Eight teams from Los Altos, Mountain View and Palo Alto high schools advanced through the Central Coast Section winter playoffs this week with wins and byes in the opening rounds.
Those teams include Los Altos boys and girls basketball (DI); Los Altos girls soccer (DI); Mountain View boys basketball (bye to the DI quarterfinals); Mountain View boys and girls soccer (DII and open div., respectively); and Paly boys and girls basketball (DI and open div., respectively).
CCS is divided into five divisions by historical team strength from “I” to “V” (best to worst), plus the “open division,” which the strongest teams enter to compete in.
Teams qualify for the open division by season record and strength of competition (as determined by CCS), the idea being that the division pits the strongest teams from all five divisions against each other, regardless of how the teams have fared in prior years.
Typically, the open division features private schools which are able to recruit players unlike public schools, though Mountain View girls soccer and Paly girls basketball are notably playing in the open divisions this year.
Though not a CCS playoff match, a notable game this week was Paly boys soccer’s 2-1 win over Gunn on senior night, which came down to a last-minute goal scored by senior James Churchley.
“Everyone dreams about scoring a last-minute winner and in a game as important as this,” the midfielder said. “So when we won a corner in the last two minutes of the game, even though I’m a generally defensive player, I threw caution to the wind and decided to put myself in the fray. … When the ball went into the net, I couldn’t believe it.”
Despite losing the team’s subsequent CCS match to Wilcox on Saturday, Churchley emphasized high hopes for the team’s coming years.
“I think the chemistry between us was better than ever before,” Churchley said. “Throughout the season we had been perfecting our tactics and now it was just a matter of being on the same page and playing as a well-oiled machine.”
Gunn
- Boys basketball:
- 45-40 L vs. Fremont (Tue)
- 53-40 L vs. Cupertino (Fri)
- Girls basketball:
- 46-35 W vs. Fremont (Tue)
- Boys soccer:
- 2-1 L vs. Los Altos (Mon)
- 2-1 L vs. Palo Alto (Wed)
- Girls soccer:
- 1-1 T vs. Palo Alto (Wed)
- 1-0 L vs. Carlmont (Sat)
Los Altos
- Boys basketball:
- 49-43 L vs. Palo Alto (Tue)
- 61-51 W vs. Independence (Sat)
- ONTO CCS DI QUARTERFINAL
- Girls basketball:
- 51-33 L vs. Palo Alto (Wed)
- 42-20 W vs. Mountain View (Sat)
- ONTO CCS DI QUARTERFINAL
- Boys soccer:
- 2-1 W vs. Gunn (Mon)
- 1-1 T vs. Mountain View (Wed)
- Girls soccer:
- 3-1 L vs. Mountain View (Wed)
- 7-4 W vs. Notre Dame (Sat)
- ONTO CCS DI SEMIFINAL
Mountain View
- Boys basketball:
- BYE TO CCS DI QUARTERFINAL
- Girls basketball:
- 41-39 W vs. Salinas (Fri)
- 42-20 L vs. Los Altos (Sat)
- Boys soccer:
- 1-1 T vs. Los Altos (Wed)
- 4-3 W vs. Carlmont (Sat)
- ONTO CCS DII SEMIFINAL
- Girls soccer:
- 3-1 W vs. Los Altos (Wed)
- 4-0 W vs. Burlingame (Sat)
- ONTO CCS OPEN DIV. SEMIFINAL
Palo Alto
- Boys basketball:
- 49-43 W vs. Los Altos (Tue)
- 46-34 W vs. Cupertino (Sat)
- ONTO CCS DI QUARTERFINAL
- Girls basketball:
- 51-33 W vs. Los Altos (Tue)
- 61-42 L vs. St. Ignatius (Fri)
- IN CCS OPEN DIV. ROUND ROBIN
- Boys soccer:
- 2-1 W vs. Gunn (Wed)
- 2-0 L vs. Wilcox (Sat)
- Girls soccer:
- 1-1 T vs. Gunn (Wed)
- 2-1 L vs. Piedmont Hills (Sat)