Honor roll: The week’s best performances by San Mateo County high school athletes

Cole Hardtke, Burlingame football. The two-way standout was a pillar in Burlingame’s 17-14 win over North Salinas in the CCS Division IV opener. Still on the comeback trail from a knee injury that cost him the first four weeks of the season, Hardtke looked fully recovered from the linebacker position, recording a team-high nine tackles, including three tackles for a loss. His biggest moment was on offense, though, as part of another comeback story — this one with the Panthers driving in the fourth quarter while trailing 14-10. Hardtke came up with a big 23-yard reception from quarterback Luke Levitt to move Burlingame into the red zone, setting it up for senior running back Lucas Kirk (19 carries for 98 yards) to pound it in for the game-winning touchdown.

Reed Hagmueller, Serra boys’ water polo. The senior hole set led the Padres with three goals and an assist during their disappointing 9-7 overtime loss to Los Altos in the CCS Division I championship at Sacred Heart Prep Saturday.

Greg Gamitian, Sacred Heart Prep football. The postseason certainly seems to bring out the best in the senior running back. Gamitian entered Friday’s CCS Division IV opener with 542 rushing yards on the season, having surpassed the 100-yard mark in just one regular-season game, totaling 104 in a Sept. 27 win at Hillsdale. Friday, in SHP’s 24-14 win over the King’s Academy, Gamitian not only took a season-high 30 carries, he shattered his career-high, rushing for 134 yards.

Peyton Fu-Sarosa, Sacred Heart Prep volleyball. The junior libero fronted an SHP serving onslaught in the CIF Nor Cal Division II quarterfinals. The Gators advanced with a four-set win at Del Oro-Loomis, totaling 17 service aces in the process. Fu-Sarosa led the way, scoring a career-high six aces, while also leading the Gators with 13 service points in 22 attempts. She also paced the defense with 22 digs, with her 5.5 digs per set a career-best in four- or five-set matches.

Clay Carrington and Murdoch Baker-Matsuoka, Sacred Heart Prep boys’ water polo. The offensive and defensive heroes, respectively, in the Gators’ 10-9 win over St. Francis in the CCS Open Division title game. Carrington, a junior, scored a game-high four goals, including what turned out to be the game-winning strike with 3:17 left in the match. Carrington also added an assist. Baker-Matsuoka, a junior goalie, finished with eight saves — including a stop of a 5-meter penalty shot in the third quarter which kept the Gators up by a goal, 8-7.

Natalia Szczerba, Sacred Heart Prep girls’ water polo. The senior, who is a member of the US Youth National Team, had a hand in nine of the Gators’ 12 goals in a 12-2 dismantling of Soquel in the CCS Open Division championship game Saturday at SHP. Szczerba tied with teammate Vivian Golub for game-high scoring honors with four, but Szczerba also added five assists.

Cam Palma and Emmanuel Fitzgerald, San Mateo football. There were several barnburners in the opening round of the CCS football playoffs, but none quite like the Bearcats’ Division III matchup at No. 1-seed Carmel. No. 8 San Mateo was getting hammered early on, and took a 42-13 deficit into halftime. Then the Bearcats came roaring out of the locker room, outscoring Carmel 33-7 over the next 20 minutes, closing to within a field goal at 49-46. Who knows how it would have played out had it not been for Carmel returning on onside kick for a touchdown with just under two minutes? But Palma and Fitzgerald certainly got their money’s worth in the final varsity game of their fine careers. Fitzgerald rushed 29 times for 215 yards, pushing him past the career 2,500-yard mark with 2,574 yards through two varsity seasons. Palma, the agile quarterback, added 16 carries for 129 yards and three touchdowns. The Bearcats finished the night with 496 total yards of offense, including 461 rushing yards.

Thomas Miller, South City football. The Warriors have showcased some extraordinary depth this season, and opened their CCS Division V title defense by carving another name into the list of skill-position weapons. No. 1-seed South City scored 21 unanswered points in the second half to take down No. 8 Gunderson-San Jose, led by Miller moving to the quarterback position. The junior rushed for one touchdown in the second quarter to send the Warriors into the locker room tied 7-7, then capped his night with a 20-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Cesar Vasquez Moreno, who finished the play with a dazzling one-handed leaping grab.

Chapel Meza Thorborne, Sequoia football. The senior defensive end departed Sequoia’s 33-6 win over Gunn-Palo Alto due to injury in the first half of the CCS Division V opener. In limited play, though, Thorborne made his presence felt. He opened the night getting in on back-to-back tackles for losses on the game’s first two plays from scrimmage. He finished with four tackles, including one quarterback sack.

Anna Salter, Crystal girls’ cross country. The junior took second place in the deep Division V field at the CCS Championships, held Saturday at the Crystal Springs Cross Country Course. Perhaps the only reason she fell short of the title is because Castilleja junior Brooke Oliveira’s first-place time cracked the top 250 performances ever recorded on the 2.95-mile course. Salter finished in 18:04.21, the fourth fastest time of the day throughout all five races, two of which broke the 18-minute mark, including Oliveira at 17:56.64. Only Prospect senior Kylie Hoornaert ran faster, winning the Division III race in 17:48.79, ranking 160th all-time at Crystal Springs.

Landon Pretre, Menlo School boys’ cross country. The senior fronted a Knights’ effort that helped lead them to their first Central Coast Section team title since 1998 as they won the Division V championship Saturday. Menlo had five runners finish in the top 10 led by Pretre, who won the individual title with a time of 14:24.8, the second-fastest race ever at the Crystal Springs Cross Country Course. The Knights’ team time of 1 hour, 15 minutes and 43 seconds also set a new record, bettering the time Bellarmine set in 2019.