Murtha's Mariners Rise

A Fast Start Behind Luke Murtha

The Mariners entered 2009 with a simple goal: prove that the 9-6-1 season the year before was no fluke. What they delivered was something far more emphatic. The Mariners roared through their first six opponents, and nobody came close. Santa Cruz fell 13-3, Pacific Collegiate 11-4, York 14-11, Soquel 15-8. Then Carmel absorbed a 19-3 beating, and Harbor was shut out 9-0. By mid-March, Aptos had outscored opponents 81-29 and established itself as the most dangerous team in the SCCAL.

Junior attackman Luke Murtha was the engine driving the Mariners' success. By late March, after seven games, he had tallied 28 goals on 35 shots with 14 assists, leading the league by an 11-goal margin over the next closest scorer. On March 23, the Sentinel ran a feature on Luke Murtha that painted the full picture. Here was a kid leading the league in scoring by 11 goals, carrying a 4.0-plus GPA, and taking engineering classes at Cabrillo College on the side. His father, standing on the sideline as both coach and dad, watched teammates start to play harder because Luke set the standard every day. "The sky is the limit," the headline read. It was hard to argue.

The hot start hit its first real test when Scotts Valley visited and handed Aptos a 21-14 loss. The Falcons, led by league MVP Billy Greene, proved they were the class of the SCCAL. But the Mariners responded well, bouncing back with wins over Soquel (16-7) and San Lorenzo Valley (5-2) to stay near the top of the league standings.

Strong Finish, Seven All-League Honors

The second half of the season brought both tough losses and resilient victories. A 13-6 loss to Stevenson exposed Aptos against one of the section's top programs, and Watsonville emerged as the team Aptos could not solve. The first meeting stung — a 9-10 road loss decided by a single goal. When the Wildcatz came to Aptos three weeks later, the Mariners wanted the rematch to go differently. Instead, Watsonville pulled away for an 11-8 win, completing the season sweep and establishing themselves as the one SCCAL opponent Aptos could not figure out. A second loss to Scotts Valley (10-12) in the season's final league meeting cemented the Falcons — led by MVP Billy Greene's 44 goals and 29 assists — as the SCCAL's best. Despite those setbacks, Aptos won three of their final five games — victories over Harbor (6-1), Pacific Collegiate (13-10), and York (10-7) — to finish 12-5 overall and 6-2 in league play.

Luke Murtha finished with a team-leading 52 goals and 23 assists for 75 points, establishing himself as one of the top players in the region. Joey Coffman added 36 goals and 6 assists, Zack Powell contributed 32 goals and 16 assists, and senior Brian Williamson anchored the team at both ends.