The Willow Glen wrestling coach had good reason to be pleased after what his Rams accomplished at the Central Coast Section tournament held Feb. 21­22 at Independence High School, and he had no problem showing his emotion.

"We did it!" said Luna after Willow Glen made a little school history with its first-ever top 10 finish at the CCS tourney. "I was ecstatic!"

Leading the Rams into the top 10 were state placers Adrian Morales and Amir Faraj-Perry. The two seniors each placed third in CCS and have qualified for the state tournament coming up March 7­8 at the University of the Pacific in Stockton.

"It's the first time in 10 years that Willow Glen has had a state qualifier and the first time ever that we've sent two guys to state," said Luna. "And this is the first Willow Glen team to ever finish in the top 10 at CCS."

Morales, third at 171, and Faraj-Perry, third at 215, helped the Rams run up 80 team points to edge Monterey (78) for the 10th spot in the tournament standings. Willow Glen was just 14 points out of sixth place overall.

Willow Glen took eight wrestlers to the tournament, but only seven were able to compete when Eugene Martinez failed to make weight. Six of those seven, though, made it to the second day of the tourney.

"The scales were off, and 36 guys did not make weight," said Luna, indicating that Martinez was one of the 36. "Then," he added, "our draws were horrible, and it's hard to come back from a bad draw."

Still, six of the seven Rams managed to post 2-1 records on the first day to remain alive in the tournament, including—along with the two placers—Sam Olivas, Rueben Rodriguez, Ricardo Hernandez and Jason Grossman.

"The second day was typically when Willow Glen always had trouble," said Luna. But not this year. Three of the six—Olivas, Rodriguez and Hernandez—posted 2-1 records the second day to pick up key team points for the Rams, and Morales and Faraj-Perry did even better.

Morales opened the tourney with a couple of quick pins. He won by fall at 1:20 of the first round against Nick Gonzalez of Riordan, then pinned in 1:11 of the first against Eric Chen of Los Gatos.

Morales was beating Luke Rockhold of Soquel 7-2 in his next match before he was flipped to his back and pinned in the second round.

"That was devastating for him," said Luna. But to Morales' credit, he fought back with a blistering fast pin in 24 seconds against Pablo Mejia of Oak Grove, then beat Anthony Torre of San Mateo 12-1.

That set up an important match with Saam Shahbazi of Palma to determine who would go on to wrestle for third place and a state berth. Morales was down 9-2 after a round and trailed 16-3 in the second round before turning Shahbazi for a pin.

Shahbazi had Morales on his back and "he told me later that he saw my face and saw me say, 'Don't give up!' " said Luna. "He fought off his back, got him with a Japanese arm spin, put him on his back and pinned him. I've never seen a match like that in my life. It was unbelievable."

A match later, Morales pinned Bellarmine's Mike DeSmidt in 58 seconds to pin third place and a state berth.

Morales' performance inspired Faraj-Perry. The senior had wrestled his way to the third-place match but needed a victory to win a state trip.

"He said, 'I can't lose. Adrian qualified, so I have to qualify,' " said Luna.

Faraj-Perry beat Paul Estrada of Gonzales 4-2 in overtime to finish third.

Faraj-Perry opened the tourney with a 40-second pin against Eric Singleton of Sacred Heart before losing an injury default. He battled through the consolation bracket to pin Roger Diaz of North Salinas at 2:51, to beat Dustin Garcia of St. Francis 3-1, to pin Shawn Donnelly of San Benito in 45 seconds, to pin Johnny Vincent of Monta Vista Christian in 55 seconds and to edge Ernesto Ancona of Fremont 4-3 to move into the third-place match.

Hernandez and Rodriguez were each 4-2 in the tourney and finished in the top eight in their weight classes. Olivas nailed a top 12 finish with a 4-2 record. All three are juniors at Willow Glen.

Daniel Cousino also competed at CCS for the Rams. He lost two straight, including a heartbreaking scoreless decision that he lost on riding time.

"He's a great kid," said Luna of Cousino. "He was the glue that kept this team together."


Rams in playoffs

Both the Willow Glen boys and girls basketball teams will open play in the CCS Division III playoffs this week.

The WG boys, co-champs in the West Valley Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League, take a 13-11 season record on the road to visit Soquel (23-5, number two seed) in the first round of the playoffs on Feb. 27, 8 p.m. The winner plays in the quarterfinals on March 1, 6:15 p.m., at Piedmont Hills.

The Willow Glen girls (19-5, number 15 seed) travel to Sacred Heart College Prep (16-8, number two seed) on Feb. 26, 7 p.m. The winner plays on March 1, 4:30 p.m., at Gunn in Palo Alto.