By Dick Sparrer
Call it the luck of the draw, or no luck at all, but the Los Gatos wrestling team had the misfortune of opening the season against two of the toughest teams in the division, if not the entire Santa Clara Valley--Cupertino and Wilcox.
Because of it, the Wildcats got off to a dismal 0-2 start in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. But the Cats have more than made up for that slow start with three straight dual match victories.
Gatos beat Monta Vista, then whipped Fremont and Los Altos in back-to-back weeks to improve to 3-2 in the division.
Five Cats registered wins against both the Firebirds and Eagles to help Gatos drive over the .500 mark in the league season.
Los Gatos won six of the final seven matches to pound Fremont 48-23 a couple of weeks back, and the Cats five of the last six bouts in last week's 43-29 win over Los Altos.
Gatos led just 31-29 heading into the final two matches against the Eagles on Jan. 30, but Kyle Smith recorded a quick pin in just 43 seconds at 215 pounds to clinch the team victory.
Jeff Albano, Dan Barber and Rohner Segnitz had registered three straight second-round falls to set up Smith for the victory-clinching pin. Albano pinned at 152, Barber at 160 and Segnitz at 171. Segnitz is currently ranked fifth in the state in his weight class.
Dan Benedetti nailed the first Gatos win of the night with a 16-7 victory at 119 pounds and Jeff Ouellet won 12-6 at 130.
Kelly Troquato-Perotti came through with a second-round pin at 140 pounds, and freshman Mike Belsheim won on a second-round disqualification at 275.
A week earlier, wins by Benedetti, Ouellet, Barber, Segnitz and Smith sparked Gatos to a 48-23 win over Fremont.
Benedetti pinned with just 22 seconds remaining at 119 pounds, and Ouellet won on a technical fall in the second round at 130.
It took Barber just 50 seconds to pin at 160 pounds. Segnitz pinned his 171-pound foe with 19 seconds remaining, and Smith pinned in the second round at 215.
Fred Luminoso came through with a 17-4 decision win at 189 pounds, and Jeff Chestnut recorded a quick pin in 33 seconds at 152 pounds for Gatos.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, February 5, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.