What a week for OVS athletics!
Although all three OVS winter sports teams fell short of their goals of advancing in the CIF playoffs, their efforts and talents were on full display in front of an extremely loud and supportive student section.
The OVS boys soccer game on Tuesday afternoon at Dok Smith Field was a tough battle, as the Spuds and the Cobalt Institute of Math and Science went head-to-head. Cobalt took an early two goal lead, however junior Maximilian Berningrer brought the OVS boys back into the game with two goals.
But in the end it wasn’t enough, as Cobalt put two more in the net for a final score of 4-2.
OVS athletic director Ryan Pearman said the players showed great resilience to fight back into the game.
“It was a great team effort and leadership from our seniors,” Mr. Pearman said.
Later that night, the OVS girls basketball game was electric.
With OVS students packing the bleachers at the Thacher School gym, the girls showed toughness and grit, diving on the floor and battling for rebounds. OVS lost 36-21, but the game was marked by some outstanding performances, including 13 points from junior captain Donahi Soriano.
In addition to the play on the court, all were appreciative of the boisterous OVS fan base, which cheered every play and raised the decibel level so high that the coaches had trouble shouting instructions to their players
“It was actually so fun to be out there with everyone supporting the team,” said senior Eugene Fisher, who had just hours earlier had played the left midfield position in the CIF soccer game. “It was crazy.”
On Wednesday night, the OVS student section brought the same noise and energy to the boys basketball game, traveling with the team to Midland School for that first round CIF matchup.
All the boys fought hard and played their hearts out, and OVS was leading that game into the fourth quarter, finally falling to Midland 52-43.
Senior captain Ethan Chen had an amazing game, scoring 32 points and carrying the team throughout.
Although the boys came up short of the victory, both the students and the players made the game great to watch.
“I really enjoyed seeing our girls and boys playing hard from the start to the end of both games and the student body in attendance at the games added great support for our Spuds,” Mr Pearman said. “Our athletes competed with tenacity and sportsmanship. All of our spuds should be proud of the effort put forth by the teams and coaches.”