Senior Ari Wargon scored five touchdowns as Scotts Valley High School smashed Santa Cruz High School 54-17 on Friday, Nov. 2, to give the team a homecoming victory.
The Falcons (4-5 overall, 3-2 Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League) will conclude the regular season at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 10 at Cabrillo College against St. Francis High School (2-7, 1-4).
After Wargon returned the opening kickoff 94 yards and a touchdown, the Cardinals took a 9-6 first-quarter lead after scoring on a 40-yard pass play and hitting a field goal.
But the second quarter would belong to the Falcons.
Wargon rushed for two touchdowns and caught another from quarterback Garrett Johnston — who also gave the Falcons a 34-9 lead heading into halftime when he caught a 35-yard pass from backup Jake Lobo.
In the third quarter, Wargon scored his fifth touchdown on a 5-yard scamper while Ian Howard caught a 31-yard touchdown from Lobo and Jace Hardwick had a 1-yard touchdown run to cap the Falcons offensive output.
The team is on a three-game winning streak outscoring opponents by a combined margin of 165-43.
The Falcons must defeat St. Francis to have any hope for a Central Coast Section playoff berth. They trail both Soquel and Aptos High in the league standings, and are vying for an at-large bid.
San Lorenzo Valley
The Cougars fell to 3-3 in SCCAL play after losing to Aptos High School 59-20 on Friday, Nov. 2 in Aptos.
The loss likely ended the Cougars’ hopes for a CCS playoff bid because they lost to three teams ahead of them in the SCCAL standings.
In the game, Aptos jumped out to a 28-0 lead in the second quarter before the Cougars got on the board when Derek Poetzinger scored on a 13-yard pass from Isaac Newberry. Poetzinger accounted for all the Cougars scoring on the day, notching two more on 1-yard and 2-yard plunges in the third quarter.
However, SLV could not stop the potent Mariner rushing attack, allowing 408 yards on the ground on 62 carries by 13 Aptos ball carriers.
Poetzinger finished the game with nine carries for 31 yards and Newberry was 17-for-31 with 250 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
