Sonoma Dragons prep for winter sports

Basketball, soccer and wrestling underway|

With the exception of cross country, the fall sports season at Sonoma Valley High is history, and Dragons winter sports are ramping up for their respective season openers.

The Dragon cross country runners will be participating in the North Coast Section Meet on Saturday, Nov. 18, at Hayward High School in the East Bay. Both the girls team and the boys team will be competing. The girls are fresh off their fourth-straight Sonoma County League championship last Saturday at Spring Lake Park in Santa Rosa.

Saturday’s NCS meet will determine the qualifiers for the State Meet in Fresno next Saturday, Nov. 25.

The Dragons boys soccer team opened their preseason on Wednesday with a match at San Marin. Under longtime Coach Pedro Merino, the team was 8-3-1 last year. Coming up on the Dragon schedule are games at Vintage High on Tuesday, Nov. 21; at Novato High on Friday, Nov. 24; at Drake on Nov. 30; and at Montgomery on Dec. 1.

The Dragons open their Sonoma County League season after the holidays.

The Lady Dragons soccer team is practicing for their upcoming season. This year, girls soccer was moved from a fall sport to a winter sport.

Because Sonoma doesn’t have an all-weather field – let alone lights – the soccer boys played all of their home games last year at an athletic complex on East Washington Street in Petaluma. It looks like both the boys and girls soccer teams will be playing their home games there this year. School officials hope to schedule a few Saturday home games at the all-weather field that’s still under construction behind Adele Harrison.

Both the girls and the boys basketball teams open their preseason on Saturday.

The Lady Dragons, under Coach Jann Thorpe, open Saturday with a scrimmage at Justin-Siena. Sonoma travels to Montgomery on Tuesday, Nov. 21, for the annual Foundation Game which raises scholarship money for student athletes, but doesn’t count in the overall standings.

Wednesday, Nov. 22, is the date of the annual Alumni Game. It’ll be a doubleheader with the girls tipping off at 5:30 p.m. and the boys at 7:30.

The Lady Dragons open the pre-season on Saturday, Nov. 25, when they host American Canyon. Sonoma travels to San Rafael for a game on Tuesday, Nov. 28 and then host their own Lady Dragon Classic on Thursday, Nov. 30, Friday, Dec. 1, and Saturday, Dec. 2.

Sonoma has a busy pre-season schedule through December before they open their final Sonoma County League season against Piner on Jan. 3. Last year, the Lady Dragons were 22-6 overall and a perfect 12-0 in SCL play.

The Dragon boys team, under Coach Mike Boles, will also scrimmage Saturday when they host Napa. Freshmen tip off at noon, JV at 1:30 and the varsity tips off at 3 p.m.

The Dragons will host Casa Grande in the Foundation Game on Tuesday, Nov. 21. Game times are 4:30, 6 and 7:30 p.m.

And the boys will be the second game (7:30 p.m.) of the Alumni doubleheader on Wednesday, Nov. 22.

The Dragons get down to business the following Tuesday, Nov. 28, when they host Maria Carrillo in their opening pre-season game. That weekend, Nov. 30-Dec. 2, the Dragons will be playing in the Alhambra Tournament in Martinez.

Sonoma has a half-dozen games in December capped by the Dixon Ram Tournament Dec. 27-30.

Sonoma opens their final run through the SCL on Jan. 4 at Healdsburg.

The hoopsters were 12-15 overall last year and 5-7 in the SCL.

The wrestlers are honing their skills in anticipation of their final SCL season. Last year, the grapplers finished second to Petaluma in the SCL, and sent 10 wrestlers on to the NCS tournament.

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