High School Sports

The optimism meter is higher than ever for the Aptos High boys’ soccer team following some success during the non-league portion of its regular season schedule.   Senior attacking midfielder Eddie Alvarez is leading a group of speedy wingers on the outside that have been opening...

Aptos High sophomore Isaiah Ackerman may have been a first-year starter for the Mariners’ boys basketball team but what he did on the court this season was enough to turn some heads.  The coaches within the league recognized Ackerman for his accomplishments as he earned...

WATSONVILLE—It took some time for Watsonville High sophomore Aubrey Rodriguez and the rest of the Wildcatz girls’ soccer team to start gelling as a unit.  But things seem to be changing as the season has progressed and she believes they’ve improved dramatically since that first...

Aptos High was awarded a home game for this upcoming weekend’s quarterfinals round of the Central Coast Section boys soccer playoffs. The Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League champion Mariners earned a No. 4 seed and will host No. 5 Serra High (6-3-5) out of the...

Marcus Northcutt has stepped down as Watsonville High’s athletic director after seven years with the school, he told The Pajaronian on Thursday.     Northcutt, 52, will take on the same duties at North Salinas High starting in July. He will replace longtime athletic director Jean Ashen,...

WATSONVILLE—Monte Vista Chirstian School senior Mark Spohn came into this year’s football season having to replace Brendan Doyle, last season’s Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League A Division MVP.   The first-year starting quarterback made quite the first impression Thursday night, passing for two touchdowns and sneaking...

GREENFIELD—The St. Francis High football team was on the verge of losing its first game of the season in heartbreaking fashion. But a huge defensive stop at the goal line helped the Sharks narrowly escape with a 14-10 win against Greenfield High in non-league action...

Watsonville High this week announced it promoted Patrick Rodriguez as the newest head coach for the softball team. The 37-year-old Watsonville native will take the helm after former coach Pete Legorreta told the school he was retiring from coaching following the 2024 spring season. Rodriguez was...

Pajaro Valley flag football head coach Cesar Rojas was thrown straight into the Grizzlies den when the school decided to launch the program one week prior to the 2024 season. He had just seven days to prepare 25 student-athletes using a simple playbook that they...

For the past three years, Dominic Pierini has experienced just one winning season as the starting quarterback for the Monte Vista Christian football program.   It came in 2023 when the 6-foot-3,195-pound slinger led them to a 6-4 overall record and on the brink of qualifying...