SANTA CRUZ COUNTY — Mission Trail Athletic League lacrosse is going through some severe modifications this year.
Locally, Aptos High will continue to compete in the MTAL North, while Watsonville High will play as an independent team this year.
The Wildcatz will not host any games this season but lacrosse is alive, despite a false start involving referees.
Penninsula Sports Inc. (PSI) had been the longtime provider of referees for MTAL lacrosse. That was until many officials decided to leave PSI to work for the Northern California Lacrosse Referees Association (NCLRA). Without enough lacrosse referees, PSI notified the MTAL they would no longer have the resources to officiate their games. NCLRA then stepped in.
The rub is that NCLRA, a non-profit organization, wanted a three-year contract and sought fees that some schools were unwilling to pay. NCLRA offered a “take it or leave it” kind of deal: a two-year contract that was agreed upon between the MTAL and NCLRA that Watsonville left on the table.
Without officials, Watsonville will be unable to host visiting teams. Without a home field, many Wildcatz players were afraid that they would lose their season like Harbor High and Pacific Collegiate School, whom will not field lacrosse teams this season.
For Harbor, paying the additional fees was not a problem since funding from Measure O covered their officiating fees.
“When I met with my principal we decided to fully support the program,” said Harbor athletic director Hollis O’Brien. “We have an enthusiastic coach (Mitchell Curtiss) and we were really hoping to have a team this year.”
For the players, perceptions that the season was on the brink helped to start a domino effect of players leaving the team.
“I went to visit the team at one point and saw a good number of kids,” O’Brien said. “When the rumors spread, practices started to diminish.”
For Pacific Collegiate, several factors contributed to the cancellation of the season. Lack of athletes, coaches and the complexity of the new officiating deal prompted the school to forgo the season.
Watsonville had to juggle the schedule. Since they’re no longer part of the MTAL, they picked up what games they could. A few games were lost, but the season remains, mostly, intact.
Watsonville head coach Stephen Burke prefers to focus on his players, rather than the scheduling or the refs. On the field, he will need to teach a lot of players the basics of lacrosse.
“I’m extremely proud that I have five seniors and three juniors, the rest are freshman and sophomores, who have a month and a half experience playing lacrosse,” said Burke, last year’s MTAL North Coach of the Year. “Most of my players have zero to one year experience.”
In addition to learning to play a new sport, many Wildcatz will need to play multiple positions.
“Many kids are playing out of position because we have small numbers. It’s double duty,” Burke said. “They’re learning to play a position and a backup position at the same time. Which is kind of incredible considering some of these kids didn’t know how to pass and catch.”
Junior goalie Diana Paniagua is seeking to build on a strong 2016 season. In her first year playing goalie Paniagua earned All-MTAL honors last season.
This year so far has been a struggle for the winless Wildcatz but Paniagua’s focus remains.
“I want to play college lacrosse. That’s what I want,” Paniagua said.
Inexperience has cost Watsonville early this season. Aptos beat the Wildcatz twice last week in blowout fashion. Paniagua’s love for the game is undiminished by the team’s struggles.
“When you see the other player and you know where they’re going and where they’re going to shoot it, and you get that save, that’s the best,” Paniagua said.
Senior JoJo Vargas is the team’s leading scorer and is coming into his own as a team leader this season.
“He has taken such a leap with year with confidence and desire,” Burke said.
The effects of the officiating shortage have impacted the entire league. Because of the increased costs, which include the officials’ mileage, several sites have been chosen that will host several games in a day.
Trevin Dilfer Field at Aptos High will serve as one of the host locations. The move saves money on officials, but it also serves as one of the several homes away from home for Watsonville.
Along with Aptos, Santa Cruz High, Soquel High, Salinas High, Christopher High, Hollister High and York will also host games.
“It’s a tough decision to make. Those other schools helped us out,” said Watsonville Athletic Director Marcus Northcutt. “It’s tough that the seniors won’t get a home game.”
At Aptos, first-year head coach David Rosenow will be challenged to keep his team focused on the ultimate prize of knocking off last year’s league champion, Scotts Valley High.
Senior midfielder Lucas Junod, junior midfielder Jackson Carver and sophomore midfielder Will Patterson lead a deep lineup on a team that likes to keep it light hearted.
“Fun loving. They’re a good group of guys,” Rosenow said.
The Mariners were also affected by the officiating snafu. Their schedule wasn’t finalized until a couple of weeks into the season.
“For some guys, it limited some enthusiasm. Some checked out when they thought we weren’t going to have a season. It took them a while to get back into lacrosse,” Rosenow said.
With their attention focused back on lacrosse, the team is off to a solid start. To get the job done Aptos will need to lean on many of its younger players.
“We lost a lot of seniors when they graduated. Without them we’ve played well and grew as a team,” Junod said. “We have really good chemistry and that’s helped us. We joke around and I know everyone on the team. We’re good friends.”
The Mariners strong midfield and defense have helped to smooth the transition of freshman Herman Inderlied who is playing his first year of lacrosse.
“Herman volunteered for the position and is doing well,” Rosenow said. “He’s made some amazing saves and has kept us competitive.”
The Mariners have also rallied around Rosenow, who rose from junior varsity ranks to replace Jack Bergman and become Aptos’ third head coach in the last four years.
“He has really stepped up and got us in line,” Junod said. “We need a coach to be strict. We goof around, but when it’s time to go we get going.”
Fun on the field belies the difficulty that occurred off it.
