Photograph by Lea Tauriello
Fremont's Colleen Smith battles for a loose ball in a crucial battle with Cupertino last week. Smith finished with 10 points to lead the Indians to a 45-37 victory and a share of the title in the El Camino Division.
By DICK SPARRER
Only the best will be there.
And Fremont's Jeremy Pia-monte and Geoff Beckstrom 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.
Piamonte and Beckstrom 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.
Piamonte is seeded No. 4 at 130 pounds and Beckstrom is seeded No. 1 at 275 pounds after each won a title at the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League finals at Saratoga recently.
Piamonte and Beckstrom were two of three Fremont wrestlers to win league titles and top a list of six Indians who placed at the SCVAL finals to qualify for CCS.
Jerrick Powell, Vi Hang, Andrew Monarch and Andy Deguara will join Piamonte and Beckstrom at the section finals this weekend after leading the Indians into the SCVAL top five at the league tournament.
Wilcox rolled up 139 points to win the team title at the league finals. Los Gatos was second at 135 with Fremont and Los Altos sharing third just a point back at 134. Cupertino finished a close fifth with 133 points.
Piamonte, Beckstrom and Powell starred for Fremont at the finals.
Piamonte beat Charlie LaVerdi of Monta Vista in the finals at 130 pounds to win an individual title, and Beckstrom dominated the field to take the crown at 275 pounds.
Powell nailed a victory over Bobby Martin of Los Gatos in the final match at 160 pounds to finish first for the Indians.
Deguara added a third at 215 pounds, Hang was fourth at 103 pounds and Monarch was fourth at 145 pounds for Fremont.
Hoop playoffs begin
The basketball playoffs begin this week, and the Homestead and Fremont girls are each among the favorites in CCS Division II.
The Indians enter the postseason after winning the title in the El Camino Division of the SCVAL. Fremont posted a solid 11-3 record to tie for the division crown, and takes a 12-12 season mark into CCS action.
Fremont will visit North Salinas (22-4) in first-round CCS action on Feb. 22, 7:30 p.m.
The Mustangs, meanwhile, wrapped up second place in the De Anza Division with a 9-3 record after beating Milpitas and Gunn last week. Homestead is 19-6 for the year and will open the CCS Division II playoffs at home on Feb. 22, 7:30 p.m., against the winner of the Piedmont Hills-Gilroy first-round game.
Fremont finished off the regular season with wins over Saratoga and Cupertino last week to clinch an El Camino co-championship with Palo Alto.
Jenny White buried 22 points and Colleen Smith dropped 11 to lead the Indians to the important win over Saratoga to open the week.
Haruka Soejima supported with eight points, Natalie Woo had four and Karen Ahrens and Chi Tran hit two apiece.
Fremont needed a win over Cupertino on the final night of the regular season to tie Paly for the title, and the Indians came through in grand fashion with a 45-37 victory.
Smith led the Indians with 10 points and White and Soejima drained eight apiece. Soejima hit
a pair of three-pointers for Fremont.
Shawna Harrison had a three among her seven points and Tran had six points. Woo and Amalia Castelino added two points apiece.
Fremont trailed by five at the first buzzer, but bombed the Pioneers 22-5 in the second quarter to take control of the game.
Homestead came up big in the final week, pounding Milpitas 70-36 and whipping Gunn 53-35.
Aisling Nolan tossed in 12 points and Hilary Parker and Brie Ahern pitched in 10 points apiece for the Mustangs in the win over the Trojans.
Kelly Hadden, Amy Huyett and Erin Morikawa drilled seven points each for the winners and Yvonne Chen added six. Yumi Minn chipped in with five points and Lisa Holquin and Michiko Nakayama added two each.
Parker finished the regular season with a 15-point night to lead the Mustangs to an easy win over Gunn.
Chen buried 11 points and Ahern scored in double digits with 10. Each one hit a pair of three-pointers.
Nolan hit six points, Minn five, Holquin four and Morikawa two. Minn dropped a three for Homestead.
The Mustangs led by three after a period, but ripped the Titans 15-5 in the second quarter to take control of the game.
Soccer team falls
The Homestead boys' soccer team was knocked out of CCS playoff action last week.
The Mustangs opened with a 2-1 win over Live Oak before falling 5-1 to Watsonville to drop out of the CCS Division I tournament.
Remo Maggiora scored a first-half goal off a Paul Mudgett assist, and Daniel Castillo knocked in a goal in the second half to lift the Mustangs to a 2-1 win over the Acorns in the first round of the CCS playoffs.
But a lone Castillo goal was all the Mustangs could manage in a 5-1 loss to Watsonville in the CCS quarterfinals.
Homestead had won the championship in the rugged De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League this winter. The split in the playoffs left the Mustangs with a solid 10-6-6 season record.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, February 21, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.