The Morgan Hill Times takes a look back at the top local
sporting events of 2005; readers weigh in
Morgan Hill – As 2005 rapidly comes to a close, now is a good time to look back at the incredible sports feats we were lucky enough to be entertained by during the past year.
So let’s get right to it.
The top sports story of 2005 has to belong to the Live Oak Acorns softball team. With their backs to the wall, the Acorns mounted a come from behind victory, 5-4, over the North Salinas Vikings to capture the Central Coast Section Championship. It would be the second time in five years the Acorns have claimed the CCS championship, the last time in 2001.
The young Acorns team, which featured just one senior starter, had fallen behind 4-0 to the Vikings and it looked as if they didn’t have a chance.
Live Oak refused to be held down, however, and surged in the bottom of the sixth inning, cutting the Vikings lead to 4-2.
With their irrepressible dugout and wildly supportive contingent of fans in full voice, the Acorns refused to quit.
With two outs Live Oak rallied to push three runs across in the plate in the bottom of the seventh to capture the title.
Acorn ace Juliette Bowes, the only senior on the team, said the comeback didn’t surprise her. “That’s this team,” Bowers said after the game. “This team has so much heart. I never thought we were out of it.”
The second place top story goes to the Live Oak Acorns boys water polo team that capped an incredible undefeated regular season and TCAL championships with an appearance in the CCS final game against Bellarmine.
In the final, Live Oak fell to the Bells, but achieved all the goals they had set for themselves during the season and have established that they are the team to beat in the TCAL.
The Acorn team, which had five players name to the TCAL all-league team, including MVP Justin Short, reached the CCS final game for the third consecutive season.
Live Oak defeated a tough Serra team in overtime in the semifinals, 11-10, to advance into the final.
In fact, the Acorns were the only public school to make it into the CCS final four.
The third top story of the year belongs to the Morgan Hill Pop Warner Raiders’ cheer squad for qualifying and placing at the National Championships in Orlando, Fla. at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex.
The Raiders’ Midget squad and Junior Pee Wees both had remarkable seasons, qualifying for the regional championships. The Midget squad placed first in their division, while the Junior Pee Wees finished second to earn both squads invitations to the nationals.
Once they found out they were qualified for nationals both teams had a load of work ahead of them to raise the $55,000 (roughly $1,200 per person) to get them to Orlando.
The squads launched an all-out fundraising blitz, holding car washes and asking for business donations, right up until the very last day before their trip. They were successful in their fundraising endeavor.
“It has been no small undertaking,” said Rich Phillips, president of the Morgan Hill Pop Warner League. “The girls, all four teams, got out their and worked hard to raise the money. It was mostly their individual effort.”
The Raiders’ Midget squad returned from Orlando with an eighth place finish in their division and the Junior Pee Wees finished in 12th place at Nationals.
The fourth top ranked story of the year goes to the Live Oak Acorns football team for capturing a share of the TCAL crown and advancing into the CCS playoffs.
Acorns’ head coach Rick Booth also earned the TCAL’s Coach of the Year honor.
Live Oak split the TCAL crown with San Benito and Palma, all with league records of 4-1.
The Acorns defeated arch rival Gilroy in a nailbiter, 28-27, to capture part of the crown and earn the No. 6 seed heading into the playoffs. The win knocked the Mustangs out of the playoff picture.
The Live Oak offense was led by a strong offensive line and the running back combination of Dustin Muhn and Kevin Abbott.
Ranking fifth in our top seven sports stories of 2005 is the Sobrato Bulldogs varsity football team.
Although marred by controversy toward the end of the season, the Bulldogs kicked off the inaugural varsity football season for Ann Sobrato High School.
Sobrato finished the season with two wins and the team is encouraged and enthusiastic to build a strong program at the school.
The Bulldogs worked long and hard over the summer learning plays in the playbook in preparation for the season.
Coming in as the sixth biggest sports story of the year is Morgan Hill resident and 49er linebacker tearing his biceps in October, ending his season.
In a game against the Indianapolis Colts, Ulbrich suffered a torn left biceps and opted to have surgery, instead of losing 50 percent of his strength in his left arm. Ulbrich is left handed.
Before deciding on the surgery that would cut his season short, Ulbrich talked to numerous doctors and other players who have suffered the same injury.
49ers head coach Mike Nolan said at the time, “He’s a good player, and I think he’s great for the football team. He will remain around here. He’s going to continue to be in the meetings.”
The 49ers rewarded Ulbrich with a contract extension last week.
And finally, but certainly not least, the seventh top sports story from the Times was Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero losing his first boxing match.
The Ghost, who was previously undefeated with 16 wins and one draw, lost in a 12 round split decision to Gamaliel Diaz at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore.
Guerrero also lost the North American Boxing Federation’s Featherweight Championship to Diaz.
Morgan Hill Readers Rank Top Seven Sports Stories of the Year Online Results:
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Live Oak softball wins CCS championship – 44 %
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Sobrato Bulldogs’ inaugural varsity football season – 14%
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Live Oak football earns share of TCAL crown – 12%
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Live Oak boys water polo advances into CCS final – 10%
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Raiders’ Pop Warner cheer squads place at nationals – 10%
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Other sports story not mentioned – 6%
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Ulbrich tears biceps, ends season – 4%
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Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero loses first match – 0%
