SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – South Tahoe High School has three wins in the fall, and there are other accomplishments to mention as well. The school hopes to build on the success of this fall season and enter into a successful winter season.
On the gridiron, the boys soccer team and tennis team both beat their opposing teams in the finals and returned as state champions.
The boys soccer team ended a state championship drought of more than ten years. The last state win was in 2012, according to coach Eduardo Torres. The winning goal came in the four minutes of stoppage time when Torres said Isaac Hernandez dribbled the ball from a cross sent in by Oscar Mendoza. The ball left Hernandez alone with the goalkeeper, as he deposited the ball into the right corner.
He says this year’s team had the chemistry needed to get the job done, and highlights their humility and like-mindedness to reach the top.
Torres describes this season as one of the best they have had, “We take pride in it because it is a big thing, especially coming from a small town.”
Tennis coach Will Davenport attributes his team’s accomplishment to the high school’s winning culture and the dedication of their students, “As long as there’s no snow out here on the tennis courts, we’re out here playing.” That’s often in May, he says, and competitive preseason games are scheduled throughout the summer to test the team and prepare it for the regular season.
When it came to the state competition in Las Vegas, Davenport says they were the underdog.
“I don’t know of any school at North,” he says, “and I’ve talked to coach Truckee as well, and coach Fallon, between all of us, we can go back to the ’90s, and no one from North has ever won a state championship. It’s always been the Vegas schools, at least in 3A.” .
He says the Vegas teams were surprised. “I think they fully expected they were going to beat us. They had beaten us many years before, so we turned the tables on them,” he says.
Davenport scouted the teams competing in the semi-finals and final and realized they would have to move players strategically during those matches. It was a successful plan. They won the first round of the final 5-1 and created a hole that Boulder City could not climb out of by a score of 12-6.
The seniors who lead the team this year began their high school tennis careers during the coronavirus crisis.
“For them to fight through that and then be this great group of seniors who led the team,” Davenport says, mentioning Brennan Munro, Philip Roberts and Jay Finney, “for those guys to have a year in Covid, where they didn’t.” They even had a true freshman year, and working their way up to become great players and leaders for a state championship team as seniors was pretty amazing.
He says these seniors stand on the backs of many great players who came before and come back to cheer for these players.
On the cross country team, sophomore Laila Landy clinched the state win, allowing her to compete in the Far West Regional, where she placed 18th.
No matter how small the encounter is, she says, it always goes as if there’s someone nearby, “just having an image in my head of someone right behind me, definitely keeps me on a good pace.”
Training after school, and even training on her own time during the weekends, all go into preparing for races. She describes the mental element of training, saying to herself, “If I could do this a minute ago, I can do it now, and if I don’t collapse on the floor, I still have more strength inside me, so I might as well give it my all.”
Coach Steve Hedrick says she’s very determined and it shows in practice, but the difference between this year and last is her confidence. It took a few meets under her belt to get the confidence and this year they saw it, “She came out and knew she was usually the best and ran the same way.”
Landy describes how relieved she was to see all her hard work pay off, “I was relieved to know that I had the ability to do this and that I still had two more years to get better.”
Other fall season accomplishments include the girls golf team capturing the league championship. On the volleyball court, the girls’ team ranked second in the league, reaching the quarter-finals. The girls’ soccer team also placed second in the league, earning a regional berth and girls’ tennis earned a berth in the tournament as well.
The school’s athletic director, Kevin Hennessy, says there is room for growth for the football team. They have won one game this season, but have high hopes with new coach Adam Fountain and several athletes in the program.
“Success breeds success”
“Success breeds success,” Hennessy says, and they expect big things from the winter teams as they walk on the heels of the fall state winners.
More than 317 students participated in fall athletics. “For a school of 1,000 kids, that really says something,” Hennessy says.
Some students play multiple sports and will carry their fall success into winter sports, earning the Blue Blue for Success, Hennessy explains.
Winning is contagious, he says: “When teams have success like we had in the fall, it trickles down to other kids and they want to have that success in other sports or want a piece of that success.”
He anticipates potential state rivals when the basketball team and Cash Hendrick’s wrestling team hit the court.
Both sports are already off to a winning start as the boys basketball team stands 2-1 in the Incline High School tournament. The girls team earned its first home win against Carson and defeated North Tahoe on Wednesday night, December 6th.
On the mat, the wrestling team won its first dual match against Hug High School and North Valleys High School.
In addition to basketball and wrestling, the school fields Nordic and Alpine skiing teams, which Hennessy says is always one of the best. Now, they are just waiting for the snow to fall.
The athletic director hopes the community support and excitement will continue from the fall into this winter season.
“In a small town like this, with 20,000 people, we have to be the place to be on Friday night for basketball or Tuesday night for wrestling,” Hennessy says.
The South Tahoe girls will face Reed High School on Thursday, December 21st at 4pm on their home mat.
Upcoming home basketball game For the Vikings it’s Tuesday, Dec. 12, when the girls will take on Galena High School at 6 p.m