Sports

Jesse Isais epitomizes the Live Oak High football team. Listed at a generous 5-foot-9 and 140 pounds, Isais routinely goes up against bigger players. However, the Acorns junior cornerback/receiver and his teammates have been superior against every one of their opponents so far. Last Friday, Live Oak put together its best performance this season in a 38-13 win over host Pioneer in the Blossom Valley Athletic League Mount Hamilton Division opener for both teams.

Kathleen Davis sees tremendous potential for the Live Oak High girls volleyball program. The Acorns’ coach has plans to get the team out of the C division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League—which is the West Valley Division—within the next couple of years, along with establishing a consistency that characterizes perennially solid programs.

When Nick Lomanto gets the ball, his mindset is simple.

Last November, the Live Oak High girls cross country team finished in 12th place in the Blossom Valley Athletic League Finals to earn the final spot into the Central Coast Section Championships. It was a splendid moment for the team, something that had not been accomplished in recent memory.

Late in the 2017 season, Sobrato High had lost its second- and third-string quarterbacks. Bulldogs coach Tony Holmes gave Jordan Sheets—who at the time was a starting sophomore wide receiver on the junior varsity team—a chance to start learning the quarterback position.

In 2017, the Live Oak and Christopher football teams needed double overtime to decide the outcome. Friday night, the teams’ latest game was no less thrilling. Jonathan Singleton connected with Elijah Fernandez on a 9-yard touchdown with 28.9 seconds remaining, and Caleb Ojeda sealed things with an interception moments later as the Acorns edged the host Cougars 33-31 in what was the latest installment of one of the most anticipated non-league games in the South Valley.