High School Sports

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...

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...

San Lorenzo Valley High football head coach Dave Grant decided to test his returning players by putting them up to a challenge during the offseason. So far, he’s pretty impressed with the response. “One thing for sure is these guys have been putting in the work,”...

A new era under Zach Hewett officially began last week as the Aptos High football team took the practice field for the first time this season.  Prior to taking the helm, the 39-year-old head coach knew there wasn’t going to be much of a change.  For...

Aptos High last week announced that Johnny Velez was named the new head coach for both the boys’ and girls’ wrestling teams. The 31-year-old Aptos High alum is replacing long time coach Rudy Guzman who retired at the end of the 2023-24 season. Guzman was an...

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...