Olivas finished first, Mendez second and Oropeza third in the rugged field to lift the Rams to a 10th-place finish in the team standings at the tournament.

"We did all right," said Willow Glen coach Phil Luna after the event. "This is a young team, but I thought we were tested."

Olivas certainly answered the test. The senior 130-pounder won three straight matches to take a league title. After a first-round bye, he roughed up a Prospect opponent 18-3 and whipped Aldenn Cana of Mt. Pleasant 19-6 to move into the championship round.

Once there, Olivas made short work of Eric Nakagawa of Leigh, winning 8-3 to take the league's gold medal.

"They were both tentative in the beginning of the match," said Luna of the 130-pound final. "But in the second period, that's when Sam started to turn it on." Olivas held an 8-1 lead after two periods, and allowed just a reversal in the third on his way to the 8-3 win.

"He's peaking at the right time," said Luna of Olivas, who is now preparing for his bid for a medal at the Central Coast Section tournament set for Feb. 21 at Independence. The top placers there advance to the state tournament.

"He's had to work himself back up to the elite of the CCS in the minds of a lot of people," said Luna—ironically because of a loss by disqualification to Nakagawa at the Lynn Dyche Classic earlier this year at James Lick High School. Olivas ended up fourth in that tourney.

But Olivas, who had finished fifth in the Coast Classic, fourth at San Ramon and in the top eight at the MidCals, came back strong to win a title at the Jim Root Classic and then win a league championship.

Mendez, just a freshman, was second in what Luna called a "real tough weight class" at 103 pounds at the league tournament. He opened with a quick pin in 43 seconds against a Piedmont Hills foe, then battled back from a 10-4 deficit in the second round to win 13-11 against a Prospect opponent to advance to the finals.

Mendez lost 17-7 to Andre Gonzalez of Evergreen Valley, but the Willow Glen freshman put on a great show.

"Anthony put him on his back twice," said Luna. "It was a thrilling match all the way through."

"In the first round, Anthony had him on his back as time ran out," added the coach. "If there were four more seconds, he would have had the pin."

Mendez nailed the league second after finishing third at the Root, fifth at San Ramon and in the top eight at MidCals.

"From the beginning of the season to now, he's lived up the expectations we had of him early in the season," added Luna. "He's slowly making it happen for himself."

Oropeza, the No. 4 seed at 189 pounds, ended up finishing third in the league tournament when he pinned Jeremiah Harvey of Leland in his final match.

"Things have been up and down for him this season because he seems to wrestle to his competition," said Luna of the senior. "If the competition is tough, he wrestles tough. If it's not, he doesn't. But he's gaining confidence."

Oropeza open the tournament with a 14-6 win over Corey White of Mt. Pleasant but lost 8-4 to the eventual champion, Dean Antolin of Westmont, a match later. Antolin is ranked No. 1 in CCS at the weight.

Luna came back to pin White a match later to get into the third-place round, where he pinned Harvey.

Oropeza had finished fourth in both the Root and Dyche tournaments, was sixth at the Coast Classic and was in the top 10 at MidCals.

"We took nine kids to the tournament, and five were freshmen," said Luna. "Next year we'll understand better what we have to do."