November 02, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

SHP boys' soccer team opens CCS title defense

by Keith Peters

Juan Camahort had a heart-to-heart with his Sacred Heart Prep boys' soccer team last week, laying out a little challenge for the final two weeks of the season.

"I told them we had three games left and we needed to win two of them to win league," Camahort said. "The players knew what was at stake, and they performed up to the task."

Camahort wanted his team to win twice last week and wrap up a second straight Private Schools Athletic League crown before the Gators' regular-season final at King's Academy.

Sacred Heart Prep (12-2-1, 14-5-1) did just that with a 4-0 win at Valley Christian-Dublin and a 4-1 win over visiting Redwood Christian.

"It was good to have that challenge," Camahort said. "I think it brought up our level of play. It was all up to us. We didn't have to rely on anyone else. It's a great accomplishment for this team."

By wrapping up the league crown, Sacred Heart Prep earned the No. 1 seed for the Central Coast Section Division III tournament that begins Thursday. The Gators will host a semifinal match at 2:30 p.m., and are expected to advance to Saturday's section championship match at Valley Christian-San Jose at 1:30 p.m.

The Gators are hoping to face Harker, which handed SHP one of its PSAL losses this season. Harker provides yet another challenge for Camahort and his players.

"We're looking forward to playing Harker again, on a larger field," Camahort said. "This will be the rubber match."

Sacred Heart beat Harker in Atherton, 2-1, but lost a few weeks later in San Jose, 2-0, on Harker's small field. The Gators have a history of not playing well on small fields. On Saturday, however, the field at Valley Christian will be large enough to accommodate the Gators' playing style.

Sacred Heart is the defending CCS champion and has won six section titles. The Gators edged Valley Christian-Dublin in the 2004 finale, 2-1, to cap a sensational 21-0-1 season.

This season, by comparison, has been as imperfect as last season was near-perfect. The Gators have given up more goals and suffered more losses than any other SHP team this decade. That, Camahort says, could be a good thing going into this week.

"I think there's a little less pressure on us now," he said.

In last Friday's win over Redwood Christian to clinch first place, Michael McMahon assisted on the first two goals by Marc Sallaberry and Travis Benson before scoring the third goal on an assist from Grant Gramaglia. All four are juniors. Senior Andrew Ninneman provided the final tally.

Girls tennis

Sacred Heart Prep (14-0, 18-6) put the finishing touches on the program's first-ever outright West Catholic Athletic League title and undefeated league season with a 6-1 win over visiting Sacred Heart Cathedral last week.

"The WCAL is an incredibly strong league and to go through the season without a loss is incredible," said SHP coach Losaline Mafileo. "The girls worked hard to achieve what has been their goal all season."

SHP will have entrants in the WCAL individual tournament that concludes Thursday at Cuesta Park in Mountain View. The PAL individual tournament will finish Wednesday at Menlo while the SCVAL tournament wraps up Wednesday at Los Altos High. The CCS team tournament will begin Nov. 8.

Water polo

The Menlo School and Gunn boys, along with the Menlo-Atherton girls, all turned in impressive efforts during the final invitational tourneys of the season.

Menlo went 3-1 and took ninth in the TruWest Memorial Cup Invitational against the best teams in the state. Gunn went 3-0 in the Monta Vista Tournament while Menlo-Atherton turned in a 4-0 mark in the Lincoln Halloween Classic.

Menlo's finish was a bit misleading. After dropping a 10-9 decision to Los Alamitos, the Knights beat Miramonte, 9-8; topped Jesuit, 16-6; and edged Corona Del Mar, 11-10.

"It was just a great weekend," said Menlo coach Jack Bowen. "Just outstanding. We needed a loss. That's just fine with me."

Menlo went into the unofficial state tourney, which brought together the top 16 teams in the state, with a gaudy 24-2 mark and the feeling the Knights hadn't been tested for some time.

The loss to Los Alamitos, which saw the Knights lose an 8-4 lead in the fourth quarter, served as a wakeup call.

"Against Jesuit, we were up 8-4 at the half," Bowen said. "I told the guys I want to see if you can hold on to a lead or if you'll get cocky again."

Eight goals in the second half provided the answer for Bowen.

Menlo junior Ben Hohl was outstanding in the four matches with 19 goals and 10 blocks. Senior goalie Mike Merlone was his equal on defense with 50 saves, 17 coming against Jesuit.

Menlo (27-3) opens defense of its PAL title on Friday at Burlingame. The league tournament finals are Saturday at 4:15 p.m.

The Menlo girls (22-4) are expected to defend their league crown on Saturday at 3 p.m., likely against Menlo-Atherton (22-7). The Bears rolled through the Lincoln tournament by a combined score of 46-11, even without scoring leader Kelly Eaton the final two matches. Eaton spent Saturday visiting Stanford on a recruiting trip.

The Gunn boys (19-9) open defense of their SCVAL tourney title on Thursday against Cupertino at Los Altos High (7 p.m.). Top-seeded Palo Alto (18-12) opens Friday against the Los Altos-Monta Vista winner at 6:30 p.m.

The finals on Saturday, originally scheduled for Saratoga and Cupertino, are expected to be moved to Los Altos at 3 p.m.

The WCAL tournament finals will be Saturday at Bellarmine at 5:30 p.m. (girls) and 7 p.m. (boys). The Sacred Heart Prep girls (26-1) are overwhelming favorites to win while the SHP boys should reach the title match against Bellarmine.

Football

Palo Alto (4-0, 7-1) clinched a CCS playoff berth with a come-from-behind 15-12 win over visiting Mountain View last Friday.

Senior running back/linebacker Roger Prince rushed for a career-high 103 yards on 13 carries and scored the game-winning touchdown on a four-yard run in the fourth quarter. He also helped spark a defensive effort that limited Mountain View to 27 yards passing and 147 total yards.

Prince ripped off a 40-yard run on the final play of the third quarter to put Paly on the Mountain View 24. Six plays later, Prince scored. He had 63 rushing yards on the winning drive.

The Vikings, however, once again started slow and made a few mistakes - like having a punt blocked and returned 35 yards for a TD. Paly has yet to play a complete game this season, which may not be a good thing heading into Friday's first-place showdown at Wilcox (4-0, 8-0) at 7:30 p.m.

A win will give Paly sole possession of first place while a loss will put the Vikings in a tie for second with Los Gatos, which visits Paly on Nov. 11 to close the regular season.

In the PAL Ocean Division, Menlo (3-2, 4-4) will visit Capuchino (4-1) on Friday at 2:45 p.m. The Knights are coming off a 30-20 win over Hillsdale last week. Junior wide receiver James Walker had eight catches for 114 yards and a touchdown, senior quarterback Andy Gregg completed 18 of 25 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns while junior Anthony Bouvier ran for a TD, threw a touchdown pass and kicked a 24-yard field goal in a fine all-around performance.

In the SCVAL El Camino Division, Cory Babbington scored on a 20-yard run with 1:48 left in the game to pull Gunn (2-2, 4-4) to a 20-15 come-from-behind victory over host Cupertino on Saturday. The Titans host Monta Vista on Friday at 2:45 p.m.

In the Bay Football League, Sacred Heart Prep (3-2, 5-4) got 137 rushing yards from Anthony Reisch and three short TD runs by quarterback Pat Coffey in a 34-7 romp over visiting King's Academy.

Dillon Chambers added 84 rushing yards on 14 carries and Ty Hyland ran 12 times for 75 yards as the Gators piled up a season-high 343 rushing yards on 59 carries.

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