Gilroy High School

It wasn't exactly the start to his first year in charge of the Gilroy High School varsity football team that Brian Boyd envisioned after a productive summer.

The calm before the ... Well, that sentence can’t be completed, because the storm that is the start of the high school sports fall season is upon us.

It has been a busy six months on the coach-search front at Gilroy High School. Vacancies have popped up at a dandelion-like rate with coaches leaving posts for a variety of reasons. But with the fall season fast approaching, GHS filled two coaching voids, hiring Kassi Swalboski for girls varsity volleyball and Tim Jones for boys varsity basketball, athletic director Julie Berggren said Tuesday.

Jourdan Soares said statistics could have been tossed out the window. That coming from a guy who shredded defenses in amassing more than 1,400 receiving yards last fall. But as candid as ever, the Gilroy High speedster astutely stated that the only thing on the minds of the 45 players suited up for the South prior to the 38th annual Charlie Wedemeyer Silicon Valley Youth Classic All-Star football game was finding a way to carve out a win.

Earlier this year, former Gilroy High School quarterback Niko Fortino had a message on his phone. On the other end of the voicemail, Independence High School head coach Norm Brown relayed the news Fortino had wanted to hear for quite some time. He had been chosen to be a member on the South squad in the Silicon Valley Youth Classic Charlie Wedemeyer All-Star football game – the annual exhibition that showcases the upper-echelon of outgoing senior football players in Santa Clara County.

After two seasons in charge of the Gilroy High School boys varsity basketball team, Matt Tait will not return with the Mustangs next season.

Jose Hernandez, Gilroy High School’s girls varsity soccer head coach for the past nine seasons, will not return next winter.

The 2012 high school sports season will be a little different for schools in Gilroy and Hollister. After more than two years of discussion, the 2012 season will be the first in an equity league between the former members of the Tri-County Athletic League and the Monterey Bay League.

With their Tri-County Athletic League first team selections, senior Casey Lester and freshman Lauren Castro top a list of seven Gilroy High softball players to receive year-end awards.

Dear Reader, So, I thought, ‘Hey, why don’t I set up an online vote for Senior Athletes of the Year?’ It isn’t unheard of. However, I did not contemplate the energetic response the endeavor received.