High School Sports

The series coined “El Classico” three years ago - first played between the junior varsity teams – featured the second annual varsity matchup between the Gilroy High and Christopher boys soccer teams Friday night. And for the second straight season the trophy – and bragging rights – stayed with the Mustangs after a 4-0 victory.

San Benito High School captured its first Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament championship, pulling away from host Gilroy High in the second half to runaway with a 52-37 victory Saturday night.

The Christopher High girls basketball team shot out to an 11-0 lead midway through the first quarter, held that same-sized advantage at the half, carried a nine-point cushion into the final quarter and led by 14 with 3:45 to play in the game. As that saying goes, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” Especially when it involves CHS and Gilroy High, where it has become the norm to expect just about anything.

The Gilroy High boys basketball team will face a familiar foe in tonight's championship game of the 32nd annual Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament.

The first game of a back-to-back home contests went the way of the Christopher High girls basketball team in a 52-28 decision against Live Oak on Thursday night.

Once Gilroy’s shots began falling the third quarter, Live Oak’s window for stealing an early win in the Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament was all but shut. Charles Walker scored 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field, and three Gilroy players finished with seven points Thursday as the Mustangs pulled away to a 48-39 victory on opening night of their 32nd annual boys basketball tournament in Bob Hagen Gymnasium.

DJ Campos hit a fade away bank shot as time expired to give the Christopher High boys varsity basketball team a 71-70 victory over Alvarez in the opening round of the 32nd annual Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament on Thursday at Gilroy High.

A pair of underclassmen standouts lifted the Gilroy High girls varsity soccer team to a 1-0 halftime lead against visiting Scotts Valley on Thursday night. However, the defending Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League champion Falcons deposited three second-half goals to down the Mustangs 3-1 in a nonleague tilt.

Clocking in for another two-hour shift inside the gymnasium at Gilroy High, sounds of sneakers squeaking on the hardwood, dribbling basketballs and the booming voice of GHS varsity boys head coach Matt Tait fills the empty air. It's the indoor, sporting version of a construction site - all business with work in progress building toward a final product.

Entering their second year at the varsity level, players on the Christopher High boys varsity basketball team weren’t shy in setting lofty goals for the 2011-12 season. If you ask them, the more expectation, the merrier.