As the school year begins, fall sports teams have jumped right into action. PHS has seven fall sports: cross country, football, women’s golf, women’s tennis, volleyball, men’s and women’s water polo. 
Cross country looks to build upon its strong season last year. Senior Sophia Zalewski won North Coast Section (NCS) on the girls side and the boys were competitive as well. JV coach Chris Rogers says the goal of the program is for each runner to improve.
“I want everyone to be competitive,” Rogers said.
Football went 5-6 last year and graduated 22 seniors. They also hired a new interim head coach, Jerome Johnson, after former coach John Trotman resigned. Coach and Director of Athletics Alphonso Powell believes that the team can be good through hard work.
“This is a young team, so the team’s going to go as far as they want to work, learn, and get better,” Powell said.
Howard Oliver is the new men’s and women’s golf head coach. In order to make the team more competitive, Oliver established a qualifying score of 60 strokes to be an active member of the team with full practice privileges.
“We’ve begun tailoring practices towards those players committed to the process of playing better golf,” Oliver said. “We are not a golf club, we are a competitive team.”
Women’s tennis has been dominant recently, but they lost many key players. They have not lost a league match in 20 years and have won NCS five times. However, they lost Western Alameda County Shoreline (WACC) Foothill Division player-of-year and junior Makenna Thiel, who is being homeschooled to focus on her tennis career.
“My goal for this year is to improve,” coach Jim Landes said. “I’m not going for a great record, I just want the players that we have to get significantly better.”
Volleyball is setting the bar high and is looking to progress this season. Coach Daron True is optimistic about the team’s chances as league matches begin. They are looking to make their third consecutive NCS appearance and finished second or third in league.
“We have good leadership on both teams and I was overjoyed at the amount of talent we got from the new freshman class,” True said. “We’ve built up so much the past two years and I want to continue that success.”
Men’s water polo is coming off a 22-6 season in which they won the league title, lost in the league championship final, and advanced to the semifinals of NCS. However, all six of their starters graduated, including Henry Saunders and Patrick Conn.
“Henry and Patrick were two of the best players in PHS history,” senior Ethan Drake said.
Overall, the team is looking to rebuild and progress this year.
“The goal for this year is to have a great, healthy season filled with wins,” senior Tag Walter said.
Women’s water polo recently hired a new head coach, Sarah Mooney. Mooney is a 2014 PHS graduate who was a two-time WACC player of the year. She played college water polo at Bucknell University. Mooney said the goal for this year is to work on the fundamentals of the sport and teamwork.
“Another main goal is to win senior night,” Mooney said.
