"We are exactly where we wanted to be in the last week of the season," coach Todd Meeker explained. "We have a chance to win the championship and we don't need help from anybody. If we win our last two games, we are league champs."

"It won't be easy," he added, "but it's definitely a possibility and a league championship has been our goal all year long."

To win out will most certainly be a challenge with Evergreen Valley (Feb. 14 at 7 p.m.) and Leland (Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m.) coming to Ram country. Evergreen is coming off a tough loss to Prospect that knocked the Cougars out of sole position of the division lead and will be fighting to stay alive in the title race. But the Rams will have a little motivation as well. In addition to their title hopes, the Rams will have a little extra incentive to avenge a disappointing first-round loss at the hands of the Cougars.

Willow Glen will have its hands full when Leland comes a calling to close out the season. The Chargers have been playing excellent basketball of late, racking up wins in three of their last four games to qualify for the Central Coast Section playoffs. In addition, Leland will be looking to erase the memory of a tough 67-61 loss to the Rams in round one play and to build some momentum for the playoffs with a solid late season win.

The Rams made sure they would be where they wanted to be with a pair of wins last week over a couple of lower division teams, Gunderson (0-12) and Overfelt (2-10), but it was not a slam dunk.

Willow Glen got a bit of a scare against Gunderson but was able to squeeze out a 58-55 win. Even though the Grizzlies were winless in league action, Meeker made sure his troops knew that "they can't look past anybody." It looked like that message came through loud and clear as the Rams built a 17-point lead midway through the third quarter. However, at that point things went south.

"We ran into some foul trouble, missed our free throws, and played poor defense," Meeker pointed out.

The result was a reversal of momentum and Gunderson came storming back and actually had a three-point lead with two minutes left in the game. The Rams regained the lead at 56-55 with time running out, but Gunderson had the ball with a chance to score. However, they were unable to control the ball and Willow Glen tacked on an uncontested lay-up as time expired.

Willow Glen has depended on the trio of Steven Skavdahl, Hienock Habte and Kyle Schroeder to lead the way to this point in the season and last week was no different. All three broke into double figures against Gunderson. Habte fired in 17 points, including a pair of three-balls. Schroeder rattled in 15 points and Skavdahl tossed in 12. They got support from Brian Chunn who knocked in seven points while Lawrence Montepio hit four and Billy Hahn added three.

The trio was at it again in the 53-43 win over Overfelt. Habte was on fire, pouring in 21 points with another pair from beyond the arc. Schroeder banged in nine while Skavdahl dropped in seven. Montepio nailed a couple of three-balls in route to a 10-point performance and was the only other Ram in double digits. Hahn rounded out the scoring with six points.

The game was closely contested through three quarters with Willow Glen enjoying a slight 42-38 advantage as the final stanza began. Overfelt had been able to stay close with solid outside shooting, so the Rams moved to a zone defense. "The zone took away the outside shot and our defense set the tone for the rest of the game," Meeker said.

Overfelt was able to find the bucket for only five points in the fourth quarter as Willow Glen pulled away for the win and set the stage for the final week of the regular season.

Girls lose a pair

The Willow Glen girls basketball team dropped a pair of decisions--70-42 to Gunderson and 50-45 to Mt. Pleasant--last week to slip to 5-7 in the Santa Teresa Division and to 13-11 for the year.

The Rams will close out league play with a pair of 7 p.m. road games this week, after Evergreen Valley on Feb. 14 and at Independence on Feb. 16.

Unbeaten Gunderson proved too much for Willow Glen last week. The Grizzlies turned back the Rams by 28 points, outscoring them in each of the four periods.

Junior Samantha Tsukiji had two three-pointers among her nine points to lead all scorers for the Rams. Emily Roberts supported with eight points, Angie Patton had seven, Krista Pronge five, Corina Lopez four, Hayley Tharp and Edith Vasquez three apiece, Stephanie Serna two and Brittany O'Brien one.

Earlier in the week the Rams had lost by five to Mt. Pleasant, despite jumping out to a 20-9 lead in the first quarter.

Serna led the Rams with 13 points and Tsukiji had two more threes to finish with 11. Patton had a three among her seven points, Lopez hit four, Vasquez and Roberts three apiece and Pronge and Tharp two each.

Rams win soccer title

Freshman forward Burree Cowherd knocked in two goals and added an assist to lead the Willow Glen girls soccer team to a 3-1 win over Mt. Pleasant last week.

With the win, the Rams improved to 10-0-2 in the Santa Teresa Division, good enough to clinch the league championship.

The Rams will now advance to the Central Coast Section Division III playoffs. Willow Glen, 14-2-3 for the year and the No. 7 seed, opens at home against Robert Louis Stevenson (15-1-2, No. 10 seed) on Feb. 15, 2:30 p.m. The winner advances to the CCS quarterfinals on Feb. 18 against No. 2 seeded Scotts Valley (12-4-4).

The tourney semifinals will be played Feb. 21 and 22 with the finals on Feb. 25, all at Valley Christian.

Cowherd scored goals off assists from Kathryn Cremer and Evelyn Cervantes and assisted freshman Taylor Lundquist on another to lead the Rams to the win over the Cardinals last week.

The Willow Glen boys, meanwhile, finished the year with a 4-1-7 Santa Teresa Division record after wrapping up league play with a 3-3 tie against Santa Teresa.