Cats win it all at Briggs Memorial mat tourney
By Dick Sparrer
There are some high expectations for the Los Gatos wrestling team this winter... like winning the championship in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, contending for the title at the Central Coast Section tournament and sending a large contingent of wrestlers to the state finals.
Can the Wildcats pull it off? Well, if the Jim Briggs Memorial is any indication, the answer is yes.
The Cats rolled (and we mean rolled!) to the team championship at the Briggs tourney in Tracy, finishing nearly 100 points ahead of their nearest rival.
"I can't remember the last time we won a tournament, other than a league tournament," admitted Gatos co-head coach Scott Downs. "We won the Crusader Classic (a dual match tournament at Riordan), but not a top level tournament. And there were some real good schools at this one."
Four individual champions topped a list of 13 placers at the Briggs, and Gatos put nine wrestlers in the championship finals.
"It looked a dual match in the finals," said Downs. "We were in the chair the whole time--we hardly got out. It was very rewarding."
Los Gatos backed up that championship effort with an impressive 50-16 victory over Wilcox in a De Anza Division dual match. The win helped the Cats improve to 2-0 in league action with league matches against powers Fremont and Cupertino still looming on the horizon.
The Wildcats take a break from that rugged dual match slate with a league bye this week before heading to Sunnyvale on Jan. 23, 6:30 p.m., for a crucial match with Fremont.
Prior to the bout with the tough Firebirds, Los Gatos will host the 24-team Wildcat Invitational Frosh-Soph Tournament on Jan. 19 in the high school gym. Oak Grove, Independence, Oak Grove, Greenfield and, of course, Los Gatos will be among the top teams in the tournament specifically designed for freshmen and sophomores.
Briggs Memorial
Matt Nudelman, Tyler Donnelly, Richard Escobar and Chris Smith each won individual titles to lead the Wildcats to the team championship at the Briggs Memorial tourney on Jan. 5 in Tracy.
The Cats ran up 298.5 points to finish well ahead of runner-up Del Oro (200.5). Nevada Union (152.5) was third with St. Francis (149) fourth and most West High (146) fifth.
Nudelman, 18-3 for the year, pinned in the finals to win the title at 119 pounds for the Cats. The junior had posted three wins by technical fall to get into the title match.
Donnelly, a senior who wrestled at the junior varsity level the past three seasons, stepped up to the varsity this winter and now has won a title at the Briggs.
Donnelly, who had placed at the rugged Coast Classic earlier in the year, won 14-0 in the finals to take the title at 152 pounds at the Briggs. He had one pin among his four wins in the tourney.
Escobar, one of the state's top ranked wrestlers at 171 pounds, lived up to his ranking with four straight wins to win a title at the Briggs. Escobar, 17-2 this year, pinned two of his first three opponents, then won 11-0 in the title match.
Smith, 19-1 this season, rolled to a 24-11 win in his last match to take the Briggs title at 189 pounds. Like Escobar, he pinned two of his four opponents.
Cats reaching the finals who ended up second at the Briggs included Brian Miguel (130), Bobby Pease (140), Ted Ross (135), Jeff Oleson (160) and Evan McDonald (215).
Miguel, 15-3 for the year, won his first three matches before getting turned and pinned in the finals, and Pease, 16-3, won his first three bouts before dropping an 8-6 heartbreaker in the finals to the tournament's outstanding wrestler award winner, Zack Marquez of West.
Ross, Oleson and McDonald also each went 3-1 to finish second. McDonald pinned two of his first three opponents, but lost 6-4 in overtime in the finals.
"We had 16 pins in the tournament," said Downs, "and that's big because they count double points."
Rounding out the list of placers for the Wildcats were Adam Morgenthaler, third at 125; Bryan Ceglio, fifth at 103; Kevin Cho, fifth at 112; and Mike Ross, fifth at 145.
"If we're going to make a run at the CCS title, what we need is not just champions, but guys to win in the wrestle backs," said Downs. And that's just what the Cats got at the Briggs.
"We felt going in that we'd finish in the top three or four," said Downs of the tourney effort. "Then we won by nearly 100 points. We did a great job."
Cats top Chargers
As easy as the team win was at the Briggs, it was as difficult for the Cats to pull out the dual match win over Wilcox last Wednesday.
The Wildcats ended up cruising to a 50-16 win, but with three wrestlers not making weights and the Cats losing in the first three weight classes, Downs and company had some tense moments against the Chargers.
"We got off to a bad start," said the coach.
Ceglio (103), Matt Miguel (112) and Cho (119) lost in the first three bouts, and Gatos trailed 9-0 to open the match.
"But that's where we hit the firewall," said the coach, referring to the tough Morgenthaler. The junior tossed his opponent around for a 9-0 victory to get the Cats on the winning track.
Then Ted Ross set the tempo for the night. With others not making weight, Ross cut down to wrestle at 130 pounds and won by fall in the second round.
"He cuts down and sticks his kid," said Downs of Ross. "I'm so proud of him."
The pin tied the team score at 9-9, then B. Miguel pinned at 135 pounds to make it 15-9. But back-to-back wins at 140 and 145 by Wilcox but the Chargers up 16-15.
That's when the Cats just took over. Gatos won the last six straight matches, four by fall, to pull out the big win.
Donnelly pinned at 1:46 of the first round at 152 pounds.
"That was a huge match," said Downs of Donnelly's win. "Then we started the train rolling."
Oleson, despite suffering a shoulder injury a day earlier and dislocating a thumb in his match, won 11-1 at 160 pounds, and Escobar picked up a forfeit at 171.
Smith pinned in 36 seconds at 189 and McDonald won by fall in 42 seconds at 215.
"He gets better and better by the match," said Downs of McDonald.
Nathan Fillhardt, just 232 pounds, took on a 274-pound opponent in the 275-pound bout that Downs called "the match of the night."
Fillhardt moved out to a 4-2 lead, then pinned the Wilcox heavyweight with 45 seconds left in the match.
"He pins, and the place just erupted," said Downs. "It was so exciting."
Serwitz at Poly
Dave Serwitz of Los Gatos is a freshman on the wrestling team at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo this season. Serwitz, a 174-pounder, was an outstanding wrestler at Los Gatos High.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
