This one was on Feb. 10, and the Fremont wrestling team was entertaining Los Gatos for a match to decide the dual match championship in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

The lights were low, the music was blaring--even a Jimi Hendrix-version of the National Anthem--and the guests were excited. It was very entertaining ... especially the wrestling.

Arguably the two best dual match teams in the Central Coast Section collided in the Thursday night bout, and it was Los Gatos coming out on top 42-30 after some very exciting wrestling.

"It was very theatrical, but it was a lot of fun," said Los Gatos coach Scott Downs.

And the match was especially fun for the Wildcats, who won six of the 11 bouts contested.

"It was close," said Downs. "People who went said it was one of the best dual meets they've ever seen."

"We thought they would jump around and we were expecting a chess match. But to Bobby's credit," said Downs of the Fremont coach, "they went straight up with us."

In some cases that worked to Fremont's advantage, in others to the Wildcats' advantage.

Fremont actually led 30-20 heading into the final four weight classes, thanks to back-to-back pins by the Navochkov brothers, Boris at 105 and Filip at 114 pounds. Los Gatos was getting forfeit wins in two of those divisions, but needed the other two matches to get the team victory.

Jordan France picked up his forfeit win at 121 to cut the lead to 30-26, then Dylan Gavin and James Alva went to work.

Gavin won by fall over Mark Scandalis at 127 pounds, pinning with just over a minute left in the match.

"That was a huge pin," said Downs, and the Cats were up 32-30.

Alva clinched the team win a match later with a 10-1 major decision victory over Andrew Leyva at 132 pounds. Leyva was 25-5 for the year heading into the bout.

That was enough to put the Wildcats over the top. When Adam Nudelman walked off with a forfeit win at 137 pounds, Los Gatos had the 42-30 team win and a 6-0 dual match record. Fremont finished at 5-1.

The dual started at 142 pounds, and Kurtis Ogasawara and Collin Sanders set the tone for the night with a barnburner. Ogasawara got Fremont off to a good start with a win, but he had to work for it. Sanders opened up an early lead, and Ogasawara had to battle from behind to win an 11-10 decision.

"It went back and forth," said Downs, "so the place was on its feet."

David Bitter of Los Gatos responded with a 15-4 win over Michael Alpers at 147 pounds, and that set up the first of what Downs called two "marquee matches."

Greg Crane of Fremont and Michael Wysuph of Los Gatos are the two top ranked wrestlers in the Central Coast Section at 154 pounds. Wysuph jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but Crane caught him in the third round and pinned him 28 seconds into the round.

Jeff Wysuph got a little revenge for his brother when he pinned Atcheson Brittle 30 seconds into the second round at 162 pounds.

Eric Chen made it two straight for the Wildcats with a 14-1 win over Scott Scandalis at 173 pounds, but Tommy Statts of Fremont answered with a 14-2 win over Kevin Gallagher at 191.

A match later, Fremont lost a team point when Donny Mena failed to report to the scorer's table, then Nick Gaffney made it hurt even more with a pin 20 seconds into the second round at 217 pounds.

Edgar Mazereagos added a forfeit win at 277 pounds, and then the Navochkov brothers did their damage.

It what was considered another "marquee match," Boris Navochkov pinned Los Gatos standout Jake Schonig at 3:03 of the second round at 105 pounds. Schonig opened an early 5-0 lead before losing by fall.

Filip Navochkov pinned Naveed Bagheri in just 16 seconds at 114.

But that just set the stage for the strong finish by Los Gatos.

Two days later, Los Gatos and Fremont each finished with four individual champions but it was the depth of the Wildcats that proved the difference at the SCVAL finals.

Los Gatos finished the night with 13 placers in the 14 weight classes to run up 252.5 points to take the team title. Fremont was a distant second at 192.5 with Wilcox (150) third, Cupertino (111) fourth and Monta Vista (108.5) fifth.

Jordan France (121), Alva (132), Bitter (147) and Chen (173) each won titles for the Wildcats and B. Navochkov (105), F. Navochkov (114), Ogasawara (142) and Crane (154) were champions for the Firebirds.

Supporting the champs for the Firebirds were Leyva, second at 132; Statts, second at 191; Mazereagos, second at 277; Alpers, fourth at 147; Brittle, seventh at 162; Mena, seventh at 217; and M. Scandalis, eighth at 127.

Steve Phalen of The King's Academy won a title at 137 pounds to help the Knights finish 14th in the team poll. Tyler Valdez was third at 277, Joshua Montoro tied for third at 162, Evan Winslow was sixth at 127, Paul Montoro was seventh at 191, and Drew Toney was eighth at 173.

Homestead finished the day with three placers. Carlos Ayala was fifth at 137 pounds, Matt Ott tied for fifth at 142, Trent Lee was fifth at 217 and Paul Neuswanger was eighth at 132. The Mustangs finished 11th in the 15-team tournament.

The SCVAL placers will now look ahead to the Central Coast Section tournament set for Feb. 25­26 at Overfelt High School in east San Jose. The top placers there advance to the state tourney to be held March 4­5 in Bakersfield.