Escobar wins CCS title, state berth

Wildcats finish third in team standings

By Dick Sparrer

Richard Escobar isn't a champion just because he's the best 171-pound wrestler in the Central Coast Section.

Oh, make no mistake about it ... he is the best wrestler in his weight class in the CCS. But there's more to it than that for the Los Gatos senior who's heading to the California State Wrestling Tournament this weekend at the University of the Pacific in Stockton.

"He's such a fine young man and a gifted athlete," said Los Gatos wrestling co-head coach Scott Downs of Escobar, who just last weekend won five straight matches to claim a CCS title in the 171-pound weight class.

"But he's also a very hard worker," added the coach. "He does the extra running, he shows up early and leaves late, he mops the mat."

And he wins most of the time.

In fact, this season Escobar has won 36 of his 40 matches, and his only four losses have come against state-ranked wrestlers--one of them in the 189-pound division.

Escobar should run into some of those state-ranked wrestlers when he competes in the state meet March 1-2 at UOP.

"I think he has a legitimate shot to place in the top seven," said Downs of the two-time state qualifier. "I think that if he gets on a roll, he can wrestle with anybody."

Downs will get no argument on that score from anyone who ran into Escobar at the CCS tournament last weekend. The Gatos mat star mowed over five opponents to win a section title and lead the Wildcats to a third-place finish in the team standings. He topped a list of four Gatos placers that included Chris Smith, fourth at 189; Adam Morenthaler, fourth at 125; and Matthew Nudelman, fifth at 119.

"We were hoping to finish higher," admitted Downs, "but third place in not bad. My hat's off to Hollister and Live Oak."

Cats finish third

Hollister ran up 153.5 points to win the team title at the CCS tournament with Live Oak second at 121. Los Gatos clinched third with 114.5 points.

"Both Hollister and we went in with 14 qualifiers," said Downs. "They made more of their 14 than we did. They had a great first day and built a huge lead."

Still, the Los Gatos coach was taking nothing away from his Wildcats.

"Our kids wrestled great," said Downs. "A bunch of these guys were JVs last year, and we had 10 guys make the second day."

Taking 10 wrestlers into Saturday's competition marked a new school record for the Wildcats. And their third-place finish in the team standings is the best since 1974.

"We're really excited about what happened," said the coach of the solid showing at CCS. "It was a great season by any standards. And we're not an old team. Because we're still young, it gives us something to build on."

The Wildcats were part of a solid showing put forth by the teams of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. SCVAL teams claimed three of the top 12 spots (Cupertino was seventh at 91.5 and Fremont was 12th at 82), and SCVAL wrestlers were in the finals in five of the 14 weight classes.

Along with Escobar, SCVAL wrestlers in the finals were Fremont's Daniel Atondo (first at 160) and Alvin Cacdac (second at 130), Justin Carskadon of Wilcox (first at 145) and Ben Reynolds of Cupertino (second at 189).

"Our league did really well," said Downs. And so did the Wildcats.

Escobar leads Cats

The first-place finish by Escobar sparked the Gatos showing at the tournament.

The senior pinned Will Keller of Gunn in his first match, beat Johnny Valenzuela of Greenfield 17-6 and handled Pat Scandling of Palo Alto 15-3 before running into a bit of a jam.

Escobar was trailing Mark Zabala of Gilroy 8-2 in the semifinals before turning him for a pin at 3:49 of the second round.

He came back with a close 8-6 win over Taylor Catrell of Live Oak in the finals.

"He generally starts out slow," said Downs of Escobar. "But he's very patient and doesn't panic."

Smith pinned in his first three matches at 189 pounds on his way to a fourth-place finish.

The senior dropped Nate Garnica of Hillsdale in 3:43, Gerardo Vital of San Jose in 1:41 and Brent Walter of Saratoga in 1:51 before losing 10-6 to Pat Varela of Alvarez, the eventual champion in the weight class.

Smith came back to pin Tom Miller of Westmont in 42 seconds to get into the third-place match, but lost by fall to Juan Pablo Ayala of Gonzales.

Morgenthaler followed a different path to his fourth-place finish at 125 pounds. The junior opened with a pin in 2:58 against John Gonzales of Independence, but lost 10-4 to Joel Perez of Hollister.

Morgenthaler came back with five straight wins to get into the third-place match. He pinned Tom Earhart of Los Altos in 3:18, blanked Jeff Vella of Terra Nova 9-0, edged Mike Dausen of Monterey 2-1, handled Mark Basso of Del Mar 9-3 and whipped Robert Acosta of James Lick 12-4. But a 12-7 loss to Richard Gonzalez of Overfelt dropped him into fourth place and kept him from winning a trip to state.

Nudelman posted a 4-2 record to get fifth place at 119 pounds. The junior won a tech fall over Vic Nagishbendi of Terra Nova, beat Brandon Hayes of Monterey 8-3 and topped Danny San Juan of Oak Grove 4-2.

But Nudelman then lost two straight, losing a 9-8 heartbreaker to Adam Marquez of Aptos and an 11-1 decision to Evan Cooper of Live Oak. He came back with a 6-0 win over Serra's Rohaum Raji to clinch fifth.

Cats give support

Los Gatos got support at other weight classes, even if the wrestlers didn't place at CCS.

Sophomore Bryan Ceglio posted a 3-2 record at 103 pounds, and soph Kevin Cho was 2-2 at 112. Both nailed pins for Los Gatos.

Holden Groves won one of three matches at 130, Teddy Ross was 2-2 at 135, Bobby Pease was 2-2 with a pin at 140, Brian Miguel won one of three bouts at 145, Tyler Donnelly was 2-2 at 152 and Evan McDonald was 2-2 at 215.

"We had a lot of heroic efforts," added Downs.

Junior Jeff Oleson (160) and senior Nathan Fillhardt (275) were each winless in two matches.

Crane earns state spot

Bellarmine's Nick Crane, a Los Gatos resident, won five of six matches to clinch third place at 145 pounds and berth in the state tournament.

Crane, 38-9 for the year, lost his second match of the CCS tournament 8-6 to Alejo Velazquez of Hollister.

A day later he came back to meet Velazquez again, with the winner earning a berth in the state tourney. Crane avenged that earlier loss with an 8-2 victory to clinch third place in the division.

Crane opened the tourney with a 6-4 win over Steve Lopez of Willow Glen, but lost a match later to Velazquez.

The Bellarmine senior had to win three straight matches on Saturday to get to the rematch with Velazquez. He pinned Steve Sanchez of Silver Creek in 2:42, then pinned Daniel Montanez of Monta Vista in a quick 27 seconds. A 7-1 win over Palma's Ernie Varela pushed Crane into the third-place match with Velazquez, and he won that one to clinch a state trip.

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