60th Emmett Thompson Memorial Dad’s Club ChampionshipThirty-nine years ago was the last time San LorenzoValleyHigh School won the Emmett Thompson Memorial Dad’s Club championship and last Saturday it looked like they were going to win it again against Santa CruzHigh School. The SLVHS Cougars were up by 15 points in the final game vs. Santa Cruz High School Cardinals at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium this past Saturday, December 12. The Cardinals, shorter, less experienced, and with their star player out with an injury, somehow prevailed, 60-57.Preseason View of Scotts Valley Falcons and San Lorenzo Valley CougarsBoth Falcons and Cougars return to the 2015-16 season with similarly experienced teams. San Lorenzo Valley Cougars have seven returning players, three of them are in their third year on the varsity – they are Nick Salibi, Davon Northcutt and Sebastian Vroman-Nell.Scotts Valley Falcons have six seniors, three juniors, two sophomores, with four varsity players returning. Six team members just finished their outstanding football season where they went all the way to the CCS semifinals.The San Lorenzo Valley Cougars had a better record last year – just under .500 - they are 4-2 this year. Falcons were 9-16, and are 2-2 in this year's preseason. They could have been 3-1, but they lost a close game to Salinas in the Dad’s tournament opener playing without their best player, Tanner Spence, out with a foot injury for a couple of weeks.Asked about this year's expectations, Coach Northcutt said, “The seniors on this year's team were on the undefeated team when they were in San LorenzoValleyMiddle School; they were 20-4 on the F/S team and 21-3 on JV. They have their mind set on continuing that winning tradition and I have faith it'll be a great season for us.”ScottsValley coach, Charles Burks, has 25 years of coaching experience. “We have great kids; we'll be alright this year. We have 11 players on the roster, and, this being a team game, I make sure they all get some playing time in every game,” said Burks. “We'll try to match last year's achievement of making it all the way to the CCS playoffs.”The next games are on Saturday, December 19, against InternationalStudiesAcademy at San Francisco, then at Mountain ViewHigh School on Wednesday, December. 23.San LorenzoValleyHigh School played StevensonHigh School at home on December 15 and won 71-55. On December 19, they will travel to Watsonville High and to Gilroy on December 22 to take on ChristopherHigh School.“Our preseason is tough! All our opponents were last year's CCS qualifiers,” said Coach Northcutt.

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On Sunday, November 22, the Santa CruzMountain competition surf team faced Aptos High’s surf team in a tightly contested competition at WaddellBeach. The contest site was originally set for Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz, but waves in town were so small that the Santa Cruz Scholastic Surf League organizers quickly shifted to a spot most likely to amplify the minimal swell.

Christian Rebottaro went to Vine Hill Elementary, then on to ScottsValleyMiddle School, and to ScottsValleyHigh School. In his sophomore year he transferred to Monte Vista Christian and he commutes daily to Watsonville from ScottsValley.

 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.