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SAN JOSE – San Jose continued its 17-year domination at home against Montreal Tuesday night by outlasting the Canadiens 5-2 before 17,377 fans at SAP Center.

The Morgan Hill City Council agreed to waive more than $120,000 worth of fees coming due to the city from the Outdoor Sports Center’s operating organization, in hopes of attracting a new operator for the complex.In advance of the Oct. 4 meeting, the Morgan Hill Youth Sports Alliance—which has operated the 38-acre soccer fields complex for the city for about the last nine years—asked the city to reduce its annual contracted fees from $60,000 this year and $70,000 next year, to $45,000 each year.But in an unexpected move, after a brief discussion, the council agreed to remove the fees completely as long as there are no surprises in an upcoming audit of MHYSA and OSC operations. Council members reasoned that the money is better spent on keeping the sports fields maintained and attractive for a potential new operator, which the city is currently in the process of finding.  The sports alliance has faced some financial difficulties in running the Outdoor Sports Center in recent years, due to lost revenue from annual event organizers who decided to take their tournaments elsewhere, and an unexpected, expensive repair of a well pump that serves the property on Condit Road, according to alliance Director Jeff Dixon.Because of this, the organization has had trouble making annual payments to the city. The center is currently delinquent in its quarterly payments to the city by $22,500, according to city staff.Morgan Hill Community Services Director Chris Ghione said the next audit, which is due in the coming months, is likely to show improvement in the sports center’s bookkeeping and tracking of expenses and revenues.Councilmember Rich Constantine proposed waiving the alliance’s scheduled payments to the city altogether for the next two years, after he was assured by city staff that the funds would be well-spent on maintaining the facility’s grass fields and other upkeep.“I’m mostly concerned about the field condition,” Constantine said. “If they can put that money (into facility maintenance) and show us, I’m willing to forgive the payment altogether.”Mayor Pro Tem Larry Carr added a request for the alliance to return to city staff with more details about the cost of maintenance at the center.The five-member council unanimously agreed to waive the fees for at least the current year, and possibly next year pending the results of the upcoming audit. The alliance’s current contract with the city expires after next year.“We were always going to maintain the facility to the best of our abilities,” Dixon said after the meeting. “What this gives us the opportunity to do is, maybe look at some creative things in addition to maintaining (the fields)—even enhancing it because we have more funds to do with it.”The city has already begun a “Request For Proposals” process to seek a new operator for the Outdoor Sports Center—preferably one that is committed to serving the right balance of local and regional uses of the sports fields, and has some extra funds to invest in upgrading the facility and promoting it as a major revenue generator. The alliance is not prohibited from competing in that process to remain as operator of the center.The sports center has long been a popular site for weekend soccer tournaments that bring teams from throughout the state. The alliance has added other non-traditional uses to the facility over the last nine years, including dog agility competitions, circuses, a barbecue festival and other sports such as lacrosse, cricket and flag football.Also earlier this year, the council approved $1.4 million from the city’s parks maintenance fund to replace the artificial turf on two of the OSC’s fields—one for football and one for soccer. The turf on the fields, cited by city staff as a “flagship” of the OSC, is about 10 years old and deteriorating. City officials hope this facelift will also help attract competitive bids from prospective new operators.

Police offered more details in their search for at least one suspect who allegedly shot a gun at a Morgan Hill residence during a dispute about unsafe driving in the neighborhood last weekend.About 7:45 p.m. Oct. 7, MHPD officers responded to the area of Denali and Scotts Bluff Drive on a report of gunshots fired from a vehicle, according to police.When officers arrived, they contacted witnesses who said a vehicle was driving recklessly in the area, police said. Pedestrians yelled at the vehicle to slow down.The vehicle immediately stopped and the driver fired two rounds out of the window and sped off, according to authorities. The vehicle was last seen going southbound toward West Edmundson Avenue.Officers found a spent shell casing in the middle of the street. No injuries were reported and police did not find any signs of any property being struck by the bullets, according to authorities.The vehicle was described as a silver, newer model, four-door Ford Focus, police said.Anyone with information about the incident can contact MHPD Det. Tacazon at (408) 779-2101.

SAN JOSE – San Jose took a step in the right direction Thursday night with a 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres in front of 17,402 fans at SAP Center.

Because of the smoke from the Wine Country fires raging in the North Bay, the Blossom Valley Athletic League cancelled all games through last weekend, affecting two big football games and forcing Live Oak and Sobrato to adjust.Live Oak was forced to move its homecoming game to this week’s game against Santa Teresa.“I wouldn’t want be the one to make that decision,” said Live Oak football coach and athletic director Mike Gemo. “It was a tough decision, but they did what they felt was best for the safety of the student athletes.”Sobrato lost its Saturday game against Evergreen Valley in a matchup of two unbeaten teams vying for a claim at a West Valley Division title.“Lot of the guys were a little frustrated to not get an opportunity to get on the grass and play last week,” said Sobrato Coach Tony Holmes. “They were looking forward to solidifying a spot at the top of the division. They don’t want to share it and were very eager to play. There were some hurt feelings last week because of the circumstances.”Holmes said he lost a day of practice anyway because he had given his team Monday off following a tough game the week before. After a day of practice on Tuesday, Wednesday got washed out because of the smoke in the air. Then with Thursday’s announcement that games were cancelled, Sobrato was unable to practice Thursday and Friday.The Bulldogs tried to get time in the indoor gym to workout, and they had some film time.Initially, the BVAL said no makeups would be scheduled for any of the sports, including volleyball, water polo, cross country, tennis and golf.Part of this was due to scheduling constraints involving the start of playoffs. But as a result of the BVAL canceling games, the Peninsula Athletic League following suit and the West Catholic Athletic League deciding to move games until the following Monday, the Central Coast Section stepped in to give the football teams a chance to make up the missing games.CCS ruled in an emergency meeting that it will extend football’s regular season an extra week and start the playoff games one week later. Instead of the last games being played Nov. 3 and 4, the final games will now conclude the week of Nov. 10.Playoffs will now begin Nov. 17 and run through the week of Dec. 1 for finals.Once CCS made its ruling, the BVAL said it will make up its games Nov. 9, to accommodate Veterans Day.“The kids only have so many high school football games in their career,” Gemo said. “To get one taken away is tough but it’s one that is understandable because of the disaster.”Live Oak will play Nov. 9, but Sobrato is looking at Nov. 10 or Nov. 11 to make up its game. Because Sobrato doesn’t have permanent lights, the game will have to be played during the day—either during the Nov. 10 observance of Veterans Day when school is out or Saturday, Nov. 11—or the school will have to pay for lights to be brought in.Holmes said he is in talks with the boosters to bring lights in on Nov. 10, but logistics are still being worked out.“It was a sigh of relief for the kids,” Holmes said of when they learned the cancelled game will be made up. “We definitely felt a lot better about our situation in the standings.”Teams in other sports will also be allowed to make up games, provided they can work out a date to host it.The only hiccup is that not all schools canceled games across the CCS. Teams playing in the Monterey Bay League and the Mission Trail Athletic League still played last week and will now have a bye week heading into the playoffs.Teams that played in Salinas, Monterey or points south all got their games in. Christopher was the only South Bay team on the field last week, playing in a haze Friday night. Hollister also got a game in against Salinas.“I believe if one league canceled, they should have done it for everyone so that everybody could be on an even playing field,” Gemo said.

AJ Gustaveson ran for 204 yards and Jonathan Singleton threw for five touchdowns as Live Oak smashed its way past Leigh 49-13 last week.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Due to smoke from the fires in the North Bay, Saturday's game could be affected. It is unclear if conditions prove to be unhealthy if the game will be postponed or moved. That decision will be made closer to Saturday, according to coach Tony Holmes. As of Thursday morning, plans are to have the game proceed as normal, but conditions will be watched closely.

Late-night jackhammering and rumbling of diesel engines, decimation of mature oak trees, an even more sluggish daytime commute—these are some of the impacts voiced by local residents about heavy-duty road construction projects underway throughout Morgan Hill.These ongoing efforts include the “South Monterey Road Repaving project” from the southern edge of downtown all the way to West Middle Avenue (about 2.5 miles); installation of a new traffic signal and reconfiguration of the intersection at Monterey and Old Monterey roads north of town; reconstruction of San Pedro Avenue between Monterey Road and Church Street; and the DeWitt Avenue “S-Curve Realignment Project.”Completion of the more than 15 infrastructure and private development projects in the city is expected to contribute to smoother vehicle rides, safer neighborhoods and better overall traffic flow, according to city staff.Some of the projects are being completed by contractors associated with private residential developments, such as the Monterey/Old Monterey intersection and San Pedro Avenue. Others, such as the Monterey Road repaving project, have long been on the city’s list of needed public works upgrades.The city typically tries to coordinate road construction projects “to minimize the impact to the greatest number of residents, businesses and visitors,” said Morgan Hill Communications Manager Maureen Tobin.Sometimes, however, that’s not possible, and crews are scrambling to complete the current roadwork before the winter rains can delay them even more, she said.“All of these roadway improvements will increase motorist safety and decrease wear and tear on motorist vehicles,” Tobin added. “Each of these roadways were in poor condition, so the improvements should be noticed by all.” Furthermore, the upgraded roadways will not require as much ongoing maintenance as the previous driving surfaces, Tobin said.Some residents’ patience is being tested as the multitude of projects wreaks havoc on morning and afternoon commutes, and even short trips across town. In the case of the Monterey/Old Monterey intersection, longtime Morgan Hill resident Richard Vanella thinks the new configuration will only make matters worse.For months, Vanella’s complaints have fallen on deaf ears at city hall and among county and state transportation officials he has contacted, he told the Times.For starters, the new intersection is poorly designed, Vanella contends, as it moves the traffic signal only about 75 feet south to make way for a portion of the new 76-unit Solera Ranch subdivision, under construction by City Ventures. Vanella thinks the new traffic signal should have been aligned another 200 feet south on Monterey Road, with Old Monterey routed along the front of still-vacant properties up to a stand of tall trees.Thus, the new intersection will do nothing to alleviate traffic through the Monterey Road corridor, with dozens of other new homes under construction on other properties in north Morgan Hill, Vanella said.“The new intersection creates a danger, since drivers coming down Old Monterey can’t see the new street until they’re about to cross it, and drivers turning onto Old Monterey from the new street can’t see far enough up the street to make a right turn, then cross to the left turn lanes safely,” Vanella wrote in an Aug. 11 email to CalTrans.Furthermore, Vanella complains the city allowed the developer to remove scores of vibrant, mature live oak trees—including a landmark grove that abutted the edge of the old intersection.“The important thing about live oak trees is they don’t lose their leaves, cleaning the air year-round,” Vanella said. “We’re increasing global warming (by removing the mature trees).”And Vanella can’t fathom why the grove on the edge of the old intersection was even removed, other than to make way for more new homes.The developer has included replanting of new young trees in the site plans, according to city planning documents.Old Monterey Road is closed from Monterey to Llagas at least until the end of this week, as the developer completes the traffic signal, according to the city’s website. Until then, traffic is rerouted to Wright and Hale avenues.The construction has generated a wealth of comments on social media from anxious commuters upset that the work is snarling traffic.Monterey Road repaving almost doneThe Morgan Hill Police Department has received numerous calls late at night in recent weeks complaining about loud construction noises on Monterey Road south of town.This work is associated with the repaving of the 2.5-mile stretch of one of the city’s busiest roads. Contractors have mostly completed the heavy construction by working in the late night and early morning hours.Most of the intensive repaving is done, with restriping and installing new traffic signal loops scheduled for the coming week, according to the city’s website.All work on that project is expected to be complete by Oct. 26.The city hired contractor Granite Construction to complete the repaving, at a cost of about $2.5 million, according to Morgan Hill Deputy Director of Engineering Scott Creer.Other projectsOne block of San Pedro Avenue—from Church Street to Monterey Road—has been closed for extensive road improvements since early this summer. Tobin said the developer expects to finish this project the week of Oct. 16.The developer of The Commons subdivision on the corner of Church and San Pedro is performing this work.In the downtown, Frank Leal, developer of the Granada Hotel on Monterey Road, and his crews have been busy this week installing new storm drain infrastructure on Second Street. This ongoing project has resulted in closures of East Second Street.And on the west side of Morgan Hill, in Santa Clara County’s jurisdiction, a key section of DeWitt Avenue remains closed for the realignment of a dangerous “S-curve.” This stretch of roadway, from Origilia Lane to Spring Avenue, will remain closed until Thanksgiving, according to the city website.Other road and construction projects throughout town include three new downtown parks, Hale Avenue extension line planning, four residential/commercial projects downtown, new signal at Fourth Street and Monterey Road, sidewalk improvements at Third Street and Monterey Road and others which are listed on the city’s website, morganhill.ca.gov.

Morgan Hill police are asking residents in the area of Olympic Drive for any home security camera footage that might have captured images of a drive-by shooting the evening of Oct. 7.About 7:45pm, police received multiple calls of shots fired in the residential area behind the Morgan Hill Community Park, on Olympic Drive in the area of Denali Drive, according to police reports.Officers arrived to investigate the shots, and determined that no injuries or property damage occurred as a result of the shooting, according to police. Witnesses reported hearing 8 or 9 gunshots, fired by an occupant of a small silver sedan.The suspicious vehicle fled the scene before officers arrived, and police have not identified any suspects.Shortly after responding to the call of shots fired, MHPD posted on Facebook that officers were canvassing the area for any home cameras that are facing the roadway. Any resident with such camera footage that may be of assistance can contact MHPD Det. Scott Purvis at [email protected].

Sobrato took advantage of Overfelt’s turnovers and miscues in a 61-34 rout to stay undefeated in West Valley Division play.