Pease second at CCS, headed to state meet

By Dick Sparrer

Jeff Garlick called it.

The Los Gatos wrestling coach said his Wildcats could finish in the top 10 at the Central Coast Section championships at Independence on Saturday, and that's just what they did.

The Wildcats, champs in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League in both the dual match season and the league finals, finished exactly 10th in the team standings, running up 78.5 points to finish eight points behind league rival Monta Vista.

"No one was out after the second round," said Garlick. "Everybody got us points."

Andrew Pease and David Serwitz each placed at the section finals to lead the Cats to the team 10th.

Pease made it to the finals at 142 pounds before losing a tough 9-5 decision to Raul Alvarez of Gilroy. The Gatos junior placed second in his weight class, earning a trip to the state meet March 3-4 at the University of the Pacific in Stockton. The top six placers at state advance to the nationals in Pittsburgh, Pa.

The junior will take a 38-3 season record to state where Garlick feels he has a "very good chance" of being successful.

Serwitz finished fifth at 147 pounds, barely missing a trip to the state meet. Only the top four placers in each weight class at CCS earned state berths.

Pease was impressive in his CCS showing. The Gatos junior pinned four opponents in a row before losing the decision in the finals.

"It was a really good match," said Garlick of Pease's final bout against Alvarez.

Pease pinned Victor Pimentel of Riordan at 3:02 of the second round in his first match, then dropped Sergio Anaya of North Monterey County by fall at 3:58 of the second.

The Los Gatos standout pinned Sam Rangel of Piedmont Hills with 1:03 left to wrestle in his next match, then took care of Kenny Bertron with a quick pin at 1:53 of the first round to get into the finals.

Serwitz got off to a quick start at 147 pounds with a 36-second pin against Javier Perea of Soledad. He blanked Nick McKinley of Terra Nova 5-0 before beating Jose Moreno of Overfelt on a technical fall in the third round. But he lost to Jesse Padilla of Monterey 4-2, then lost against before winning by forfeit in the fifth-place round.

Matt Nudelman (105), Adam Morganthaler (114), Dae-Jin Joseph (121), Brian Miguel (132), James Pease (154), Jerry Yuhara (162), Richard Escobar (173), Matt Kanzler (191), Evan McDonald (217) and Ian Carpenter (277) also competed at CCS for the Wildcats.

Leigh's Tony Thomson (132), Joe Arrighi (154) and Jeff Pointer (173) also qualified for CCS.

Gatos JVs are champs

The Los Gatos junior varsity wrestling team backed up one championship with another in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

The young Wildcats finished 6-0 in the dual match season, then finished first at the league tournament, matching the showing of the Gatos varsity.

Freshman Holden Groves (103), senior John Gillilan (140), freshman Cameron Fee (160) and sophomore Chris Smith (171) were each individual champions for the Wildcats.

Nailing seconds for the Cats were juniors Dominic Guzzetti (130) and Chris Alva (145) and sophomores Tyler Donnelly (135), Barrett Carpenter (160) and Bruno Kirschbaum (189).

Freshman Kyle Springer (119) and sophomore Tyler Donnelly (135) were each fifth, and freshman Nathan Follette (275) was sixth.

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