Sports

The reigning Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League champion, Aptos is only a couple wins away from once again capturing the league title. With all but one starter back from last year’s squad, Aptos was expected to cruise through the league. And while the Mariners are not taking any team during the final stretch of their league season for granted, they are eagerly awaiting for the real measuring stick of their skill: the Central Coast Section team playoffs.

After two long weeks of losing, the Cabrillo College baseball team finally found the winning formula again.

Over the last nine years as the head coach of the Cabrillo College baseball team, Bob Kittle has had numerous student-athletes from all over Santa Cruz County pour into his program. Just last spring, Kittle had at least one player from all but one public school in the county on his roster. Bringing in the best of the best, and watching the talent and personalities from various backgrounds mesh into a powerhouse representation of the county has been one of his favorite aspects of the job. “Santa Cruz County is unique,” Kittle said in a recent phone interview. “There’s a sense of pride in this county… It’s connected.”

The former head coach and general manager of the four-time Arena Football League-champion San Jose SaberCats, Arbet didn’t promise to break his foot off in his player’s “John Brown hind parts,” as Denzel Washington so eloquently said while playing Boone in the 2000 football flick. But the Seahawks’ heavyweight offseason hire does expect his players to be as close to perfect as possible.

Marea Zlatunich could have had a very different high school experience. Now a league, section and state champion runner for the Aptos High Mariners, Zlatunich didn’t show up to the first day of cross country practice during her freshman year. “I honestly didn’t want to do cross country,” Zlatunich said. “I did it as an eighth grader and I wanted to quit after the first day, but my family didn’t let me.” But when her friend, Annika Niles, begged her to come out for the second day of practice because “she didn’t have any friends on the team,” Zlatunich reluctantly obliged. It turned out to be one of the best decisions of her young life.

The Seahawks began the season with a 31-7 thumping of Contra Costa College in non-conference play.

In 20 years, Aptos record-setting running back Marcos Reyes wants people to remember three things about him: (1) he was a nice guy, (2) he was a leader and (3) he treated his guys well.

Marcos Reyes rushed for 212 yards and four touchdowns, Hunter Matys ran for a pair of scores and tossed another and the No. 5-seeded Aptos Mariners trounced the top-seeded Palma Chieftains, 49-6, to advance to the Central Coast Section Open Division III championship game.

Marcos Reyes, Hunter Matys and Josh Powell all rushed for more than 100 yards, the defense recorded four takeaways and No. 5 Aptos rolled into the Central Coast Section Open Division III semifinals with a 62-37 win over No. 4 Terra Nova on Saturday night.

Alex Austen, senior, Aptos: At 6-foot-5 and 311 pounds, Austen wowed with his athleticism on the football field and in the throwing circle. During the fall, Austen helped the Aptos football team finish second in the Monterey Bay League Gabilan division by clearing the way in the trenches. He was named the league’s co-Offensive Lineman of the Year, and also earned an All-MBL-G First Team spot. In the spring, he won the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League title in the shot put and also earned a spot in the Central Coast Section finals in the event.