“No one wanted this moment to end,” Herald sports reporter John Devine wrote as Carmel High’s football team celebrated winning a state title. “Players weren’t in any hurry to take off the uniform for the final time, or cut the tape from their shoes or wrists. … clutching that state high school championship football plaque was a milestone for the 47 players and coaching staff of Carmel High.”

Carmel traveled to Fullerton early in December to beat El Capitan of Lakeside 48-7 for the state Division 5AA title. The win capped an undefeated season for Carmel at 15-0, a single-season county-record. The Padres averaged 50 points a game in five postseason games.

The state title was just the second in county history, as Palma captured the state Division 4A title last season.

“I’m just so proud and humble to be a part of this whole ride with this group,” Carmel coach Golden Anderson said. “These kids represented what we are as a program.”

The Padres had advanced to the state title game by beating Acalanes of Lafayette 42-41, when Simeon Brown stopped a 2-point conversation attempt with no time left at the 1-yard line. That win gave Carmel the NorCal title. A few weeks earlier the Padres had won the Central Coast Section Division III title.

Carmel High wasn’t the only undefeated football team from the county. Monterey Peninsula College went 11-0, winning the American Bowl.

Another storm

Much of the Monterey Peninsula was without power the weekend of Dec. 15, as a powerful storm blew through the region, knocking down trees and powerlines. The Monterey Regional Airport reported wind gusts as high as 79 mph. A tornado touched down in Scotts Valley, causing some damage, and San Francisco was briefly under a tornado watch.

Pebble Beach tree

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office was unable to find any leads in the incident regarding a woman who was reportedly tied to a tree in Pebble Beach at gunpoint. The woman, who was only identified as being in her 40s, said she was walking on a wooded trail located in the woods between Haul Road and Holman Highway around 7:30 a.m. Dec. 4 when a male she described as being Hispanic and in his 30s wearing a green hat and grey sweater approached her. She said he had a tattoo on the right side of his neck with a word that begins with the letter “Z.”

She said as he got closer he brandished a gun and walked her to a nearby tree where he proceeded to tie her up and left her. The woman said she remained tied to the tree until she was found by passersby nearly two hours later. She was not injured, assaulted or robbed.

A search was conducted by the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, Pebble Beach Security and a CalFire Drone Team, but the suspect was not found.

The Sheriff’s Office later followed up, saying they had been unable to corroborate the victim’s description of the events leading to the discovery of her being tied to the tree.

Promising possibilities

The Monterey Peninsula Water Management District began discussing how much water each jurisdiction in the district will receive when the Pure Water Monterey expansion project comes online late next year. That additional water could free up the construction of thousands of new houses and multifamily units that had been stymied. Once the expansion comes online, it will bring the Peninsula’s water supply up to 12,116 acre-feet from all sources. The building moratorium was slapped on communities as part of a cease-and-desist order state water regulators imposed on California American Water Co. back in 2009 because of Cal Am’s excessive pumping from the Carmel River aquifer that was ruled environmentally damaging, particularly to endangered steelhead.