Winter sports season wraps up at SVHS

Basketball

Sonoma Valley High fell to St. Patrick St. Vincent 64-41 in the quarterfinal game of the North Coast Sectional basketball playoffs. The Dragons fell behind by double digits at halftime and couldn’t climb out of the hole that they dug for themselves in the first half.

The Dragons began with a strong defensive effort, but struggled to get good looks on offense in the first half because of the Bruins’ full court defensive pressure. As a team, they shot just 7 for 23 in the first half and 1 for 12 from beyond the arc.

The majority of the offensive load for the game was laid on sophomore guard Will Breall, who led the Dragons with 15 points on 7 for 11 shooting and 3 assists. He also recorded 8 rebounds, and was the best of the starters to take care of the ball, committing only one turnover.

Breall was complemented by seniors Dom Girish and Anders Mathison, who shot a combined 9 for 20 to score 24 points. Mathison would also hold down the Sonoma Valley defensive effort with 15 rebounds, 4 blocks and a steal. In all, Girish, Mathison and Breall combined for 39 of the Dragons’ 41 points.

Throughout the entire game, the Bruins prevented Girish from taking the ball up the court and took advantage of Sonoma’s weaker ball handlers to force 18 turnovers across the entire game.

The Bruins were led by the highly effective combination of seniors Nick Medeiros and Jevon Blackmore, who scored 24 and 23 points respectively. The Dragons had no answers for their slashing and pull-up game, and their inability to stop the pair's offensive approach kept them from working their way back into the game in the second half.

Though Sonoma Valley played poorly on the whole, the performance of Breall offers a hopeful promise to the future of the team come the next couple seasons. The sophomore will take up a mantle as the team leader along with a keystone hustle player in Matt Jordan, scoring threat Grant Boydell and the frenetic perimeter defender JC Olvera.

This game marks part of the conclusion to Sonoma Valley winter sports, and spring sports will get underway with their preseasons.

Wrestling

The Dragons’ wrestling team wrapped up their seasons after losses in North Coast Section playoffs.

The wrestlers traveled to James Logan High School in Union City on Saturday and Sunday for a tough match. In the NCS meet, wrestlers Antonio Casillas and Marcello Saldana were the only wrestlers to win a match, and were eliminated in their second matchup.

Casillas and Saldana won their first match in NCS, but were eliminated in the second. The team has only a few seniors, and they stand to see the return of Casillas and Saldana, as well as sophomore Wyatt Lee. Lee emerged as a promising young talent in the 106 weight class who saw large success in the Vine Valley regular season.

Soccer

Despite matching up closely with San Rafael in their first game, losing 5-4, Sonoma Valley’s soccer team couldn’t replicate that competitiveness in their playoff matchup with the Bulldogs.

Although the Dragons will see the return of freshman goalkeeper Beto Hernandez, the bulk of the team’s offensive line will have graduated come next year. The graduates will include leading scorers Joey Fiorito, Aidan Griggs-Demmin and Oscar Fernandez.

The Dragons finished at 10-7 on the season, including 7-6 in the VVAL to reach fourth place.