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 Football

A quick online search for “fastest growing sport in the U.S.,” yields some surprising results: ultimate Frisbee, Mixed Martial Arts, rugby, and pickle ball. The top of the heap seems to be rugby. A 2010 survey by a sporting goods industry group ranked rugby as the fastest-growing sport in the U.S., and a recent Boston Globe article reported that rugby enrollment grew 81 percent from 2008 to 2013, beating out both lacrosse and hockey. With its addition to the 2016 Olympics, the trend will likely continue.

Scotts Valley High's (Falcons) Luke McCartney (left to right) and John Ross were first and second in last Thursday's SCCAL cross country championships at  Pinto Lake County Park in Watsonville. Twenty seconds behind the winner, San Lorenzo Valley's Chris Anderson (rightmost) finished third, but the Cougars won the team title, beating the second place Falcons 43-62.

FootballDriven by a monstrous Halloween spirit, both San Lorenzo Valley and Scotts Valley high schools annihilated their football opponents in league games last weekend. On Friday night at Soquel, the Falcons left their starting line-up on the sidelines at the start of the second half as their back-ups continued the massacre of hapless Soquel Knights. The final score, 40-0, could probably have been in triple digits if not for the running clock.Despite the high winning score, San Lorenzo Valley HS didn't have such an easy job on Saturday afternoon. Visiting Santa Cruz High showed a lot of resurgence in the second half until two running TD's from Nick Salibi and Scott Poetzinger at the end of the third quarter practically sealed the win. Both teams will face their main title contender, hosts Aptos High – SLV Cougars this Friday evening, SV Falcons a week later, on Friday the 13.Water PoloWater-polo playoffs started, San Lorenzo Valley High boys hosted Harbor High on Tuesday night and lost 10-6. SLVHS girls, unbeaten league champions with a first round bye, avenged boys loss and beat Harbor 9-3 on Thursday afternoon. In the tournament championship game this Saturday they will face Stevenson at 3:30 p.m. at Santa Catalina.TennisScottsValley girls’ tennis team was unbeaten in the league. They played in the SCCAL finals at the Seascape Tennis Club this past Tuesday and Wednesday. The number 1 doubles team was the highest achiever in the tournament, with Desi Rakela-Elana Weingord claiming the league title by beating second seed, St. Francis High’s Katherine Casper-Meg Guild, 2-1. Both doubles and the whole Falcons team, league champions, made CCS finals, which will be played this Monday.Cross-CountryCross-country teams from both schools will run this Thursday, November 5, atSCCAL Meet at PintoLakeCountyPark in Watsonville, with JVs starting at 2:00 p.m., Varsity at 2:30 p.m., past our press time. We'll report the results on-line.Win NFL Tickets – Support SLV Athletics Boosters!Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers fans have a chance to win NFL tickets to the December 20game while supporting SLV Athletics Boosters. The raffle tickets for four Club Level Raiders game tickets are selling at all home football and basketball games. Cost: $20 per raffle ticket or $50 for 5 of them. You can also contact Athletic Director Mark Mercer at [email protected]. 

Both Scotts Valley and San Lorenzo Valley Highs played league games this weekend. Falcons won 40-0 at Soquel on Friday night, while Cougars beat Santa Cruz High 48-22 at home on Saturday. In photos above, Scotts Valley's Trevor Ponos (#8) almost reached Soquel's end-zone on his 4-th quarter punt return, while SLV's Robbie Carling (#18, on the right) intercepts Cardinals' pass in the end zone.

E-mail local sports news to [email protected] or call 438-2500.

Katherine Beiers has run marathons, half marathons, 10k’s; you name it; she’s most likely run it! So it was no surprise to see her, along with a record number of runners at last week’s Bean Creek Run in ScottsValley.

E-mail local sports news to [email protected] or call 438-2500.

Conditions for the Santa Cruz Scholastic Surf League’s opening contest of 2015-2016 were challenging, to say the least. When autumn swells from North Pacific storms hit the Santa Cruz coastline, Manresa Beach can get some heaving walls of whitewater, making the paddle out to the lineup a test of strength and courage even before a surfer spins around and takes the plunge down one of the rapidly-closing faces. On Sunday, October 25, local high school athletes from the Santa Cruz Mountains Surf Team braved just such conditions in team-on-team heats against the Harbor High/Carmel High team and prevailed with a 58-45 point win.The Santa Cruz Mountains team currently includes students from San Lorenzo Valley High School, St. Francis High (Watsonville), and several schools over the hill. Standouts contributing to their win on Sunday were: Sophie Northcott (SLV High) 2nd place women’s shortboard; and 3rd place women’s longboard; April Martin-Hansen (SLV High) 2nd place women’s longboard; Luke Colosi (St. Francis/Watsonville) 1st place men’s shortboard, 2nd place men’s longboard; Paul Colosi (St. Francis/Watsonville) 2nd place men’s shortboard — Heat 2; Liam Rielly (St. Francis/Mt. View) 1st place men’s longboard, 2nd place men’s shortboard — Heat 1.After the team heats, top finishers from all schools in the surf league advanced through some grueling rounds of individual competition. Conditions grew intense for the semifinals as the swell built steadily, and by the finals, a low tide added to the rising wave height meant surfers faced steep drops down big faces into about four feet of water.“In the finals it was more a matter of surviving than surfing,” according to SLVHS senior, Sophie Northcott. Northcott snagged several sizeable waves while some opponents chose not to take off at all, and she took second place overall in women’s shortboard, besting nearly all top competitors in the region. Also making it through the finals were Santa Cruz Mountains surfers, Casey Walsh of Los Altos Hills, who entered the contest as an alternate and surfed her way through five heats to a 5th place finish in women’s shortboard, and her sister Kelly Walsh, a freshman at Woodside Priory School, who also started as an alternate and ended up 6th overall in women’s longboard. 

 E-mail local sports news to [email protected] or call 438-2500.Cross-countryScotts Valley HSHere are Falcons’ cross-country October results:In the league meet on October 1 vs. Santa Cruz High, boys won 18-45 Luke McCartney placed 1st, John Ross 2nd and Davis Ross 4th. Girls lost 37-18; Jessica Kain was Falcons’ top finisher in 3rd place.At the October 3rd Artichoke Invitational in Half Moon Bay: John Ross won it, Luke McCartney placed second.At the October 10th Serra Invitational at Crystal Springs, Noah Bassi won the JV competition beating 232 other runners, while Ross and McCartney made the top 30 in the field of 252 Varsity runners.In the Henry Cowell triple league meet on October 15, John Ross won the boys’ competition, while Jessica Kain was 2nd and Annika Osterkamp 7th in the girls’ competition. Boys beat Soquel 16-47, lost to San Lorenzo Valley 27-29. Girls beat Soquel 17-44, lost to SLV 22-37.San Lorenzo Valley HSIn the triple league meet on October 1,SLV boys beat Mt. Madonna and Harbor by the same 15-45 score lost 28-27 to St Francis. Girls won all their league meets to date.On October 3rd Artichoke Invite boys placed 3rd, girls 2nd.At October 10th Serra Invitational at Crystal Springs, both teams placed 3rd.At the Henry Cowell Park triple league meet on October 15, Abbey Meck won the girls’ race; her team beat Scotts Valley 22-37 and Soquel 17-44. Ian Anderson was 2nd, as boys beat Scotts Valley 27-29 and Soquel 15-45.Boys are ranked 1st in Central Coast Section's Division 4, girls 2nd.Girls’ volleyballScotts Valley HS played five games in October, winning three and losing two. They are 5-6 in league, made the playoffs already with three more regular season games left. San Lorenzo Valley is 1-5 in October, with the only win against St. Francis.Girls’ tennisWith a new coach, Matt O'Brien, at the helm, San Lorenzo Valley HS girls’ tennis re-entered Santa Cruz County Athletic League this fall, after having no team for the previous three years. O'Brien is recruiting heavily, promoting tennis, especially to kids exiting the middle school where he teaches and coaches.Scotts Valley HS is on the opposite end of the spectrum, they clinched the SCCAL championship with two rounds of league play left to go. They were nominated as last week's Falcons of the Week.FootballBoth teams started the league play with blow-out wins last weekend. San Lorenzo Valley beat Soquel 35-6 and Scotts Valley dispatched Harbor, 55-13. They meet this Saturday at 2 p.m. in Scotts Valley at the traditionally big rivalry game.Water poloLady Cougars are still unbeaten, sitting at the top of the Monterey Bay League's Pacific Division, with two league games left before the playoffs start.