Not only had the Wildcats clinched the dual match victory much earlier in the evening, but they were just three wins away from a very rare team shutout.

Still, wrestling is an much individual competition as it is a team sport. So when the Gatos sophomore walked onto the mat at 112, there was a little drama—despite the lopsided team score.

Bagheri was facing a Paly wrestler he had lost to at the Coast Classic Tournament earlier this year. In fact, the loss had knocked Bagheri out of the tournament's medal round.

"The kid was tough, but Naveed was anxious to show him that he was better," said Los Gatos coach Scott Downs. And Bagheri did just that with a tight 3-2 victory.

It was one of 13 victories for the Wildcats who did indeed shut out Palo Alto 68-0 in the opening round of the dual match season in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

"Palo Alto was a ranked team coming in and they had a couple of kids in the finals at the Lynn Dyche Tournament," said Downs. "There were a couple of matches we thought were real toss-ups."

There were actually three matches that were decided by decisions. But the other 10 were either pins, forfeits or technical falls. And Los Gatos won them all.

"I've been coaching since 1974," added Downs, "and we've only had one other shutout."

Bagheri kept the shutout intact with his 3-2 win at 112 pounds.

"He's doing a great job," said Downs of the sophomore. "He's a light kid. He's wrestling up at 112. He should be wrestling at 103, but he can't beat [Jake] Schonig."

Not many wrestlers can. Schonig, a senior, is among to top wrestlers in the Central Coast Section this winter. But he was finally beaten last Thursday night—by a flu bug. With him out of the line-up, freshman Loren Peterson filled in at 103 and picked up a forfeit win.

The dual match began at 130 pounds and junior James Alva walked off with a win by forfeit. A match later, junior Adam Nudelman whipped his Paly opponent 14-6.

The bout at 140 pounds went back-and-forth before junior Collin Sanders caught his foe for a pin.

"That was a pivotal part of the shutout," said Downs.

Senior David Bitter won by technical fall at 145 pounds before senior Mike Wysuph started a string of pins. Wysuph won by fall at 152 pounds, junior Jeff Wysuph pinned at 160 and senior Eric Chen pinned at 171.

Chen is 5-1 with three pins this year, despite getting a late start because of football.

"He's really been on top of his game since he came back, which is not common [of football players]," said Downs.

Senior Kevin Gallagher pinned a Paly wrestler he had beaten just 9-6 earlier in the season.

Senior Nick Gaffney earned a forfeit win at 215, senior Jordan France won by technical fall at 119 and junior Dylan Gavin won an 11-6 thriller at 125.

"It went back and forth, but he really shut him out in the end," said Downs of Gavin, who scored the last five points with a reversal and near fall to clinch the win and the Gatos shutout.

The Wildcats rolled 53-11 in the junior varsity match with Calvin Hawkes (112), Alan Howard (119), Charlie Denues (125), Robbie Nakata (140), Eric Viale (152) and Nick Kalpin (189) each winning by fall.

Kalpin appeared to be in trouble late in his match when he "slipped and got turned on his back."

"He fought off getting pinned for 30 seconds, then he tossed the guy to his back and pinned him," said Downs, impressed with the performance of the freshman.

The Wildcats won't get back to league action until Jan. 6 when they visit Los Altos, but that doesn't mean they'll be idle over winter break. Los Gatos will defend its championship in the Silicon Valley Challenge Cup tournament on Dec. 23, hosted by Bellarmine at Santa Clara University. The JVs will compete in a tourney at Bellarmine on Dec. 22.

The Cats will then hit the road for Reno Dec. 28­29 to take part in a tourney featuring 94 teams from six states. Los Gatos has finished 10th in the Reno tournament in each of the past two seasons.