Photograph by Robert Scheer
Prospect's Junior Rodriguez (left) accepts congratulations from teammates Mike Peterson (right) and Mahad Abdi (above) after scoring a goal against Los Gatos. The Cats came back with two goals, though, to beat the Panthers 2-1 in the CCS playoffs.
By Dick Sparrer
Only the best will be there.
And Westmont's Reuben Rod-riguez and Tim Heinrich will be among the best of the best when the top wrestlers from the Central Coast Section converge on the mats at Santa Clara High School Feb. 23-24 for the CCS championships.
Rodriguez and Heinrich are among the top-seeded wrestlers in their weight classes at the CCS finals after each finished high at league finals to earn the spot in the section tournament.
Rodriguez is seeded No. 3 at 103 pounds and Heinrich is seeded No. 2 at 135 after each won spots in the section tourney with seconds at the Blossom Valley Athletic League tournament.
Rodriguez lost by disqualification in the finals at 103 pounds to settle for second in the league tournament, and Heinrich lost a tough 4-2 decision to Gabe Araujo of Independence to end up second at 135.
The mat stars top a list of six Warriors who placed at the BVAL finals to earn spots in the CCS tournament.
Phat Dinh was fourth at 112 pounds for Westmont and Hafid Ortega nailed a fourth at 160 pounds. Andrew Wadler pinned in his final match to clinch a fifth at 145 pounds and Shantez Sumler was seventh at 275 pounds.
Ivan Rodriguez is the lone CCS qualifier from Prospect. Rodriguez, a junior, finished eighth at 171 pounds for the Panthers.
Lynbrook and Saratoga will also be well represented at the CCS tournament. Five Vikings and three Falcons qualified for the section tourney by placing at the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League finals.
Paul Choi tops the list of Lynbrook qualifiers. The Viking junior was a league champ at 103 pounds.
Tony Chen finished second at 112 and Gordon Kwan was second at 119 for the Vikings. Fred Ramirez chipped in with a fourth at 215 and Dan Ramirez was fifth at 145.
Senior Tim Adams heads up the three-man Saratoga contingent at CCS. Adams was second at 135 pounds for the Falcons. Atef Noori came through with a fifth at 103 and Ismail Chaudry was fifth at 112.
Soccer teams fall
The Prospect boys' and girls' soccer teams each lost in the first round of the Central Coast Section playoffs.
Junior Rodriguez knocked in a first-half goal, but Los Gatos scored twice in the second half to pull out a 2-1 win over the Panthers in the first round of the CCS Division II boys' playoffs.
Prospect finished the year with an 11-5-2 record.
The Prospect girls, meanwhile, ended up 9-6-2 after losing 2-0 to Gunn in the first round of the CCS Division II playoffs.
The Westmont girls dropped a 3-0 nod to Leland in the CCS Division I playoffs to fall out of competition. The Warriors ended up 12-4-5 for the year.
Hoop playoffs begin
Westmont, Prospect and Saratoga will each send basketball teams to the CCS playoffs beginning this week.
The Westmont and Prospect boys' and girls' teams will each compete in CCS Division III action, and the Saratoga boys will take their chances in CCS Division IV.
Westmont's boys, 22-2 for the year and seeded No. 2 in Division III, get a first-round bye before opening the playoffs at home at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 22. The Westmont girls will open the playoffs the same night when they take their 13-9 season record to Carlmont (16-9) for a 7:30 p.m. game.
Prospect's girls, 21-3 for the year and the No. 1 seed in Division III, face a first-round bye before facing the Habor-King City winner on Feb. 24. The boys, meanwhile, will host Mitty on Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m. The Panthers are 13-10 and the Monarchs are 6-19.
Saratoga's boys, like the Prospect girls, are a No. 1 seed in the postseason. The Falcons, 17-8 for the year, are the top-ranked team in CCS Division IV. Saratoga will open the playoffs on Feb. 24 at 2:45 p.m. at Bellarmine against the Menlo (11-14)-Palma (12-13) winner.
Warriors, Panthers first
Both the Westmont and Prospect boys wrapped up the regular season by winning division championships.
The Warriors were tops in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League with an 11-1 record, and the Panthers clinched the West Valley Division title with a 9-3 mark.
Prospect beat Lincoln 61-52 to all but clinch the division crown. Aaron Harmon fired in 25 points, including a three-pointer, to lead the Panthers to the win. A.J. Forney joined him in double figures with 10 points and Baruti Armstrong added nine.
Uriah Bojorquez chipped in with five points, Spencer Melville and Aaron Winters had four apiece and Eli Cates hit two.
Prospect lost 57-47 to Lick a few days later, but Pioneer lost to Overfelt the same night so the Panthers clinched the title anyway.
Cates led Prospect with 15 points in the loss and Forney added 10. Harmon and Winters hit eight each and Bojorquez had six.
David Newberg poured in 22 points to lead Westmont to a lopsided 69-40 win over Mt. Pleasant that clinched the division title for the Warriors.
Hoon Chung and Lee Reyes tossed in seven points apiece for Westmont, Rob Lambourne hit six, Zach Felder five, and Sean Anderson, Matt Tait and Jeremy Spence four each.
Falcons finish strong
The Saratoga boys, meanwhile, handled Fremont 58-39 to wrap up the season with a 9-3 record in the El Camino Division of the SCVAL.
Bryan Webster and Aaron Martlage delivered the one-two punch for the Falcons. Webster led the club with 14 points and Martlage was close behind with 13.
Tom Calderon supported with nine points, Andy Uppal hit seven, Eddie Jeng six, Mark Marshall three, Mike Black and Brennan Carroll two apiece and Dave Goni and Joe Yuan one each.
Panthers nail second
Prospect's girls backed up a 12-0 preseason with nine wins in 12 league games to finish second in the rugged Mt. Hamilton Division of the BVAL.
The Panthers finished behind only Mitty in the division standings, and shared second with Presentation. All three clubs are seeded No. 1 in their respective divisions at CCS--Mitty in Division I, Presentation in Division II and Prospect in Division III.
Prospect nailed a share of second with wins over Independence and Leland last week.
Ami Forney drilled 14 points and Kristie Carlquist added 13 to lead the Panthers to a 63-44 win over the 76ers. Kim Fujii tossed in 10 points in the win and Megan Sainsbury, Ericka Slykhouse and Shelley Kurose hit six each.
Carlquist came back with 14 points and Forney popped 10 in a 51-24 win over Leland to close out the regular season. Theresa Nguyen tossed in six points, Sainsbury five and Lyndsey Najima and Heather Winkleman four apiece.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, February 21, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved