Cupertino coach Jay Lawson isn't worried, though. Despite the warning, Lawson invites Vacaville back to the Cupertino Memorial Tournament every year.

But he does it for a reason—he wants the Cupertino tournament to be the best around. And with teams like Vacaville, Turlock and Gilroy in the 27-team field, it promises to be one of the best again this year.

"It's probably the toughest one-day tournament in the state," said Lawson of the Jan. 11 Cupertino Memorial. "There going to be some great competition. Every weight class has at least two state-ranked wrestlers, so that should make it pretty fun."

Vacaville is the odds-on favorite to win it all. The Bulldogs just finished third in a tough tourney in Minnesota, beating the state's 10th-ranked team, and they competed in the Beast of the East tourney in New York.

"Vacaville has one of the strongest teams in the nation," said Lawson. "They're favored to win again this year."

Vacaville has won the Cupertino tourney for eight straight year but the 'Dogs figure to get some stiff competition from perennial powerhouse Turlock and from Gilroy, a winner in the rugged 90-team Sierra-Nevada Classic in Reno over the Dec. 27­28 weekend.

"It will be another great tournament," added Lawson. "We have some very good teams coming in from out of the area."

There are also some solid local teams competing in the event. The coach rates Los Gatos, Fremont, Bellarmine, St. Francis and his own Cupertino Pioneers as squads that "could be in the top five or six," he said.

Los Gatos features a tough lineup in the middle weights, said Lawson. Defending league champion Bobby Pease leads the pack at 145; Matt Miguel (119), Adam Morganthaler (130) and Matthew Nudelman (135) are other top prospects for the Wildcats. Bryan Ceglio (112) and Brian Miguel (140) should also figure in the tournament scoring.

Wrestling begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday, with the finals to get under way at 6 p.m. A day earlier, the Cupertino Second-Man Tournament begins at 3:30 p.m., with the finals at 7:30 p.m.

Los Gatos, a loser to Cupertino in the first dual match of the league season, will return to competition in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) this week. The Wildcats visit Monta Vista on Jan. 9, 6:30 p.m.


Boys basketball

The Los Gatos boys basketball team took a weekend trip to Nevada Dec. 27 and 28 and came home with a split.

The Wildcats lost a tough 61-58 decision to Virginia City but came back a night later to beat North Valleys of Reno 67-54.

Chris Clock was on fire in the Friday night game. Eight of his 10 field goals were from three-point range, and he ended up with 28 points for the night. But the Cats still lost by three.

Aaron Goldfarb supported with 11 points in the game. Nik Kay tossed in six points, Matt Martini had three, and Jamal Modir, Mike Robards, Ivann Venter, Kyle Gisler and Bryce Murray added two points each.

Clock came back with 26 points a night later to lead the Cats to the win over North Valleys. Clock had four threes among his seven field goals and he added eight points at the free-throw line.

Rory Bauer buried three three-pointers on his way to 12 points. Modir added 11 points, including a three, and Kay hit 10. Robards supported with five points, Martini had two and Ryan Daily hit one.

The Cats, now 8-5 for the year, open league play this week in the SCVAL's De Anza Division. Gatos hosts Homestead on Jan. 7, 7 p.m., before traveling to Milpitas for a 7:30 p.m. game on
Jan. 10.