Pleasanton Preps: Amador girls soccer ready to rebound as unbeaten streak ends

The Amador Valley girls soccer team split a pair of games with the Danville schools, keeping their big season going and holding on to second place in the East Bay Athletic League.

On Jan. 21, the Dons took on San Ramon Valley and came away with a 3-0 win at home. Kennedy Mayo, Penny Murphy and Maille Smith provided goals for the Dons, while Mayo and Kate Reedy contributed assists. The defense was stellar, recording their third shutout in a row.

Two days later the Dons hosted Monte Vista, the fourth-ranked team in the nation according to MaxPreps. .

Amador, MaxPreps’ third-ranked team in the Bay Area, couldn’t stop the Mustangs’ opportunistic attack, giving up a free kick goal in the first half and two fast break scores in the second. The 3-0 defeat was the Dons’ first loss of the season and brought their record to 9-1-1.

Foothill girls basketball

The Foothill varsity girls team took on Granada on Jan. 22 and jumped out to an early lead but ultimately could not hold on for the win.

The Falcons were up three points at the half, but Granada rallied back in the fourth quarter and pulled away for a 43-30 win.

Payton King and Kendall Harris had seven points each for the Falcons.

Monte Vista was too much for Foothill to handle on Friday night as the talented Mustangs rolled to a 51-18 final.

After a tough EBAL week, Foothill turned it around on Saturday to win on a buzzer-beater from Caelin Cavanaugh for a 41-39 win over Santa Rosa.

Top scorers were Reese Lombardi with 10 and Lauren Twamugabo with nine.

Foothill wrestling

Last Saturday, the Falcons traveled to Santa Rosa to compete at the 37-team Puma Classic, hosted by Maria Carrillo High.

Foothill took third place as a team with the following individual awards: Max Wise, first place; James Parisi, second; Sam Wade, third; Cody Mocciaro, third; Zieren Clark, fourth; Miguel Lopez, fifth; Jack Madden, sixth; Ethan Hoffman, seventh; and Ayden Kanott, seventh.

Foothill boys soccer

De La Salle handed the Falcons their first EBAL loss of the season with a 6-1 win. Pablo Gill scored the only goal for the Falcons.

Foothill was able to bounce back and grind out a hard fought 4-3 victory over Dougherty Valley on Jan. 23. Joseph Lemus scored three goals and Gill got the other.

On the junior varsity side, the Foothill boys pulled off a thrilling 2-1 win over De La Salle. Jacob Rocha and Rohan Sethna both scored goals to give the Falcons an early lead. The Spartans scored a late goal to make it interesting, but it was too little too late.

The Falcons would come back down to earth against Dougherty Valley. While they dominated possession, they would give up a late goal and lose 1-0.

Amador Avengineers

The Amador Avengineers Vex Robotics team made team history by getting to the quarterfinals for the first time in three years, accomplishing the feat at the Tracy Triangle Vex Robotics Competition.

The team placed 14th out of 38 teams and has started to conquer the Tower of Cubes.

The next competition is on Feb. 8 in Ceres. Both the Avengineers and the team from Foothill will be at the competition.

Local martial arts

Pleasanton’s Kokua Martial Arts Fitness Academy competed at The League’s 2020 season opener in San Jose on Jan. 18.

Top performers for the local team included three overall grand champions in the Point Sparring competition: Noah Wong (10-11 years old, boys, black belt sparring), Jacob Herrera (12-13 boys, intermediate sparring) and Alexis Aying (14-17 overall champion and first place 16-17 girls, black belt sparring).

Other high finishers included:

* Kenpo/Kajukenbo Kata: Everett Lee (first place, 8-9, novice), Zachary Lee (first, 10-11, intermediate), Jacob Herrera (first, 12-13, intermediate), Isabella Dominguez (first, 14-17, intermediate), Anais Lee (second, 8-9, novice), Colin Chua (second, intermediate), Kaleb Chua (third, novice) and Tiana Chen (third, intermediate).

* Point Sparring: Mayalanni Erediano (first, 14-15 girls, black belt), Jason Herrera (second, 8-9 boys, intermediate), Colin Chua (second, 8-9 boys, intermediate), Everett Lee (second, 8-9 boys, novice), Anais Lees (second, 8-9 girls, novice), Kaleb Chua (third, 6-7 boys, novice) and Caleb Wong (third, 8-9 boys, intermediate).

* 10-and under, first timers: Haytham Tozin and Hamza Tozin (Kata and Chess Sparring).

Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for the Pleasanton Weekly. To contact Miller or submit local high school sports scores, game highlights and photographs for his weekly Pleasanton Preps column, email him at acesmag@aol.com.

Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for the Pleasanton Weekly. To contact Miller or submit local high school sports scores, game highlights and photographs for his weekly Pleasanton Preps column, email him at acesmag@aol.com.