Willow Glen Resident
Sports
Panthers pin down division wrestling title
By Kevin Sparrer
Endurance can be the deciding factor when it comes to a wrestling match, especially when a team is involved in a tri-meet and each wrestler must take part in more than one match. In that case, endurance is truly called into question, and the Prospect wrestlers have it by the truckload.
The Panthers defeated both James Lick 73-6 and Lincoln 63-15 on Jan. 30, proving that Prospect deserves its championships in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.
The Panthers dominated James Lick with eight pins, two coming in the first minute of action. Sohei Takagi defeated his opponent at 135 pounds in only 36 seconds, and David Silver pinned in 53 seconds at 145s.
Ethan Snyder, at 215s, put his opponent's shoulders to the mat in 1:12, and it took Michael Bricker only 1:16 at 125s and Kyle Vennell just 1:22 at 152s to register falls.
At 189 pounds, Chris Sierra downed his opponent in 1:36, and 119-pounder Janik Santana pinned his in 1:45.
Zac Cook's pin at 160s was the only fall that didn't come in the first round of the match. Cook finished off his opponent in 4:56.
Brian Santana won by a major decision of 18-6 at 140s, and Justin Estores also won a major decision of 16-2 at 112s.
The same night, Prospect also took down Lincoln with seven pins.
Again Prospect came out quickly with six of the seven pins coming in the first round of the matches. Vennell had the fastest pin against Lincoln in 1:27, while Sierra was close behind in 1:32 and Snyder followed at 1:36.
It took J. Santana 1:47 to put his opponent on the mat, while Bricker took 1:52 and Cook did it in 1:55.
Scott Campbell put his 171-pound opponent's shoulders down in the third round at 4:25.
B. Santana also won his second match of the night on a 5-2 decision, and David Silver took six team points in a forfeit.
"This team puts in a ton of hard work," said Prospect head coach Shawn Henebry. "They train year- round to be the best, and it really shows when we step on the mat and 'Dictate and Dominate,' which has been one of our team mottos."
Prospect's list of accomplishments on the mat this year includes more than just league competition. The Panthers were the Silicon Valley Cup champions in the silver division, they took third in the San Marin Invitational and they were third in the Jim Root Classic. Henebry also expects his Panthers to finish among the top three teams at the BVAL finals on Feb. 16 at Overfelt High School.
Prospect has nine wrestlers that are currently ranked in the Central Coast Section in their weight classes. J. Santana and Cook are both seventh, Takagi is eighth, Silver and Campbell are 15th, both Vennell and Chris Walter are 18th, and Bricker, B. Santana, Sierra and Snyder are all 20th.
Kelly Kusumoto is also the top- ranked female wrestler in the state in her weight class and has won five titles so far this year.
"We look forward to qualifying as many wrestlers to CCS and hopefully to state for the postseason tournaments," said Henebry.
Prospect finished the Santa Teresa Division season 7-0 in dual meets and 13-2 overall.
Rams are champs
Multiple matches in the same day can be difficult for some wrestlers, but apparently Willow Glen's wrestlers didn't mind so much when they defeated San Jose 51-24 and Pioneer 42-18 on the same night on Jan. 30. The two wins left Willow Glen with a perfect 7-0 league record and the championship in the West Valley Division of the BVAL.
Jose Gutierrez of Willow Glen won by a pin at 215s in the first round against San Jose and picked up a forfeit win over the Mustangs.
James Everhart had a pin in the first round at 125s against Pioneer. He also won by forfeit against San Jose.
Jon Meza at 171s nailed a 7-6 decision against San Jose and then turned around and pinned his opponent from Pioneer in the first round.
Dominic Raffin added a pin for Willow Glen in the first round over Pioneer and received a forfeit win against San Jose at 135s.
Hugo Hernandez also pinned his Pioneer opponent in the first round at 140s and took a forfeit win over San Jose.
At 145s, Bobby Lopez put his Pioneer opponent's shoulders to the mat in the second round and was another to win by forfeit against San Jose.
Brandon Masoni at 103s, Leo Hernandez at 119s and Luis Vargas at 130s all took forfeit wins over San Jose, while Kelib Kim at 189s and Masoni won by forfeit against Pioneer.
Willow Glen will be taking part in the BVAL wrestling finals on Feb. 16 at Overfelt High School, with matches running all day.
The tops wrestlers from that meet will advance to the Central Coast Section tournament that will be held on Feb. 22 and 23 at Independence. The CCS seeding meeting will take place on Feb. 17.
Wrestling club
The Westside Warriors Wrestling Club holds practices each Monday and Wednesday, 5:30-7 p.m., in the wrestling room at Prospect High School. Folk-style wrestling will be taught from October through February with freestyle and Greco-Roman taught March through June.
The club is open to boys and girls of all ages, and there is no charge to practice with the club. For more information, contact coach Jon Silver at 408.425.1444 or jonesilver@comcast.net.
