The Official Pittsburg Sports Newsletter November 2016– Volume 1: Issue 3

Big-Little Blowout The varsity football team finished their regular season with an impressive 61-35 victory over Antioch in the 98th edition of the Big Little Game. The Pirates ended their regular season with a 9-1 record (4-1 BVAL). Montaz Thomspon, Senior RB (pictured above) led the Pirates ground attack with 237 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns. The game was broadcast by the Bleacher Report and two Pirate received post-game honors:

Sea Kuka—Game of the Week MVP Montaz Thompson Offensive MPV

Pittsburg Selected for Open Division Playoffs

The North Coast Section (NCS) changed their playoff system this year and added an open division. This “open division” would be comprised of the best 4 teams in the NCS. After Pittsburg’s 9-1 season they were chosen as the #3 seed in the Open Division. And although the season did not end with a victory, the Pirates had a fantastic season and a well- deserved invitation to the Open Playoff.

Pittsburg Cross Country Finishes 3rd at BVAL Meet; JV’s take 1st

First Team ALL-BVAL (Logan McNamar Center, and Raul Paz Left)

The PHS Cross Country team continued their successful season at the Bay Valley Athletic League Meet on November 2nd. The Varsity boys’ team placed 3rd and 4 Pirate runners were individually honored with All-BVAL selections. In addition, the JV Boys finished 1st.

Girls Tennis Duo Makes History! After the best overall team season in PHS history 13-3 (8-2 BVAL), two varsity girls tennis players made history as well. Lilian Pineda (12th), and Leandra Steg (12th), became the first doubles team to ever reach the BVAL Finals, and the first doubles tandem to be invited to play at the North Coast Section Championships. Lilian Pineda and Leandra Steg

Special Olympics Soccer Tournament

On November 17th, 4 teams from Pittsburg Unified participated in Special Olympics Soccer Tournament at Liberty High School. Teams from all 3 middle schools and Pittsburg High School were represented at this wonderful event.

Pittsburg High School Special Olympics Soccer Team

Pittsburg Unified Sports Hillview Jr. High Special Olympics Soccer Team

Martin Luther King Jr. High Special Olympics Soccer Team

Rancho Medanos Jr. High Special Olympics Soccer Team

Pirateer/Uglyman Dance

At this year’s Pirateer/Uglyman Dance two of our special

education student-athletes were honored. Senior Gabriela

Beltran was named “Pirateer” while Senior Joel Halafihi was

named “Uglyman”. Both student-athletes are members of the

PHS Unified Sports program, participating in soccer, bowling,

basketball and track.

“Pirateer”—Gabriela Beltran and “Uglyman”—Joel Halafihi

Post-Season Honors

Congratulations to the following PHS Student-Athletes for earing All BVAL Honors!

First Team All BVAL Cross Country

Logan McNamar Raul Paz

Second Team All BVAL Cross Country

Noah Gordon Ivan Rizo

First Team All BVAL Football (Offense)

RB Montaz Thompson WR A’Jae Boyd

OL Devon Taylor OL Da Jon Wright

First Team All BVAL Football (Defense)

DL Tariq Wright DL Michael Pryor

DL Iffy Joyner LB Jack Lacy III

LB Mason Collins DB Justin Sanders

K Javier Hernandez

Second Team All BVAL Football (Offense/Defense)

WR Donovan Crosse DL Jacob Bandes

Second Team All BVAL Girls Tennis

Leandra Steg Lilian Pineda

First Team All BVAL Girls Volleyball

Ainise Taimani

Second Team All BVAL Girls Volleyball

Katalina Lui Kiani Stanton-Banks

BVAL Sportsmanship Awards:

Tariq Wright (Football) Ainise Taimani (Volleyball)

PHS-Scholar Athletes

Congratulations to the following PHS Student-Athletes for achieving scholar-athlete status. To become a scholar-athlete you must earn a GPA of 3.5 or higher during your season of sport! For the fall season we had a total of 66 scholar-athletes!

Freshman Cheer

Kimani Jeffrey 3.95 Liliana Landa 3.83

Luzmaria Quintero 3.76 Jessica Rodriguez 4.15

Samara B. Scott 3.53 Aislinn Serrano 3.88

Kyra Tipton 3.66 Lucy Wilson 3.81

JV Cheer

Daisja Gates 3.66 Maria Lanham 4.10

Ayana Toliver 3.85

Varsity Cheer

Caytyn Abono 4.55 Carlos Gonzales 3.55

Jessica Gutierrez 3.71 Stephanie Johnson 4.03

Varsity Cheer…Continued

Imani Pree 3.56 Caitlin Scarlett 3.55

Victoria Suarez 3.75

JV Cross Country

Samantha Cano 3.60 Daemien Hemmick 3.60

Mirracle Erickson 3.53 Ayla Lane 3.81

JV Cross Country… Continued

Scarlett Lopez Aguilar 3.60 Alyssa Trias 3.85

Karely Valdez Lopez 3.85

Varsity Cross Country

Yesenia Flores Briseno 3.60 Jeremy Hernandez 3.93

Aaliyah Karunaratne 4.12 Melisa Newsom 3.66

Celeste Soliz 3.76

Freshman Football

James Battle III 3.60 Joseph Garcia 3.88

Damuarya Harts 3.55 Joseph Luna 3.78

Junior Varsity Football

Aydin Amurkhanov 3.78 Kevin McCoy 3.57

Jaime Salinas-Romero 3.67

Varsity Football

A’Jae Boyd 3.71 Zachary Ellsworth 3.73

Varsity Football…Continued

Iffy Joyner 3.66 Trey Turner 3.66

Girls Tennis

Alondra Alvarez 4.20 Brigette Easley 3.65

Chelsea Idahosa 3.90 Diana Kelly Hernandez 3.84

Belle Lopez 3.52 Graciela Munoz-Puente 3.67

Eveyln Negrete 3.60 Regina Negrete 4.05

Girls Tennis… Continued

Briana Nguyen 4.05 Susan Nguyen 3.61

Joana Pablo Martinez 3.55 Selene Prado Rodriguez 3.88

Bernadette Allison Reyes 3.60 Riodelle Reyes 3.60

Alessia Romano 4.25 Leandra Lara Steg 3.95

Girls Tennis… Continued

Madison Taylor 3.83 Christy Valdez Lopez 3.71

Esmeraalda Vallejo Sandoval 3.55 Tiffany-Ellen Vo 3.55

Freshman Girls Volleyball

Arleth Avila 4.15 Catalina Guerrero Cristancho 4.05

Nayeli Hernandez Diaz 3.93 Julissa Menjivar 4.15

Varsity Girls Volleyball

Kiara Horde 3.83

For the latest information on PHS Athletics, please visit our athletics website at http://www.pittsburg.k12.ca.us/domain/1306 or visit us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Pittsburg-Athletics-1070742773010387/

PHS Athletics Department