Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Saratoga's Monte Kawahara battled for a third-place finish at 105 pounds at the league wrestling championships last Saturday night.

Seven magnificent Warriors

Local wrestlers qualify for CCS

By Dick Sparrer

Call them the "Magnificent Seven."

But you won't catch them squarin' off in a showdown on the new Saturday night TV western of the same name.

Nope, this "Magnificent Seven" will be squarin' off with opposing wrestlers in the upcoming Central Coast Section finals on Feb. 20-21 at Santa Clara High School.

They are the seven Westmont wrestlers who placed high enough at the Blossom Valley Athletic League finals last Saturday night to earn berths in the upcoming CCS tournament.

Vuong Luong and Aaron Garcia each placed second to lead a list of eight Westmont placers in all, helping the Warriors to a team sixth in the rugged BVAL field.

Luong and Garcia each won their way into the finals to clinch seconds for the Warriors. Luong didn't lose until dropping a tight 12-7 decision in the finals at 105 pounds, and Garcia was unbeaten before losing 13-4 in the title match at 127.

Phat Dinh at 121, Brody Gorman at 154 and Greg Woodland at 217 each finished third for Westmont.

Dinh pulled out a thrilling 9-6 victory in his last match to clinch third at 121 pounds, and Gorman tied for third at 154. Woodland pinned early in the second round in his final match to nail a third at 217.

Tony Oka was fifth at 147 pounds for the Warriors, and Jose Blanco added a seventh at 162 pounds with a pin in his last match to round out the list of seven Warriors to qualify for CCS.

Daniel Rodriguez just missed advancing to the section tournament when he placed eighth at 132 pounds.

Prospect's Joey Mannina will join the seven Westmont wrestlers at CCS. Mannina earned a section berth by finishing fifth at 142 pounds at the league finals last weekend.

Mannina pinned in just 55 seconds in his final match to clinch fifth and earn a trip to CCS.

David Lam of Prospect finished eighth at 105 pounds, but only the top seven advance.

Saratoga will send three wrestlers off to CCS this weekend following the rugged Santa Clara Valley Athletic League tournament last Saturday at Palo Alto.

Monte Kawahara and Ryan Stanley each finished third, and Daniel Kurosawa nailed a fourth to give the Falcons three CCS qualifiers.

Kawahara breezed to a third-place finish at 105 pounds, and Stanley added a third at 142 pounds for Saratoga. Kurosawa picked up a fourth at 114 pounds, losing his third-place match to Jason Piamonte.

Adding sixths for the Falcons were David Cheng at 132, Wilson Wong at 137 and Alex Ling at 147, but only the top five in each weight class advance to CCS.

Westmont had opened the week by clinching the Santa Teresa Division championship with a convincing 52-14 victory over Pioneer.

Five pins helped the Warriors to the win that capped a perfect dual-match season. Westmont finished 6-0 to easily clinch the division crown.

Pins by David Dinh, P. Dinh, Rodriguez, Gorman and Woodland provided the Warriors with more than enough points to overcome Pioneeer.

D. Dinh pinned in 50 seconds at 105 pounds to get the Warriors off to a quick start. Luong won by forfeit at 114 pounds, and Matt Hoover nailed a 9-1 victory at 121.

P. Dinh won by fall with 35 seconds left to wrestle in the first round at 127 pounds before Garcia won 9-6 at 132. Rodriguez followed with a pin 40 seconds into the second round at 137 pounds, and Westmont held a commanding 31-0 lead in the match.

Pioneer won at 142 pounds, but Westmont answered with three straight victories. Philip Doan won by forfeit at 147, Oka won 5-1 at 154 and Gorman pinned 1:07 into the first round at 162.

Westmont lost a pair of matches at 173 and 191 pounds, but Woodland capped the night and the dual-match season with a second-round pin at 217 pounds for the Warriors.

In another dual match the same night, Prospect lost 52-12 to Piedmont Hills to finish 2-4 in the West Valley Division.

Despite the loss, Lam and Mannina each pinned for the Panthers against the Pirates. Lam pinned with just a second left in the first round at 105 pounds, and Mannina pinned with 30 seconds remaining in the first round at 142.

[ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ]