco 5-0 in the semifinals. The CCS championship was won by defeated Live Oak 2-0 in the finals.
SC won league with a 11-1 record and had an overall record of 16-5-1.

Yearbook.

From Mbayprep.com. Roster by name, position, height, weight and year in school
NAME POS HT WT YR SCH
Juanito Aguilar Midfield 5-3 110 11
Tanner Akol Midfield 5-10 145 11
Jose Calvillo 5-11 145 10
Leif Christiansen Midfield 5-10 145 12
John Chronopoulos Forward 6-0 160 11
Aksel Dregelid Defense 6-1 155 11
Jairo Esqueda 5-7 170 12
Giovanni Giattino 5-10 130 11
Ethan Gomez Midfield 5-8 145 12
Christian Gomez Midfield 5-6 130 10
Cody Gottsegen 5-6 135 10
Brandon Laguana 6-3 163 9
Dylan Manning Goalie 6-1 165 12
Slater Meehan Defense 5-10 150 11
Amando Merlin-Popp Forward 5-6 160 12
Edwin Naranjo-Valles Defense 5-8 140 11
Josef Richardson Forward 5-5 120 10
Jake Ryan Defense 5-10 150 12
Jaia Young 5-10 140 9

March 6. Semih-Charmed Life. Santa Cruz Captures Fifth CCS Title Under Coach Sabankaya. Chronopoulos Scores Twice In 30 Seconds For win. SC’s high powered offense fired blanks in the first half, but star forward John Chronopoulos made sure the Cards closed their season with a bang. Chronopoulos scored back-to-back goals in a a 30 second span in the forty-third minute, and the Cards held on for a 2-0 win at Gilroy High right next to Morgan Hill the home of Live Oak High.
“To bad we don’t have state, because this team is as good as it gets,” said coach Semih Sabankay, who won his fifth CCS crown in ten years. It was the Cards sixth section championship, but first as the number one seed. SC finished 16-5-1 with 90 goals in 22 games. Sixth seeded Live Oak was 16-3-5. Last season, the teams met in the CCS Division III quarter finals and SC advanced on penalty kicks, 4-3.
“We knew the first goal was going to be the winner and after that momentum would build,” said Chronopoulos, who boosted his season goal total to a school record tying 34. “This game made the year. We won the double, the league and CCS titles, but this takes the prize.” After he scored his second goal, SC fans went bonkers. Chronopoulos streaked straight to the Card bench. He was fist pumping, screaming maniac intent on getting his 57 year old coach into the celebration. Chronopoulos jumped onto Sabankaya’s shoulders and the junior laden Cards followed, surrounding their leader in a jumping pile of white collard jerseys.
Prior to the game, Sabankaya had a pep talk with Chronopoulos, who was flustered after being held goalless in the 5-0 rout of Sacred Heart Cathedral in the semifinals. Clearly Sabankaya pushed the right buttons. “I was as excited as he was,” Sabankaya said, noting he wasn’t worried about getting injured in the celebratory scrum. “I think all his frustration came out in the celebration, And that goal was the nail in the coffin.”
During the preseason, a short handed Card team took its lumps at the Golden Gate Invitational at Bellarmine (which at Gilroy later in the day won the CCS Division I championship) Four nationally ranked teams from ESPNRise.com’s Fab 50 were on hand and the Cards salvaged a 1-3 record.
After the rough start, it was time for Sabankaya to work his trademark magic, which means barking orders. “Sometimes I have to remind them they’re playing a game,” he said. “I have to get them to wake up. They take my energy and play according to their coach’s… Once I stop yelling, I will quit coaching.” His thick Turkish accent often muddles the orders he gives from the bench during games or at practice, but was a cool customer all postseason. Clearly the Cards soaked up his tutelage the past two months. His team outscored opponents 11-0 in three postseason games after receiving a first round bye and finished the season with a 14 game win streak.
“They had the horses,” said the Live Oak coach. A quartet of three year starters, Chronopoulos, midfielder Tanner Akol and Giovanni Giattino and defender Slater Meehan had Sabankaya at ease. “He can be harsh, but he loves us more than any other coach I’ve played for,” said Meehan, a junior and one of the seven starters slated to return next season. “He knows exactly how to get the best out of his players.”
The Cards were such a cohesive unit, it was hard to tell they were missing star striker Yosef Richardson. The sophomore sprained his medial collateral ligament with four games left in the regular schedule. SC’s ball control offense set up 11 shots in the first half, but the teams remained scoreless.
Fired up by Sabankaya at halftime, Giattino made a run from midfield early in the second half and was tripped up in the penalty box. Chronopoulos converted the ensuing penalty kick for the lead. He celebrated by fist pumping his way to the bleachers, hamming it up for the estimated 500 vocal fans. Thirty seconds later, Chronopoulos struck again. He gathered in a pass from Armando Popp and took the ball wide around the defense and fired a shot to the far post past the goalie. “Our defense tried to take a poke at the ball and he just got by us,” said an Acorn player. Live Oak made a run at the Cards in the ten minutes remaining, but goalie Dylan Manning finished with four saves. The defense stopped goal attempts around the goal as well.
Next season the Cards are considering showing their growth to the big dogs of the section. Sabankaya is considering requesting to compete in the Division I during next years CCS playoffs, despite having a much smaller enrollment, so they can compete with large school powers Bellarmine and Watsonville. “This is the team of the decade,” said Sabankaya. “We’ve dominated Division II and III. We might want to get our toes in Division I to see where we’re at.”

Dec. 18. Cardinals Pour On Offense. Chronopoulos Paces Attack In Wet Rematch Of CCS Championship. There were no shortage of goals as SC beat Sacred Heart Cathedral 5-3 on a rainy day at Depot Park. The game was a rematch of last years CCS Division III championship game, which SC won on penalty kicks. John Chronopoulos made the difference by delivering two goals and one assist for the offensive minded Cards “We are a very attacking team. I thought our kids overall played very good in the their second game of the season,” said coach Semih Sabankaya.
Sophomore midfielder Yosef Richardson earned a penalty kick after a foul in the box. Richardson had dribbled the ball into the penalty area and was fouled by a defender just a second late to his challenge. Chronopoulos coolly knocked in the penalty kick for a SC 1-0 lead. SC kept the pressure on, creating several scoring opportunities. Often started the attack was Chronopoulos, who caused problems for the Irish with his size and speed. “Johnny is a dominator,” said coach Sabankaya. “We look for him in the front. The more he gets it, the more dangerous he is.”
Despite their fast and threatening build-up play, the Cards lacked a finishing touch in the first half and led only 1-0 at halftime. Richardson just missed on two scoring chances on Chronopoulos crosses, including one on a volley with an open net in the twenty-ninth minute.
SC kept up their aggressive play in the second half and it paid off in the forty-sixth minute, when Chronopoulos scored on a rebound of a Richardson shot to make it 2-0. In the fiftieth minute the Irish scored to make it 2-1. Five minutes later Chronopoulos got loose again, this time it was his passing which hurt the Irish. After an elusive run toward the corner, the forward sent the ball across the face of the goal where midfielder Ethan Gomez met it with his foot and scored.
It didn’t stay 3-1 for long. In the sixtieth minute, it was Gomez connecting on the cross to widen the Cards lead to 4-1. The Irish scored twice in quick succession to close the score to 4-3. Giovanni Giattino ended the comeback bid when he scored in the seventieth-eighth minute. The all league midfielder had been putting shots on target all game and he finally got it past the goalkeeper for the games final goal. Goalkeeper Dylan Manning had five saves.
“We have to learn how to win,” said coach Sabankaya of the games final ten minutes. “Good team always win, even when adversity happens.” SC is now 1-1.

Dec. 24. PV Fends Off Santa Cruz. Cardinals Dominate Play But Can’t Find The Net In Tie The way SC dominated play, it seems almost wrong to say neither team won. But that’s what a final line of the Cards scoreless draw against PV will show. Defending CCS Division III Champions SC controlled every aspects of the game, but couldn’t get one of its 11 shots on goal to actually go in the net. The Cards first chance came when senior forward Amando Merlin-Popp flicked an open header wide left from 8 yards in front of the goal off a cross from junior defender Aksel Dregelid. SC allowed only two shots on goal the whole game. PV’s first shot came in the opening minutes of the game and the second shot came not until sixty-one minutes had elapsed.
SC next plays CCS powerhouse Bellarmine in their own Golden Gate Invitational, a tournament featuring teams from Arizona and Southern California. Watsonville and Alisal are the only CCS teams invited to the elite event. Last year Bellarmine beat SC 1-0.
The PV goalie smothered several hard long shots and caught a break in the twenty-ninth minute when a strike from Jaia Young hit the crossbar. Goalie Tanner Akol had two saves. SC 1-1-1

Dec. 25. 2010 Boy Soccer Review. “We’re Going To Be As Good As Last Year. And Then Some.” ALL EYES ON THE BIG BIRDS. Defending Section Champion Cards Poised For Another Title Run. Last winter, SC won its fourth CCS championship in the past ten years. This year the Cards, who are led by four returning stars, hope to repeat last season’s success. SC is returning 16 of the 20 players from last years Division III championship team, a group that Coach Sabankaya says is now, “One year older, one year better and one year wiser.”
Among these 16 players is 16 year old junior John Chronopoulos. As a sophomore, he scored a league high 17 goals to go along with nine assists, which earned him a Co-Forward of the Year in league. Chronopoulos is joined on the accolade-filled roster by junior midfielder Giovanni Giattino, junior defender Slater Meehan and sophomore midfielder Yosef Richardson all of whom were named to last years SCCAL All League first team.
“Everybody else follows them,” said Sabankaya of his four stars. “That’s the reason this team could be something special.” Chronopoulos, Giattino, Meehan and Richardson all came up through the Santa Cruz Breakers Academy, a top notch development soccer club based in Santa Cruz county. They have been playing soccer together for years, something that Saabankay thinks helps the team greatly. “Its like they always know where the others will be on the field,” he said.
Not only did the group pile up the stats last season, combining for 34 goals and 24 assists, but they also rose to the occasion at crucial times. A prime example is last years section championship game against Sacred Heart Cathedral. Chronopoulos scored the game’s only goal on a pass from Giattino. With so much firepower returning, Sabankaya doubts the Cards will be short on goals.

Dec. 28. Bellarmine Catches Cards. SC Fights Back VS. Nationally Ranked Bells. SC’s unranked team had aspirations of proving itself to big boy and national power Bellarmine at the Golden State Invitational. That didn’t happen. The Cards minus five players, including two starters, got few breaks in a 4-1 loss. The pool play match-up pitted two of the top teams in CCS with the unbeaten Bells 5-0-0 entering the game ranked number ten on the ESPNRise.com’s Fab 50 soccer rankings. They have 14 section titles in the sport, most at the Division I level. SC 1-2-1, who compete in Division III, won their fifth section title last year.
“This is a good learning process for us. You can tell our kids are still on vacation, especially our goal keeping. I thought we gave three goals away. We looked sluggish,” said coach Sebankaya. SC missed several scoring chances, but finally broke through in the fifty-third minute when Tanner Akal chest-trapped a cross from John Chronopoulos at the top of the penalty box and one timed it past the goalie.
“The positive was we went down three to nil and came back. This will prepare us well this season. This was way more physical than in our league,” said John Chronopoulos. Bellarmine scored their first goal at the eleventh minute from 30 yards out.
In addition to being short handed and on the road, the Cards got little help from officials. SC was given five yellow cards to Bellarmine’s zero. While most of the infractions were for rough and unsafe play, Sebankaya and his assistant Chris Meehan were also carded for arguing calls. The Bells controlled the tempo, won air balls, thwarted dead-ball plays and roughed up the Cards. “We definitely need to show better in the next couple of days,” Chronopoulos said. Goalie Dylan Manning had ten saves. Bellarmine’s goalie had 5 saves.

Dec. 29. Defending CCC Division III champion SC 1-3-1 suffered a 1-0 loss to number 35 ranked Loyal of Los Angeles 7-2-3. Loyola score in the fifty-third minute on a penalty kick. SC thought they scored a goal from Amando Merlin-Popp in the first half, but the linesman ruled the ball never crossed the end line. Tanner Akol played goalie and made six saves, including three that were exceptional stops, said Coach Sabankaya. “He kept us in the game, It was a very close game. We pushed and pushed and nothing came through, especially in the last five minutes. They defended very well.”
Sabankaya said he’s elated to be in this tournament, even though the Cards are 0-2 throught two games. “It’s like we’re playing CCS champs over and over,” he said. “It’s such a nice tournament. The cream rises to the top at the end, so we shall see. We’re going to be all right. The kids, I’m proud of them. They gave everything they got and then some.”
Next the Cards play Buchanan of Fresno, who tied Bellarmine 1-1, but won on penalty kicks.

Dec. 30. SC 1-4-1 struck first after Armando Merlin-Popp converted a pass from John Chronopoulos in the tenth minute, but Buchanan of Clovis scored four times in the first six minutes of the second half and rolled to a 4-1 win. Tanner Okolhad had six saves in 45 minutes in goal. Dylan Manning had four saves in 35 minutes in goal. SC defending CCS Division III champions, face defending Division I champion Alisal 2-3-2 for seventh place tomorrow.
Coach Sabankaya said his team’s youth was exposed. The Cards were missing several players still on winter vacation, have one senior on the roster.

Dec. 31. John Chronopoulos scored the hat trick plus an assists as the Cards beat Alisal 6-1 for seventh place in the Golden State Invitational. Axel Dregelid assisted Chronopoulos’ goal in the sixteenth minute to get things going. Tanner Akol assisted in the next two in the thirtieth and forty-eighth minutes, before scoring himself in the second half on Chronopoulos assist. Slater Meehan and freshman Jaia Young also scored for the Cards 2-4-1, who went 1-2 in the three day tournament that involved eight teams, four of which are ranked nationally on the ESPNRise.com Fab 50 list. Goalie Dylan Manning made four saves against the defending CCS Division I champion.
Coach Sabankaya said, “This was a fantastic tournament and it was good experience for the team and I think they represented the Santa Cruz area very well.”

Boys league teams practice record, before league starts tomorrow.
Harbor 3-1-3, SC 2-4-1, St. Francis 1-2-2, Scotts Valley 1-2-1, SLV 1-4-0, Aptos 0-5-2, Soquel 0-4-0, MVC 0-0-0.

Jan. 8. Soquel Soccer Surprises SC. Soquel out scored over the reigning SCCAL champion SC 4-3. Host SC 2-5-1 overall and 0-1-0 in league lead 2-1 at halftime, but gave up three goals in the second half. SC scored first in the twenty-first minute, (unfortunately the home Cards did not mention who scored on any of the goals.) The second goal came in the forty-third minute and the third in the sixty-fifth minute.

Jan. 20. SC beat SLV 3-1. Yosef Richardson scored twice and John Chronopoulos scored and had an assist. Richardson scored in the fifteenth minute on an assist from Chronopoulos and again in the fifty-third minute on his own. Chronopoulos scored on an assist from Tanner Akol in the sixty-third minute. Goalie Dylan Manning had four saves. SC is 3-5-1 overall and 1-1-0 in league.

Jan. 25. Cards’ Quick Start Dooms Pirates. The alarm clock, or in this case the opening whistle sounded and defending CCS Division III champion Cards needed all of 30 seconds to put the decisive goal on the board in a 1-0 win. John Chronopoulos converted a pass from Aksel Dregelid for the winner.
Our midfield was working pretty hard. They had a lot of opportunities just like we did,” said striker Yosef Richardson, who had his lip blooded after taking an elbow to the face in the physical affair.
SC is 5-5-1 overall and 3-1-0 in league. Goalie Dylan Manning had seven saves.

Jan. 27. Giovanni Giattino’s four goal outburst led SC to a 8-0 win over Aptos. Giattino scored twice in each half to go with goals from Slater Meehan, John Chronopoulos, Christian Gomez and Juanito Aguilar. Chronopoulos and Meehan added an assist each and Yosef Richardaon had two assists in the rout. Goalie Dylan Manning had a save. SC is now 6-5-1 overall and 4-1 in league.

Feb. 1. SC Boys Soccer Routs Scotts Valley. John Chronopoulos had a hat trick to move atop he area goals leader board as the Cards beat Scotts Valley 7-0. Chronopoulos opened each half with a goal, sandwiching another in between. Chronopoulos’ outburst gave him 18 goals for the year and vaulted him ahead of a King City player who has 15. Yosef Richardson tacked on two goals of his own and Amondo Popp and Geovanni Giattino also scored. SC is now 7-5-1 overall and 5-1 in league. Those who had assists in there order: Tanner Akol, Chronopoulos had two, Giattino and Juanito Aguilar. Goalkeeper Dylan Manning had three saves.

Feb. 3. Santa Cruz Slides Into First Place. Play Gets Down and Dirty As Cardinals Shoot Past Soquel. The field was muddy the first game when Soquel beat SC in their first league game of the season. In the rematch, the players still got a little dirty, six yellow cards and one red card were issued in the intense game, but the dry field helped fleet footed SC to score a 4-2 win and move into first place in the SCCAL. SC led 2-1 after the first half, but scored twice in the first five minutes of the second half to put a close game out of the Knights reach.
Giovanni Giattino won a showdown with the Knights keeper in the forty-third minute on a pass from John Chronopoulos in the center of the box. Jairo Esqueda added the final SC score two minutes later, when the rebound he collected and shot hit the bottom of the crossbar and bounced to the ground inside the goal. “It was an important goal. It was 2-1 and that one put them down the most so they wouldn’t get to 2-2,” said Giattino of his sixth goal this season. The teams brought at least a year’s worth of baggage into the rivalry match. Last year, Soquel went undefeated to win the SCCAL title, while SC took second place, but SC went on to win the CCS Division III crown. This year the Cards has good odds of taking home all the hardware. They still must get past the number three and four teams in the league, Scotts Valley and Harbor. SC and Soquel could meet again in the CCS playoffs.
Soquel scored first in the eighth minute. SC wasted no time in tying it back up. Chronopoulos took advantage of a bobble by the keeper to push in a goal at the twelfth minute. Then Ethan Gomez scored off a long Tanner Akol throw-in to give the Cards the advantage.
SC succeeded in controlling possession of the ball for most of the game. At the sixty-fifth minute Soquel scored as they caught the Cards off guard by swiftly moving the ball down the field and scoring. It proved to be the last score of the game. As time clicked down, the quality of play began to deteriorate and players on both ends grew more physical. “When you have two powerhouses, that’s what will happen,” Coach Sabankaya said. Goalkeeper Dylan Manning had two saves.

Feb. 10. Santa Cruz Boys Soccer Wins Eighth Straight. John Chronopoulos scored twice and SC won its eighth straight 3-1 over Harbor, which is in third place in league. Chronopoulos’ seventh multi-goal game gave him 22 goals on the season, which leads all area players, according to mbaypreps.com. (He also leads the area in assists and to the knowledge of long time soccer people, no-one has ever led in both categories, which shows the value John has to the team. Usually scorers are scorers and not the set up man for others)
Chronopoulos scored his goals in the eighth and sixty-seventh minutes, while Yosef Richardson scored in the fifty-fifth minute. Ethan Gomez, Tanner Akol and Amondo Popp picked up the assists. SC has not lost since its first league match up with Soquel on January 7.
Goalie Dylan Manning made three saves, but lost out on his sixth shut out of the season in the seventy-sixth minute with the score 3-0. SC is 10-5-1 overall and 8-1 in league

Feb. 12. SC defeated SLV 7-1 led by Giovanni Giattino who made three assists, while Tanner Akol and John Chronopoulos each earned two goals and made an assist. Ethan Gomez scored on an assist from Chronopoulos in the fifty-first minute and another in the eighth minute on an assist from Akol. Jairo Esqueda, from 35 yards out rebounded a loose ball straight to the left corner for a goal. SC scored 3 goals in the first half and 4 in the second half.
SC is now 11-5-1 overall and 9-1 in league with two more games to play. One more win will assure SC a league title. Dylan Manning had four saves.

Feb. 15. SC Boys Win SCCAL Soccer Title Outright. John Chronopoulos scored five goals and SC clinched the SCCAL crown by beating St. Francis 12-0. Chronopoulos, the area’s leading scorer with 27 goals, added an assist in what was the Cards largest margin of victory in at least the last eight years, according to Mbayprep.com.
By moving to 10-1 with only one more game to play in league, while second place Soquel is 8-3, SC clinched the title. Giovanni Giattino scored twice and collected three assists. Jaia Young had two goals and an assist. Ethan Gomez scored a goal and had two assists. Tanner Akol and Cristian Gomez also scored. Akol also had an assist. Jairo Esqueda had two assists. Goalie Dylan Manning made one save for his sixth shutout of the season.

Feb. 17. Santa Cruz boys Soccer Keeps Rolling. John Chronopoulos scored four goals, taking his season total to 31 and had one assist, as SC beat Aptos 8-1 in their league finale. Juanito Aguilar scored twice and Ethan Gomez and Slater Meehan each added goals for SC 13-5-1 overall and 11-1in league. Gomez also had an assist. SC lost only their first league game and have won 11 straight since for the league title. Tanner Akol had four assists and goalie Dylan Manning had three saves.

Feb. 22. JOHNNY BE GOOD. Player of the Year Chronopoulos Making Statement On The Field. SC soccer star John Chronopoulos often exits games like he enters them: Like he just participated in a GQ magazine photo shoot. Every dark blond hair sits perfectly in place, amazing considering the 6 foot, 160 pound striker isn’t shy about going up for headers. And his tan skin lacks any evidence of perspiration after 80 minutes of play, which is stunning because he’s all over the field. “It seems like he never sweats,” said Semih Sabankaya, who is in his tenth season coaching SC. “Everything is easy for him. He looks good during the game and he looks good after.”
Chronopoulos, a junior who turns 17 in April, scored four goals in his team’s regular season finale, a 8-1 win over Aptos to push his season goal total to 31. He enters posteason play four goals shy of passing Billy Thompson’s single season goal scoring school record at SC. Thompson, a former All-America at UCLA and former Major League Soccer player, scored 34 goals for SC during his sophomore year, before transfering to St. Francis of Mt. View. If SC doesn’t lose in the postseason, Chronopoulos has three more games to match and beat the schools season record.
The defending CCS champion Cards now are 13-5-1 overall and 11-1 in league are seeded first in Division III and will not play until the quarterfinals on Saturday.
Three long tenured Card soccer coaches, Don Dempewolf 1973-85, Sergio Sierra 1990-91 and Sabankaya were hard pressed to remember any Card player having as prolific a season as Chronopoulosis is enjoying. “He’s pretty classy,” said Dempewolf, who started the soccer program at SC. “A lot of kids I coached would probably be sitting on the bench these days. All these kids nowadays are so much more athletic. They’re all playing club ball.” Dempewolf, still a Card fan, has seen Chronopoulos play and has been impressed. “He’s got a lot of game. He’s more than just a shooter. He looks, from what I can tell sitting in the bleachers, like an all around player.”
Chronopoulos is. In addition to his high goal total, he’s second on the team in assists with 15 behind Tanner Akol. The league coaches named him the league’s Player of the Year.
Chronopoulos said, “I try to set people up when I play. But coach always tells me, ‘You’re the striker, you need to think: Shoot it.’ I’ve still got a lot to learn. But this is my junior year, It’s time for me to take over. Freshmen and sophomore years were for learning.” He scored 17 goals each of his previous two seasons, helping him earn first team All-SCCAL honors as a freshman and co-Forward of the Year as a sophomore.
He has been man-marked for much of the season, but his breakaway speed has made that a non-factor, “He’s the fastest of everybody,” said Sabankaya. “Other players don’t think he’s fast, but by the time they’ve realized it he’s by them and its too late. He’s got a sixth gear.”
If the Cards postseason opponents think keying on Chronopoulos will lead to SC’s demise, Chronopoulos has some words. “I’d say they’re stupid. We have too many weapons. What have we scored this year, 80 goals? This team has plenty of offense,” he said before SC pushed the total to 88 with their last win. Fellow forward Giovanni Giattino, and midfielders Ethan Gomez and Yosef Richardson plus Akol have also contributed heavily on offense. Many of their runs start with the back row, where defender Slater Meehan, a Stanford University recruit plays. “It’s pretty easy playing with these guys,” said Chronopoulos, who is 100 percent Greek.
Chronopoulos makes it look easy too. But contrary to his appearance he finishes aren’t always picture-esque. “He has some nice goals, but he’s got some ugly ones too,” Giattino said. Chronopoulos, called the “Whiz kid” and “Chrono” by teammates, has been playing soccer since he was 4. He’s always looking ahead, whether he’s making a run on goal or contemplating his future. He’s trying to get to Italy in April for a week trial with Inter Melan’s youth team. In July, he hopes to travel to Argentina to train with Estudiantes’ U18 reserves along with Gaiattino and Meehan. Eventually, he hopes to play in Greece in the World Cup. That’s a ways away. For now he’s focused on being the best and winning the section title again. He also has aspirations of finishing high school with, at least, 100 career goals. At his current pace, it’s feasible. The bigger question: Will he break a sweat reaching the milestone? Probably not. “We’re all trying to get him to 100,” Giattino said.

Numbing Numbers of John Chronopoulos. 2009– 17 goals, ten assists. 2010– 17 goals and 9 assists. 2011– 31 goals, 15 assists at the end of the regular season.

Feb. 27. SC 5, Gonzales 0. Number one seed SC had five different players score in a 5-0 rout over eight seeded Gonzales. Juanito Aguilar, John Chronopoulos, Jaia Young, Giovanni Giattino and Cassidy Caruso all scored. Chronopoulos and Giattino also had assists along with Ethan Gomez and Jairo Esqueda. Goalie Dylan Manning made two saves in the shutout. SC 14-5-1 will face Sacred Heart Cathedral, who it beat in the preseason in the semifinals.

March 3. Santa Cruz Dominates Sacred Heart. SC soccer players had a chip on their shoulders and wings on their feet and that was too much for Sacred Heart Cathedral of San Francisco to contend with in the CCS Division III semifinals at Gilroy. Tanner Akol had two goals and an assist, and the defending CCS Division III Cards routed the Fightin’ Irish 4-0 in a rematch of last seasons final, which SC won 1-0.
The top seeded Cards 15-5-1 overall, seeking their sixth section crown, take on number six seed Live Oak 16-2-5 in the finals Saturday. Akol got his team on the scoreboard in the eighteenth minute, finishing off a pass from Giovanni Giattino with a converted header. “That early goal got us off on a good foot. It feels like we are peeking at the right time, winning 5-0 against Gonzales in the quarterfinals and now 4-0 in the semifinals. But we need to take things in stride and not get too cocky. This just feeds our confidence and hopefully we carry it through the playoff,” Akol said.
SC didn’t get a point from their leading scorer John Chronopoulos, but seemingly everyone else on the SC roster got into the scoring act. Slater Meehan assisted Akol’s second goal in the forty-second minute. In the sixty-second minute Jaia Young scored off an assist from Akol and Juanito Aguilar, one of seven juniors on the team added the final goal seven minutes later. In addition to the balls that went in the net, the Cards plastered the goalie, who finished with seven saves, including three gems in a one minute span in the second half.
It was the Cards second win over SHC this season. Back in December the Cards won 5-3. From the SHC coach, “They looked crisper. They looked like they’ve built momentum. They were good in December and they’re even better now. They showed why they have one of the top programs in the section.”
It was SC’s thirteenth straight win and a fairly easy one for goalie Dylan Manning, who had to make only one save. SC outraced their opponent to the ball, battled for headers and won loose balls routinely as they pressed their way to countless set pieces.
“After we scored that first goal, the boys took the game over. We showed our experience,” said coach Semith Sabankaya. Asked to clarify since his young team features just five seniors. Sabankaya said, “We’re getting the benefits of playing our juniors, when they were freshmen. They lost in the first round, but they built up experience. Then last year they won it. Now, as juniors, they’re spiced veterans.”
The Cards need one more ingredient for another CCS title, a win against number six seeded Live Oak team that pushed them to penalty kicks last postseason. “They are a strong team. They should be a good opponent. It should be a tough game, but we’re looking to win,” Akol said.

ALL SCCAL: SC Dominates All-League Team
Player of the Year, John Chronopoulos. Defender of the Year, Slater Meehan. Coach of the Year, Semih Sabankaya.
SC has five players on the first team: Senior Jake Ryan; Juniors, Aksel Dregelid and Giovanni Giattino; Sophomores, Jairo Esqueda and Yosef Richardson.
Second team: Tanner Akol, Ethan Gomez and Amondo Popp.

JV BOYS SOCCER
Yearbook.

GIRLS VARSITY SOCCER
Practice games; Watsonville 5-0, Sacred Heart Prep 0-1, San Benito 0-0, Santa Teresa 0-1; Tri-Valley Classic at Walnut Creek: Dublin 0-1, Miramonte 1-2, Acalanes 0-1, Alhambra 1-2. Practice record 1-6-1. League: Soquel 0-0, 0-0; Scotts Valley 0-1, 0-0; Harbor 0-1, 1-1; SLV 4-0, 4-0; St. Francis 7-0, Aptos 1-0 League record 4-2-4 for fifth place. Overall record 5-8-5.
Final league standings: Scotts Valley 9-1-1, Soquel 7-2-2, Aptos 7-4-0, Harbor 5-5-1, SC 4-2-4, SLV 1-10-0, St. Francis 0-9-0.

Roster from Mbayprep.com. Julianna Alksne, Taylor Bagnall, Kiara Burkett, Stephanie Busch, Leslie Calixto, Jenny Delucchi, Sarah Landy and Carmela Roberts, Taylor Wilhelmsen, Lindsey Wall, Hanna Ornas and McDougall.

Dec. 10. Stephanie Busch managed five saves in goal, but SC lost to Sacred Heart Prep 1-0.
SC record 1-1.

Dec. 17. SC fell to Santa Teresa 1-0 to bring SC’s record to 1-2-1. Stephanie Busch logged six saves in her 80 minutes in goal.

Girls league teams practice record, before league starts tomorrow.
Aptos 6-1-0, Soquel 5-1-1, Harbor 4-0-0, SLV 3-1-1, SLV 3-1-1, Scotts Valley 3-3-1, St. Francis 2-3-0, SC 1-6-1, MVC 0-2-0.

Jan. 7. Soquel and SC played 80 minutes of scoreless soccer, tying 0-0 in the league opener. Stephanie Busch stopped four shots protecting the goal for SC. SC in now 1-6-2 overall and 0-0-1 in league.

Jan. 12. Falcons Pick Off Win. Scotts Valley 1, SC 0. Late in second half, the SV goalie made two amazing game saving stops. In doing so SV the defending SCCAL champions held on to beat the CCS champion SC 1-0 in a rematch of last years section championship. The counties two most successful girls soccer programs was the typical, loosely officiated, gut wrenching kind of affair those squads always seem to endure.
SC 1-7-2 overall and 0-1-1 in league lost by one goal in all seven of their defeats. Both goalies in this game were co-goalkeeper of the year for 2010, supplied the rest of the heroics in this chippy battle as the coaches chirped back and forth. Stephanie Busch had six saves.
In the second half, Taylor Wilhelmsen took a booming shot from 45 yards out that was initially misread by the goalie, but the goalie made a jump punching save, deflecting the ball back onto the field. SC’s Lindsey Wall followed up the rebound with a header on goal, but the goalie jumped up from her knees and knocked the ball out of bounds.
Forward Carmela Roberts said her team will continue to improve and rebound from the loss. “We’re a possession team. We each played our role and put it together as a team, but we need to finish. We’ll get there. And once we do, It’ll keep coming,” said Roberts.

Jan. 14. A Harbor penalty kick in the twentieth minute gave Harbor a 1-0 win over SC. With the loss SC is now 1-8-2 overall and 0-2-1 in league. Harbor is now 9-0. (no other info in the Sentinel)

Jan. 19. SC beat SLV 4-0 for its first SCCAL win at Depot Park. Carmela Roberts scored two goals and Taylor Bagnall had a goal and an assist. SC is 2-8-2 overall and 1-2-1 in league. (no other information)

Jan. 26. Carmela Roberts atoned for a point blank miss in the sixty-fifth minute by scoring the decisive goal five minutes later in a 1-0 win over Aptos. SC is now 4-8-2 overall and 3-2-1 in league. Goalie Stephanie Busch had five saves.

Feb/ 4. SC goalie Stephanie Busch logged five saves as the Cards, who are now 3-2-2, held league leading Scotts Valley 7-1-1 to a 0-0 tie.

Feb. 9. Knot Enough For Harbor, SC in a 1-1 tie. One minute, Carmela Roberts and the youth laden Cards were celebrating their first goal in three games. But in the next minute Harbor got the chance to go bonkers, as they scored a tying goal. Harbor is tied for second place with a 6-3-1 record.
Roberts scored in the thirty-four minute, when junior defender Kiara Burkett sent a long ball into the penalty box from the right side. Roberts backpedaling headed it past the goalie. SC hugged and jumped with joy as they returned to midfield. Before they knew it, the Pirates were pushing the ball up field and put in the tying goal.
“I think our girls were so excited to score, we’ve been on a little drought that they let down a little,” said coach Jay Gomez, The Harbor goal was just the third goal allowed by SC 14-8-5 overall and 3-2-4 in league this season. In the two teams first game, Harbor won on penalty kicks 1-0.
Play was plenty aggressive. There was plenty of body bumping as players challenged to get control of the ball. “We worked real hard on making better runs on through balls to the forwards,” said McDougall. “I think we really improved on that.”
SC features just two seniors, after winning the CCS Division III crown last season, dominated possession and powered eight shots on goal to Harbor’s four. “We were definitely not happy with a tie. “Nothing is over. We’re always improving. We were connecting passes more and making runs into open spaces in the first half and late in the second half” said Roberts.
In the final three minutes, SC earned their fifth corner kick of the game, but failed to score. They also saw Hanna Ornas blast a shot that narrowly missed the left post in the final 20 seconds. Goalie Stephanie Busch had four saves, while the Harbor goalie had to make eight saves.

ALL SCCAL: Co-Goalkeeper of the Year, Stephanie Busch.
First team: Cassidy Burr, Kiara Burkett and Natascha Roberts.
Second team: Sara Landy, Taylor Wilhelmson, Mia Siracusa.

GIRLS JV SOCCER
Yearbook.

BASEBALL
Practice games: Los Altos 5-2. Mike Hazlett Tournament: Hollister 3-2, Wilcox 2-9, St. Francis of Mt. View 0-9. Palo Alto 0-13. Hillsdale 3-4, Half Moon Bay 2-3, Bishop Manogue, Reno 1-4, Sobrato 9-3, Live Oak 13-1. Serra Tourney: Gilroy 7-6, Heritage of Brentwood 1-6, Serra 2-3, El Camino of South San Francisco 7-4. Practice record 6-8. League: SLV 1-3, 0-2; Scotts Valley 4-2, 4-6; Soquel 0-4, 10-2; Saint Francis 10-1, 9-6; Aptos 2-7, 0-2; Harbor 2-1, 4-2. League 6-6 for tie for third place. Overall before playoffs 12-14 from Sentinel.
League record followed by the teams overall record
Aptos 10-2, 18-10; Soquel 9-3, 16-8-1; SC 6-6, 12-14; Scotts Valley 6-6, 14-13-1; Harbor 5-7, 12-13; SLV 3-9, 8-14; St. Francis 2-10, 10-12.
CCS Division III playoffs:

Yearbook.

Roster by name and positions:
Bryan Adams, P/DH; Ryan Bettar, C; Erik Colombini, OF/C,P; Derick Delucchi, OF; Ti DeMeo, P/OF; Ryan Dong, 3B; Dominic Elkin, C/P; Collin Ferguson, P/1B; Torin Foss, OF/P; Pearce Hutchins-Fuhr, P/OF; Conor Millslagle, P; Dylan Mori, 3B; Etai Richards-Levy, 2B/P; Ryan Roubal, SS/2B; Zach Seftel, P/1B.IF; Anthony Whiting, 2B; Ricky Wood 1B; Sam Zahler, OF.

Feb. 24. Maxprep. SC 5, Los Altos 2. SC scored in the first inning, when Derick Delucchi walked, stole second, went to third on a pass ball and scored on Collin Ferguson’s RBI single. Torin Foss led off the third inning with a double, was sacrificed to third by Delucchi and was driven in by Bettar to give SC a 2-0 lead. Los Altos score a run in the fifth and six innings to tie the score. In the top of the seventh after a walk, the next two batters were intestinally walked to load the bases. Parker Swindell cleared the bases with a two out double to win the game.
Collin Ferguson started on the mound and when five inning giving up 2 hits, one earned run, struck out seven and left the mound with the score tied 2-2. Eric Colombini threw the sixth inning. Zack Seftel pitched the seventh for the win.

March 2. SC defeated San Benito/Hollister 3-2 at the Mike Hazlett Tournament. Collin Ferguson knocked in all three SC runs. Ferguson in his first start of the season went six innings, giving up one earned run and striking out nine. SC is now 2-0. SC had five hits and two errors. Zack Seftel earned his second save. Ferguson went 2 for 4, 3 RBI’s and a stolen base. Ryan Dong 1 for 3, Sam Zehier 1 for 2, walk, scored a run and stole a base. Torin Ross 1 for 3, run scored and stolen base.

March 6. At the Hazlett Tourney, SC lost to Palo Alto 0-13. SC had three hits and six errors. Palo Alto had five hits and one error. Losing pitcher Millslagel. SC is now 2-2.

March 9. Hillsdale defeated SC 4-3. SC score in the first inning and tallied two more in the seventh in a comeback bid. SC had six hits and no errors. Dominic Elkin pitched four innings, giving up 8 hits, walked two, struck out four and allowed only two earned runs. Sam Zahier doubled and went 1 for 3. Derick Delucchi was 3 for 3, stole four bases, scored two runs and walked once. Collin Ferguson went 0 for 2, had two walks and drove in two runs. SC is now 2-3.

March 11. Bishop Monogue of Reno 4, SC 1. SC had five hits and two errors. Losing pitcher Zach Seftel went five innings, gave up two earned runs, five hits and four walks. Derick Delucchi went 2 for 3 and a stolen base. Torin Foss was 1 for 4 and an RBI. Same Zahlier went 1 for 3 and scored a run. SC is now 2-4.

March 13. St. Francis of Mountain View 9, SC 0. SC had two hits and no errors. Ferguson was the losing pitcher. Colombini doubled. SC is 2-5.

March 14. Sentinel Baseball Review. SC senior pitcher, first baseman and top hitter Collin Ferguson in his third season as a varsity starter is rated as a player to watch. He is a big lefty with talent and a 2010 Sentinel All County player.
From the preseason results, Aptos is predicted by most of the coaches as the SCCAL front runner. League coaches expect an emphasis on small ball as the National Federation of State High School Associations has mandated the use of BBCOR bats to help protect pitchers.
In addition to Ferguson, SC will rely heavily upon seniors, outfielder Derick Delucchi and outfielder/catcher Erik Colombini. Outfielder/pitcher Ti Demeo is also expected to be key in the Cards success under coach Matt Elliott.

March 18. SLV Tops SC Baseball In Pitching Duel. SLV scored two runs in the eleventh inning to top SC in the Cards SCCAL opener. SLV is now 2-0 and SC 0-1 in league. It was a pitching duel as both starting pitchers went nine innings. Collin Ferguson fanned five, walked one, hit two batters, allowed no earned runs and only three hits, but was the victim of four Card errors, which allowed an unearned run in the fifth inning, which tied the game. Zach Seftel pitched the last two innings for the loss. SC scored first in the fourth inning, had 7 hits, while SLV had five and only one error. In his first game out from basketball, Ti Demeo went 2×3, was hit by a pitch, stole a base and scored the lone Card run. SC is now 2-6 overall.

March 23. Dominic Elkin threw five innings in relief and got the win as visiting SC rallied past defending SCCAL champion Scotts Valley 4-2 in eight innings. Elkin gave up four hits, one walk, struck out six, allowed no earned runs and went 1 for 2 at the plate and drove in two runs. Collin Ferguson went 2 for 4 with an RBI. Derick Delucchi was 2 for 3 with a double, walk and a run. Dylin Mori went 2 for 3, doubled, walked, stole a base and scored a run. SC had five hits and no errors. Scotts Valley took a two run lead going into the fifth inning, when SC tied the score. SC is now 3-6 overall and 1-1 in league.

March 30. SC had 15 hits on its way to a 10-1 victory over St. Francis. Collin Ferguson drove in 4 runs and went 2×3. Erik Colombini went 2×3 and added two RBI’s. Dylan Mori went 2×4, drove in a run and scored a run. Ryan Bettar went 2×4, drove in a run and scored. Derick Delucchi went 2×4, scored three runs and stole a base. Dominic Elkin pitched five innings, allowed three hits, one earned run, struck out one and walked two for the win. SC is now 4-6 overall and 2-1 in league.

April 6. Soquel unbeaten in SCCAL play beat SC 4-0, giving the Cards a 2-3 league record and 4-8 overall. Catcher Ryan Bettar was the Cards top hitter going 2×3. SC had 6 hits and two errors. Dominic Elkin started and took the loss.

April 9. Scotts Valley defeated SC 6-4. Collin Ferguson went five innings, struck out seven and gave up four runs. Ti Demo went 2×3 with a home run and a RBI. Zach Seftel was 2×3, a home run and 3 RBI’s. SC had 7 hits and two errors. SC is 4-8 and 2-3 in league.

April 13. Dominc Elkin pitched the Cards to a 9-3 win over Sobrato. Elkin allowed three earned runs in a complete game. Ryan Roubal, Collin Ferguson and Zach Seftel each had two hits. Roubal had 2 RBI’s.

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April 27. In a defensive battle Aptos defeated SC 2-0. Ryan Batter 1×4, Collin Ferguson 1×2 and Eric Columbini 1×2 with a double had the Cards three hits. Pitcher Collin Ferguson pitched a complete game giving up nine hits, two earned runs, walked five, struck out 8, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch. SC is now 7-9 and 2-4 in league.

May 4. SLV beat SC 2-0. Collin Ferguson struck out five, gave up four hits and hit two batters. SC had six hits and one error to four hits and one error for SLV. Roubal was the top SC hitter going 2×2 with a double.

May 6. Brian Adams drove in Ryan Dong with the game winning run in the fourth inning as the Cards beat Harbor in a make up game 2-1. Dominic Elkins throw a complete game, allowing no earned runs, gave up only three hits, hit two batters, walked one and struck out three. Erik Colombini had two hits including a double and scored a run. Elkin drove in a run with a hit. Dong went 1×2, a sacrifice bunt and an RBI.
SC is now 10-14 overall and 4-6 in league.

May 11. SC’s offense gave winning pitcher Collin Ferguson plenty of support in a 10-2 victory over second place Soquel 10-2. Erik Columbini went 4×4 with a double and RBI for the Cards. Zach Seftel drove in three runs on two hits. Etai Levy-Richards went 2×2 with two RBI’s and a double. Ferguson allowed two runs on three hits, walked one and struck out seven.
SC scored six runs in the third inning, had 13 hits altogether and had no errors. SC record is 11-14 overall and 5-6 in league tied for fourth place.

May 14. SC 4, Harbor 2. Cardinals Seize Playoff Berth. Nervous Elkin Pitches Complete Game. Pitcher Dominic Elkin didn’t crumble at the sight of the packed bleachers and wasn’t blinded by the glare of the TV camera’s. This was not just any game. It was the Cards regular season finale with a playoff berth on the line. Despite allowing nine hits and escaping jams in several innings, Elkins threw a complete game as the Cards edged cross town rival Harbor 4-2 to take third place in league in a tie with Scotts Valley. SC won the tie breaker to take the leagues final automatic berth in the CCS playoffs.
Coach Matt Elliott said, “This feels great. The most enjoyable thing is that the kids stepped it up. We’ve had a rough season (which included a 2-5 start). The kids could have quit on themselves after the loss to SLV in the league opener. But they didn’t. They figured it out, what it would take to get things done.” SC started the season short handed. Four players battled through injuries and several others were competing on the basketball team that took second in the CCS playoffs and went to the semifinals of the NorCal playoffs. “It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We got to play other kids like third baseman Ryan Dong. If that wouldn’t have happened, he wouldn’t have got as many looks or been as prepared,” said Elliott. Elliott said another part of the growing process was getting his players to buy into the defense first concept, which he said is difficult to sell to kids at the high school level.
Dong was one of many Cards who made defensive gems, prompting team-mates to mimic the music played during ESPN highlight segments -”Da-da-dah”. SC turned double plays in the first and sixth innings. Right fielder Ti De Meo made a diving catch to end the sixth and had an outfield assist. Dong also made a putout to first from his buttocks on another ground ball.
Apparently, SC loves playing on TV. The game was filmed by Community Television of Santa Cruz County. SC scored a run in the first and third innings and made it 4-1 in the fifth after Erik Colombini drove in Ryan Bettar with a single and Collin Ferguson scored on De Meos sacrifice fly. This year was the first time Elkin has pitched since Little League.
Harbor coach Joseph Allegri and former SC outfielder said, “They put the ball in play and just made some miraculous plays.”
The win gave the Cards an automatic CCS playoff spot. Elkins teammates doused him with Gatorade after the game. He said his team has forgotten all about the slow start and is ready for the postseason. “We’re picking it up at the right time. We’re rolling now,” said Elkin. Elkin ended the league season with a 5-1 record.
Hitting stats: Delucchi 0x4, run: Bettar 2×4,double, two runs; Ferguson 2×4, walk, sacrifice bunt, RBI, run; Colombini 1×2, two walks, RBI; De Meo 0x2, walk, RBI. SC 12-14 overall and 6-6 in league.

May 15. SCCAL third place finishers SC with a 12-14 overall record and Scotts Valley at 13-13 plus second place Soquel at 16-8-1 and fifth place finisher Harbor at 12-13 are included in the CCS Division III playoff. The seedings have Soquel as number 4, SC 8, Harbor 10 and Scotts Valley 14.

May 18. CCS Division III Baseball: Number 8 seed SC 8, number 9 seed Stevenson 2. Elkin Delivers For Santa Cruz Cardinals Fly By Stevenson.
Dominic Elkin got a Gatorade shower after the senior pitcher helped SC clinch a playoff berth Friday, the final day of the regular season. Working on five days rest, Elkin delivered a beautiful encore Wednesday. The first year pitcher produced another efficient complete game outing, needed just 75 pitches to hand Stevenson a 8-2 defeat in the first round of the CCS playoffs. After his latest win, Elkin took a celebratory shaving cream pie in the face.
SC advances to the quarter finals against number one seed Palma on Saturday at MPC. Elkin, a seldom used back up catcher quit the team last year, then begged to become a pitcher with his summer team. There he got his first innings on the mound since little league and after working out the kinks he hasn’t looked back. SC got off to a 2-6 start, but Elkin found himself going 5-1 with a 1.44 ERA in SCCAL play.
Stevenson’s best hitter and the top batter in the MBL said,” He just pounded the strike zone. He made us put the ball in play. Elkin didn’t record a strikeout in the game, but threw plenty of strikes. “It was all my defense,” Elkin said. On six occasions, the Pirates swung at the first pitch. SC recorded two double plays.
SC had runners on base every inning and scored in every inning except the first. SC finished with 14 hits and stranded 12 runners. Number 8 hitter Ryan Dong went 3 for 3, with a stolen base, a pair of runs scored. Erik Colombini, Ti DeMeo and Etai Levy-Richards each had two hits. DeMeo doubled and scored in the second to give SC a 2-0 lead. He drove in a third run in the third inning to put SC ahead 3-0. SC had a four run fifth. Junior Ryan Bettar hit a two run double in the inning.
Every Card finished with at least one hit. “At the start of the season I thought we were going to rake,” De Meo said of his team’s offense doing well. “I know we had one the best line-ups in the league. Now it’s just happening. Everything is happening. Everything is coming together.” He said, “after the Cards slow start this season, the team learned to relax. We’re laughing and telling jokes. It’s baseball. Having fun. This next game is a new season. Last game against Harbor was a season. Now we play the number one seed Palma. Whatever. It’s a one day season, every single game.”
Stats: Delucchi 1×5, run, stolen base: Bettar 1×4, two RBI’s, two runs, walk; Ferguson 1×4, RBI; Colombini 2×4; Ti DeMeo 2×4, double, run, RBI; Seftel 1×4; Roubal 1×1, double two runs, walk, hit by pitch: Dong 3×3, two runs, stolen base. Levy-Richards 2×4, RBI.

May 22. SC UPSETS NO. I PALMA. Ferguson Throws Shutout. Pitcher Collin Ferguson like he might not make it through the first inning, but wound up tossing the game of his career with a two hit shutout defeating Palma 4-0 in the CCS Division III playoff quarterfinal at MPC.
SC pulled off the programs biggest playoff win since 2003. The number 8 seeded Cards jumped to the lead in the second inning and held on to stun number one seeded Palma. In 2003 the number two Cards knocked off top seed Carmel, the two time defending Division III champions 13-2.
“We’ve had a rough season,” said Derick Delucchi, who provided a clutch hit when he smacked a two run triple in the second inning. “We were .500 in league, but we came on strong. It’s great. We completely turned our season around.”
SC now with a 14-14 overall record will face Half Moon Bay with a 23-6 record, who defeated Soquel, who was seeded fourth 7-2.
SC needed to win its last league game to make the playoffs. SC, one of the two teams in the 16 team field with a losing record, knocked off ninth seeded Stevenson 8-2 in the first round of playoffs.
The Cardinals celebrated their most recent win with some enthusiastic high fives and a Gatorade bucket dousing of Ferguson, Coach Matt Elliott and several of the players said they expected to win this game. Elliott said “This week at practice, no one said, Oh this is the last time we’re going to get to do this or that. Sometimes you’ll hear that. I think there was just the expectation that we were going to keep going.”
Palma committed two costly errors in the second inning, when SC jumped to a 3-0 lead. Ti De Moe, Ryan Dong and Etai Levy-Richards scored. The last run came in the third inning, when Erik Colombini walked and scored on Zach Seftel’s single. Delucchi and Seftel each had two hits. SC had its second straight error free performance, while turning the third straight game with a pair of double plays. Shortstop Ryan Roubal turned in the play of the game, when he went behind second base to make the play, throwing the runner out at first. Palma the second place team in the TCAL finished the season 21-6.
Ferguson, who will play for St. Mary’s College next season, didn’t look like he had it in the first inning, but he chatted with pitching coach Zac Bishoff after the inning and made the necessary adjustment to help him throw more strikes. Ferguson finished with three walks and seven strike outs. He struck out the side in the seventh after a lead off walk.
“This is totally awesome. It’s totally a testament to the team and how hard we’ve worked. There was never a doubt in my mind, we would win. We’re playing our best ball right now. we’ve got a little swagger going, which is important,” said Ferguson.
Stats: Delucchi, 2×4, triple, stolen base, two RBI’s; Bettar, 2×4, sacrifice bunt; Ferguson 0x3, walk; Colombini, 0x3, walk, run; De Meo, 1×3, hit by pitch, double, stolen base, run; Seftel, 2×3, RBI; Roubal 0x3, hit by pitch; Dong, 0x3, run; Levi-Richards,0x3, run.

May 25. CCS Division III Baseball Semifinals Number eight seed SC 12, Number five seed, Half Moon Bay 1. Cardinals Will Fight For Title. De Meo Grand Slam Sets Up Walloping of HMB. SC pulled off another play-off upset. Much like Ti De Meo’s first inning grand slam, it was a no doubter for the Cards. De Meo capped off his eight-pitch at bat by crushing a fastball over the 365 foot left centerfield fence at the San Jose Municipal stadium.
With the win, the Cards who qualified for the playoffs with a win in their final league game, will play for the CCS Division III championships for the eighth time in school history. They have gone 1-6 in that span, defeating Carmel in 2003. SC now at 15-14 was one of only two teams with a losing overall records to make the D-III field will play defending champion number three seed Menlo for the title.
“What’s going on? This is crazy. Thank God they put us in CCS, because I knew we deserved it. Everything is coming together and we are so close,” said De Meo.
Half Moon Bay defeated SC in early April 3-2 in ten innings. Now the Cards are in position to become the lowest seed to ever win the D-III championship which was implemented in 1998.
SC had runners in scoring position in all seven innings, finished with 15 hits, six walks and stranded 12 runners. With so much offensive support Card pitcher Dominic Elkins threw strikes and let his defense do what it does best. SC turned a double play and Elkin picked off two runners. Elkin finished with a compete game three hitter.
“He’s the man. He’s getting better and better every game. At the start of the season he couldn’t make it through four innings,” said De Meo. De Meo was one of the many patient hitters. Ryan Bettar drew a ten pitch walk in the second inning. De Meo drove in Bettar, Ferguson and Colombini with his grand slam. SC added two runs in the fourth and blew the game open with six runs in the seventh. Bettar, Ferguson and Colombini each scored twice. Colombini finished two for four with a two run double in the seventh.

May 29. SC STOPPED SHORT. Defending Champ Ends Cards Storybook Run.
Menlo Takes Advantage of 3 Santa Cruz Errors.
The light falling rain hid the tears trickling down the cheeks of the Card players, but their body language told the story in a secluded post game huddle outside the San Jose Municipal Stadium. That confident swagger the Cards embraced? Gone. So was the six game winning streak. The Cards improbable run through the CCS playoffs ended. SC was held to four hits and committed three errors in a 4-0 loss to the defending Champions.
It was a lot to digest for a team that played so flawlessly during its win streak. Pitcher Collin Ferguson, his hat pulled low, kept his eyes aimed at the ground, his body trembling as he battled his emotions. There wasn’t a dry eye among the Cards after the game. And it had little to do with the loss, several of the players said. “This is going to be a happy memory,” Ferguson said after breaking from the team meeting. “The bond we made this year, I can’t replace that with any reward or championship. We battled through a lot of crap this year.” First baseman Zach Seftell, ”At school, we hang out together. We’ve known each other for so long. And at practice after school, that was something to look forward to.” The band, which has seven seniors is breaking up.
Moreover the Cards overcame a slow start against a difficult non-league slate, including three CCS finalist (Los Altos, D-11 and Palo Alto and San Benito, in D-I). SC had to win three of their last league games to advance to the playoffs.
The Cards batted .357 and outscored opponents 24-3 through the first three postseason games. Defensively, they made just one error and turned five double plays in that span. But the well went dry in the championship. The Cards said they felt like they were never out of it, even when Menlo went ahead 2-0 in the fifth inning. Ferguson walked a few batters early, but the Cards hung around, even after Menlo scored two more runs in the sixth. “I didn’t have command of my stuff,” Ferguson said. “I left my off-speed pitches up and they capitalized when I made mistakes. But even in the last inning, I felt like we had a chance to come back. It was just a testament to our heart and team:
SC made to nice defensive plays in the fifth to limit the damage. Ferguson fielded a ground ball and flipped it straight from his glove to Seftel at first to record the out. Centerfielder Derick Delucchi ran down a ball crushed to the left-center gap for the final out to strand a runner on second. Menlo stranded ten runners and SC stranded seven including three in the seventh.
Second year Card coach Matt Elliott commended his players for their dedication and spirit as the players dispersed. “I’m going to miss this group of kids we had.” Sure it was a great run and they’re good baseball players, but it was just a quality group of guys. They were just great characters, guys you loved being around every day.”
Stats: Ferguson complete game, walked five, struck out four. Delucchi, 1×4; Bettar 1×3; Colombini, 1×2,walk; Roubal, 1×3; Dong, 0x2; Levy-Richards 0-2.
SC final record 15-15 and Menlo 26-5.

June 12. From the Sentinel: Within the top 23 hitters in the County, Collin Ferguson was nineteen with a batting average of .360. Ferguson was tenth in ERA at 2.04, a pitching record of 3-6, in 64 innings pitched, walked only 20, while striking out 64.
Dominic Elkin was thirteenth in ERA at 2.78, a pitching record of 6-3, in 58 innings pitched, walked only 18, while striking out 30.
Coach of the year, Matt Elliott brought his team from a slow start, because of injuries and two starters getting out late due to the basketball team playing into the Northern Cal playoffs to the CCS Division III finals.

June 12. Sentinel All County team of 18 players. From SC senior pitchers Collin Ferguson and Dominic Elkin and Junior outfielder Ti De Meo. Coach of the year Matt Elliott.

June 1. No Cardinals were named by the league coaches to the SCCAL first team. Five SC players were named to the second team. Seniors: Catcher Erik Colombini, Pitcher, first baseman Collin Ferguson; Pitcher Dominic Elkin and DH, Utility man Zach Seftel. Junior, outfielder, Ti Di Meo.

JV BASEBALL
Yearbook.

FRESHMAN BASEBALL
Yearbook.

GIRLS SOFTBALL
Practice games: Willow Glen 6-6, Carmel 4-10, Santa Catalina 0-8. Watsonville Tourney Watsonville 4-0, Monterey 1-10. Practice record 1-3-1. League: Soquel 0-10, 2-20; Aptos 5-6, 0-15; Scotts Valley 0-14, 3-14; Harbor 3-4, 9-3; Saint Francis 10-0, 8-1; SLV 1-4, 4-7. League record 4-8 for fifth place. Overall record 5-11-1 from Sentinel. Practice games missing

Yearbook.
Maxprep: Roster by year in school, name and positions. Some players do not have a position given. Senior: Samantha Rogers, pitcher. Juniors: Alex Scott, C/Utility: Alyssa Rodriguez, SS/Utility; Audrey Smith, OF/second base; Jade Lowery, OF/third base; Jaime Fenisey, second base/pitcher; Lisa Wolbert. Sophomores: Anna Gallacinao; Daniel Whitsel; Emily San Nicolas, OF/second base; Jessica Pappas; Karlee Suba; Kelly Linkletter, OF/C; Malia Yamashita, C/Utility; Megan Rix; Mikal Wellar.

NEW SOFTBALL FIELD
Sentinel April 9 write up about the new softball field at SC and the Cards top softball player junior Alex Scott. SC’s Scott Aiming For New Fences.
SC expects to complete a four month renovation with the installation of a permanent outfield fence. Chances are junior Alex Scott will be the first Card to smack a ball over it. While the Cards have struggled recently, Scott has quietly been one of the most talented and versatile players in the league. She pitches and catches and isn’t too shabby with the bat either. She earned a spot on the Sentinels All County team last year with a .345 batting average with two homers in league play.
SC is still looking for its first win of the season, but there is an aura of optimism surrounding the team thanks to its new home. Until recently, the Cards field was barely more than a sandlot. With the help of the Cardinal Club and the players, $25,000 was raised for the facility.
In the classroom Scott is a straight A student, who is being recruited to play softball at Ivy League schools. On the field, her coach Rachel Pena, says that sometimes Scott needs to get out of her head and let her talent take over. Scott said she has learned how to settle down and let the game come to her. Scott has been a starter on the varsity as a freshman and has been captain since her sophomore year. “I think my first year, I was more like, “Let’s win every game. We have to do well to have fun,” Scott said. “Over the years, I’ve become more relaxed. What matters now is how we play.”
“The new field is a major improvement and it looks so much bigger. It seems like we’re actually playing now,” Scott said.

Sentinel High School Softball Preview, March 22.
Ones To Watch: Alex Scott, senior catcher. Last year All County player batted .345 in league .

March 23. Raining Runs. The weather cleared up just enough for Soquel to defeat SC 10-0 in a game shortened to five innings due to the mercy rule in both teams SCCAL opener. Audrey Smith, Alyssa Rodriguez and Malia Yamashita each had hits for SC, which is 0-3-1 on the season.
SC is putting the finishing touches on its new field and will host SLV who shared the SCCAL title last year with Soquel and Aptos this Thursday.

March 30. With the score tied 5-5 in the seventh inning, Aptos scored the winning run to win 6-5 in the SCCAL opener. SC went ahead 3-0 in the third inning and scored two more in the top of the fourth. In the bottom of the fourth Aptos scored and in the fifth scored four more runs to tie the game 5-5. SC had nine hits and five errors. Losing pitcher Rogers went all seven innings, giving up 12 hits, walked three and struck out one. Alex Scott went 3×4, homered, doubled and drove in two runs.

April 1. SC lost to Scotts Valley14-0 in five innings due to the ten run rule. SC had 1 hit and five errors. Malia Yamashita went 1×2 with a double.

April 5. Soquel 20, SC 2. SC had 6 hits and 5 errors. Pitcher Alex Scott pitched 5 and 2/3 innings for the loss giving up 15 hits, 9 walks and struck out 4. As a hitter Scott went 2×3, a solo home run an RBI and 2 runs scored.

April 13. SC picked up its first win of the season, over Harbor 4-3 in eight innings. Alyssa Rodriguez went 3×3, Megan Rix went 2×4 and Alex Scott picked up the win on the mound and added two hits. Anna Gallaelano 2×3. SC had 13 hits and four errors. Harbor had 8 hits and two errors.

April 27. SLV 4, SC 1. Alex Scott threw a complete game and Emily San-Nicholas went 1x2with an RBI and a walk. Michael Cellar was 1×3 with a double. Jamie Fenisey scored a run. Scott allowed no walks, struck out one and allowed 11 hits. SC is 3-8-1 overall and 2-5 in league.

April 29. Aptos defeated SC 15-0. Alex Scott took the loss. Malia Yamashita had SC’s only hit.

May 4. Scotts Valley defeated SC 14-4. Alex Scott went 1×3 with a home run and three RBI’s. Rodriquez 1×3; Linkletter 1×3. SC is 3-10 overall and 2-7 in league.

May 6. SC rallied for six runs in the sixth inning to beat Harbor 9-3. Alex Scott hit a two run homer in the sixth inning to tie the game and spark the Cards offense. Samantha Rogers later added a bases loaded single to drive in a run. Linkletter went 3×4 with a double, run and 2 RBI’s.

May 11. SC 8, St. Francis 1. SC blew the game open with four runs in the seventh inning. Kelly Linkletter went 3x4and scored two runs for SC with a 5-11, 4-8 in league for fifth place. Alex Scott, Emily San Nicolas and Mikal Cuellar all doubled and drove in two runs. In addition Alex Scott walked three times. Pitcher Amantha Rogers struck out three.

May 13

May 21. CCS Softball Commentary. Title Elude Local Teams For 33 Years.
Only A Handful of County Squads Have Made a Section Final and None Have Ever Won.
There are 86 CCS team championship banners hanging from the rafters and walls of High School gyms around Santa Cruz County. Somehow, none of them belong to a local softball team.
Softball is one of the few sports in which county teams have been skunked at the section tournament. Others such as tennis or swimming or diving have been completely dominated by a couple of San Jose area teams, but that is not the case with softball. While schools such as Carlmont, North Salinas and Mitty have won several titles, but no team has completely owned the sport and most years, our teams have been competitive.
In 33 years of CCS softball playoffs, county teams have combined for 70 wins, yet not one of those victories has come in a section championship game. A few teams have come oh so close. The county has been represented in section finals five times, by Watsonville in 2000 and 2006, Monte Vista Christian in 1989 and 1998 and SLV in 1984.
“It is a good softball area, but then compared to some of those schools in San Jose, it’s just a different caliber of talent,” said the Watsonville coach. The Salinas area is also a softball hotbed. So Santa Cruz county is sandwiched between two exceptional ones.
Local teams have been trying to catch up since SC first represented the county at the first CCS tournament in 1977, led by Sue Dodge and Evonne Sandas. The Cardinals made it to the semifinals that year and few teams have gotten closer since.
One reason for that has been the lack of competitive travel ball teams in the area until recently. The Cabrillo Gals youth league was established in 1987, when other areas had already established travel programs.
“Gals softball was a noble gesture to introduce young girls to softball, but it was more social than competitive,” said legendary SC basketball coach Pete Newell Jr. said in and email. Newell coached the softball team from 1974-75 and also had a stint from the early ‘80’s and again in 1999. “By the time local traveling teams were introduced to the county, the best players were already established over the hill.” Many of the best high school players in the area were already established over the hill.”
SC coach Sharon Pena’s daughter Rachel, played for the Salinas Storm with future Olympian Monica Abbott from North Salinas high and the University of Tennessee a winner of the College World Series.

June 2. Junior catcher/pitcher Alex Scott was the only Card chosen by the league coaches to the ALL SCCAL first team. Selected for the second team were Junior shortstop Alyssa Rodriquez and Sophomore outfielder Kelly Linkletter. Samantha Rogers was selected Honorable Mention.

JV GIRLS SOFTBALL
Yearbook.

TRACK COACHES by name and events coached:
Anthony Brown, head coach and sprint and relay events.
Greg Brock, distance events
Don Roberts, hurdles and sprints
Bob Sanders, spring and relays
Bryan Walls, throwing
Marcus Bryant, long and triple jump
Paul Friendenback, pole vault
Patti Coulter,

April 23. Big Track Meets for top performers: At the annual TOP 8 Classic track and field meet gives athletes around the Central Coast Section a chance to scout out the competition prior to the section championships in May.
Jonah Hodges placed eighth in the long jump at 20-4.75 and fourth in the triple jump at not reported. For the girls, Marie Powell took tenth in the triple jump at 32-9.

TRACK BOYS
SCCAL Champions: SC 151, Aptos 128, SLV 121, Scotts Valley 33.5, St. Francis 27, Soquel 22, Harbor 12.

At the May 6 SCCAL trials Ben Albrecht won the 100 in 11.33, second place Jonah Hodges in 11.44 and Derek Delucchi 11.58. Joel Dunn took third in the 300 hurdles in 43.18. In the 200, Albrecht won in 23.25; Delucchi second in 23.57 and Locatelli third in 23.82.

May 8. SCCAL Track and Field Championships. Hodges Paces SC To Team Title. “The fact that we pulled it off is huge,” said coach Anthony Brown. “It really was great and the kids deserved it.” This was SC’s second year in a row to win the title.
Junior Jonah Hodges looked fierce with his newly shaved Mohawk as he paced like a lion before his events. He played a big role in the win. He knocked out individual titles in the triple jump, 43-6 and the long jump in 22-0 and placed third in the 100 meter dash in 11.49. He also ran on the 4×100 relay team, which took second place in 44.37. Hodges scored 26 points to tie an Aptos athlete for the athlete of the meet award.
SC unsurprisingly dominated the short distance running and long distance leaping events of the meet. Much of that success came from Ben Albrecht, who stepped up to fill the void left by the 2010 athlete of the meet Anthony Duoud, who also led SC to the title. Albrecht drove the Cards sweep in the 100 with a time of 11.23 and also edged teammate Derek Delucchi in the 200 by .02 seconds 22.30 to 22.50 for that title. Delucchi was also second in the 100 in 11.37.
SC won the 4×400 relay in 3:33.60 and was second in the 4×100 in 44:37. Freshman Dion Shattuck took second in the triple jump at 42-10.75, close to Hodges winning jump of 43-6. Michael Schuhe took second in the discus at 113-10 and second in the shot put at 41-7.50
The top two placers in each event qualify for the CCS qualifying meet at Gilroy High on May 21 and May 27. “We have been working hard all week. It had to pay of sometime,” said Hodges.

May 22. CCS Track and Field Championship Trial meet at Gilroy high.
Boys who qualified during qualifying meets on May 21 and 27, leading up the championship meet from SC were Jonah Hodges, fifth in the triple jump at 44.00 and fourth in the long jump at 21-8. The SC 4×100 relay team of Nick Locatelli, Zach Hill, Derek Delucchi and Ben Albrecht where the only league team to qualify in the 4×100 relay for the championship round by taking seventh place at 43.36.
Junior Ben Albrecht nearly joined the elite group, but had the bad luck to finish just one or two spots out of qualifying in the 100 dash to finish in ninth place in 11.22 and in the 200 dash in tenth place at 22.78. But only the top eighth places qualify for the finals. “To qualify would be great, but the ultimate goal at some point in my career is to finish the 100 in 11 seconds,” Albrecht said.

GIRLS
For the girls: Mimi Eckhardt placed eleventh in the 3,200, at 11:22.48 and out of the championship finals by just two places.

May 28. CCS TRACK AND FIELD FINALS
The SC boys 4×100 relay team finished seventh in the finals. The four members were Nick Locatelli, Zach Hill, Derek Delucchi and Ben Albrecht.
Jonah Hodges was fifth in the triple jump at 43-11. The winner went 45-6 and the third place athlete went 44-3.75
Hodges placed sixth in the long jump at 21-5. The winner went 22-10.5 and the third place athlete went 22.4.5
Only the first three placers advance to the State meet.
Santa Cruz placed twenty-fourth with 9 points.
(April 3. Jonah Hodges came to the track season late and had never competed in the triple jump before this year. It didn’t show at the King City Invitational, where Hodges won the event with a leap of 46-1, the farthest triple jump so far in CCS and the tenth farthest this year in the state.) (The winner at CCS went 45-6, second place 44-4 and third place 44-3.75)

DUAL MEETS
March 12. SLV beat SC 78-53 and SC beat St. Francis 81-25 in the teams opening SCCAL meets. Deon Shattuck was a triple winner taking the high jump at 5-6, the long jump at 19-4.5 and the triple jump at 39-3.5. Other winners: In the 100, Ben Albrecht in 11.2 and the 200 in 23.3. Michael Schuhe won the discus at 115-5 and shot put at 40-1. SC is now 1-1.

March 18. A Meet Of Their Own. SC Hosts For The First Time In 20 Years. After about 20 years of traveling to meets at high schools with better than its dusty dirt oval, the SC track and field team finally got to show off its new all weather facility, when it hosted Soquel in a SCCAL dual meet. Construction on the $1.7 million project, paid with funds from the school district, the Sunrise Rotary Club and donations, began in July 2009. It finally wrapped up last June, just after the league track and field season ended.
Card assistant coach Don Roberts said SC stopped hosting meets in the early 1990’s, shortly after he and Brian Wall ended their first stint as coaches of the team. Current coach Anthony Brown, who has been at the program’s helm for 13 years, said he tried to organize a non scoring meet against Harbor, which also has a dirt track, about ten years ago. It was fiasco.
But everyone seemed to be happy with the new facility. “Being at the same track you practice on, its really comfortable and familiar,” said Ben Albrecht, who competed for SC last season. “It’s easier to control your nerves.”

March 18. SC 81, Soquel 40. Junior Ben Albrecht cruised to wins in the 100 in 11.52 and 200 in 23.22, while members of the Cards swim teams lined the fence bordering the track. He also joined Nick Locatelli, Jonah Hodges and Truman Williams in winning the 4×400 relay in 3:58.73.
Other SC scorers: 400 relay team, 4×100, 45.79; 1,600,Anthony LaFrance 4:54.84 and the 800 in 2:19.6; 300 hurdles Miles Key-McKay in 48.92; Jonah Hodges won the long jump at 21-9 and triple jump at 43-02; Chase Simons won the discus at 113-3; Michael Schuhe won the shot put at 40-0. SC is now 2-1.

March 31. Sentinel Boys Track and Field Outlook. The top three teams in the league are Aptos, defending league champion SC and perennial powerhouse SLV. Listed as Ones To Watch is freshman Dion Shattuck in the jumps. Son of marathoners, he cleared 5-9.75 in the high jump to qualify for the Youth division of the 2010 Junior Olympics.

April 1. SC defeated Scotts Valley 106-25. Anthony LaFrance took first in the 1,600 in 4:54.59 and the 800 in 2:11.06. Joel Dunn, Ben Albrecht and Michael Schuhe each won two events. SC won the 400 relay in 44.53 and the 1,600 in 3:46.44. Dunn won the 110 hurdles in 18.46 and the 300 hurdles 44.42. Albrecht won the 100 in 11.23 and the 200 in 22-95. Schuhe won the shot put at 41-0 and the discus at 115-9. SC is now 2-1.

April 3. Jonah Hodges came to the track season late and had never competed in the triple jump before this year. It didn’t show at the King City Invitational, where Hodges won the event with a leap of 46-1, the farthest triple jump so far in CCS and the tenth farthest this year in the state.

April 8. Anthony LeFrance won three events to help SC past Aptos 75.5 to 65.5. LeFrance won the 1,600 in 4:56.18, the 800 in 2:13.95 and the 3,200 in 10:58.44. Ben Albrecht who won the two sprint events, the 200 in 23.23 and the 100 in 11.32. The Cards will compete in the Don Bell Classic at Leland high on Saturday.
The 400 relay team won in 44:22. Bira Ferreira, high jump at 5-10. Jonah Hodges, long jump at 21-5 and the triple jump at 42-8. Michael Schuhe, shot put at 40-3.

TRACK GIRLS

Yearbook.

At the May 6 SCCAL trials Jenny Delucchi took second in the 100 hurdles in 17.20 and third in the 300 hurdles in 49.37. Elena Venable took second in the 200 in 26.85.

May 8. At the SCCAL championship meet Aptos 164, SC 124, SLV 71, Soquel 57, Scotts Valley 53, Harbor 12, St. Francis 8. SC second place.
SC’s lack of distance runners, as the team only scored four points in events longer than the 400, hurt the teams standings, but found plenty of success in the jumps and sprints. Senior Elena Venable won the 400 in 58.17 and the 200 in 25.74. Sophomore Jenny Delucchi won the 100 hurdles in 16.35 and classmate Marie Powell won the triple jump in 33-9. The 4×400 relay team won in 4:06.71. Kara Burkett won the long jump at 16-10.75. Salena Friedman took second in the 300 hurdles at 48.15.

March 10. Sentinel Girls High School Track and Field Preview. ‘We don’t have a boy 400 meter runner who can do her workouts.” said Anthony Brown, SC track and field coach on distance sprinter Elena Venable. ONE TRACK MIND.
Venable a senior has received an early acceptance to MIT, gave up soccer a sport she has played since she was 5 in order to focus on the 400-meter sprint this season. Lungs burn with every breath, leaving the metallic taste of blood in the pallet. Thigh and calf muscles sear from churning out quick strides. Sweat plops down in fat droplets as the overheated body tries futilely to cool itself. Welcome to the 400 meter run, a one lap all out sprint considered one of the most hellacious events in girls track. It’s also the event Elena Venable can’t resist. If the extra training pays off, she should be the fastest 400 runner in the SCCAL and one of the best in CCS.
“I definitely have multiple thoughts going through my head in the 400. A lot of times it’s
‘Oh my god, this is horrible. Venable loves the torture, though. She has since her first day of track practice, when she told coach Anthony Brown she thought she might like to run the 400, then did so in relative comfort. “From then on, he didn’t give me a choice. He claims he would have made me run the 400 anyway,” said Venable. For three years she balanced soccer and track. While helping the soccer team to the CCS Division III title last season, she lost six weeks of track season.
Venable recovered from the training lag to win the SCCAL championship in the 400, just ahead of track and soccer teammate Carmel Roberts. Venable helped SC sweep the boys and girls SCCAL team titles for the first time in league history, a feat SC may be able to repeat this season. Venable went on to place twenty-first at CCS as a junior. As a sophomore, when her soccer team didn’t go far in the postseason, Venable placed tenth at CCS in the 400. She was three-tenths of a second from qualifying for state.
Carrying a 4.4 weighted grade point average and a penchant for math, it didn’t take long for Venable to deduce that the extra time she committed to track resulted in her prolonged success. She decided she want to test herself and secure a spot on a college team. She has already been admitted to MIT, but is looking at Harvard, Yale and Tufts, among other schools.
Her workouts include weight lifting, performing plyometrics with a trainer and running sprints and endurance drills. Venable hopes to break her personal best of 58.2. By last seasons standards, that would be fast enough to win a second SCCAL title, reach the CCS finals and possibly qualify for state. “I tell them, if you run the 400 at this school, you get the best food, you get the best seat in the car, the best uniform, everything,” said coach Brown.
SC is the strong favorite to retain the SCCAL title with Aptos being the biggest challenge.

DUAL MEETS
March 12. SLV beat SC 69-62. SC beat St. Francis 97-3 in the teams opening SCCAL meets.
Jenny Delucchi was a double winner in the 100 meter sprint in 13.1 and the 300 hurdles in 52.1. Other winners: In the 100 hurdles, Emily Hightower in 16.6. In the high jump, Selena Friedman at 4-10. In the long jump, Maria Powell at 14-7.75 and in the triple jump at 32-2.5.

March 18. SC 84, Soquel 33. Freshman Salena Freedman won the high jump with a leap of 4-8 and the long jump at 15-5.75. Sophomore Marie Powell won the triple jump at 32-04.5 and took second in the long jump at 14-07.5 and the triple jump at 4-8. Other winners: Lindsey Wall, 100 hurdles in 17.77; Elena Venable the 400 in 1:00.24; Amelia Jackson, 800 in 2:40.33; Jenny Delucchi, 300 hurdles in 50.46; Mimi Eckhardt, 3,200 in 11:39.14; Chloe Bombardieri, discus at 79-02. SC is 2-1.

April 1. SC topped Scotts Valley 83-35 to improve to 2-1 for the season. Jenny Delucchi took first in the 100 hurdles in 17.15 amd 300 hurdles in 49.87. Elena Venable won the 400 in 59.47 and the 200 in 26.67. Chloe Bombarieri won the discus at 94-4 and the shot put at 26-09. SC won the 400 relay in 51.42.

April 8. Aptos beat SC 90-45. Jenny Delucchi won the 100 hurdles in 17.63 and the 300 hurdles in 50.26. SC will compete at the Don Bell Classic Saturday. SC won the 400 relay in 52.04. Kara Burkett won the 400 in 1:03.31. Maria Powell won the triple jump at 32-9.5. Chloe Bombardieri won the shot put at 26-0. SC is now 2-2.

BOYS AND GIRLS SWIMMING AND DIVING

BOYS
SCCAL swimming championship Aptos won with 375 points, SC 241, Harbor 224, Soquel 133, SLV 118, St. Francis 70.
Dual meets: SC 115, Soquel 41: Aptos 99: SC 71.

Boys Varsity Roster. Senior: William McAneny,
Juniors: Matthew Cox, George McAneny, Phoenix Pelstring,
Sophomores: Jadon White-Medina, Henry Tobias, Jacob Chaffin, Albert MacPherson, Austin Park, Turner Roll,
Freshman: Gabe Bolender,

May 8. At the SCCAL swimming championship Aptos won with 375 points, SC 241, Harbor 224, Soquel 133, SLV 118, St. Francis 70. SC second place in SCCAL Championship meet.

SC had two individual winners: Albert Macpherson, in the 500 free in 4:52.10 and was third in the 200 free in 1:50.22. Freshman Gabe Bolender won the 100 backstroke in 56.61. Bolender was unlucky in the 200 individual medley, were he won, but was disqualified for a false start. He will still be able to compete in the 200 event at the CCS meet as he has swum a qualifying time in and earlier league meet.
SC won the 200 meter relay in 1:45.01. George McAnany was second in the 50 free in 23.11. SC was second in the 200 free relay in 1:34.24. Mathew Cox was third in the 100 breast in 1:10.26. SC was third in the 400 free relay in 3:54.53.

CCS SWIMMING AND DIVING
BOYS
At the CCS championships.
Bolender Sets School Record in 100 Back. Gabe Bolender is feeling good heading into the CCS championships at the Santa Clara International Swim Center. That’s what setting a school record will do for you. He felt he had a slow start in the 200 yard individual medley but finished fourteenth in 1:57.78, which qualified him for the consolation finals. In the 100 backstroke, he finished twentieth in 55.39, which didn’t qualify him for the finals, but boosted his confidence, as it beat the SC school record of 55.5. Bolender a freshman is one of eight county boys who reached today’s championship round.
Sophomore Albert MacPherson at 4:47.33 reached the consolation finals of the 500 free finishing in tenth place. He credited some success to this being his second time at CCS. “Last year, I was kind of in shambles. I didn’t know what I was doing.”
The 200 medley relay team of G. McAneny. W. McAneny, Bolender and MacPherson was twentieth in 1:44.75.
The 200 free relay team of G. McAneny. W. McAneny, Bolender and MacPherson was twentieth in 1:32.58

DUAL MEETS
March 4. Sentinel Preseason boy swimmers to watch, included sophomore Albert MacPherson. Coach Kimberly Gomez expects this Thresher club swimmer to qualify for the CCS 500 free. In league, Aptos is considered to top the league again, but may have to contend with some stiff competition from SC.

March 12. SC Swimmers Open With Wins. SC’s McAneny brothers made life tough for the Soquel boys team, winning six events in the SCCAL opening dual meet for a 115-41 win.
George McAneny won in the 50 yard freestyle in 23.21 and the 100 backstroke in 1:06.35 plus helping win the 200 medley relay in 1:52.52. William McAneny won the 100 free in 52.30 and teamed with his brother and Turner Roll and Gabe Bolender to win the 200 and 400 free relays in 1:39.14 and 3:46.65. In the 200 medley relay, George McAneny, Mathew Cox, McPherson and Phoenix Pelstring won in 1:52.52.
Other double winners were Gabe Bolender in 200 individual medley in 2:06.54 and 100 fly in 1:01.7. Albert McPherson in 200 free in 1:56.19 and 500 free in 5:09.06. SC is 1-0.

April 14. Aptos 99, SC 71. Babe Bolender 200 individual medley in 2:01.63 and 100 back stroke in 58.28. Albert McPherson 500 free in 5:04.65. SC record 2-1.

Boys Junior Varsity Roster:
Seniors: Devin Hoover,
Juniors: Marco Harding, Alexey Munishkin, Daniel Peterson
Sophomores:
Freshman:

GIRLS
SCCAL championship meet: Aptos won with 275 points followed by Harbor 240, SC 216, Scotts Valley 182, Soquel 162, SLV 151, St. Francis 7. SC in third place in league.
At CCS, The 400 free relay team of Kaila Pearson, Sarah Kletzer, Bridget Grossi and Chloe Bynes finished thirty-third in 3:59.87.

Dual meets: SC 117, Soquel 54; Aptos 96, SC 74.
Girls Varsity Roster. Seniors: Ashtyn Karachristos, Sarah Kletzer, Kaila Pearson,
Juniors: Dede Eckhardt,
Sophomores: Chloe Grisalva-Bynes, Daisy Thayer
Freshmen: Jane Tobias, Julianna Alksne, Bridget Grossi, Midori Hook, Samantha Johnson, Laurel Julien, Emily Locatelli, McKenzie Smith

May 8. At the SCCAL championship meet Aptos won with 275 points followed by Harbor 240, SC 216, Scotts Valley 182, Soquel 162, SLV 151, St. Francis 7. Chloe Bynes won the 100 backstroke in 1:06.66 to be the only SC winner. Chloe also placed second in the 50 freestyle in 26.44.
Only the first three places were listed in the Sentinel. SC placers were in the 200 medley relay SC took second in 2:03.37. In the 200 individual medley, Dede Eckhardt was second in 2:27.53.. Kaila Pearson took third in the 50 free in 27.06. Sarah Kletzer was third in the 100 fly in 1:08.65. In the 200 freestyle relay, SC was second in 1:50.40. In the 400 free relay, SC was third in 4:23.07.

DUAL MEETS
March 12. SC held Soquel to winning only one event. SC won its SCCAL dual league opener 117-54. Chloe Grisalva-Bynes and Dede Eckhardt each won two individual events and swam on two winning relay events. Grisalva-Bynes won the 50 and 200 frees in 26.78 and 2:07.88, respectively. Eckhardt won the 200 individual medley in 2:28.85 and the 100 breast in 1:20.00. Eckhardt teamed with Bridget Grossi, Midori Hook, and McKenzie Smith to win the 400 free relay in 4:36.77. Grislava-Bynes joined Sarah Kletzer, Kaila Pearson and Grossi to win the 200 free relay in 1:49.59. The two swam with Kletzer and Pearson to win the 200 medley relay in 2:05.41.
Other individual winners: Grossi in the 100 fly in 1:07.40. Kletzer in 100 backstroke in 1:10.57. SC is 1-0.

March 24. Sentinel Girls Swimming and Diving Preview. Ones to Watch: Sophomore Chloe Grisalva-Bynes won the 50 and 200 free this season. Junior Dede Eckhardt has won the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke this year.

April 14. Aptos 96, SC 74. SC winners were Bridget Grossi the 200 free in 1:48.86 and the 100 backstroke in 1:11.93. Dede Eckhardt the 100 breaststroke in 1:15.29. Other placers not given. SC is 2-1.

Girls Junior Varsity Roster:
Juniors: Caitlyn Birch, Akua Parker, Haley Smith, Rosemary Spitainy
Sophomores: Paris Toews, Annabel Barnes, Angela Culver, Briana Dennehy, Lindsey Frankel, Monique Iuster, Gabrielle Kubicki,
Freshman: Ellen Tierney, Molly Ballard, Tali Benisty, Hannah Cytron-Thaler, Lauren Gallant, Daija Garza, Ashleigh Hare, Maya Jensen, Julia Knebel, Katherine Koller, Tatiana Podolsky, Emma Scholz

BOYS TENNIS Undefeated league champions
League matches (some are missing: Aptos 7-0, 7-0; SLV 7-0, 7-0; Scotts Valley 6-1; Harbor 7-0: Soquel 7-0. SC went undefeated in league with a 10-0 record. Lost to Monterey 2-7 in CCS playoff.

Team roster by year in school and name: Seniors: Dylan Manning, Jacob Imsland, Miguel Poblete, Sam Imsland. Juniors: Jesse Honig, Chris Kovats-Wildenradt, Walker Hansen. Sophomores: Justus Kovats-Wildenradt, Connor Meara, Emmett Balassone, Walker Nodine. Freshman Alex, Sakovics-Matutes.

March 9. SC 7, Aptos 0 in the first match of the season. Singles in order of the ladder: No. 1, Sam Imsland 6-0. 7-5; Jacob Imsland 6-2, 6-2; Dani Sakovics-Matutes 7-5, 6-4; Jesse Honig 6-3, 6-3. In doubles: Miguel Poblete and Walker Nadine 6-1, 6-1; Alex Sakovics-Matutes and Dylan Manning 6-0, 7-5; Justice Kovats-Wildenradt and Chris Kovats-Wildenradt 6-0, 6-1.

March 11. SC 6, Scotts Valley 1. Singles winners by ladder: Number two man, Jacob Imsland 6-2, 6-2; Dani Sakovics-Matutes 7-5, 6-4; Jesse Honig 6-0, 6-2. Number one man Sam Imsland lost 0-6, 0-6. The winners in doubles: Miguel Poblete and Walker Nadine 6-3, 6-2; Alex Sakovics-Matutes and Dylan Manning 6-0, 6-0. Justus Kovats-Wildenradt and Chris Kovats-Wildenradt 7-5, 6-1. SC is now 2-0.

March 16. SC 7, SLV 0. Starting with number one singles: Sam Imsland 6-2, 6-0; Jacob Imsland 6-0, 6-1; Walker Hansen 6-3, 6-2; Alex Sakovics-Matutes 6-0, 6-0. Doubles: Dylan Manning and Miguel Poblete 6-0, 6-0; Justus Kovats-Wildenradt and Chris Kovats-Wildenradt 6-0, 6-0; Yuki Fukural and Matt Miller 6-2, 6-0. SC is 3-0.

March 23. SC swept Harbor 7-0 to remain undefeated in SCCAL play. The number one doubles team of Miguel Poblete and Walker Nodine won 6-0, 6-2. Number one singles player Sam Imsland won 6-1, 6-3, followed by winners Jacob Imsland 6-0, 6-0. Dani Sakovics-Matutes 6-0, 6-1. Jesse Honig 6-0, 6-0. In two doubles, Dylan Manning and Alex Sakovics-Matutes 6-0, 6-0. Justus Kovats-Wildenradt and Chris Kovats-Wildenradt 6-0, 6-1. SC is 5-0.

March 30. Brothers Sam and Jacob Imsland led SC to a 7-0 victory over SLV. In the number one singles, Sam won 6-2, 6-1 and Jacob won 6-0, 6-0. Dani Sakovics-Matutes 6-2, 6-2. Jesse Honig 6-0, 6-0. In doubles, Miguel Poblete and Dylan Manning won 6-0, 6-1. Connor Meara and Alex Sakovics-Matutes 6-0, 6-1 Yuki Fukurai and Emmett Balassone 6-1, 6-1. SC is undefeated 6-0 in the SCCAL.

April 6. SC blanked Soquel 7-0. Sam Imsland earned revenge by beating his number one opponent 7-6(7-4), 6-3. Number two Jacob Imsland won his singles match 6-1,6-3. Dani Sakovics-Matutes won 6-3,6-4. Alex Sakovics-Matutes won 6-3, 6-0. Winners in double play Jessie Honig and Walker Nodine 6-0, 6-2. Dylan Manning and Connor Meara 6-2, 6-0. SC won the third match by forfeit. SC is 8-0.

April 12. SC wrapped up a perfect season with a 7-0 win over Aptos in the SCCAL finale. SC finished an undefeated 10-0 in league, sweeping every match in straight sets. Sam Imsland on number one singles 6-0, 6-1 and brother Jacob won number two singles 6-2, 6-0. Alex Sakovics-Matutes won 6-0, 6-0 and Walker Nodine won 6-2, 6-0 the other two singles.
Jesse Honig and Dani Sakovics-Matutes won the number one doubles 6-3, 6-3. Miguel Poblete and Dylan Manning won 6-3, 6-0. Aptos forfeited the third doubles.
Both teams will represents the SCCAL individual tournament tomorrow at the Seascape Golf course.

April 13. On The Rise. Two freshmen singles players, one from Scotts Valley and Alex Sakovics-Matutes of SC will playing in the SCCAL finals tomorrow. The SC doubles team of twin brothers, Jacob and Sam Imsland will play the doubles team of Soquel in the finals. Aptos’ rule over the SCCAL has ended. Aptos had won both titles for the last four years. This is the Imslands fourth straight year in the doubles title match and are looking for their first title.
Sakovics-Matutes has taken the long road to the final. He started the season playing number two doubles for the undefeated SCCAL champions. He worked his way up to the singles lineup during the season and ended up playing number three singles behind the Imsland twins. In the tournament he focused on playing consistently. He patiently sent ball after ball back over the net against Aptos in a 6-3, 6-3 win in the semifinals. “I tried to put balls back in play and when I had a chance, to put the ball away,” said Sakovics-Matutes. “I guess it worked okay.”
The Imslands won their first round 6-0, 6-0 against SLV and then Scotts Valley 6-1, 6-3. Jesse Honig and Dani Sakovics-Matutes lost in the second round of doubles.

April 14. SCCAL Boys Individual Tennis Tournament. Alex Sakovics-Matutes is the SCCAL singles runner-up. Two freshmen played off for the league title and the Scotts Valley freshman won in straight sets 6-0, 6-0.
Senior twins Sam and Jacob Imsland, who made it to the doubles finals the last three years, finally broke through for the title with a 6-2, 6-0 victory.
The three will play in the CCS team tournament next week.
May 5. CCS Boys Tennis: Monterey 5, SC 2 in the first round of the CCS playoffs. Young Monterey Ends Santa Cruz’s Season. “Everybody on our team was extremely prepared for this moment and played their hearts out and it really showed today,” Coach Julian Sunn.
Jacob Imsland won the number two singles and Alex Sakovics-Matutes grabbed the other victory in the number four singles. The loss ends the season for the SCCAL champion Cards, except for senior twins Sam and Jacob Imsland, who will play doubles in the individual tournament May 24 and 26 at Imperial Courts in Aptos.
Others who played doubles for the Cards, but lost were Yuki Fukuria and Connor Meara 0-6, 2-6. Dylan Manning and Miguel Poblete lost 0-6, 3-6. In a two-plus hour, three set battle Walker Nodine and Jesse Honig lost 5-7, 7-6, 5-7.
In singles, Sam Imsland lost 4-6, 0-6 and Dani Sakovics-Matutes lost in a close match.

ALL SCCAL: Sam Imsland and Jacob Imsland.

GOLF
League matches: Aptos 182, SC 265; SLV 234, SC 242; Soquel 225, SC 245; St. Francis 244, SC 256; Harbor 241, SC 270; Aptos 220, SC 286; SLV 200, SC 221; Soquel 225, SC 229; St. Francis 220, SC 251; SC 264, Scotts Valley 270, Harbor 190, SC 291. League record 1-9.

March 1. Sentinel Boys Golf Review. Athletic director Erik Redding replaces long time coach Pete Pappas out with knee surgery. Redding takes over a young team that includes senior returner Matt Dietz.

In the first league match, Aptos 182, SC 265. SC scoring: Neil Pope 44, Scott Shepard 52, Matt Dietz 54, Tyler Costa 57, Trevor Clark 58.

March 9. SLV 234, SC 242 at DeLaveaga’s in a front nine, par 34, 2,802 yards. Joe Phares was medalist at 34 strokes. The rest of the SC squad: Neal Pope 45, Matt Dietz 49. Trevor Clark 54, Ada Wagner 60. SC record 0-2.

March 16. Soquel 225, SC 245. SC scoring: Joe Phares 40, Matt Dietz 45, Trevor Clark 53, Neil Pope 52, Scott Sheperd 55, Kishan Patel 64. SC is 0-3.

March 18. St. Francis 244, SC 256 at Spring Hills Golf Course in Watsonville. Joe Phares shot 42 for medalist honors. Other scores: Neal Pope 46, Matt Dietz 52, Ada Wagner 56, Trevor Clark 60. SC is 0-3.

March 23. Harbor 241, SC 270. Scoring: Joe Phares 49; Neal Pope 49; Mathew Deitz 50; Trevor Clark 53; Ada Wagner 69.

March 30. Aptos 220, SC 286. Scoring for SC: Trevor Clark 48, Neal Pope 51, Matt Dietz 60, Tyler Costa 61, Kishan Patel 66. SC is 0-6 in league.

April 1. SLV 200, SC 221. Matt Dietz shot two over par for medalist honors.

April 8. Soquel 225, SC 229 in a tight match. Joe Phares took medalist honors with a 1 over 34. Kyle Graff 37, 40, David Wertz 45, Danny French 50, Zaac Spiers 53. SC is now 0-7.

April 12. St. Francis 220, SC 251. Neal Pope paced the Cards with a 44, followed by Matt Dietz’s 46, Trevor Clark’s 47, Scott Shepard 56, Ada Wagner 58. SC 0-9.

April 13. SC won its first match of the season 264-270 over Scotts Valley. Neal Pope with a 49 on the par 35 front nine led the Cards. Matt Dietz followed with 50, Trevor Clark 57, Ada Wagner 54, Scott Shepard 54, Kishan Patel 58.

April 15. Harbor defeated SC 190-291. Matt Dietz led SC with a 45 in its final match of the season. Others were Trevor Clark 50, Scott Shepard 52, Tyler Costa 57, Ryan Renteria 87. SC was 1-10 for the season.

June 3. Matt Dietz was the only SC player honored by the league coaches. He was named to the ALL SCCAL second team.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL
League: Harbor 1-3, 2-3; Pacific Collegiate 0-3, 0-3; Mount Madonna 0-3, 0-3; Aptos 0-3, 0-3; Soquel 0-3, 0-3; Scotts Valley 3-2. Lost. Lost to Mount Madonna 0-3 in the league playoffs.
SC League record 1-9. Overall 1-10.

March 23. In the first boys volleyball match for SC since 2006, SC lost to Harbor 25-15, 25-11, 20-25, 25-13. Jaime Saint John had 7 kills and 3 blocks; Chris Martin 4 kills and 3 blocks; Kurt Vicknair had 21 assists. SC is 0-1.

March 25. Pacific Collegiate School defeated SC 25-14, 25-17, 25-20. Chris Martin had 8 kills, Jamie Saint John 7 kills, Tyler Silva 5 digs and two kills. SC is now 0-2.

March 30. SC defeated Scotts Valley 24-26, 25-19, 23-25, 25-22, 15-7. Jaime Saint John had 20 kills, Chris Martin 16 kills and Kurt Vicknair has 48 assists and 7 aces. SC is now 1-2 in league.

April 1. SC pulled together a full squad just in time to play SCCAL power Mount Madonna to suffer a 25-12, 25-17, 25-18 loss. The team consisted of just three players and could not begin its season before the schools basketball team finished its deep postseason run a couple of weeks ago. Two of those multi-sport players made key contributions against the Hawks, who are undefeated 9-0 in league. Johann Schmidt and Jamie Saint John made six kills and two blocks.

April 6. Aptos beat SC 25-11, 25-14, 25-5. Mike Adams had 4 kills and one block. Chris Martin had 4 kills and 2 blocks. Jamie Saint John had 4 kills. SC is 1-4 in league.

April 13. Soquel swept SC 25-21, 25-20, 25-11. Jamie Saint John made nine kills and Kurt Vicknair had 22 assists.

April 15. Harbor edged SC 22-25, 25-22, 25-19, 23-25, 15-10. Jaime Saint John had 14 kills, and Johann Schmidt had 9.

April 26. SC lost to Soquel 25-20, 25-21, 25-20. Jamie Saint John 11 kills and 3 blocks. Jurt Vicknair had 25 assists.

April 27. Pacific Collegiate defeated SC 25-14, 25-17, 25-20. Jamie Saint John had 13 kills, Chris Martin had 6 kills and three blocks. Johann Schmidt had 6 kills.

April 28. Aptos swept SC 25-19, 25-19, 25-20. Johann Schmidt collected seven kills and Colby Underwood had four blocks. Chris Martin had 5 kills and 2 blocks. SC is 1-9.

May 4. In the SCCAL tournament, the league champion Mount Madonna defeated SC 25-6, 25-22, 25-7.

June 8. ALL SCCAL. Selected for the second team were Jamie Saint John and Kurt Vicknair.

LACROSSE
Games: Watsonville 8-14, Harbor 11-6, Soquel 12-13, Scotts Valley 10-2, Aptos 2-15. Record 1-4.

Yearbook.

Roster by year in school, name and position, but some do not have positions listed.
Seniors: Mac Bass, defense/middle; Chris Cassel, middle; Kai Christenson, middle; Zack Peddle-Micheli, attack; Nathan Silverglate. Juniors: Nathan Ramos, middle; Calum Cecil-Wherity, goalie; Joe Calvo, defense; Sophomores: Nick Fernandez, attack; Sean Hunt, attack; Riley O’Neil, defense; Scout Schielbel, middle; Zack Travis; Freshman: Eli Bariteau; Reid Birch; Josh Burr; Gabe Mead; Riley Rohrbaugh. No class named: Gus Willis and Doug Leorand.

March 10. Wildcatz Crush Cardinals In opener. Watsonville defeated SC 14-8 in their season opener. Watsonville got off to a bumpy start against the Cards, who had the advantage of having already played three games. SC struck first on a goal by Eli Bariteau three minutes into the game. The game was the end of an offensive slump for SC, which scored just five goals combined in season opening losses to Pacific Grove, Serra and St. Mary’s. “Everyone just came together and got some goals. This was our best game of the season so far,” said coach Ryan Morper.
Ben Albrecht scored twice and added an assist. Sean Hunt, Mac Bass and Gabe Mead also scored. SC is looking for its first win in two years. “We’ve been building the program since I took over. This is our year to start getting it going. We’ve got guys on this team with a lot of heart,” said Morper.

March 21. Sentinel Area Schools Lacrosse Preview. In the Ones to Watch section: Mac Bass, senior defense man, has taken control of the Cardinals, says coach Ryan Morper. Teams in the league this year: Aptos, Scotts Valley, Soquel, SC and Harbor.

March 23. Ben Albrecht led SC with four goals in a 11-6 win over Harbor. Goalie Cam Henry made 15 saves and Eli Bariteau added three goals.

March 30. SC lost to Soquel 12-13 in double overtime. Mac Bass led all scorers with six goals and Ben Albrecht had three goals.

April 13. Scotts Valley bested SC 22-10. No individual scoring available.

May 11. Aptos’ second seeded team advanced to the SCCAL Tournament final by defeating fourth seeded SC 15-2 and will face League champion Scotts Valley in the finals. Ben Albrecht and Eli Bariteau scored for SC.

June 9. ALL SCCAL Lacrosse team selected by the coaches: Senior midfielder, Chris Cassel. Defensemen, junior Joe Calvo, sophomore Riley O’Neill and freshman Doug Leonard.

SURF TEAM

Nov. 16. Michaela Alksne Wins Long-board At High School Contest at the girls long board final at the Core Scholastic Surf League contest at Half Moon Bay. Alksne beat out teammate Emily Locatelli for the top spot. In team play SC topped Scotts Valley 69-40.

NorCal High School Mountain Biking League
March 25. Only a handful of times in the existence of the NorCal High school Mountain Biking League has a rider from Santa Cruz County earned a top ten finish in a varsity race. And only once has an area rider won one. SC sophomore Jacob Albrecht, who rides for the Santa Cruz Junior Cycling Composite team accomplished that feat in the leagues prologue race at the East Garrison at the former Fort Ord on February 27. He is one of three county mountain bikers charging ahead to make history this season.
The league is now in its tenth year, starts riders out in divisions according to their year in high school. But Albrecht an underclassman, freshman last year, stormed through the lower ranks last year to qualify for varsity this year. Albrecht lists finishing in the top five in the state as a major goal. “I try to stay with other riders and then…I guess I’m just a motivated person.” he said of his competitive nature and I want to win, so I try my hardest every race.” In the leagues second race of the season at Granite Bay on March 13 Albrecht took third place.
Under Ones to Watch: Sophomore at SC Jacob Albrecht on the Santa Cruz Junior Cycling Composite varsity racer placed fifth in Cat 2 in his age group at UCS Cycling’s cross country mountain kike nationals, was third last season as a junior varsity rider at state, won Central Coast mountain biking/cross county series for the junior men 18 and under division in 2010.

FORMER ATHLETES

September 9, 2010. Cal Poly women’s soccer forward, sophomore Lauren Miller saw action in a 4-2 loss to Arizona and on August 28, in a 2-1 win over Long Island.
Cal Poly junior forward Esther Neel came off the bench for minutes against Arizona and Long Island.
North Carolina-Greensboro freshman forward Ashlee Wilhelmsen played 9 minutes off the bench in a 2-0 loss the CSU Fullerton.
San Francisco sophomore defender Jane Shook started and played 41 minutes in a 2-1 overtime win over Rice.

Sept. 9. Garner Movin’ On Up At Utah State. Aggies Putting Speed of Former Cardinal To Use At Defensive End. Spotlight on Quinn Garner.
Quinn Garner wasn’t surprised that Utah State almost pulled off the biggest upset in the first week of the college football season. The Aggies held number seven ranked Oklahoma to a 31-24 score.
“We have the potential to do some great things, said Garner, who made two tackles from his defensive end spot. I think we had a fantastic off season. There’s a lot of improvement, now that we’re in our second year in this system with these coaches. “So far, it’s going exactly the way it was supposed to go.” Garner was the SCCAL Defensive Player of the Year in his senior season.
Garner was moved from his linebacker position in his freshman season to a defensive end when new coach Gary Anderson wanted the defense to become leaner and quicker to keep pace with the spread offenses in the WAC. “They wanted to get some speed in spots where we weren’t as fast. They notice I could run pretty good and I was taller than most linebackers. They figured I had the frame to put on some weight and be a solid defensive end. They told me they were moving me for my benefit,” Garner said. “I haven’t changed me style of play too much despite the position change. I wasn’t upset with the change, as defensive end is still a fun spot. There are times we get to drop back and do some athletic type stuff. It requires quite a bit of athleticism to play defensive end in our defense. It’s almost like playing linebacker.”
Garners’ move meant he needed to bulk up without losing any speed or quickness. Garner started at USU at 220 pounds, he is now 250 pounds on a 6-3 frame. “We do a lot of lifting and I also do some on my own. I ate everything I saw, pretty much.”
After see action mostly on special teams as a true freshman in 2008, as a bulked-up sophomore Garner started ten games as a defensive end and made 28 tackles. “Playing special teams benefited me. Last year, as a sophomore, I think the speed of the game wasn’t as much to handle. Now that I’m used to the speed of the game, it’s going to be real comfortable year for me.”
“Our coaches wanted us to make some goals at the beginning of spring and fall camp. My biggest goal is to become more of a leader, So far, I think I’ve done that. Another one is to have opposing offenses come into each week having to think about me being a threat and affecting the game before we even play the game.”

Sept. 15. Cal Poly freshman forward Lauren Miller came off the bench to play in a 3-2 overtime loss to Utah State and in a 1-0 loss to NCAA top team North Carolina.
Cal Poly junior forward Esther Neel had a shot at goal against Utah State and saw action off the bench against North Carolina.
Utah State junior defensive end Quinn Garner recorded three tackles, including one for a loss and one quarterback hurry in a 38-17 win over Idaho State.

Sept. 23. UCSC men’s soccer junior defender Chris Busch started in the 1-0 win over La Sierra.
Cal Poly freshman forward Lauren Miller saw time off the bench in a 2-0 win over Weber State.
Utah State junior defensive end Quinn Garner was in on seven tackles, had one interception for five yards and recorded a quarterback sack in a 41-24 loss to Fresno State. USU was down only 24-21 going into the fourth quarter.

Sept. 30. SC Alum Working To Add Name to Colorado Cross Country Roster. Brennan Lynch is doing what he can to work his way up the depth chart at the University of Colorado men’s cross country team. Lynch was the runner up at the CIF meet in his senior year at SC, had the fastest time among uniformed Buffalo runners at the Sept. 4 CU Alumni Open Time Trials at the Buffalo Ranch Country Course. Lynch, a red shirt freshman, finished the 8-kilometer race in 26:51 to finish third overall. “Brennan did not suit up last year, but had some very promising local races running unattached,” said Colorado head coach Mark Wetmore. “So he is a freshman for us this year and appears to be on pace to make a nice first year contribution. He’s also personable and hard working, a pleasure to work with.” Colorado’s next race is the 25th Annual Rocky Mountain Shootout in Boulder on Saturday.
Defensive end Quinn Garner made three tackles, including one for a loss in a 41-7 Utah State loss to San Diego State.
Puget Sound sophomore soccer goalkeeper Kevin Halasz has a 1-0 record in goal, allowing one goal for the Loggers, who are 6-1-3.
Vassar College sophomore women’s soccer midfield Keiko Kurita had a shot on goal in a 3-0 win over Clarkson. She scored the first goal in a 2-1 victory over St. Lawrence.

Oct. 9. Spotlight On: Keiko Kurita. Past: On soccer team varsity all four years at Santa Cruz High–co-captain her junior and senior seasons–Two-year letter winner in tennis. Tennis team won Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League titles in 2006 and 2008.
One play in Saturday’s win over Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute typified how the women’s soccer season is going for Vassar College’s Keiko Kurita. The former Santa Cruz High standout fired a shot that caromed off the RPI goalkeeper and right back to her. Without hesitation, Kurita sent a pass across the top of the box to teammate Carolyn Demougeot, who knocked in a sliding shot past the charging goalkeeper and off the right post to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead in the game, which they would eventually win 2-1.
As has been the case most of this season, Kurita was in the right place at the right time, and she made the right decision. The sophomore midfielder leads Vassar in assists with six to go with her two goals. “I am very pleased with the assists, but I’m never completely satisfied with the way I play,” said Kurita, who had three assists and one goal in 16 matches last year. Kurita’s impressive season has not been a surprise to Vassar coach Richard Moller, who convinced Kurita to visit the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., school with a phone call.
“Kurita is one of the most technically and tactically excellent players I have ever seen Moller said. “She has amazing vision on the field and is incredibly poised with the ball. She is a great distributor and, at times, too unselfish because she has one of the finest shots I have coached and can strike with the guys.” Kurita didn’t realize Vassar College existed until she received a phone call from Moller after her senior year at Santa Cruz High. Kurita started 12 matches as a freshman and helped the Brewers compile a 9-7 record and 3-4 mark in the Liberty League.
Kurita’s six assists rank her No. 9 on the Vassar all-time single-season list. But more pleasing to Kurita than her number of assists is the Brewers’ success. Vassar, which is 9-2 overall and 3-0 in the Liberty League, is off to its best start since 1995 and ranked No. 7 in the latest National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll.
“We are way more driven than last year,” Kurita said. “We completely believe in ourselves this year. We have a good mix. We have 10 freshmen and our seniors are amazing players and leaders.” Moller is confident that Kurita can take her soccer career just about wherever she wants. “She is very productive against nationally ranked opponents and top-tier competition in the Liberty League, which strengthens the argument that she is one of the premier midfielders in the country,” Moller said. “Most importantly, she is an amazing human being with a tremendous personality to make people smile no matter the day. I see her as a future captain.”
For now, Kurita just wants to help lead Vassar to its first-ever Liberty League Tournament appearance and a possible NCAA Division III Tournament berth. “I think a key to our season will be out last game against RPI,” Kurita said. “We lost to them last year 3-0. This year, we weren’t going to have it. We knew that we needed to beat them to keep going on.”

Utah State junior defensive end Quinn Garner (Santa Cruz): Logged two tackles in Saturday’s 31-16 Win over BYU. Ranks sixth on team in tackles with 17, has one interception.

Puget Sound sophomore goalkeeper Kevin Halasz (Santa Cruz)” Made one save in 25 minutes of Sunday’s 4-0 victory over George Fox.

Oct. 14. Carman Has Her Game Face On At Vassar College. Freshman Starter Finds Groove With Volleyball Team. Rose Carman has ridden the fast track to success on the Vassar College volleyball team. She has earned her starting spot as a true freshman and already assumed a leadership role on the team. “Rose has very quickly become an important part of the team. She is a real gamer and has huge long term potential in the program,” said head coach Jonathan Penn. Against number 23 New York University, Carman set three career highs with 10 kills, 34 attack attempts and 12 digs in a four set loss. Her totals so far are 41 kills and 57 digs for the 10-9 Brewers.

Quinn Garner was in on three tackles, including one for a loss, in a 24-6 loss at Louisiana Tech.

Oct. 21. Oregon State freshman safety Zeke Sanders saw playing time in a 35-34 double overtime loss to Washington.

Cal Poly junior forward Ester Neel recorded one shot against Pacific.

Vassar College sophomore midfielder Keiko Kurita recorded an assist and had four shots on goal in a 2-1 loss to Montclair State. She got off three shots in a 1-1 tie with William Paterson.

Vassar freshman volleyball utility player Rose Carman had two kills and three digs in a 3-0 win over Bard College. She had seven kills, three digs in a 3-0 win over Mount Saint Mary.

Oct. 24. Pro Football. The Baltimore Ravens activated reserve linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo from the physically unable to perform list, He was out with a torn quadriceps tendon suffered last season. A nine year NFL player, hasn’t played this season. Ayanbadejo has 66 career tackles in 100 games as a special teams standout with three Pro Bowl appearances.

Oct. 28. Colorado freshman Brennan Lynch was selected to the All-Big 12 Cross Country Academic second team.

Cal Poly junior forward Ester Neel started against UC Davis and CSU Fullerton.

Nov. 5. Utah State lost to nationally ranked twenty-fifth Nevada 56-42. Defensive end Quinn Garner was in on three tackles.

UCSC junior defender Chris Busch started in wins over Cal Lutheran 6-2 and in a 1-0 double overtime loss at Chapman.

Cal Poly forward Esther Neel got of a shot against CSU Bakersfield and one against UC Santa Barbara.

Vassar College midfielder Keiko Kurita has one shot on goal in helping her team advance to the championship game of the Liberty league playoffs with a 3-2 win over Hamilton College. Vassar 12-5-1 will play William Smith 13-2-2 for the conference title.

Vassar college freshman utility player Rose Carman had four digs in a 3-2 win over SUNY Fredonia as well as eight digs in a 3-2 loss to Stevens Institute of Technology.

Nov. 16. Quinn Garner had two assisted tackles in Utah States victory over San Jose State. Quinn has a total of 37 tackles from his defensive end and some times tackle position.
Dec. 9. Quinn made two tackles in a loss to top ten Boise State.