There was a brief moment when Cabrillo College freshman Vaughn Chomentowski was unsure if he was going to continue his football career at the next level.
The Scotts Valley High 2026 graduate missed the entire spring ball camp but then decided to join the team during the summer.
It didn’t take long to convince Chomentowski that he belonged on the Seahawks.
“I just didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” he said. “Then I was talking to coach Travis, and he convinced me to come out and just see how it was like. It was over from there. I just knew I was gonna play.”
Chomentowski is a true freshman but Cabrillo interim head coach Anthony Romero said he came into that first day of practice looking like a seasoned player.
“He showed up, he gave it a shot, and he loved it,” Romero said. “Vaughn has been a stud for us, to say the least.”
Romero said it’s not just what Chomentowski does on the field, but it’s the small details such as being a great leader and teammate in the locker room.
“[Chomentowski’s] everything you want from a team leader, someone that does things right,” Romero said. “He’s done a good job with us, and we’re very happy to have someone like him, one of the top players in the county, coming to play at Cabrillo. That’s what we’re trying to build here.”
Cabrillo’s roster is filled with several local talents, including Chomentowski’s former Scotts Valley teammate Jack Tucker and former San Lorenzo Valley High player Lonan Dickinson.
Santa Cruz High alumnus Myles Reber, who spent the past three years at the University of California-Berkeley, was a nice addition at wide receiver for Romero.
“[Reber’s] a professional in the sense that he knows how to practice,” Romero said. “He knows how to do all the little things that you look for in a college athlete.”
Other notable locals include DeSean Gomez and Korey Callahan-Cade of Aptos High, and Watsonville High alumnus Pablo Valle — a 6-foot-4, 267-pound lineman that can cause havoc.
“It was definitely weird that first day of practice, not knowing anybody, and then seeing a few people that I played against,” Chomentowski said. “But just like that, I made those connections and now we’re ready to fight for each other.”
Chomentowski said the biggest difference he noticed at the collegiate level wasn’t the speed of the game or the different verbiage used to call plays.
Instead, it was the age gap between players. The Seahawks currently have 29-year-old Anthony Pozzetti, who hadn’t played organized football in 10 years.
“It’s crazy because you’re always used to playing with your friend next door or something like that,” he said. “We got people of a lot of different ages out here and just more competition. So, it’s fun. It’s exciting.”
During his time at Scotts Valley, Chomentowski was named the Pacific Coast Athletic League Mission North Division’s Offensive Player of the Year in 2025. He was primarily used as a running back but his skills on the defensive side didn’t go unnoticed.
Chomentowski, who is currently positioned as a defensive back, said he takes pride in being able to play for Cabrillo and contribute in any way possible.
“You just gotta use all the days that you have ahead of you and in preparation for that game day or even those practices,” Chomentowski said. “Getting good sleep at night and just thinking about what you do outside of practice and in the game affects how you play.”
Chomentowski said he’s looking forward to forcing that first fumble or getting that first interception, something he’s missed since his senior year of high school in 2025. However, the main focus is to take it one step at a time, starting with what lies ahead in the season-opener at Chabot College on Saturday at 5:30pm.
“I think our goal right now is to win against Chabot,” Chomentowski said. “That’s a big one, and then after that, we’ll see our next goals.”
