Soccer Team Cheered with Mayor's Proclamation

The Central Coast Section champion Watsonville High boys' soccer team was lauded at the Watsonville City Council meeting Tuesday evening for their monumental win earlier this month.

“This is a great honor to be to giving this to some champions of our community," Mayor Eduardo Montesino said as he presented the 20 teenage boys with a framed proclamation. 

The Wildcatz played No. 1 Menlo-Atherton in the CCS D-I final on March 3. The team broke through in the ninth minute, when senior Jose Flores scored first goal of the game. Flores went on to score another goal and tally an assist in Watsonville High's 3-1 defeat of Menlo-Atherton at Gilroy High.

“We’ve got to celebrate this because we don’t have too many in our community," Montesino siad. "You guys are an example of how youth can lead the way."

The Wildcatz, ranked No. 16 in the country, have seen success on and off the field this year.

Eight of the nine seniors on the team are going on to state universities after graduation, said Head Coach Roland Hedgpeth. Hedgpeth himself has been with the team for 42 seasons.

Also at the city council meeting Tuesday, there was a report on . There is movement to eliminate single-use plastic bags in the city, ban Styrofoam food containers and to add a green waste pickup program to city trash service. Expect to hear more about that in the late spring or early summer, city leaders said.