High School Sports

Aptos began the 2024 regular season with three consecutive losses, including two against a pair of defending league champions. They dropped the season-opener to Homestead—winners of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division, followed by a loss to Christopher High—winners of the Blossom...

The 2024 fall season for Scotts Valley junior Hayden Smith and the Falcons girls’ volleyball team just got underway. So far, so good. Smith finished with a team-best nine kills and seven digs in Tuesday’s non-league victory over Monterey High in three sets (25-12, 25-23, 25-20). “I...

After trailing for most of the day, St. Francis senior Javier Fonseca was on the verge of capping off the regular-season opener with a potential game-winning drive. But the miraculous comeback fell short following a huge defensive stop by King City on the Sharks’ final...

Monte Vista Christian senior Dominic Pierini finished with 400 yards passing and four touchdowns for the Mustangs football team in a 49-28 non-league loss to Piedmont Hills High on Aug. 30.   The star quarterback also had two interceptions and two fumbles lost. “That was kind of...

Greenfield High went into Friday night’s regular season-opener as the defending Pacific Coast Athletic League Santa Lucia Division champion.  It’s the type of test Watsonville High head coach Manny Contreras wanted his players to face right off the bat. In the end, it was a veteran...

Zach Hewett made quite the debut Thursday evening in his first game as head coach of the Aptos High football head coach. The Mariners rolled past The King’s Academy, 34-7, in the teams’ regular season-opener in front of hundreds of fans at Trevin Dilfer Memorial...

A good chunk of the returning players for Watsonville High spent a majority of the offseason staying busy. Whether it was on the football field or in the weight room on campus or at Guerrilla Underground Fitness in Watsonville, the grind never stopped.  That included senior...

Pajaro Valley High senior Izaak Ocampo knows the football program has been considered a doormat of the league for quite some time.  In fact, the Grizzlies have recorded just one winning season since the team began competing in 2006. That was long before he was...

A group of six local high schools unofficially kicked off the 2024 fall season at this past weekend’s Santa Cruz County football jamboree at Cabrillo College. Aptos, Harbor, San Lorenzo Valley, Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley and Watsonville high schools took part in scrimmages in front...

One of the best parts of going into a new football season is getting a fresh start and going back to the chalkboard. A clean slate, so to speak.  It’s exactly what St. Francis High senior Mason Borrego and his teammates needed following a mediocre 2023...