Anthony Baza and Jamie Kashitani each won individual championships for Fremont at the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League wrestling tournament.
But even with a couple of titles, the Firebirds couldn't get past Los Gatos, Monta Vista and Los Altos in the team standings at the league meet.
At the Central Coast Section tournament last weekend, though, it was an entirely different story.
Baza and Kashitani didn't win titles, but they did place second and third, respectively, to lead the Firebirds to an impressive team 11th in the rugged tournament.
Watsonville ran up 178 points to win the team title, with Bellarmine second at 125.5 and Westmont an impressive third at 119.
Fremont finished a mere point and a half out of the top 10 in 11th at 78.5. Gilroy and North Monterey County each finished with 79 points to tie for ninth.
Los Gatos, behind fourth-placers Dan Benedetti and Mike Narducci, finished 13th overall with 65 points.
Individual champion Jarrod Rothman sparked Monta Vista to a team 16th (53.5) with Los Altos 18th (51).
It was Los Gatos, Los Altos and Monta Vista who had finished one-two-three at the league meet a week earlier. Fremont was a distant fourth at the tournament, with league dual match champion Cupertino fifth.
But at the CCS finals last weekend, it was Fremont posting the best finish among SCVAL schools.
Baza nailed a second-place finish at 132 pounds and Kashitani was third at 142. Arturno Galano supported with a fifth at 105 pounds to help the Firebirds nail 11th overall.
Baza rolled through the 132-pound bracket until meeting up with Nick Pena of Watsonville in one of the most thrilling championship matches of the night. Pena pulled out a tight 3-2 win over Baza to claim the CCS title.
Baza had pinned in his first two bouts, winning by fall over Ryan Gromm of Capuchino at 1:18 of the first round in his opening match, then pinning Jonathan Jacobso of North Salinas with 19 seconds left in the third round of his second bout.
Baza nailed an impressive 8-2 win over Ivan Hernandez of King City and beat Phat Dinh of Westmont 5-1 to earn his shot at the title.
Kashitani also won his first three matches to finish the first day of competition unbeaten and in the 142-pound semifinals.
Kashitani edged Jose Moreno of Overfelt 6-5 before beating Steve Becerra of San Benito 10-3 and Mark Saltray of Valley Christian 9-2.
But Kashitani lost 7-4 to Jose Martinez of Watsonville to slip into the consolation bracket. He battled back, though, to beat David Olague of Mt. Pleasant 7-5 and Dan Benedetti of Los Gatos 6-1 to clinch third place in the division.
Galano joined his two teammates as a CCS placer with a fifth at 105 pounds. Galano opened with a 9-3 win over Clint Taura of Sacred Heart before losing 10-6 to Dat Dinh of Westmont.
Galano dropped into the consolation bracket and edged Thao Ly of Milpitas 4-3, Spencer Wright of Harbor 3-1, Jam Jimenez of Gunderson 9-8 and finally Jamil Miller of San Benito by injury default in the fifth-place match.
Kai Garcia (114), Chris Healy (137), Gilbert Sanchez (147), Daniel McCune (154) and Leo Saenz (173) were other Fremont wrestlers who qualified for CCS and helped the Firebirds pick up crucial team points.
Garcia lost 6-2 to Juan Jimenez of Westmont in his first match before winning three straight. He beat Arpit Uppal of Monta Vista 11-1, J.J. Garcia of Alisal 12-0 and Bob Moser of Harbor 5-3 before losing an 8-7 heartbreaker to Truong Nguyen of Overfelt to face elimination.
Healy opened with a win by technical fall over a San Benito opponent at 137 pounds, but then lost 9-2 to Jesse Padilla of Monterey. He dropped a 13-11 decision to Abu Ramin of Bellarmine in his last match.
Sanchez dropped his first bout at 147 pounds, falling 10-4 to Peter Le of Santa Teresa, but he fought back with a string of three victories. He beat Josh Zubiate of Alvarez by technical fall, Ricardo Velasquez of San Benito 14-2 and Billy Stouffer of Westmont by technical fall before dropping a tight 5-3 nod to John Britz of Piedmont Hills.
McCune battled back from a first-round loss to Eddie Lucatero of San Benito to pin Landon Griffith of Gonzales with three seconds left in the second round and to beat Juan Branche of Monterey 13-7. But he lost 8-1 to John Villapondo of Palma to drop out of the tourney.
Saenz was pinned by Marc Uemura of Salinas in his first match at 173 pounds, but he came back to pin Vincent Chelone of Aragon with 10 seconds left in the second round. Saenz then lost by technical fall to Jason Martinez of Oak Grove to face elimination.
Baza, Kashitani and Sanchez topped the list of Fremont placers at the league tournament a week earlier. Baza won the individual crown at 132 pounds, with Kashitani first at 142 and Sanchez a champ at 147.
Garcia also made it to the finals, ending up second at 114 pounds for the Firebirds.
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