There’s no need to disguise it.
As usual, the Scotts Valley High football team plans to play smash mouth football this upcoming fall season by running up the gut with power backs such as senior Eli Velez.
Velez, a senior, carried most of the workload last season, finishing with 553 yards rushing on 69 carries and four touchdowns in 2023. He plans to lead the offense once again, and this time he’s bringing along a pair of teammates in Niko Smutzer and Logan Collins to form a new triple-headed Falcons rushing attack.
“Just keep it rolling. We had a groove going on, keep that groove going. The seniors are stepping up this year, for sure. And we’re just ready for redemption,” he said.
Velez is referring to the Falcons being on the cusp of advancing to their first-ever Central Coast Section championship game. Instead, they lost to Alisal High in the Division III semifinals that still stings for most of the returning players, including Velez.
“I like to use it as fuel, but we gotta get over it,” he said. “I use that as fuel to keep us going, motivate us to get into that CCS championship game.”
Scotts Valley has won three Pacific Coast Athletic League championship banners in the past four years, including a Mission Division North title after finishing with a 6-0 record in league play in 2023.
For longtime head coach Louie Walters, he would like to scrap what happened in the playoffs. He mentioned the coaching staff probably takes the losses harder because of how much they put into it, but then it’s onto the next game.
“It’s a whole nother group. They just want to keep our tradition going, they know,” Walters said. “Historically, we’ve been pretty good for the last 20 years.”
Walters, who will enter his 24th season with the program, will have to rely on his running backs to do most of the heavy lifting. Especially after he lost three-year starting quarterback Lucas Ringel to an injury that will sideline him for his senior season.
“I think the running backs will be solid. Defensively, we’ll be Scotts Valley ‘D’ where we fly to the ball,” Walters said.
Walters is bringing in sophomore Ryder Quilici to take over quarterback duties. The anchors on the offensive line protecting Quilici include junior Gabriel Dodge and senior Khaliel Millhouse.
Apart from having a strong run game, Quilici should also have a solid group of receivers to toss the ball to including senior Jacob Womack.
Smutzer is on a redemption year himself after breaking his clavicle last season against Watsonville High on Oct. 6. At the time, he thought it was a dislocated shoulder until he got to the hospital where medical staff told him it was fractured.
It was just his second game of the season after Smutzer—a transfer from Santa Cruz High—had to sit out the first four games due to rules associated with student-athlete transfers.
“It sucked, but it just pushed me to go harder this season and hopefully end up league champion, CCS and so forth,” Smutzer said.
The utility player is expected to be on both sides of the ball and special teams as a kick returner, which is something he enjoys the most.
“It gives you an opportunity to just be free because usually you have a designed play,” Smutzer said. “When you’re a punt returner, you kind of just go wherever you want. Kind of like you’re playing backyard [football] with your buddies.”
On defense, the Falcons will be in a base 5-2 formation with Jess Ringel—the Mission Division North’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year—leading a fast front seven. Womack, Valez and Smutzer will roam in the backfield as the team’s main defensive back core.
“It starts with our defense. Defense wins championships. We’re gonna prepare,” Jess Ringel said. “We have a younger group of kids this year, but we’re gonna have a good defense.”
Other players to keep an eye on are receiver/defensive back Caden Killpatrick, linebacker/receiver Vaughn Chromentotski and utility player Isaac Currie, who can play in all three phases of the game.
The most notable players not returning for Scotts Valley include standouts Niko Iles, Brady Siechen, James Bullock and Lorenzo Gonzalez. Also on that list is Quinn Turowski and Marshall Dodge, who were the Mission Division North’s Offensive Player of the Year and Lineman of the Year, respectively.
“Those are shoes to fill, but I feel like skillswise, we’ll be OK. It’s the line that’s going to be young,” Walters said.
Scotts Valley kicks off the season in a non-league contest at Santa Cruz High on Aug. 30 at 7:30pm, followed by the home-opener against Branham High of San Jose on Sept. 7 at 2pm.
The Falcons continue non-league action against two local rivals starting with a meeting against San Lorenzo Valley High in Felton on Sept. 14 at 2pm.
Scotts Valley will then close out its non-league portion of the schedule at home against Soquel High—the defending California Interscholastic Federation State D4AA champion.
The Knights handed the Falcons their lone loss of the regular season following a 21-7 victory in non-league action Sept. 14.
Not much has changed within the Mission Division North as Scotts Valley looks to defend its league crown against Monte Vista Christian, North Monterey County, Seaside, St. Francis and Watsonville high schools.
Santa Cruz High was demoted to the Santa Lucia Division after going winless, 0-6, in league play.
The Falcons will get their second chance at redemption in the regular season and league finale at Alisal on Nov. 8 at 7:30pm.
Smutzer said going into a brand new season means they get to start from scratch, yet they’ll still build off the success they had in 2023.
“We obviously expect to win, but we got to show that day in and day out. I’m telling the younger guys don’t take this stuff for granted. Go hard every play, don’t take reps off. That’s how you build championships,” Smutzer said.
Scotts Valley High 2024 football schedule
Aug. 30: at Santa Cruz, 7:30pm
Sept. 7: Branham, 2pm
Sept. 14: at San Lorenzo Valley, 2pm
Sept. 21: Soquel, 2pm
Sept. 28: North Monterey County*, 2pm
Oct. 4: Seaside*, 3:30pm
Oct. 11: at Monte Vista Christian*, 7:30pm
Oct. 18: Watsonville*, 7:30pm
Oct. 26: at St. Francis*, 2pm
Nov. 8: at Alisal*, 7:30pm
*PCAL Mission Division North game
