And it will more than just the moves of the wrestlers that will determine the outcome of the Feb. 10 bout at Fremont. Moves the coaches make when it comes to selecting the combatants in each weight division will will have a major impact on the outcome of the match.

"It could be kind of a chess match," said Los Gatos coach Scott Downs after he had met with his coaching staff to iron things out for the 6:30 p.m. match on Thursday. The Gatos coaches met to plot out the match, but it was difficult to determine where the Firebirds would place their top wrestlers--namely Boris and Filip Navochkov and Greg Crane.

Fremont will likely forfeit in one of the first three weight classes and Los Gatos will forfeit at 275 pounds. But it's where Fremont chooses to place the Navochkov brothers that will be a key factor in the lower weights.

Boris is a regular at 105 pounds with Filip at 114. But they could each bump up a division to avoid a 105-pound confrontation between B. Navochkov and Los Gatos superstar Jake Schonig.

"They may want to avoid Schonig because of seeding for the league finals," Downs said. The SCVAL tournament is slated for Feb. 12 at Lynbrook, a day after the junior varsity finals are held in the same gym. "We wrestle again two days after this match, and the results Thursday could really affect seeding for league finals."

That may be the reason that Crane bumps up from 152 to 160, to avoid facing Mike Wysuph. Both B. Navochkov and Crane already hold the seeding edge over Schonig and Wysuph, "so it makes sense to dodge them," added Downs.

But if Schonig and B. Navochkov collide at 105 and Wysuph and Crane square off at 154, they will prove to be two highlight matches in the Thursday night dual.

Other key bouts in the dual meet will pit Adam Nudelman of Los Gatos against Fremont's Andrew Leyva at 137 pounds, David Bitter of the Wildcats against Mike Alpers of the Firebirds at 147 and Kevin Gallagher of LG against Tommie Stats of Fremont at 191.

F. Navochkov is expected to face Naveed Bagheri at 114 but could bump up to meet Jordan France at 121.

Dylan Gavin (127), James Alva (132), Collin Sanders (142), Jeff Wysuph (162), Eric Chen (173) and Nick Gaffney (217) will round out the Thursday line-up for the Wildcats.

Scott Scandalis (173), Cookie Mills (132), Kurtis Ogasawara (142) and Edgar Mazereagos (277) are other key members of the Fremont line-up.

Fremont ran its dual record to 5-0 last week with a 43-33 win over Cupertino. Pins by B. Navochkov at 105, F. Navochkov at 114, Ogasawara at 142, Crane at 154 and Scandalis at 173 sparked the Firebirds to the win over the Pioneers.