Despite a season-opening 14-7 loss Sept. 3 in Amity, Ore., Scotts Valley High varsity football coaches and players had plenty of good things to say at practice this week about both their performance that day and their chances to win an unprecedented fifth straight Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League title.

The San Lorenzo Valley High Cougars will look to rebound at Piedmont High School on Saturday, Sept. 11, after falling 24-7 to Sacred Heart Prep of Atherton in both teams’ first game of the season Sept. 4.

The San Lorenzo Valley Cougars and Scotts Valley Falcons opened the high school football season over the weekend with a taste of live action. The scrimmage — meaningless in the standings — was a warm-up for the first game of the season.

The Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League’s season-opening football jamborees will be this weekend.

A young redhead blew hard one last time into her noise-maker vuvuzela, marking the end of the Soccer by the Bay Tournament in San Mateo on Aug. 21 and 22. When the echo of the horn had faded, her brother’s Scotts Valley-San Lorenzo Valley Thunder under-13 boys travel soccer team had defeated Livermore, 2-0, to claim third place in the competition that featured teams from all over California.