Sports

Mike Cloud of Aptos posed for a photo on the fifth hole of Valley Gardens Golf Course in Scotts Valley on Sept. 18 after sinking his 185 yard drive with his 3 hybrid.

The Mountain Dream girls softball teams had a strong showing at the annual fall Alexis Briski Memorial tournament Oct. 7-8 in Los Gatos. For the first time, the Dream fielded four teams aging from 10U to 14U in the tournament. Three of the four teams had gold bracket performances on Sunday with the 12U team taking home the first place prize.

The Scotts Valley High School Falcon Club this week announced the 2017 inductees into the Falcon Club Hall of Fame.

San Lorenzo Valley softball: 

The SLV boys basketball topped Scotts Valley, and the Falcon girls beat SLV in a special game Jan. 17 at the Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz.

San Lorenzo Valley defeated Santa Cruz 43-9 on Oct. 28. The Cougars, 6-3 overall and 3-1 in league play, host defending Santa Cruz Coast League champion Aptos on Saturday, Nov. 5, at 2 p.m.

The Scotts Valley High School girls’ volleyball program is having its most successful season in school history with a current record of 18 wins and 8 losses.

Tyler Stow connected on a school-record five touchdown passes -- three of them to Carson Spence in second-half explosion -- as Scotts Valley won The Big Game of the Santa Cruz Mountains on Oct. 22, 35-14.The game, played under a bright blue sky before a packed stadium at SLV, was knotted 7-7 at the half.Last year Scotts Valley won 52-51 in a five-overtime thriller, but the excitement this year in the second half was all Falcon.The defensive unit for Scotts Valley held SLV’s power offense scoreless nearly the entire second half, while Stow went to work on the Cougar secondary.Spence would finish with four catches for 101 years, and Stow’s passing total reached 257 yards at game’s end.Elias Avalos had two sacks, and Tanner Gilton, Anthony Locatelli, Josh Eskew and Jason Bucio each had one. Bucio also blocked a field goal attempt.Falcon coach Louie Walters notched his 101st victory against his alma mater where he was a one-time assistant.The game had more on the line than mountain bragging rights, as the winner would be in a good position to secure a spot in the CCS playoffs.SLV travels to Santa Cruz next week, then hosts Aptos, which has won five straight league titles.Scotts Valley came within one touchdown of knocking off Aptos at home.The Falcons host Soquel in an afternoon game at home next weekend, then end their regular season at night at home against Santa Cruz.Kyle Rajala and Ryan Johnston each caught touchdown passes from Stow, who was 11-16.For SLV, Jackson Turner caught a TD pass from Tanner Murray in the first quarter, then Scott Poetzinger, the game’s leading rusher with 84 yards, scored with 8 seconds left in the game.

The San Lorenzo Valley Cougars are using cutting-edge helmet technology to take some of the sting out of hard-hitting football games.