As the calendar turns, it’s impossible to reflect on the past year without celebrating the remarkable memories created by the Los Gatos High School sports teams and the student-athletes.
From Friday Night Lights to packed gyms and early-morning practices, individuals and teams delivered performances that went far beyond the scoreboard.
There were unforgettable comebacks, record-setting moments and quiet displays of leadership.
These actions defined what it means to represent their school with pride.
LGHS tends to dominate the local sports chatter.
However, let’s not forget that über-talented athletes from every age level and division—youth, college and professional—turned in praiseworthy performances in 2025.
In no particular order, let’s take a look back at some of the biggest stories of the year.
Taking opponents to the mat
In February, the LGHS wrestling program set several program records, creating moments that will be talked about for years to come. In finishing as the runner-up to Gilroy High in the Central Coast Section Masters Finals, the Wildcats broke program records for points (232.5), CCS finalists (6), and CIF State Meet qualifiers (10).
The pack of Wildcats who earned State berths included Trajan Pannell, Luke Schoch, Antonio Rodriguez, Michael Terrell, Joseph Pavlov-Ramirez, Wesley Hayden, Lucas Pannell, Stuart Cornelius, Dylan Pile and Kaja McCullough. Just as noteworthy: Schoch, Rodriguez, Terrell, Pavlov-Ramirez, Hayden and McCullough are returning state-ranked wrestlers who look to lead the Wildcats to another record-breaking performance in the 2026 SCVAL and CCS Championships, in February.
Wildcat girls hoop it up
In March, the LGHS girls basketball team—fresh off winning a third consecutive SCVAL De Anza Division title—beat Menlo-Atherton 42-30 to capture its second CCS championship in the last three years. The Wildcats were just 3-7 entering league play, a byproduct of playing a brutally tough schedule.
However, they proceeded to rip off 15 consecutive victories, capped by the CCS Division I championship triumph. Ashley Childers had 15 points and Rita Zhou scored all 10 of her points in the first half. Nicole Steiner had a tremendous all-around game, finishing with eight points, 10 rebounds and four steals.
Nothing but net
For the second straight year, two teams from the Los Gatos NJB chapter won the All Net National Tournament. In 2024, the fourth grade and eighth grade boys teams took home titles. In the winter 2025 season, the fourth grade and fifth grade boys teams reigned supreme. In performances that were borderline sublime, both Los Gatos squads won their respective National Tournament championship games in dominating fashion.
The fourth graders avenged their only defeat of the season, dismantling Whittier Gold 44-18 in the title contest to finish 17-1 on the season. The fourth grade team roster included Chasin Chikelu, Cyrus Mortezaie, Dean Drew, Dylan Shanker, Gavin Evenson, Gus Widell, Hunter Sanders, Nathan Williams, Oz Azriel, Thomas Leitch and Vidit Noti.
The team was coached by Nathan Sanders and assistant Nir Azriel. The fifth graders were even more dominant than the fourth graders, going 4-0 in the National Tournament and winning every game by 15 points or more. How dominant was the fifth grade team from start to finish? Its National Tournament title run capped a perfect 19-0 season that saw the majority of its games decided by halftime.
The fifth grade team roster included head coach Anthony Sherman, assistant coach Matt Cossel, Solomon Petros, Jack Janda, Allen Xiang Hao, Aziz Khouzam, Parker Fanoe, Liam McDonald, Sean Garcia, Vonn Marshall, Jax Cossell, Grant Zillman, Paul Weitz and Felix Fairley.
Fêting all-time greats
The LGHS Athletic Hall of Fame inducted nine athletes as part of its 2025 class in a ceremony, on May 3 at La Rinconada Country Club.
The star-studded HOF class included Robert Harris (class of 1933), Steve Bauer (1974), Vince Baxter (1978), Ali Dodson (2004), Jaimee Erickson (2007), Geoff Doss (2008), Nick Kalpin (2008), Erich Peske (2011) and Taylor Comeau (2011).
Harris competed in basketball, track and tennis; Bauer in football, basketball and swimming; Baxter in golf; Dodson in track and soccer; Erickson in field hockey and track; Doss in wrestling; Peske in swimming; and Comeau in field hockey and soccer.
Kalpin starred in three sports, but it was his accomplishments on the gridiron that left onlookers shaking their heads in amazement. During his senior season, Kalpin set Santa Clara County single-season records in rushing (2,553 yards, in 312 carries) and scoring (41 touchdowns).
Spiking the competition
The LGHS boys volleyball team made program history, winning a CCS Open Division match and a CIF State NorCal Regional contest for the first time. Los Gatos pulled off one of the seminal upsets in the CCS this season, stunning top-seed Santa Cruz in the Open Division quarterfinals.
Santa Cruz entered the match with a 30-3 record and was widely considered among the top three teams in the CCS. Boasting athleticism, talent and height, Los Gatos improved as the season went along, capped by a four-set win over De Anza Division champion Harker, on May 5.
The Wildcats lost to Harker in the teams’ first two league matchups, but finally upended their league rival the third time around. Junior outside hitter Sean Slover was a tour-de-force against Harker—and finished the season as the team leader in kills.
Nolan Harr, a 6-foot-4 junior right side, was second on the team in kills and potent on the attack, too.
Middle blockers Markus McGrath and Nico Bianchi—both 6-3—along with the 6-2 Slover and 6-1 Weston Kaefer made life tough on opposing offenses.
Blazing on the track; Steiner leaves legacy
With freshman Isabella Cain and sophomore Madison Kohli leading the charge, the Wildcats set several records during the spring track and field season. Cain and Kohli were part of the 4×100- and 4×400-meter relay teams that earned berths in the CIF State Championships, May 30-31 in Clovis.
The 4×400 squad of Cain, Kohli, Kaylee Cross and Elise Greenstreet won the CCS Championship, before finishing a respectable 13th out of 32 teams at State. They ran a personal-record (PR) and school record time of 3 minutes, 51.74 seconds to win the CCS title, and followed that up with a 3:51.83 at State.
Meanwhile, the 4×100 team of Cain, Kohli, Bridget Moore and Emma Arbitaylo placed third at CCS in a PR of 47.81 seconds, but leveled off a bit at State with a mark of 48.92 seconds. Kohli took third in the 400-meter run at CCS in a PR of 55.35 seconds—lowering the mark on her own school record—before posting a time of 55.91 seconds to place 18th (out of 30 runners) at State.
Aydon Stefanopoulos was the only athlete to qualify for State from the LGHS boys team. The senior standout covered the 1600 meters in 4:06.68—just 6/100ths of a second off his PR—resulting in a fourth-place finish. Stefanopoulos established himself as one of the most accomplished distance runners in LGHS history, earning multiple top-10 finishes in both the CIF State Cross Country and Track and Field Championships.
Meanwhile, Nicole Steiner capped one of the most decorated careers in LGHS history. The three-sport standout finished as the CCS runner-up in the shot put before taking 10th place at State. Steiner, who starred all four years in basketball and volleyball and three years in track and field, threw the shot put 41 feet, 1 inch at CCS, good enough for second place.
She did even better in the State Preliminaries with a mark of 42-1, which gave her the seventh best qualifying mark heading into the finals. However, Steiner was limited to a throw of 38-9 ¼ and finished in 10th place. Now a freshman at Cal State Fullerton, Steiner earned another prestigious honor when she was named the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame High School Girls Athlete of the Year.
Boys of summer shine
The Los Gatos Little League 12U All Stars completed an undefeated run to win the District 12 championship, capped by a riveting 2-1 victory over Willow Glen in the title game. Los Gatos got all the runs it would need when Logan Williams smashed an absolute laser to left field for a two-run home run, in the bottom of the second inning.
It was his first and only homer in District action, a byproduct of being intentionally walked four times. Outside of the Williams home run, the most pivotal moment of the game came in top of the fifth inning. Trailing by just one run, Willow Glen had a player at first base with one out, when it hit a line drive that traveled all the way to the left-field fence.
Los Gatos left fielder Michael Denevi scooped the ball up and made a perfect throw to the cutoff man, shortstop Nico Madeiros, who then rifled a strike to catcher Troy Amburgey. Amburgey made the tag to cut off the potential game-tying run.
Magic dazzles on the field
Once the Los Gatos-Cupertino-Saratoga Magic 12U(A) softball team was assembled, in fall 2024, it proceeded to play 15 tournaments spanning the next 40 weeks. However, nothing could top the Magic’s dazzling run through the USA Softball Northern California Championship Tournament, culminating with a 14-0 victory over the San Lorenzo Heat in the title contest, June 29 in Hayward.
The Magic ran roughshod over the competition, going 4-0 and outscoring their opponents by a combined margin of 26-5 in winning its first NorCal championship in 11 years. The roster included Addie Lui, Adeline Oh, Olivia Borrelli, Kaitlyn Paige, Lauren O’Reilly, Jeannie Huang, Arianna Reyes, Kayla O’Reilly, Saylor Riera, and Kiara Taylor. The coaching staff featured Chris O’Reilly and assistant coaches Chris Borelli and Kristen Schueler.
The Magic finished the season with a 20-3 record, improving upon their 15-8 mark from the previous season. This went down as one of the greatest seasons in program history, after the 2014 team which finished second in the Western Nationals.
That squad was coached by longtime Wildcats coach Randy Frey, who continues to be a vital supporter of the LGCS Magic program. In fact, Frey ran a clinic at LGHS for the Magic players two months prior to the team’s championship run.
Locals make history
Two LGHS juniors—Teagan Kaefer and Avery Edson—played for the Mountain View Los Altos soccer team that won the Elite Clubs National Finals Tournament Championship in July. Few squads earn their way into one of the nation’s top youth soccer showcase events, let alone play in the final.
After all, the tournament features the best club teams in the nation duking it out for supremacy. The tradition-rich MVLA club cemented its status as one of the country’s best as its under-16 girls team defeated the powerhouse Kansas City Athletics 3-1 to claim the national championship.
“This has been a big goal (for the club) for a while,” Edson said. “The last time (MVLA won a ECNL title) was 2004, so it’s a big thing for our club. To see the community reaction has been awesome.”
MVLA beat the Utah Royals and Penn Fusion by identical 1-0 scores before playing Kansas City in the championship match.
The call of a lifetime
On July 14, Nico Wagner achieved the dream of every kid who grows up playing baseball: his name was called during the Major League Baseball Draft.
The Atlanta Braves selected Wagner in the 16th round (no. 487 overall), making the 19-year-old the first player selected directly out of West Valley College since 2009.
Surrounded by family members, teammates and friends at his parents’ Lake Tahoe home, it’s a moment Wagner won’t soon forget.
“I got to watch it live, so it was a pretty surreal moment,” Wagner said. “One of the best moments of my life. My mom was bawling her eyes out, and same with my aunt and a few of my friends, too. They were all crying and everyone was so excited. Just an amazing moment and very emotional.”
Wagner is a South Lake Tahoe High School graduate who spent one year at the University of Nevada-Reno in 2024 before transferring to West Valley for 2025. In his lone season with the Vikings, Wagner was flat-out dominant, going 9-2 with a 2.17 ERA in 18 games, including 15 starts.
He averaged nearly a strikeout per inning, finishing with 94 strikeouts in 95.1 innings for a team that advanced to the State Final Four for the second consecutive year. It was a 180-degree turnaround from his freshman year at Nevada, which saw Wagner struggle with a 0-2 record and 9.61 ERA.
Gridiron warriors
The LGHS football team was the only public school team to crack the top five in Max Preps’ CCS preseason rankings—then went out and lived up to its billing. Ranked No. 3—and sandwiched in between top-ranked Riordan, No. 2 Serra, No. 4 St. Francis and No. 5 St. Ignatius—the Wildcats finished 9-4, including a 5-0 mark to win the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division championship.
They produced a pair of impressive victories over St. Francis and Palma before falling to Serra 28-21 in the CCS Division I title game. Senior wide receiver Max Thomas ended his prep career with a fine outing, hauling in five passes for 94 yards, including a spectacular 32-yard TD catch that saw him outleap a Serra defender near the left pylon.
Callum Schweitzer completed 11-of-19 passes for 159 yards, while Grayson Doslak rushed for 61 yards on 16 carries. Defensively, Hudson Schrader, Austin Krug, Devonte Troutt, Lane Newman and Jimmy Childers each had a tackle for loss. Schrader led the way with 21 total tackles. Week after week, the Wildcats proved they were one of the elite teams in the CCS.
They executed on offense with precision—balanced, explosive, unpredictable. Their defense swarmed the ball with relentlessness and ferocity. True, the final score didn’t give them the result they wanted. In the postgame ceremony, the bitter disappointment was evident on the players’ faces.
But, they left an indelible mark as league champions on and off the field, with a team GPA of 3.613—tops in the CCS.
Coming up aces
The LGHS girls tennis team had its best season in recent memory, going 12-0 to win the SCVAL De Anza Division—the top league in the CCS. To wit: De Anza runner-up Los Altos, after losing to Los Gatos in both league meetings, prevailed over the Wildcats in the CCS playoff title match en route to winning the CIF NorCal and CIF State championships.
The Wildcats also added a victory in the opening round of the CIF NorCal Regional playoffs. Their lineup in the CCS final included Kayla Mitchell, Tuleen Ikkawi, Anya Chahaun and Lila Zamansky at the Nos. 1-4 singles positions. The doubles teams featured Lera Marinicheva and Kaley Do at the No. 1 slot, Sejal Pancholy and Sophia Kim at No. 2 and sisters Syona Rama and Riya Rama rounding out the No. 3 doubles position.
The Wildcats’ two wins in the title match came at No. 2 and 3 doubles. Pancholy and Kim lost just one match the entire season, while the senior duo of Marinicheva and Do provided leadership as the co-captains of the team. Three days after the team tournament final, Mitchell captured the CCS singles title, a fitting end to one of the greatest careers in program history.
The dynasty of all dynasties
The Los Gatos High School field hockey team ended the season the way it started: with a dominant victory. The Wildcats extended their ongoing CCS record with an 18th playoff championship, rolling to a 3-0 win over No. 4 seed St. Francis on Nov. 12 in the Division I title match at Los Altos High. With 10 seconds remaining and the outcome long decided, the 60-plus players on the Los Gatos side started the countdown.
“It was surreal in that moment,” standout senior Leaya Cleary said. “It kind of felt like a dream.”
Reality was better than reverie for the Wildcats, as they finished the season 22-1. However, their record doesn’t begin to encapsulate their sheer dominance. Los Gatos outscored its opponents 176-4—no, that’s not a typo—while posting 21 shutouts in 23 of its matches.
