At the 2004 Nationals in Anaheim, they did him one better--they won two.

But after successfully steering his 23 varsity cheerleaders through a season plagued with injuries and similar troubles, Contreras had to tell his devoted team that he was leaving them. With the loss of their coach and with 14 seniors graduating, the Fremont cheer squad will try to duplicate its success next year by building from the ground up.

"It's really a storybook tale," Contreras says. "I don't think anyone could have written a better script." The path to this year's championship began in March of last year, when the Fremont squad stepped off the plane after placing third in the national cheerleading competition.

In 2002, the team placed seventh, so to maintain the tradition of improving from year to year, a great deal of work was necessary. "Everything we did from that point on was about achieving this goal," Contreras says.

This trail got off to a dubious start at cheerleading camp last summer. The first day saw two female Fremont cheerleaders sent to the hospital after they collided midair; one suffered a concussion and the other had to have 18 stitches. "I can still hear the crack," Contreras says. "It's accidents like that which make kids scared of cheerleading."

Other squad members quit or were removed from the team as the year went on, which meant junior varsity cheerleaders were promoted onto the team. Lackluster performances in preliminary competitions were also discouraging, so Contreras had to turn to a different tack to bring the team back up.

"So much of any sport is mental," he says. "In cheerleading, there's really no sense of another team that you're competing with. It's all confidence and courage, and so much of this job is getting the kids to instill that."

According to his team, that's where Contreras succeeds. Senior Christina Arent has cheered for Fremont for two years. She served as the squad's unity captain this year, a position that Contreras invented upon noticing the formation of cliques within the squad. Via the organization of team-wide get-togethers, the bunch grew closer, which undoubtedly helped the team win its championship.

"We wanted to win it for Mr. Contreras. He's such a great coach and motivator," Christina says. "It was such an incredible feeling, knowing we did it for him."

The feeling was mutual. At the United Spirit Association National Championships on March 20 and 21, Fremont won both first in the coed partner stunt division (thanks to the efforts of Marianne Torres and Matt Barkley) and first team overall in the small coed division. Contreras says the team bounced back from a fall in the preliminaries to win the finals on the last day of competition, and after the team's victory, he went outside and cried.

"The kids were crying before their routine was actually done," he says. "I asked one of the girls, and she said that she just knew. All of the emotions of the win just came out."

But what was even more emotional was the news Contreras had for his team. He gathered them together in Anaheim to tell them that he and his wife, who's due to give birth to their first child in July, are moving to Beaverton, Ore., over the summer. While some have criticized his tactics--telling the team while the squad was still on a high from winning--he says it wasn't fair to tell the team before the competition, and he wanted to tell the entire team at once.

After four years as the cheerleading coach, Contreras is seeing the first class he recruited prepare for graduation. Fourteen of the varsity squad are seniors and will leave with him. Contreras, who cheered at Bellarmine College Preparatory and Santa Clara University, is looking at several positions teaching mathematics or coaching cheerleading, but hasn't decided on one yet.

Similarly, Fremont has not yet chosen someone to be his replacement, and tryouts for next year's squad are waiting for the new coach. "There are not a lot of people with the experience, the knowledge and the time," Contreras says. From all accounts, his coaching style and work ethic will be hard to replace. "They all call me 'Dad,'" he says. "I know their grades before they do."

"I was heartbroken. My mom kept telling me to make sure that I was happy for him," Christina says. "But this is the perfect way for him to move on." There are currently two freshmen, one sophomore and six juniors on the team and 10 junior varsity cheerleaders with the potential to move up. "I'm mostly concerned for the freshmen. Next year, the team's going to have to fall down and start over again," Christina says.

But the camaraderie that's brewed between teammates stays strong, and many hope it'll leave a lasting impression and boost next year's team, no matter who the new coach is. Before everyone goes their separate ways, the squad and Contreras met formally one last time on May 8 for a baby shower organized by the team--and a trip to the tattoo parlor. "The entire team was in the parlor with me," he says, there to make sure he didn't wimp out and bribe the tattoo artist to use a marker instead.

They wanted to make sure that the firebird would stay with him forever.