Cougar Athletes Get Serious This Week

The SCCAL Football jamboree this past weekend provided the first opportunity for parents and fans to see Cougar athletes in action as the Varsity, JV and Frosh teams were put through their paces in the annual tune-up scrimmages.  On Saturday all three teams head to Atherton for their first real games of the year vs Sacred Heart Prep.  The freshmen kickoff is at 10AM followed by the JV’s at noon.  The Varsity contest gets started at 2:30PM.

The football teams are not the only athletes on campus who have been getting ready to represent their school.  On Thursday the girls Varsity and JV volleyball team as well as the girls Water Polo squad kick off their year with matches at home vs Los Gatos and Santa Cruz respectively and on the weekend the boys Water Polo team travels to Hollister to participate in the San Benito tournament.   

Next week the girls tennis and golf teams see action vs Harbor High and the highly ranked boys and girls cross country teams head to Hawaii to compete in the Kamehameha Invitational.   

Winter Sports Teams in Full Swing

Five basketball teams, four soccer squads, a lot of wrestlers and the indomitable Cougar Cheer Squad under first year coach M'riah Bounds are all in action this week as the winter sports season heats up in Felton.


BASKETBALL
Athletic Director, Marcus Northcutt has taken over the coaching duties for the boys varsity team and Laura Lange replaces him as the girls varsity coach.  Riley Park and Brian Elliott will handle the JV teams and Steven Johnson is coaching the freshmen boys team.  
The SCCAL season got underway this week with home losses for both varsity squads against Aptos.  Friday night the girls JV and varsity along with the boys varsity will travel to Santa Cruz for games beginning at 4PM (JV girls) followed by the varsity contests at  5:30 (girls) and 7:00 (boys).  (When the girls teams and boys varsity travel the boys JV and freshmen will play at home and vice a versa, so Friday you can catch the younger boys in Felton against the Cardinals beginning with the JV game at 4 and the freshmen tipping off at 5:30.)  The next week the boys and girls varsity plus the girls JV teams will play Scotts Valley at home on Monday night, travel to Soquel on Wednesday and host Harbor on Friday.


SOCCER
The boys and girls soccer squads also opened league play this week against Harbor. Both varsity teams are coached by former Cougar all stars, Nate Hill and Heidi Romswinckel-Guise.  The boys earned and draw in their opener while the girls fell to the undefeated Pirates.  The girls return to the pitch today at home vs Scotts Valley at 3:30 and travel to Soquel for 6PM match next Tuesday.  The boys are at home Friday for 3:30 match against the Falcons and visit Soquel on Wednesday. The girls JV team is coached by Angela Reling, they will play today at Scotts Valley. Coaching the boys JV team is Dave Okrant.


WRESTLING
Coaches Ken Pollastrini and Julian Romele are building the SLV wrestling team around returning SCCAL and CCS champion senior Logan Kellogg who is undefeated so far this year.  Another league champion, Michael Kraft should also be fun to watch. A number of wrestlers will be competing this Saturday in the Apple Cider Tournament in Watsonville.  SCCAL competition begins on Wednesday, January 19th when the Aptos Mariners come to town for matches beginning at 5:30.  The following Wednesday, 1/26, the Cougars host Soquel.    

Cougars Begin CCS Playoff Run at Home

It should be an exciting, evenly matched football game Saturday in Felton as the San Lorenzo Valley High School Cougars host the Menlo School Knights in the first round of the Div IV Central Coast Section Playoffs.   It’s the first home playoff game for the local boys since the 2006 season when they lost to Burlingame 27-26 after leading 26-8 in the fourth quarter.  (Sorry for that reminder.)

SLV, the Santa Cruz Athletic League Champion, has won 9 straight after dropping their season opener to Sacred Heart Prep 24-7.  They earned the #3 seed with a 6-0 league record, 9-1 overall.  Menlo, a #6 seed, won an at-large berth after finishing 4-1 in Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division and 7-3 overall.  The Knights played in the CCS Championship game last season, losing to Carmel 35-56 after beating SHP 20-14 and Greenfield 42-27.  The Cougars lost in the first round to SHP last year.

This season Menlo won a rematch with Div IV #1 seed Carmel 34-29 but were routed by #2 seed SHP 35-7 last week.  They also dropped games to Jefferson 14-13 (the #1 seed in Div III) and Hillsdale 13-9.  They beat Half Moon Bay (the #4 seed in Div IV) 40-22.  

Menlo will bring a potent offense that favors a passing attack led by 6’1, 173lb senior Robert Wickers who has thrown for over 2300 yards and 24 touchdowns.  His favorite receiver is #5, wide receiver Tim Benton (6’1, 185 ) who caught 58 passes for 1196 yards and 10 touchdowns. Benton also scored on a 84 yard kickoff return.  Running back/Linebacker #20 Beau Nichols (5’8”, 185) caught 27 passes along with averaging about 7 yards rushing on 108 carries.  Nichols has 16 touchdowns for the year and had four 100+ yard games.  The Knights ran for a total of 1184 yards on the season.

The Cougars feature a more balanced attack with plenty of their own play makers including  Quarterback Zach Newberry who threw for 1586 yards and 21 TD’s,and ran for 368 yards and 7 TD’s;  running back Nick Lipperd who had 1073 yards rushing and 7 TD’s, and receivers Nick Gorman, 33 catches and 12 TD’s; and Luke Roberts 23 passes and 6 TD’s.  SLV also got contributions from Tyler Gilbert, Jonny Cooper and Logan Kellogg along with great line play on both sides of the ball. Kicker James Connelly has also come up big this year.

Both teams have limited opponents scoring to just over 15 points per game while SLV has scored an average 31.2 points and Menlo has put up an average 30.9.  Kickoff is scheduled for 1PM.  The winner will advance to the second round and face either Seaside or Sacred Heart Prep.

History and statistics will play no part in the outcome, however a large turnout of local supporters could ensure the home field advantage - just don't leave early.

Cougar Distance Runners Continue to Impress

The long and proud tradition of great distance runners at SLV under the guidance of Rob Collins and Thea Jorgenson appears to be continuing.

The San Lorenzo Valley High School Cross Country team ran in their first meet Saturday and the results hold promise for the Cougar harriers. The 3 mile course at the Early Bird Invitational at Toro Park in Salinas drew over 1500 runners from 45 schools throughout Northern California.

The freshmen girls, with a 1,2 finish by Anna Maxwell and Abby Sherman combined with Claire MacMillan, Adela Weigel and Jessica Jensen to claim first place among ninth graders. The Sophomore girls, led by Emily Lamb and Raquel Yeomans took 5th place.

In the combined score SLV finished 5th overall out of 39 schools based on combined time and would have placed 3rd had the meet been scored in the traditional manner by finish order. Sophomores Allison Mears, Jennifer Housek, Jesssica Patterson and Juniors Hillery Hershberger and Mariah Lindberg all posted quality times.

Juniors Landis MacMillan and Nick Hicks were the best finishers for the boys. The combined times of MacMillan, Hicks and sophomores Cody Johnson and Karl Johnson and senior Alex Rinkert and freshmen Jacob Hicks was good enough for 8th place overall among the 45 schools competing. Freshmen Matt Abernathy and Junior Branden Caldwell also placed high overall.

The other Cougar boys competing were sophomores, Ran Barton and Daniel Genis, junior, James Spriggs and seniors Nick Sherrell, Erik Johnson, and Dillon Kennedy who all finished with respectable times.

Complete meet results including times can be found here:

http://www.dyestatcal.com/ATHLETICS/XC/2010/ebird.htm
To see Pictures on Facebook click here: 
http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=31492&id=1720196484

SLV Scouts Seeking Supplies for Schools

Nine local San Lorenzo Valley Girl Scouts will be doing a School Supply drive
as part of their Silver Award for leadership. Look for the school bus on the 
HS campus on Saturday Aug 21 and bring your school supplies on by 
between  10:00 AM and 3:00 PM. Even a packet of paper or pens will 
be a help!

If you are not available that day, but wish to participate, email Lisa: 
momfishx2(at)gmail.com and arrange an early pickup.

This is for the teachers, not associated with VCUM's backpack drive for 
students.  The following is the wish list from all levels of our SLV schools.

-------------

Copy Paper - White & Colored

Expo Markers - Small and Large Tip

Pencils (Requested NOT from Dollar Tree - the leads break)

Blue, Black and Red Ball Point Pens

Crayola Brand Crayons

...Construction Paper

White Glue

Glue Stix

Washable Marker Sets

Sharpies

Tissues

Wet Wipes

Binder Filler Paper

Legal Pads

Graph Paper

Sewing Machine (HS and Nature Academy)

Computers (HS and Nature Academy)

Colored Pencil Sets

Safety Scissors

Craft Supplies

Easel Paper Pads

Avery Style Labels (all sizes)

(via CafeSLV@yahoogroups.com)

SLV Coach Doug Morris Ranks High in CCS

SLV High Football coach Doug Morris is fourth on the list of winningest active coaches in the Central Coast Section. Coach Morris ranks 15th on the list of career wins among all coaches in the CCS going back to the 1950's.  (Number 3 among active coaches is former SLV and current Palo Alto High School coach Earl Hansen.)

The Cougar's coach is far and away the leader among active coaches in the County and trails only Dewey Tompkins in career wins in the SCCAL.

Morris has 169 wins in 22 seasons. Former Soquel coach Tompkins had 187 wins in his 32 years at the helm of the Knights and former Holy Cross and Marello Prep coach Norm Costa had 253 wins in his 36 years of coaching although most of his wins came in 22 seasons at Palma.

Los Gatos Coach Butch Cattolico with 239 wins is the leader among active coaches and former Saratoga coach Benny Pierce amassed 269 wins in 34 years and holds the record for most wins by a CCS coach according to records compiled by Don Nash and John Spalding and published by Dennis Knight in his After School Blog for the Mercury News.