SALINAS VALLEY — This is championship week for local cross country runners and girls golfing teams with respective Pacific Coast Athletic League (PCAL) Championships being contested this week. In flag football, the Mission Division champion King City Mustangs will be seeded in the Central Coast Section playoffs.
CROSS COUNTRY
Boys and girls teams from the PCAL Gabilan, Mission, Cypress and Santa Lucia divisions will run this Saturday at Toro Regional Park in Salinas for the PCAL championships.
Team and individual championships will be won in the respective PCAL divisions and the top 50% will qualify for the Central Coast Section championships that will take place on Saturday, Nov. 14, on the Crystal Springs course in Belmont.
The top teams and individuals from the CCS Meet will qualify for the CIF State Meet that will be run on Saturday, Nov. 28, at Woodward Park in Fresno.
GIRLS GOLF
The PCAL Girls Golf championship took place Oct. 26 (after press deadlines) at the Laguna Seca Golf Ranch. Teams from the Gabilan and Mission divisions gathered for 18 rounds of golf to determine league qualifying teams and individuals into the Central Coast Section Championships.
Local teams that participated in the PCAL championships were Gonzales and King City of the Mission Division. According to Gonzales head coach Fidencio Cuevas, who guided the Spartans to a second-place finish in the Mission Division behind Monterey, the championship featured the best players and teams from the tri-county area.
“The best teams and players will be playing for the right to go to CCS,” Cuevas said. “It will be pretty tough as everyone will be playing 18 holes of golf instead of the usual nine holes during divisional play. As far as individuals, we have Alejandra Ruiz-Ramirez and Italia Hernandez Valdez hoping to continue on after the finals.”
FLAG FOOTBALL
The King City High flag football team will be seeded in the upcoming CCS playoffs Thursday afternoon. The first round of games will begin on Monday, Nov. 2.
Last week the Mustangs finished the regular season with a 33-6 win over Pacific Collegiate that earned King City the Mission Division Championship, and beat Santa Cruz, 38-8, in the final regular season game.
Katia Slama threw for 212 passing yards and five touchdowns against Pacific Collegiate. Heidi Medina had eight receptions for 78 yards and scored four touchdowns. JJ Chavez scored a touchdown, and Shyrah McDonald had 67 yards from scrimmage.
In the game with Santa Cruz, Slama passed for 240 yards, ran for 68 yards and threw four touchdown passes. Medina had three interceptions and one receiving touchdown. Mayte Sarabia had 10 receptions for 77 yards and two receiving touchdowns. Alondra Herrejon had a receiving touchdown, Marali Ortiz scored on an interception return and McDonald finished with 10 receptions for 79 yards, rushed for one score, and made eight flag pulls and two sacks.
