Sports

REDWOOD CITY–The Aptos High girls’ basketball team has relied on its defense throughout the season.  That approach helped the Mariners bully the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League en route to regular season and tournament titles.  It helped them get the Central Coast Section championship game for...

• Last year’s record: 7-4 (Central Coast Section Open Division III qualifier) • Last year’s league record: 6-1 (Monterey Bay League Gabilan division runner-up) • Last year’s MaxPreps state ranking: 226th • Coach: Randy Blankenship • Key losses: Blake Wheeler;

Alex Austen, a senior offensive lineman for the Aptos High football team, stands at a towering 6-foot-5-inches and 311 pounds. Standing next to his fellow lineman, the starting left tackle makes them all look like members of the freshman squad. Six-foot-2, 283-pound senior tackle Joseph Gutierrez-Lee might as well be 5-foot-7 and 150 pounds.

Aptos High senior Matt Perko reaches on a throwing error to Soquel High junior first baseman Ryan Murtha during their Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League baseball game in Aptos. Photo by Bryce Stoepfel

The Aptos football team was on the ropes throughout the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Central Coast Section Open Division III championship game. But whenever the Mariners needed a play — big or small — someone answered.