Two days after opening the postseason with a dominating 62-18 victory over San Mateo, a team that barely made the playoff field with an overall record of 11-16, the Pioneers met a "real" playoff team. Their quarterfinal opponent on Feb. 25 was Santa Cruz, the defending CCS, NorCal and state champs in Division III.

Just as San Mateo met Cupertino's big guy, 6-foot-4 senior David Warren (20 points, eight rebounds in limited duty), the Pioneers were introduced to Santa Cruz's version of the "Twin Towers" at St. Ignatius in San Francisco.

Although Cupertino led by as many as seven points in the first quarter and held a 13-9 advantage at the end of the period, the Cardinals' 6-foot-6 Jesse Lobue (26 points, nine rebounds) and 6-foot-5 Chris Sharp (21, 11) proved to be double trouble. The senior tandem was the big reason Santa Cruz was able to outscore Cupertino 35-14 in the middle two periods and hang on for a 59-53 win.

Coach Craig Ellegood's Pioneers worked hard to the bitter end, going on an 11-2 run and holding the Cardinals scoreless for nearly half of the fourth quarter. Senior guard Ehson Mortezaie scored a team-high 12 points before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Warren finished with 11 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots, and Ryan Matsuoka scored 10. Jeremy Brinkerhoff added seven points, Eric Heslin six, Bryan Ly four and Matt McCormick three. Brinkerhoff also pulled a team-high eight rebounds.

Cupertino, which won the championship in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League with an 11-1 record, ended the season with an outstanding overall mark of 25-4.

Against San Mateo, the Pioneers jumped ahead 13-4 in the first quarter and kept rolling. Mortezaie supported Warren's big outing with 13 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Junior center Kenji Mitchell came off the bench to score eight points, while Heslin and Ly canned six apiece. Matsuoka and Brinkerhoff both tallied three, senior Pete Charukesnant scored two and Greg Yokoshima added one free throw.

Leigh boots Mats

After 66 minutes of a scoreless CCS Division I semifinal game, Leigh tallied the game's only goal, then held on for a 1-0 triumph over Monta Vista Feb. 22 at Valley Christian.

For the Matadors, who had several scoring chances turned back by the Longhorns, the curtain closed on an outstanding 15-6-2 season. Led by coach Alan Kute, they finished the season as the SCVAL De Anza Division champions and claimed playoff wins over Woodside and Los Altos.

All but two members of this year's squad are eligible to return next season. Seniors Deanna DesCamp and Caryn Lee played in their final high school game for Monta Vista.

Kadokura to state

A year older, a year wiser and a year stronger, Monta Vista junior Grant Kadokura seeks to cash in his experience for a medal at the CIF State Wrestling Championships March 3-4 at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield.

Kadokura earned fourth place in the 112-pound weight class by winning four of his six matches at last weekend's Central Coast Section meet in San Jose. Although several athletes from Cupertino, Lynbrook, Monta Vista and Homestead competed in the two-day, double-elimination event, Kadokura was the only local to place in the top four and qualify for state.

A year ago, Kadokura was a non-factor at CCS, winning just one of three matches. This season, he won an early tournament, the Bay Area Invitational. Then he claimed third at the Coast Classic and fourth at the Cupertino Memorial, before winning the Jim Root Classic at West Valley College. He placed second at the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League tourney and entered the CCS meet ranked fourth in the section.

On day one of the CCS meet, Kadokura won 15-0 and 6-0. The next morning he dumped Silver Creek's Robert DeGuzman 6-4 and moved on to the semifinals. There, he fell hard against eventual champion, Nicolo Naranjo of Gilroy, 16-0. He recovered to beat Serra's Steve Spina and clinch a state berth. In the third-place bout, Kadokura lost 10-5 to Sergio Valdez of South San Francisco.

Grant's brother, Alex, made waves in the 125-pound bracket, and teammate Nate Fung did the same at 135, before they were ousted with 3-2 records. Monta Vista senior Michael Lipp lost two bouts at 130, including a hard-fought 6-5 decision to Evan Winslow of The King's Academy.

Cupertino sophomore Shimeer Erfanian placed fifth at 103 pounds, going 4-2. He missed out on a state berth when he lost a 3-0 decision in the consolation semifinals. Erfanian bounced back to edge Silver Creek's Tina Linhsamout 4-3 for fifth place.

After getting pinned in his first match, junior Paul Kim (160) won four bouts in a row for the Pioneers and finished 4-2. Senior Renato Lineras (152) won three bouts and junior Aris Haratunyunyan (145) won two, before being ousted during day two. Kirby Haraguchi (135), Steven Gu (171) and Cris Fraser (215) also competed for Cupertino, but went 0-2.

Homestead junior Matt Ott finished 1-2 in the 145 bracket, but sophomore teammate Andy Chin (103) was 0-2.