Prep Notebook: Winter season winding down, league races heating up
With the winter preps sports season winding down, it’s time to take a look at some top teams and compelling story lines to watch for in the final week and heading into the playoffs.
Girls Water Polo
The PAC 8 (which only has six teams for girls water polo) begins its league tournament Tuesday. The obvious favorite is Arroyo Grande, a team that has won 125 straight league games. Arroyo Grande (18-6, 6-0 PAC 8) dominated the league and won by an average of more than 11 goals. The Eagles are led by goalie Emily Sonny on defense and the offense of Kate Empey. Arroyo Grande’s greatest challenge might be Righetti, the team hosting the league tournament. Arroyo Grande beat Righetti 8-2 last month. The Los Padres League tournament also begins Tuesday with league-leading Cabrillo entering as the favorite.
Girls Basketball
Not much separates the top three teams in the PAC 8. Righetti (19-3, 11-1 PAC 8) currently sits on top of the league entering the final week of play. The Warriors are on a six-game winning streak, and their only blemish was a 44-38 loss to third place Mission Prep (15-8, 9-3 PAC 8). The teams play again Wednesday. In second place is Arroyo Grande (16-7, 10-2 PAC 8), which has only two league losses — both at the hands of Righetti. The Eagles are riding a four-game winning streak and play Atascadero (3-9, 6-16, PAC 8) and St. Joseph (3-9, 5-19 PAC 8) this week. Lompoc and Cabrillo are tied for first in the Los Padres League at 11-1, but Nipomo (13-11, 9-3 Los Padres) has come on strong, winning four in a row to secure a spot in the playoffs. Templeton and Santa Ynez will fight for the final playoff position.
Boys Basketball
It’s pretty much a two-horse race in boys basketball, between Mission Prep and St. Joseph for the PAC 8 title. The Royals and Knights are both 11-1 in league play heading into the final week. If both teams can win their final two games, they will share a PAC 8 crown. But San Luis Obispo (15-11, 6-6 PAC 8) gets a chance to play spoiler twice, with the added bonus of increasing their odds of making the playoffs. The Tigers play St. Joseph on Wednesday and Mission Prep on Friday. Arroyo Grande (14-11, 6-6, PAC 8), which will play Atascadero and St. Joseph, also has a chance to make the top four and earn a spot in the playoffs. Atascadero (16-7, 8-4 PAC 8) has already locked up a spot. Nipomo (10-16, 7-5 Los Padres) currently sits in the final playoff spot behind Cabrillo, Lompoc and Santa Ynez, respectively. The Titans are one game ahead of Santa Maria, and play the Saints on Tuesday.
Girls Soccer
It’s been a magical season for San Luis Obispo. The Tigers (20-0-1, 13-0-0 PAC 8) clinched the PAC 8 title last week, its first since 2008, but they still need wins or ties against St. Joseph (8-11-2, 5-4-3 PAC 8) and Mission Prep (12-6-3, 6-3-3 PAC 8) on Wednesday and Friday to end the season undefeated and bolster its playoff seed. Nipomo (13-6-1, 9-3-0 Los Padres League) is tied for first place with Santa Ynez in the LPL. But with Cabrillo (9-12-2, 8-3-1 LPL) and Lompoc (9-9-1, 8-3-1 LPL) close behind, it’s still wide open.
Boys Soccer
Arroyo Grande shook up the PAC 8 title picture with a 1-0 win over top-ranked Pioneer Valley on Friday. The loss sent Pioneer Valley (14-3-3, 9-2-1 PAC 8) into second place behind San Luis Obispo (15-3-3, 9-1-2 PAC 8). The Tigers are now in good position to win the PAC 8 with a home game against St. Joseph (10-10-0, 7-5-0 PAC 8) and a road game against Mission Prep (3-18-0, 0-12-0 PAC 8) to end the league season. But don’t count out Arroyo Grande or Pioneer Valley.
Wrestling
The PAC 8 wrestling finals are scheduled for Saturday at Pioneer Valley, followed by the CIF-Southern Section Individuals meet the following weekend.
This story was originally published February 8, 2016 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Prep Notebook: Winter season winding down, league races heating up."