High School Sports

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...

San Lorenzo Valley High senior quarterback Jack Dagan tossed four touchdowns for the Cougars football team in a 39-14 non-league victory over South San Francisco High on Aug. 31.  “This was a big win for our program,” SLV head coach Dave Grant said in a...

San Lorenzo Valley and Scotts Valley unofficially kicked off the 2024 football season at this past weekend’s Santa Cruz County jamboree at Cabrillo College. Both teams joined Aptos, Harbor, Santa Cruz and Watsonville high schools for an evening full of scrimmages in front of a...

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...

Louie Walters has been Scotts Valley High’s lone athletic director since the school first opened in 1999. From state wrestling champions to undefeated league seasons for the football program, he’s seen just about everything. However, the 2023-24 school year was what Walters considered a unique...

Steve Okamura was a big contributor for kickstarting the annual Apple Cider Classic wrestling tournament at Watsonville High in 2010. The longtime Wildcatz wrestling assistant coach also helped pave the way for dozens of girls who were hesitant to step on the mat in a...