Sports

During head coach Rich Taylor’s tenure with Aptos, his squads have never finished worse than second place. The Mariners (8-1, 4-1) appear to have the star players and depth to get it done this year.

All but one local boys basketball team will get to unwrap a whole new set of challenges this winter, as six squads were placed into five tiered divisions of the Pacific Coast Athletic League — a 31-school super league made up of the previous members of the Monterey Bay League and Mission Trail Athletic League.

The Cubs hammered the Astros 18-6 on Monday in Pajaro Valley Little League Majors action.

Zander Miller-Brown singled and tripled in the Braves’ 7-3 win over the Cubs in Pajaro Valley Little League Majors action on Wednesday.

With their backs against the wall versus the top team in Northern California, the No. 8-seeded Vikings (17-9) hit harder, moved faster and played with an uninhibited confidence resembling that of the two-time state champion Seahawks (26-3).

Three days after hiring Dini, Monte Vista Christian introduced its new head football coach in an hour-long meet and greet with dozens of parents and student-athletes at the school’s campus.

Quintero, the Freshman of the Year last season, averaged 22.2 points per game over 25 contests, a mark that was second-best in the entire Central Coast Section, according to the stats kept by MaxPreps.

“The beast” beat out a handful of other worthy candidates for the league’s top honor after rushing for 806 yards and 16 touchdowns over seven PCAL-G games. Reyes also starred at inside linebacker for a defense that allowed just 16 points per league game.

Down 22-11 at the end of the first quarter, Watsonville had to rally over the last three quarters to fight its way back into the Pacific Coast Athletic League Santa Lucia division title chase with a 52-46 upset of Oakwood.

The Santa Cruz Warriors improved to 5-0 — their best start in franchise history — with a 115-112 win over the host Northern Arizona Suns on Wednesday night.