Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Los Gatos mat star Fred Luminoso and Cupertino's Gabe Scarpelli both grimace in pain in their bout last Thursday. Luminoso rolled to a win over Scarpelli to help the Wildcats to a key league win over the Pioneers.

Wildcats pin league mat win

Segnitz, Luminoso in Bianchini finals

By Dick Sparrer

Jay Lawson expected the Central Coast Section's best to be challenged by many of the state's top wrestlers when the annual Gary Bianchini Memorial Wrestling Tournament returned to Cupertino High last weekend.

And the tournament certainly lived up to Lawson's expectations.

CCS wrestlers did well at the Saturday tourney at Cupertino, but it was four of the seven teams from out of the section who topped the field in the team standings.

Prior to the competition, Lawson had said, "This tournament will be tougher for guys to place in than CCS." And the veteran Cupertino coach sure knew what he was talking about. Seven of the 14 individual titles went to wrestlers from outside the section.

Still, it wasn't a bad day for the teams of the CCS. Fifteen of the 28 finalists hailed from the Central Coast Section, and seven of them claimed titles.

Westmont's Vuong Luong (103 pounds) and Monta Vista's Jarrod Rothman (112) were among the individual champs at the Bianchini, and Eric Hawkins (103) of Cupertino, Phat Dinh (119) of Westmont, and Rohner Segnitz (171) and Fred Luminoso (189) of Los Gatos were among those to reach the finals.

Lawson expected the toughest field ever for the powerful invitational that includes all of the top teams from the CCS and other state powers. And it most certainly was a tough field.

Vacaville ran up 204 points to win its fifth straight team championship. Del Oro (163) was second, with Turlock (141) third and Will C. Wood (127.5) fourth.

Bellarmine was the first CCS finisher. The Bells were a close fifth with 125 points.

Oak Grove (95.5) ended up sixth in the team standings, and Monta Vista (94.5) was a surprise seventh. Dos Pueblos (90) ended up eighth, with Los Gatos (88) ninth and Hollister (71) and Wilcox (71) sharing 10th.

Segnitz and Luminoso each made it to the finals for Los Gatos in the rugged tourney.

Lawson had expected a Segnitz and Ken Webber of Del Oro to meet in the 171-pound finals. Webber was the defending Bianchini champion in the weight class, and he and Segnitz entered the tourney ranked third and fourth in the state in the division.

But Webber lost earlier in the tourney to David Clark of Vacaville, and Clark went on to beat Segnitz in the finals to claim the title.

Luminoso also lost to a Vacaville foe in the finals at 189 pounds.

But finishing second at the Bianchini is still impressive, and Segnitz and Luminoso led Los Gatos into the top 10 in the team standings with their performances.

Kyle Smith and Jeff Chestnut also placed in the rugged tourney. Smith finished fourth at 215 pounds for the Wildcats, and Chestnut was the consolation A winner at 160 pounds.

Earlier in the week, Los Gatos had nailed an important 43-20 win over Cupertino in dual-match action in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

The Pioneers won five of the first nine matches to keep the bout close, but the Wildcats dominated in the upper weights to cruise to the lopsided victory.

Smith posted a quick technical fall in just over a minute at 215 pounds, and Segnitz won on a technical fall at 171 pounds to help the Cats clinch the team win.

Chestnut pulled out a tight 3-1 win at 160 pounds, Luminoso won 17-6 on a major decision at 189 and Mike Belsheim won 4-0 at heavyweight to continue the Los Gatos domination of the upper weights.

Hawkins had started the day with a win at 103 pounds for Cupertino, but Los Gatos answered with four straight victories.

Andrew Peace pinned with 20 seconds left in the first round at 112 pounds, and James Pease won 8-5 at 119. Dan Benedetti registered a fall with 17 seconds remaining in the first round at 125 pounds, and Kenny Troquato-Perotti pinned 47 seconds into the third round at 130 to put the Cats up 21-5 on the scoreboard.

The Pioneers won the next four matches to make it close at 21-20, but Gatos closed it out with the five straight wins. The Wildcats are now 7-4 in dual match competition.

In other local action, the Leigh wrestlers took first-year head coach David Hernandez to a victory in their first league match.

The Longhorns pulled out a 46-25 win over Prospect to start the season off right in the West Valley Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

David Nguyen and Adrian Durham were big winners for the Longhorns in the match. Nguyen pinned in the second round at 145 pounds, and Durham rolled to a 14-0 victory at 160 pounds.

Kevin Krall (189), Justin Frank (215), Dennis McConnell (heavyweight), Sean Bruckerner (171), Ted Villanueva (135) and Tuc Nguyen (125) were each forfeit winners for the Longhorns.

Leigh will head to the Jim Root Classic at West Valley Community College on Jan. 17, then will host Willow Glen in a league match on Jan. 20, 6:30 p.m.

[ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ]