The Bells watched Baxley knock in eight goals in a 9-4 win over Monta Vista and nine more in a 12-7 victory over Milpitas.

So the Bells decided that Baxley wasn't going to beat them in the Division 2 championship.

He didn't, but the Los Gatos High School roller hockey team did.

The Bells held Baxley to just three goals, but the Wildcats supported with four more to roll to a 7-4 win over Bellarmine, clinching the division championship.

Los Gatos had finished fourth in the regular season with a 7-4 record but breezed through the playoffs to win the roller hockey crown, the school's first since 1998. Roller hockey is a club sport at the high school level.

The Cats had topped regular-season champion Milpitas to earn the shot at second-seeded Bellarmine in the title game. The Bells clamped down on Baxley, limiting the league's leading scorer to three hard-earned goals. But Danny Frey punched in two goals, and Hans Jorgensen and Matt Kinser each added a goal. Senior goalie Brendan Martin came up huge, making several big saves down the stretch to hold off the pressing Bells.

Baxley, a junior, led the assault for the Cats in the opening round of the playoffs, scoring eight goals in a 9-4 victory over Monta Vista. Freshman Michael Wiederhold accounted for the other goal.

But the mission got tougher a night later when Los Gatos had to play regular-season champ Milpitas. Los Gatos matched the Trojans goal for goal and held a one-goal lead at halftime, but when one of Milpitas' top players and their coach were ejected from the game for unsportsmanlike behavior midway through the second half, the Cats pounced on the opportunity and roared to a 12-7 victory.

Baxley notched nine goals in the win, with Frey adding two and Kinser the other.

"Even though we gave up seven goals, the defense stepped up as well," said coach Randy Frey. "Milpitas is a high-powered team. They are tough to hold down. We knew going in that the mission was to try to outscore them."

Seniors Geoff Frey and Scott Hughmanick and sophomore Derek Fredericks joined D. Frey to form the two defensive lines. Baxley, Kinser and Jorgensen split the duties on offense, with Wiederhold unavailable because of Northern California ice hockey playoffs in Sacramento.

The Los Gatos junior varsity team finished the season in sixth place in the 10-team Division 4. Freshman Brandon Barnett was the league's third-leading scorer, and sophomore Brandon DeConte was also among the league's top scorers.