Athletics
November saw all of our fall sports team qualify for the post-season! It is pretty special that our school can make that claim for a season.
Volleyball made it to the CCS Tournament as the #3 seed and awarded a home match. The Sharks fell to Castilleja of Palo Alto in the tournament. Four Sharks made the all SCCAL team: Emma Ryan and Audrey Ryan made 2nd team all SCCAL and Laura Martinelli and Samantha Bellucci both made Honorable Mention all SCCAL. Congratulations to our girls on a great year!
Tennis had another good year finishing 3rd in the SCCAL as a team. Katherine Casper led the way in singles as she made it all the way to the SCCAL Finals. It was the 6th year in a row St. Francis had a tennis player in the SCCAL Final. Also, this year Gabriella Gutierrez and Maya Talavera qualified for the postseason as a doubles team. Congratulations to the girls on a great season!
Boys and Girls Cross Country qualified for the CCS Division V Meet. A pair of boys, Braxton Rico and EJ Kelly, did well and qualified for the State Cross Country Meet where Ricco finished 50th in the state and Kelly finished 59th in the state. Rico, a senior, competed for the third year in a row and it was Kelly’s second year representing Sharks Cross Country at the State Meet. Congratulations, Cross Country Team!
The football team made the playoffs for the first time since 2009. The boys played St. Patrick/St. Vincent of Vallejo in the first round and lost 55-22. St. Patrick/St. Vincent won the last two weeks after beating our Sharks and is in the North Coast Section Division V Finals this week. Your Sharks finished the season with a 6-6 record for Varsity and 8-0 for the JV team. Senior Richie Martinez led the way as he ran for over 1,000 yards on the season. He is the second Shark in as many years--last year fellow senior Ivo Lasich accomplished the feat. Congratulations to the football teams.
Winter sports have started at St. Francis and we are very excited to announce the addition of Wrestling at St. Francis. The team will be coached by Nick Guerrero who also is our Accountant here at St. Francis. Coach Guerrero has a wealth of experience coaching wrestling and we are very happy to have him lead our program. The Sharks will compete in their first tournament November 30th at Soquel High School and then Saturday December 3rd at Harbor. Good luck, Sharks!
Boys and girls soccer open their seasons on December 2nd as the boys host York and the girls travel to York. We are also excited to announce that both boys and girls teams will play Cristo Rey at Avaya Stadium the home of the MLS San Jose Earthquakes on December 10th. Girls will kickoff at 2:25 pm and the boys will start at 4:25 pm. Please travel to San Jose and see your Sharks on a professional pitch! Coach Vince Monroy will coach the boys in his 4th season and Kristian Flores is the first alum to lead a program at St. Francis as Kristian has taken over the girls soccer program.
Basketball--boys and girls varsity--hosted sportsmanship games vs Monte Vista Christian and Live Oak. Sportsmanship games are scrimmages that do not count for or against your record. Proceeds from the event went towards the CCS Scholar/Athlete program. Thank you to all who came to support the event. The first official home games for boys and girls varsity are Wednesday, November 30th vs Trinity Christian. After that, the boys and girls varsity teams will host Anzar on December 6th. We are also excited to announce that over Christmas Break, the boys and girls varsity teams will travel to Arizona to compete in the Cactus Jam Tournament. Good luck in Arizona, Sharks! Ed Kelly is back for another year as our boys coach and we are excited for Meghan Garcia as she takes over in her first year the girls basketball program after being our JV coach and Varsity Assistant the last few years.