The San Lorenzo Valley High football team was on the verge of defending its Pacific Coast Athletic League Mission North Division crown in last week’s regular season finale.
But they fell short of accomplishing that task in a narrow 17-14 defeat to newly crowned champion Aptos High on Nov. 6.
Despite the loss, the Cougars (4-6) were still runner-up in the Mission North with a 3-2 record while earning the No. 5 seed in the Central Coast Section Division V playoffs.
They will travel to San Mateo on Friday to take on No. 4 Aragon (5-5, 2-3)—fourth-place finishers in the Peninsula Athletic League’s Ocean Division. Kickoff is slated for 7pm.
“Aragon is a good football team, and we’ve got to have a good week of practice to get ready for them,” said SLV head coach Dave Grant on the Cover 3 Sports Podcast. “We can’t make mistakes because these guys, they can score in a lot of ways.”
The Dons are led by senior quarterback Isaiah Johnson, who tossed for 2,252 yards, 22 touchdowns and eight interceptions during the 2026 regular season, according to the Max Preps website.
His main target this year was sophomore Ben Henderson with 53 receptions for 789 yards and five touchdowns. Teammate junior Jaxon Sullivan led Aragon with 748 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns on 155 carries.
“[Johnson] throws a really good ball, he’s really mobile and he’s got good receivers that are pretty fast and that can go up for the ball pretty well,” Grant said. “But we definitely respect their run game a lot, especially because their O-line and their running back are really good.”
Editor’s note: Listen to the full interview with SLV head football coach Dave Grant in this week’s episode of the Cover 3 Sports Podcast.
High school cross country
SV’s Shehorn wins SCCAL Championship: Hanna Shehorn added another dominating win last week to what has already been an impressive cross country season at Scotts Valley High.
The Falcon senior ace runner won her first-ever Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League Championship in 17 minutes flat on the 2.9 mile course at Pinto Lake County Park in Watsonville on Nov. 5.
“[Shehorn] just took it from the start and just kept pounding forward,” said Scotts Valley head coach Todd Hoffman in a phone interview. “She’s incredible how she can do these things, so strong-minded.”
Shehorn tied the school record finish at Pinto Lake set by former standout Ashlyn Boothby in 2021, and was seven seconds shy of tying the course record of 16:53 set in 2011 by former Aptos High standout and Olympian Nikki Hiltz.
Earlier this season, Shehorn set the three-mile course record at Pinto Lake after she won the third annual Tom Leikam Invitational in 17:15.5 on Sept. 19.
“I think she really discovered that she loves running,” Hoffman said. “She has so much fun with it and she just grew into this leader.”
Shehorn finished ahead of her twin sister, Hailey (17:46), who took second place, followed by Soquel High freshman Tillie Rudolph (17:58) in third, and Santa Cruz junior Isla Roake (18:26) and sophomore Julie Kassel (18:27) in fourth and fifth, respectively.
“[The Shehorns] have been leaders of the team for two years, and they encourage others,” Hoffman said. “They inspire the rest of the team with their attitude, and how they’re always upbeat and positive.”
Scotts Valley, along with Aptos and Santa Cruz each tied with 52 team points at the end of the race.
Santa Cruz was crowned the regular season champion based on a dual meet point system. But, all three schools are headed to this weekend’s CCS Championships in Belmont.
“A three-way tie, I’ve never seen that,” Hoffman said. “I think all of the coaches were like, ‘What just happened?’ It was incredible, I’ve never seen it.”
Other top Falcon finishers included junior Stella Sutcliffe (19:14) in ninth, sophomore Linnea Hannaleck (21:23) in 20th, freshman June York (21:41) in 22nd, freshman Camille Schultz (22:24) in 23rd and freshman Audriana Garcia (23:24) in 29th.
San Lorenzo Valley High senior Stella Gerlach took 21st in 21:27, followed by sophomore Sofia Serroels (22:37) in 25th, senior Madison Fogerty (23:04) in 26th and senior Danielle Stiles followed (23:07) in 27th.
Senior Chloe Ryssemus (24:01) placed 30th, while freshman Emrys McCollyer (24:17) took 31st for the Cougars, who also advanced to the CCS finals as an at-large qualifier in D-V alongside Scotts Valley.
“It’s exciting to see that, too,” Hoffman said.
SLV seniors Colton Ryssemus (16:05) took sixth and Jonathan Santi (16:19) placed 10th for a pair of top-10 finishes in the boys race.
Aptos High senior Sam Hansen won the race in 15:25, followed by Santa Cruz junior Anders Laurberg (15:37) took second, followed by Aptos freshman Mateo Hartnett (15:47) in third, Soquel senior William Colhoun (15:56) in fourth and Aptos senior Anthony Sandford-Carroll (15:59) in fifth.
Aptos was crowned this year’s SCCAL champion, followed by Santa Cruz in second and Soquel in third. All three teams advanced to the CCS Championship at Crystal Springs on Saturday.
SLV earned a CCS D-V at-large entry as a team. Other top finishers included seniors Anton Nite (17:49) in 23rd, Max Saslawsky (18:11) in 25th, Lukas Reynolds (18:39) in 29th, junior Charles Kressman (19:27) in 33rd and senior Miles Hash (20:04) in 37th.
Senior Joshua Adams (17:18) placed 17th for Scotts Valley, which earned a CCS D-V at-large entry as a team.
“Josh really stepped up,” Hoffman said. “He ran a phenomenal race, and all the boys. They ran with so much heart.”
Other top Falcon finishers included freshman Caleb Krenz (17:46) in 21st, sophomore Tyler Shambaugh (17:58) in 24th, freshman Levi Perlovich (18:16) in 27th, sophomore Stuart Griffith-Jones (18:26) in 28th and junior Trevor Maxwell (19:02) in 32nd.
Scotts Valley senior Jackson Stull missed the SCCAL finals, but he’s set to return to this weekend’s CCS Championships.
“We’re on the outside looking in,” Hoffman said. “Four teams qualify out of D-V boys, why not us?”
