We’ve been spoiled. A state champion in both football and boys golf. A Northern California winner in boys soccer. Central Coast Section team champions in boys golf, boys cross-country, baseball, girls wrestling and girls volleyball. Podium finishers at the state championships in boys and girls wrestling, where there are no divisions.

Yet, we also witnessed Clara Adams’ 400-meter state title in track and field being stripped from her because of what was determined to be an excessive celebration, a decision by the CIF that made national news.

You can’t fit all of this school year’s highlights into one story. Yet, a glance back at the past nine-plus months leaves you breathless when recounting a season of monumental achievements.

Fall season

Carmel’s perfect football season was historic.

The Padres were the story of the year, perhaps of the modern era, setting a standard that may never be duplicated in the county.

Carmel posted a 15-0 season, capturing a league, section, Northern California and State Division 5A title in the process. No county team has won four titles in one season. The 15-0 record likely won’t be reached ever again.

The ride over the 18-week season was magical as the Padres overcame deficits, unforeseen obstacles and nine opponents that reached the postseason.

Quarterback Hudson Rutherford threw for 42 touchdowns, while Ashton Rees compiled over 2,000 multi-purpose yards and 35 touchdowns.

The Padres’ offense, anchored by 285-pound Alabama-bound offensive lineman Jackson Lloyd, averaged nearly 45 points a game, with Ty Arnold catching 88 passes.

Yet, what will go down as the most memorable moment during Carmel’s run came on special teams in the Northern California title game when Simeon Brown came up with the play of the year — for any sport.

The Padres defensive back read the play on a two-point conversion, came up and stuck the runner a half-yard shy of the end zone with no time left on the clock in a 42-41 win over Acalanes.

The Padres finished the job a week later with a 48-9 win over El Capitan of Lakeside, in which Rees accounted for five touchdowns with a broken toe.

Rees, who had surgery in the off-season for the injury, spent the entire week in a walking boot, ran for 208 yards, then left the stadium in a walking boot.

Carmel’s magical football run overshadowed the heroics of North County, which won the program’s first football title in 19 years, and first title outright in 25 years.

The Condors, who missed the postseason the previous year after dropping their last two games, made amends by winning their last two games to seal the title.

There was a changing of the guard in the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s Gabilan Division as Salinas’ run of six straight football titles ended after Soquel went undefeated in league, while Palma reached the CCS Division II title game.

Unable to four-peat as league champions in volleyball only fueled Salinas in the postseason, as it repeated as Central Coast Section Division I champions.

Jennifer Rivera and Izabella Storelli ignited an attack led by setter Cadee Guzman, as Salinas gave outgoing coach Chloe Goldman her third section title — including one as a player in 2004.

Carmel and Monterey both won league titles for the first time in a decade, with Dartmouth-bound Riley Imamura earning the Herald’s Volleyball Player of the Year.

Keep an eye this coming fall on Greenfield’s Aleena Salas, who has compiled nearly 800 kills and 500 digs in her first two years.

Stevenson made a splash in girls’ water polo — again — reaching the Northern California title game for the third straight year.

Bumped up a division after capturing the Division III crown in 2023, the Pirates fell by a pair to San Ramon in Division II. UC Santa Barbara-bound Emmerson Ferriera left as the school’s all-time leader in goals, finishing with 117 last season.

Teammate Miranda Salinger will join Ferriera at Santa Barbara, as the pair combined for 428 goals over the past two seasons.

The popularity of flag football continues to grow as reflected in the number of students turning out in its second season. King City won the Pacific Coast Athletic League tournament title. Quarterback Katia Slama threw for nearly 5,600 yards and 98 touchdowns. Shyrah McDonald rushed for nearly 1,400 yards and compiled over 1,500 receiving yards with 18 touchdowns for King City. Yenesia Rodriguez finished with 20 interceptions.

Sophomore Emi Okada-Alonzo went undefeated for the second straight year in league play for Monterey as the team’s No. 1 singles player, capturing the PCAL tennis title.

Marina put together a historic season in boys’ cross-country, becoming the first program on campus to win a Gabilan Division team title.

Behind Miguel Flores, the Mariners followed that up by winning the CCS Division IV boys title. Carmel’s Mack Aldi and Gonzales Giovani Ochoa were state meet repeaters in cross country.

Stevenson won its eighth straight PCAL girls golf title behind four-time all-leaguer Nikki Iniakov, who will play at Harvard next year. As a team, it finished fourth at the state championships.

Winter season

Arguably the largest home crowd for any sport last season filled the Alvarez High stands for what turned out to be a historic soccer season.

While perfection was interrupted by three ties, the Eagles had a run for the ages in capturing the Northern California Division I boys soccer title.

Alvarez erased a 1-0 deficit, using two goals from Jorge Hernandez in a 2-1 win over national power De La Salle.

Junior Luis Macias produced a school-record 28 goals, as Alvarez established a school record with a 23-0-3 season.

Alvarez’s path to a Northern California title included knocking off perennial Gabilan Division power Alisal, 17-time CCS champion Bellarmine and De La Salle.

The core of the Eagles lineup will be back next year, along with goalie Alvaro Reyes, who was sensational as a sophomore.Despite not having a home field for two years, Gonzales paved its path to history with a school record 20 wins in reaching the Northern California Division IV boys soccer title game.

Junior Jorge Uribe put together a season to remember with 27 goals and 12 assists as Gonzales won the Cypress Division title and CCS Division IV crown.

Gonzales ran off 13 straight wins before falling 2-1 to Roseland University Prep of Santa Rosa in overtime.

Salinas reached the CCS Division I girls soccer finals before seeing a school record 16-game unbeaten streak end in a 1-0 loss to Homestead.

Cal Poly-bound Kate Nunes and her 20 assists will be back for a senior season, as well as Morgan Retterer and her 20 goals.

For as dominant as Ella Myers has been on the softball field for four years, she’s leaving a legacy in wrestling as well at Monterey.

The UC Santa Barbara-bound pitcher helped the Toreadores to the program’s first girls’ CCS wrestling team title.

Myers capped a career that included over 100 wins by reaching the podium at state, finishing fourth overall at 140 pounds.

Sophomore Aiden Garcia landed a podium finish for the second straight year for Palma, placing third at 113 pounds.

Garcia, who finished sixth at 105 pounds in 2024, is just the second Chieftain wrestler to ever podium twice. Teammate Isaiah Rangel finished eighth at 169 pounds.

The arrival of six football players six weeks late from an extended season enabled Carmel to defend its Gabilan Division boys basketball title.

Behind The Herald’s Player of the Year in Cal State Monterey Bay-bound Warren Blut, Carmel won its fourth league title in seven years, reaching the CCS Division IV finals.

Despite falling in the CCS DIV title game to King’s Academy by three points, the Padres were bumped to Division III for the state tournament, falling in the quarterfinals.

On the heels of North County’s first football title in 19 years, a handful of those players helped lead the basketball program to its first Mission Division championship in 10 years.

AJ Gomez and Kenji Mellin — two key components on the football team — were the architects behind the Condors’ 18-win season on the hardwood.

Perfection rang for Pacific Grove and Marina in winning girls league basketball titles, while Salinas ran off nine straight wins to capture the Gabilan Division behind Herald Most Valuable Player Alice Uchida.

Spring season

Coming off a spring in which she broke the county track and field record in the 400 meters in finishing fourth at the state finals in 2024, Clara Adams added more to her legacy.

The sophomore rewrote her county record in the 400, by breaking the Central Coast Section finals mark with a time of 53.23 seconds. She also set school records in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 at North Salinas.

Adams, who also ran the second fastest time in the state trials in the 200 at 23.71, went out and created a buzz in the crowd when she won the state 400 finals.

Yet, minutes after her victory, Adams was stripped of her title and disqualified from the meet after taking a fire extinguisher and spraying her shoes in a celebratory moment away from her opponents. The controversial decision has gone national.

Ozzy Godoy was a triple event winner for Palma at the Gabilan Division finals, reaching the state meet in the 300 intermediate hurdles, clocking the third fastest time in county history at 38.29.

Mack Aldi made a return trip to the state meet in the 800 for Carmel after finishing second at the CCS finals. The senior ran a career-best 1:52.50.

Kekoa Williams cleared 6 feet, 6 inches at the CCS finals to earn a spot in the state meet, while Angela Ayozie of Alvarez uncorked the shot put 27 inches further than her state qualifying mark from 2024 to return to the state meet. Emma Beck of Salinas qualified in the triple jump.

Stevenson put a historic season together by winning the Mission Division title and CCS Division VI baseball crown together for the first time, extending their season into the Northern California Division V finals before falling to Etna in the title game.

Reggie Bell got the celebration started in the CCS title game when his double brought in a pair to give Stevenson a 10-run win over South San Francisco.

Carmel turned to its pitching in capturing a CCS Division III title, with Lucas Rocha, Kenny Sanchez and Matt Maxon throwing darts as starters, as the program reached the Northern California Division III semifinals.

Maxon, who has already committed to Stanford University as a pitcher, was 7-for-10 in the postseason, driving in eight runs in five games, while hitting two homers and stealing three bases.

Monterey stunned a few by not only making the playoffs with seven underclassmen but reaching the finals before falling to DV top seed Menlo.

Behind Alex Gonzalez’ 10-homer, 51 RBI season, Palma won the Gabilan Division title before succumbing in the Open Division playoffs to state-ranked Serra of San Mateo.

The Pacific Coast Athletic League had a team playing for a section baseball title in five divisions, including Hollister (DII), Carmel (DIII), St. Francis (DIV), Monterey (DV) and Stevenson (DVI).

A generational talent in softball closed out a chapter in her life when Ella Myers and her 35 homers and nearly 700 strikeouts pitched her last game for the Toreadores.

During Myers’ four years, Monterey won two CCS Division II titles, a Northern California DIII crown and its first league title in 12 years.

Salinas and Monterey shared the Gabilan Division title, then met for a third time in the CCS Open Division playoffs, with the Cowboys prevailing 3-2 behind pitcher Abi Jones.

The win vaulted Salinas into the Northern California Division II tournament, where it used a walk-off single from Gigi Rossi in the semifinals to advance to the title game, then watched Jones strikeout 12 in a 4-1 win over Liberty in the championship — the first NorCal title in school history.

Dani Amendola broke the county strikeout record held by Monica Abbott, leading Alvarez to the CCS Division II semifinals.

Amendola pitched the Eagles to three CCS titles and a Northern California championship, compiling nearly 1,000 strikeouts over four years.

King City put together a historic run when it won its first CCS Division V softball title, the first CCS title for any girls’ sport at King City since 1992, extending its season into the Northern California Division V finals, before falling to top-seed Biggs.

In their first five playoff games, the Mustangs 10-run-ruled three teams, including top-seed Independence of San Jose.

Once the core of the team arrived at midseason, the Chieftains were a different softball team in their inaugural season as evident by the team reaching the CCS Division IV finals.

Emmerson Ferriera left her mark in swimming at Stevenson, capturing two individual events in helping the program snap Monterey’s run of three straight Gabilan Division girls’ team titles.

In fact, the Pirates also won the boys team championship behind Andy Wu and Will Maiorana, marking the first time in 13 years both programs brought home titles in the same season.

It was a banner year for Stevenson in spring sports, as it took home two swimming titles, two lacrosse titles, a tennis championship, a girls track and field crown, a baseball title and a 14th straight league golf title.

With Princeton-bound Luke Brandler anchoring a deep golf lineup, the Pirates also captured the program’s third straight CCS title by shooting 4-under as a team, then closed out the year with their first state team title since 2013.

Three players shot under-par at Poppy Hills for Stevenson, including Brandler, Steven Lai and sophomore Zachary Hawkins.

Monterey extended its season into the CCS Division II boys volleyball semifinals for the third straight year, knocking out Carmel in the quarterfinals.

Andres Epinoza fueled the offense at the net, with PK Swartz showcasing demon-like skills in the back row.

Palma brought home a Mission Division title, going 14-0. Ben Dalton was the centerpiece to the offense as the team’s setter, while Aaron Pacheco and JT Harreld were defensive stalwarts.