Sports Are Central at Cate School
Stellar 8-Man Football Season Comes to End in Smoke-Interrupted Game
Cate School, an exclusive private school situated at the end of an uphill gated road, would seem to be a world apart from the surrounding community of Carpinteria. Its football team competes with similar prep schools in the unique 8-man division. But the Rams can trace their roots directly to the Carpinteria High Warriors.
Ben Soto, Cate’s head football coach, played for the Warriors in the early 1970s. A prominently displayed photo in Soto’s office shows him with two of his Carpinteria coaches, Mike Warren and Lou Panizzon. “They are very influential people in my life,” Soto said. He played football under Warren and baseball under Panizzon, who later became head football coach. “Panizzon hired me to help out, one thing led to another, and here I am,” Soto said. “What those guys taught me is what I’m doing here.”
Soto, 63, went up the hill to become Cate’s baseball coach more than 30 years ago. He took the reins of the football program at its inception in 2005.
