Losing Seasons to COVID-19:

Unfortunately, no list of Paly’s sad sports moments would be complete without reflecting on the loss of 2020’s spring seasons as well as the ensuing short seasons in 2021. In 2020, the preseason was just beginning for our spring teams. As covid hit, seniors held out hope for what would have been the last season of organized sport for many. These dreams faded as the reality of lockdown set in. While the loss of 2020’s sports was a sharp punch in the gut, 2021 was much more of a slow burn. The CIF, CCS and SCVAL slowly dashed Paly athletes hopes of normal seasons. With ever changing schedules and COVID tiers, many Paly athletes were happy with the eventual shortened Spring seasons. But without a postseason, no one can pretend that things are as they should be. 

Boys Water Polo v.s. Wildfires:

The Spring of 2019, Paly was in the midst of one of its best men’s water polo seasons in school history. Led by Viking Magazine Alumni Dexter Gormley and Ryan Stanley, the team snagged the only D1y CCS title in school history for Water Polo. Going into the state tournament, everything seemed to be going Paly’s way. Unfortunately, the competition was postponed and then cancelled due to wildfires and the ensuing smoke across California. It was quite an anticlimactic way to end such a promising season. 

Losing to Wilcox:

There have been highs and lows for the Paly football team for the past four years, however each year the team has consistently struggled against one opponent: Wilcox.  Even at Paly’s best in 2019 they still lost 35 to 21 to the Chargers. Each year the team went into the game with high hopes to end the streak and each year they came up short. Currently, there are no members of the Junior Varsity or Varsity Football team that has beaten Wilcox.

Girls Water Polo:

Through the class of ‘21s freshman through junior year, the girls water polo team struggled. The team never had a win rate higher than 40 percent. Last year the team lost their coach half-way through the season which only furthered their problems. Worse, throughout the past three years the girls water polo team has never beaten Paly’s cross town rivals in Gunn – including four different losses to Gun Throughout the 2019 season. The team has, however, closed with strong performances in the past two seasons as they upended a seven year losing streak to Los Altos in triple-overtime and then trounced them 13-2 this season.

Girls Basketball loses in CCS Back to Back years

Even though Girls Basketball has dominated for the past couple of seasons they have struggled to get over the hump into championship territory. Led by Viking Magazine’s own Annika Shah (‘21) the team made it to the division 1 CCS final for two straight years. Even though the team won in 2017 no member of the team was in the Class of ‘21. In 2019 the girls team fell to Sequoia highschool at Paly with a score of 50-34. In 2020 the squad lost to Menlo-Atherton in a close game of 34-32, once again played at Paly. Even though the girls team dominated throughout the regular season, they were never able to win the game that mattered most.