Category: Sports

 

By Christine Do

 

The Girls’ Junior Varsity (JV) and Varsity soccer teams have kicked off this year’s season strong.

“We started off good. Overall, I think we’re in a two to one right now. We’re starting kind of slow because we’re still getting used to being put into new teams but we’ll get better over time,” said Varsity Forward Emilet Ramirez.

As always, with new captains and new teams, the season is definitely different for the players.

“You have to be a good role model and have good execution for game plans. As a captain, it is important to guide the team and have the ability to empower others,” said JV Captain Mahik Kaur.

Despite not being the most experienced, the girls have built on their skills since day one of tryouts in Nov. of last year. The soccer players have practice on the days they don’t have games so essentially, they’re always practicing and learning. With more training, the girls are able to work on their skills and build stronger bonds with each other.

“We’re not the best with skills but we’re good with working together and improving,” said JV Goalie Gurkiran Braich.

This year was the first year that the soccer teams have had a preseason tournament, where the teams played three games as practice for players to evaluate themselves and to see which areas they lack in.

In their first few practices, the girls focused on the mistakes they made during preseason. With the turf under reconstruction, this year’s practices were always held at different locations, and thus occasionally being cancelled. Like any team, there is always room for improvement.

“I think we need to work on talking more on the field to be able to improve in our games,” stated Ramirez.

As a team, the most important factor during a game is communication. Players have to know where their teammates are. If in possession of the ball, the aim is to pass it to the other players and get it safely into the goal.

“Every time the team loses a player, it is hard for them to lift that weight and to balance each other out,” said JV Left Defender Ishika Pol.

“I think we need to work on talking more on the field to be able to improve in our games,” stated Ramirez.

The girls are continuing to work on their skills as the season progresses. The next game will be next Wednesday at Santa Teresa High School, so come support the girls as the season comes to an end!

By .Lawrence Pei

The PHHS varsity basketball team rolled into the season with a record of 2-0 following consecutive wins against Oak Grove and Washington High School with scores of 74-54 and 73-38 apiece.

This year, the team has a new head coach pacing the sidelines as former assistant coach Anthony Cuellar took over for former coach Mr. Pete Simos who lead PHHS to win the school’s first CCS (Central Coast Section) title back in 2015.

“Thanks to coach we’ve been able to grow and develop as players and become better at what we do.” said co-captain Isaac Telfair

Prior to the Dec. 7 game against Washington, new head coach Anthony Cuellar stated, “Over the last couple of days we had a scout look at Washington and what they like to do, if we just follow the game plan, we should come out of here with a win.”

The team took control jumping to a 18-10 lead after the first quarter. They never looked back as they maintained their lead on route to a 73-38 victory at home.

Following the game, Coach Cuellar was pleased with the way the team played.

“Overall, everyone did their jobs, guys knew their roles, we went out there and we executed and I think that was reflected in the final score, however, there are still areas that we can improve upon and we will address that in practice.”

Before the season, many players expressed their desire to win it all.

“Our goal this year is to remain undefeated in league, win the BVAL (Blossom Valley Athletic League), go to CCS (, and finish what we started as we came in second last season.” explained Co-captain Brandon Lowe.

As for the season, Lowe’s dream of going undefeated is still within hope for the team as they defeated Oak Grove before their matchup with Washington by the score of 74-54

Playing at Oak Grove, players describe it as tough and well fought as they played at their home gym, yet they found a way to win hanging on to an initial 23-18 lead after the first quarter and a 45-23 lead going into halftime.

“They played tough and they hung in there” stated senior guard Mike Williams.

As for the rest of the season, the team prepares to face Eastside Prep on Dec. 12

“We believe that we can win against anybody so long as well go out there and execute our game plan” said Tran

Wrestling team gears up for first dual meet

By Justin Wang

The wrestling team gears up for their first upcoming dual meet against Branham High School at PHHS on Jan. 3, 2019.

“Our dual meet is in early January, BVALS is the first week of February and then CCS is the second week,” explained Wrestling Captain junior Aaron Lee about the schedule for the wrestling season.

All dual meets are set to occur throughout January.

“And first we weigh in and then we wrestle by weight, like lightest to heaviest,” said sophomore Eric Bustos

The wrestling team is being led by three coaches this year, named Coach Mefi, Coach Caleb and Coach Alexis.

“An alumni is our coach and he’s doing a good job mixing in conditioning and techniques,” said Lee, in reference to Coach Caleb.

This year the wrestling team dropped from A-league to B-league, but the wrestling team won’t let that deter them.

“In A-league it was pretty hard for me, but now I’m on the older side, I’m bigger, I’m just more developed than the other people and I’ll probably do better this year,” said Lee when asked about how he thinks he’ll fair this season.

However, there seem to be some concern stemming from the number of people on the team.

“It’ll be close, we might have some overlap, but out of the consistent people there are people of the same weight, so some of the weight classes will have like two people in them and then they might have to drop down or go up,” said Lee about the number of players.

Nonetheless, that seemed to be the only concern the team has.

“It’s just that we need better attendance, just more responsibility,” said Arriaga about any of the concerns he has.

The players who are participating in the wrestling team will be staying in high spirits.

“I’d say with our selection of people, since our conditioning is a lot earlier than when the season starts, we have a good chance at making some good players, so I have a good feeling about it,” said Arriaga.

With how positive the wrestling team is, one has to wonder what keeps the hard working students on the wrestling team tick.

“I mostly want to get fit, it’s fun to like be with other people, socialize. It’s mostly for something like a sort of sense of teamwork. Because that’s really what wrestling is, we all put our individual effort in to win,” said Arriaga.

Arriaga recommended his friends to come out and join wrestling with him.

“I’d say that wrestling is a really good sport for people who aren’t confident enough to try football, because wrestling definitely is underappreciated especially considering what sports people think are really cool and all that stuff. Well yeah, I’d just say that wrestling is really fun and I’d invite my friends to come out and do it,” added Arriaga.

 

By Mansi Patel

 

On Dec. 1, Piedmont Hills Varsity Girls’ Soccer kicked off the start of their new season with a 2-1 victory against Carlmont while JV Girls’ Soccer kicked off their season with a victory of 3-1 against Scotts Valley.

The Varsity Girls’ Soccer team has been having a powerful season with three victories and one tie. JV, on the other hand, has been having a challenging season with three loses and one victory.

For the last few games, Varsity has been doing relatively well while JV has been struggling. Last Tuesday, Varsity defeated Milpitas High School with a 2-0 victory. However, JV lost the tough fought game 2-1 against Milpitas.

Girls’ Soccer, both JV and Varsity, had their first game on Dec. 1, where Varsity won by one point and JV won by two points. So far, the season for Varsity has been going well, which has shown in the results of the game, but for the JV team, it has been tough because of the new freshmen who have come in and need to be trained.

“In JV, you might get girls that have played and girls that just barely played in middle school. Some of the girls are not as tall or as big as some of the other teams we have played, so the style we play is fast paced, touch and move,” said JV Coach Joey Jaramillo.

For Varsity Girls’ Soccer, the team lost up to ten seniors this year, making it a bit of a challenge for the team to play well. However, despite changes in the team, the girls have been doing very well and are improving with each game.

“Last year, ten seniors graduated, so we have an almost brand new team. Ten seniors, eight of them were starters, so in terms of starting off with a brand new team and the challenges of those girls meshing quickly to form a varsity team,” said Varsity Coach Fred Espinoza.

This season started with a rough start, mostly due to the change in practice locations. With the rainy weather, practice days often change in order for the girls to get all the practice they can.

“With the rain, we still practiced through it, it’s tough, it’s windy, it’s cold, but we have to get through it to prepare for the season,” said Midfielder Maia Quan.

With the Piedmont Hills High School turf being closed off, the girls had to practice at Independence High School late at night, starting around 8 p.m., which was inconvenient for some of the girls.

“Practice is kind of the same, but it’s a little harder to get to practice and back because it’s further and at any time, there could be traffic,” said winger Jasmine Trinh.

Not only did the rainy weather affect the practice, but the bad air quality last month restricted outdoor practicing.

“With the smoke, we didn’t really get the opportunity to practice (as much). If we did practice, it was in the gym,” said Quan.

Despite the tough practice schedule, the team is sticking together and striving as a team.

“I am looking forward to building new friendships with the new girls on the team and improving on my skills,” said Central Midfielder Vanessa Castaneda

The Girls’ Soccer season has just started, and there is still more to come for the rest of the year. Despite the challenges, the girls are willing to fight as a team and do their best.

Varsity football kicks off a great season

By Francisca Pascua

 

PHHS Varsity football closed off their final game at home with a score of 21-48 on senior night against Lincoln on Fri., Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. The Varsity team has kicked off a spectacular season, carrying a tight record of 4-5 in the league.

Prior to the Nov. 2 game, the team went head to head with Leland High School in which they started off strong but were touch downed by a sly tackle from Leland.

“The last game was a tough fight until the very last second. They had a really smart game plan that kept our offence off the field and from scoring more points,” admitted senior Middle Line Backer Ian Nguyen on the game.

For most of the players, this season has been a challenge but at the same time very rewarding.

“This season for me and my team has been a struggle, but we maintained to stick together as a family and fight through it and we do the best we can to defeat our opponents,” said senior Wide Receiver Caiphus Ardoin.

However, this game was not the end for the Pirates. Despite losing the match, the team kept their helmets straight, their heads in the game and hoped to win the following game.

“We prepare by going out as a team out eat to make sure we’re nice and energized then go in the locker room and get game ready with some Sheck Wes music,” explained Ardoin.

“We have one day dedicated to watching film on the previous game to improve how we run plays. We have two full padded practices where we hit and go through offense and defense,” added Nguyen.

Physical skills alone are not enough to win a game but also the psychological aspect of the player can help them achieve their goal.

“I can improve on my attitude and as a team we need confidence,” said Ardoin.

Attitude and confidence are the key to not only beating the opponent, but it also affects the atmosphere of the plays.

The Varsity team fell short again at home. Coincidentally the lost occurred on senior night, a special night where the close-knitted team commemorated and recognized each other as players and individuals. Senior night accommodated for the devastating defeat.

“This season has been a roller coaster. Lots of ups and downs and I love being able to play for and with my brothers. I’ll miss being able to play such an amazing sport with all of my best friends,” said Nguyen.

Consequently, after the home game, the players participated in the CCS (Central Coast Section) playoffs, a 3 game competition bracket in which a team annihilates every opponent in order to seize the championship trophy.

“This is important because we are given an opportunity to play at least one more game and to be able to fight for our chance to be champions,” said Nguyen.

On Nov 3, the team participated in their first CCS game in which they were placed in 3rd and have two more games to go.

“It is important for me because this is a game I love and enjoy playing with my brothers and I’ll go all out for them. I’ll miss having fun out there on the field with my teammates and coaches,” added Ardoin.

By Drew Olaviano

 

The PHHS Pirates JV Football team played their last regular home game against the Leland Lions on the football stadium in Nov. 2, 4 p.m.

With the team’s tough loss against the Lions at 14-21 during the senior night, Friday Night Lights, their overall record came to a close at 5-4.

The Pirates’s game against Leland started off well with both teams kicking off to 7-7. The Pirates were able to advance their score, and by halftime the Pirates led by a seven point lead at 14-7.

After halftime, however, the Pirates fell short. Despite the lack of scoring from both teams, the Lions pulled a breakthrough. The Lions scored quickly against the Pirates during fourth quarter. They led the entirety of the fourth quarter with the result of 14-0 and it was clear that the Lions finished the game with a tough loss for the Pirates.

The Pirates have lost, however, despite the tough loss and fallouts throughout the entire season with injuries and overall team plays, there are still high expectations for the next season.

“Overall season, I mean, it was difficult, but I think it turned out pretty good. I mean, we came together at some point, but there (are) times where we (lose) and where we kind of played individual football, but it still worked out at the end. We put our best, the end result was the end result,” said Outside Linebacker Diego Renteria on his feelings about the team’s performance.

Many players agree that this year’s season was tough, however stay motivated that they’ll improve more before next season starts. Many people enjoyed the tough fight against the Lions despite the loss and were met with warm applause from the audience who thoroughly enjoyed the difficult fight.

Many of the audience members stuck throughout the entire game and even stayed to watch the varsity team compete against the Lions’ own varsity team. Morale was high, many staying to buy food and support their team. Piedmont Hills’ special guests of many junior cheerleaders also raised the morale high for the team and audience. Despite the loss, the football team stuck around in high spirits to thank the opposing team.

Overall, the season ended with an estimated win-loss rate of about fifty percent. The team are now hoping to improve their overall record in the future once the next season starts. However, the team will have to enhance their performance as both an individual and as an entire group.

“(We’ll improve) definitely (on) our speed and offensive plays,” informed Renteria on the specifics of where the team’s improvements will be focused on.

The future is unknown, however the team are aiming to reach a desirable future once the next season comes through, knocking on the door.

Their strong desire to lead the league with a better performance will be shown next season. Once next season rolls into the season, please go out and support the team!

By Andrew Wong and Rex Ly

 

Winter season is approaching soon and the wrestling team is back with a fresh new start. With returning members and new recruits joining the team, Coach Bacillo Monterroso ensures that he prepares every team member with strong training from the basics until the members in the wrestling team are prepared for upcoming matches. Every week, the team meets up during Tuesdays through Thursdays. Generally, the team starts practice at 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. and each day of practice is about two hours long.

“I was interested in joining and I wanted to know what wrestling was like. I want to be able to wrestle properly because I know I’m not ready for actual matches yet, but I’m expected to be a little experienced at wrestling,” stated junior Alan Nguyen.

The training is expected to last until February so that every single member of their team can prepare for their first competitive match. The team are preparing to compete against Fremont, Silver Creek and any other high school in the East Side Union District.

However on such occasions for practices, team members can participate in events called the Duel Week which is another term for a team scoring system. During duel week, team members and other teams from different schools compete in skirmishes. When a wrestler wins not only does the wrestler score, but it goes to the entire team however the points awarded are dependent on the conditions, unlike other sports such as boxing and golf.

“Our future plans for the Piedmont Pirates is to get back into the A league. We started off as that in the A league, as the highest competition 3 years ago, and we’re escalating now this season to get back up there. We have a few big tournaments coming up as well as dual meets. The tournaments that we’re shooting for are around January 7th and 14th. We want to win all of our home matches to show some good techniques, so we’re strengthening and conditioning in techniques and adding everything into the game plan,” said Coach Monterroso.

Not only team members can participate, but everyone is welcomed by the team to participate and join the club. If you’re ever interested in the sport of wrestling, consider joining the wrestling team. Even if you have no experience at all the PHHS team welcomes anyone who may want to join.

By Terry Tang

 

Senior Samantha Tran and sophomore Tyanne Tran are sisters who ran in BVAL (Blossom Valley Athletic League) and are qualified for CCS (Central Coast Section) Cross Country Championship.

S.Tran had been doing cross country since middle school while her sister also joined in middle school to compete with her sister.

“I choose to join cross country because when I was in middle school, I watched my sister run XC and I wanted to be as fast as her and I also wanted t push myself to see what I’m capable of accomplishing!” said T.Tran

“I think this year was a rough season for the team because we didn’t have summer conditioning. It was pretty tough getting back in shape for most of us and adjusting to different workouts with new coaches and all,” said S. Tran

Cross country usually have conditioning in the summer, but this year started on the second day of school. This is the first year that they have not made CCS. Despite not making CCS the team has still managed to maintain their spot in the A-League. The team usually run two miles every day to build up their strength and stamina to prepare themselves for the cross country meets.

“I think our team put our hearts out into the courses and we really did the best we can give the circumstances of not having summer conditioning,” said T. Tran.

“I was surprised that my sister and I made (it into) CCS because competition was really though this season,” said S. Tran.

Cross country meets are usually held at Montgomery Hill. T. Tran’s time was 20:48 with her older sister S. Tran following close behind with a 21:01.

Some of the schools that competed in BVAL included Westmont and Independence. Piedmont Hills is one of the top teams as they are in the A-League.

“We run different distances every day because we usually want to work on different areas to improve our running. An example of this can be like a long run can help improve our endurance while a short run will help improve our speed.” stated varsity cross country runner Alex Sen

This year’s CCS has been delayed two times due to the poor air quality and has been set to Sat. Nov. 17.

Coach Tan Nguyen and Coach Elisa Bryant have experience in running with not only just cross country, but also with track and field, weight training and dieting. They have degrees like kinesiology to help their players and also work out isolation practices in case a player gets injured. Assistant Coach Brandon Nguyen himself is working towards a Kinesiology degree which can help him in future careers like a personal trainer or full time coach.

“The coaches really believe in our abilities and they motivate all of us to push ourselves through our mental barriers. They help build strong team bonds to make us feel more confident as a team. I appreciate them for everything,” said S. Tran.

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