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Morgan Hill
March 10, 2026

Senior night boosts Sobrato, but Prospect remains perfect in league

In front of a ruckus crowd Thursday night, the Sobrato volleyball team closed out its regular season home schedule with senior night.

Bulldogs itching to get back on to the grid iron

Sobrato is in a position it hasn’t enjoyed: Sitting atop the division.

After a delay, LO ready to play homecoming

Live Oak wanted nothing more than to keep its good feelings going following a blowout win over Leigh, but smoky conditions got in the way.

Man who established athletic training honored with dedication ceremony

Former Live Oak baseball coach Mike Perez recounted a story about getting hit in the head with a baseball bat on campus.

Police blotter: Burglary, stolen vehicles

BurglaryA thief or thieves burglarized a home on Saint James Drive. The homeowner arrived home to find the television missing and other property rifled through. The crime was reported 7:48pm Oct. 10.Stolen vehicleSomeone stole a green 1997 Honda Accord from a location on Cosmo Avenue. The theft was reported 11:07am Oct. 11.  AccidentA Ford vehicle collided with a bicyclist, resulting in minor injuries to the cyclist at Monterey Road and East Dunne Avenue. The accident was reported 11:46am Oct. 1.Petty theftTwo thieves stole three mobile phones and an iPad from the AT&T store, 755 Cochrane Road. The theft was reported 4:15pm Oct. 1.Hit and runA black Harley Davidson motorcycle collided with a blue Toyota Tacoma in the area of West Dunne Avenue and Monterey Road, and the motorcyclist did not stop at the scene of the accident. The owner of the Toyota reported the motorcycle knocked the driver’s side mirror of his vehicle in the collision. The accident was reported 7:26pm Oct. 1.VandalismSomeone slashed three tires on a Mercedes parked on the 17900 block of Monterey Road. The incident was reported 1:06pm Oct. 2.A vandal or vandals scratched the window and door of a 2014 Chevrolet Camaro on La Alameda Drive. The vandalism was reported 5:19pm Oct. 2.Narcotics complaintA man was reported smoking crack cocaine in the bathroom of the Community Park, next to the tennis courts, 171 West Edmundson Ave. The incident was reported 9:22pm Oct. 2.All subjects are innocent until proven guilty. Information is compiled from public records.

Couture records four points as Sharks top Habs

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.

Council nixes $130K in future OSC payments

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.

UPDATE: Police on the lookout for vehicle in Oct. 7 drive-by shooting

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.

Sharks make the win column, 3-2 over Buffalo

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.

UPDATED: Football games cancelled due to smoke to be made up

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.

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