Senior water polo talent Matthias Cruz didn’t lead Santa Cruz High in any statistical categories this season. A team captain, Cruz led with a number of intangible skills.

The team benefitted not only from his performance, but his presence and leadership skills. The Cardinals (19-6, 8-0) won their third straight league title and qualified for the Central Coast Section’s prestigious Open Division playoffs as the No. 5 seed — making them the highest ranked public school.

Cruz was named the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League MVP for the second time in three years.The honor is extra rewarding considering he suffered a shoulder injury during his junior year and had surgery following the season. He had a dislocated shoulder, torn labrum and partial biceps tear.

“This is big for me,” Cruz said. “When I won it as a sophomore, it was the high point of my water polo career. I had shoulder surgery my junior year and had surgery. I came back six months later and finished my senior season, and helped the program reach new heights. I didn’t know if I could return to my old level, and I proved to myself that I can. I’m really happy. It was a great season, we went really far.”

Cruz finished third on his team in scoring with 39 goals, second in assists (32), and third in steals (29).

There’s an old adage in sports used when assessing an athlete’s value and contributions: The numbers don’t lie. They do if you ask Santa Cruz’s Caleb Conroy, who was voted SCCAL Coach of the Year by his peers.

“He was the person who made out team a team,” Conroy said. “He’s a very strong leader and cares about our culture and tries to influence the team positively. Character traits are what I’m about most, not what showed up on the stat sheet.”

Conroy said the position Cruz played, two-meter defender, is extremely demanding.

“The position is similar to playing safety (in football),” his coach said. “He guards the other team’s best player. He’s everywhere in the pool, reads the offense, and makes up for his teammates’ mistakes.”

Conroy said Cruz not only did that, he did so while being undersized for his position. Cruz is 5-foot-11, 200 pounds. Ideally, most college-bound, two-meter defenders are in the 6-4, 230-pound range, his coach said.

Smaller players can compensate with body positioning, solid fundamentals and tactical awareness.

“He does the hard work early so he’s in position to create success for the team,” Conroy said.

Also impressive, Conroy said Cruz shined through three rule adjustments that benefit offensive players.

He was the ideal pupil, said Conroy, noting that Cruz is a role model for the younger players on his NorCal Aquatics club team.

“He’s the first person to practice and the last one to leave,” Conroy said. “My philosophy is ’15 minutes early is on time.’ I tell the kids to do what is needed to get prepared for games. He led the team more than I did.”

Cruz was joined on the first team by two teammates: senior Pa’kalani Vaka-Saxton and junior Hayden Johnson.

Vaka-Saxton led the Cardinals with 100 goals and 38 steals. He also made 21 assists. Johnson finished with 60 goals, 15 assists, and 23 steals.

Soquel (19-6, 6-2), which took second place in league, won the SCCAL Tournament and reached the CCS Division II semifinals, also had three players honored on the first team: seniors Cash Wolf and goalie Jacob Henshaw, and junior Stryder Stelck.

Wolf led the Knights with 106 goals — the fifth-highest total in the CCS — 42 steals and 55 ejections drawn, and also made 23 assists. Stelck had 66 goals, a team-high 45 assists, and made 32 steals and drew 30 ejections.

Henshaw, committed to play for NCAA Division II UC Merced next season, made 251 saves, an average of 9.3 per match. He finished with a 7.5 goals-against average.

Harbor junior Kai Henrikson and Aptos junior Kevin Johnson rounded out the first team.