So what's that make Bobby Pease of Los Gatos? Obviously one of the two toughest wrestlers in the section.

Because Pease won the 145-pound crown at the CCS tournament held Feb. 21­22 at Independence High School. And he did it in relatively easy fashion.

"Pin, pin, pin, pin ... then domination in the finals," said Los Gatos coach Scott Downs of Pease's performance in the section meet.

"It's a tough weight class," added Downs. "That and 160s are the two toughest weight divisions in CCS. And he gave up just four points in the whole tournament. It was clear cut."

Pease was one of two Wildcats in the finals—Bryan Ceglio was second t 103 pounds. Now the two juniors will advance to the state tournament March 7­8 at the University of the Pacific in Stockton.

Pease and Ceglio led Los Gatos to a team second at the section tourney. Gilroy won the team crown with 213 points and Los Gatos was a distant second at 153.5.

"We knew that first place was going to be a stretch," admitted Downs, who added that this is the first time since 1972 that Los Gatos has finished as high as second in CCS.

"We led after the first two rounds," he added. "It was exciting. Silver Creek (147.5) and Bellarmine (133.5) were close."

It was pins and placers that sparked the Wildcats to the team second in the tourney.

"We had nine pins and a tech fall in the first round," said the coach. "That's why we were in first place the first day. These guys were ready to wrestle in this tournament."

Pease led the pin parade with four falls at 145 pounds. Pease pinned Joe Nunez of San Jose at 2:24 of the second round, he won by fall at 1:02 of the first against Paul Ramos of Greenfield, he pinned Rudy Herrera of Silver Creek at 3:21 and he won by fall over Maurice Budaio of Watsonville to get into the finals. The talented Cat then beat Ricky Torculas of North Monterey County 15-3 to win the title.

Ceglio won his way into the finals at 103 pounds before losing a tough 7-3 nod to John Gurich of Gilroy.

"Ceglio was a surprise," said Downs. "Not a shock, but a surprise. The fact that he was unseeded may have worked in his favor."

Ceglio pinned Taylor Rosenberg of Harbor in 56 seconds, then won by technical fall over Parker Sha of Terra Nova. The Gatos junior pinned Jason Sulay of Aragon with 1:03 left to wrestle in his third match, then upset No. 2 seed Daniel Summers of Bellarmine 7-3 in the semifinals. "He really controlled the match," said Downs.

The four wins sent Ceglio into the finals, where he lost to Gurich. "But it was a good match," said Downs of the title bout.

Matt Nudelman finished fourth at 135 pounds for the Wildcats and Brian Miguel was fourth at 140. But only the top three placers in each weight class advance to state. Adam Morgenthaler was sixth at 130.

"Through all the excitement of the good finish, the bittersweet part is the individual aspect—to see some dreams not fulfilled," said Downs.

"We had achieved so many of our goals," said Downs, "and then there is the personal piece."

Still, the Wildcats were pleased to qualify 14 wrestlers for CCS and send 11 into the second day of competition.

Nudelman won his first two matches on technical falls, beating Tomas Koponen of Monterey and Tony Pina of King City, but lost 6-0 to Armando Palomo of Bellarmine. He beat Kevin Cunningham of St. Francis 5-3 and topped Isahi Detrini of Overfelt, but he lost a second decision 6-4 to Palomo to wind up fourth.

Miguel reeled off three straight wins at 140 pounds. The senior pinned Miguel Poma of Seaside, dominated Jim Dausen of Monterey 18-6 and edged Callan Romseburg of Gilroy 5-3 before getting pinned by the eventual division champ, Joe Rico of Silver Creek. Miguel lost a decision in the third-place match to David Mitchell of San Lorenzo Valley.

Morgenthaler pinned Hami Hamedi of Bellarmine with 23 seconds left in the third round and beat Gabe Cisologo of Wilcox 10-2 in his first two matches before losing to Anthony Dariano of Bellarmine 6-0.

The Gatos senior came back to pin Gabe Harb of Riordan with 33 seconds left in the third round and beat Rueben Rodriguez of Willow Glen before losing his last match.

At 119 pounds, Matt Miguel opened with a pin with two seconds left in the first round against Adam Piccolotti of Half Moon Bay, but lost to Cupertino's Mitch Conley 14-7 a match later. Miguel came back with a technical fall win over Kurtis Ogasawara of Fremont and blanked Victor Estrada 8-0 before losing to Victor Nagishbend of Terra Nova a match short of the medal round.

"He's the real deal," said Downs of Miguel, who finished in the top eight in his weight class.

Holden Groves pinned at 1:19 of the first round against Jeff Jackson of Hillsdale in his first match at 125, then beat Eric Nakagawa of Leigh before losing a 2-1 heartbreaker to Rohaum Raji of Serra. He came back to beat Samuel Martinez of King City 4-2 before losing to Adam Zubiate of North Monterey County just short of the medal round. Groves also finished in the top eight.

Freshman James Alva pinned Sergio Hernandez of Oak Grove 18 seconds into the second round in his first match at 112 pounds, then lost 10-0 to Joaquin Carlos of Mitty and 4-0 to Collin Mitchell of Harbor.

Young Devin Lopez was also impressive at 275. The sophomore pinned Daniel Crandall of Soledad at 2:24 of the second round and won by fall at 1:19 of the first round over Mike Gamez of Live Oak in his first two bouts. He was pinned in his next two matches to face elimination.

"Those two kids really made a difference," said Downs of Alva and Lopez.

The coach praised the performance of Cameron Fee at 189 pounds. The senior won three of his five matches, including a pin and a tech fall.

"He's the guy I thought might be our secret weapon," said Downs.

Jeff Oleson at 160 pounds and Eric Chen at 171 each posted 2-2 records with a pin each at CCS and Ivan Batinich was 1-2 with a pin at 215. Mike Ross competed at 152 pounds for the Wildcats.