He's won back-to-back league championships, won a Central Coast Section title and finished fifth in the state.

But the senior mat star wants more. And judging by his start in the still young 2003­04 season, he's going to get it.

Pease is off to an 11-1 start this season with eight of his 11 victories coming on falls. Included in that total is a first-place finish at the Coast Classic and a third at the Newark-Memorial Iron Man Duals.

Pease won the crown at 152 pounds to lead the Wildcats to a team third at the Coast Classic—the best team finish in the school's history.

"Our best ever had been two years ago when we finished fourth," said Los Gatos coach Scott Downs of the rugged 44-team tournament. "Last year we were 12th."

Gatos finished behind powerhouses Madera and Gilroy but ahead of such solid teams as Del Oro, Carson City, Nev., and Firebaugh.

"It was a real good representation of teams," added Downs.

Pease won the 152-pound crown and Mike Wysuph was third at 160 pounds. Picking up fourths were Ivan Batinich at 189, Nolan Nguyen at 130 and Devin Lopez at heavyweight, and Jake Schonig was sixth at 103.

The Cats had opened the year by finishing fifth in the Iron Man Duals at Newark-Memorial. Nguyen led the way for the Wildcats by finishing second at 135 pounds.

Pease, Lopez, Bashir Olangian and Jordan France were each third for the Cats with Schonig, Wysuph, Batinich and Dylan Gavin nailing fourths.

"There were some good teams there," said Downs.

Los Gatos, of course, is a good team, too, and Downs thinks his Wildcats are good enough this season to contend for a championship in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League and possibly a top five spot at CCS.

"I think that's realistic," said the coach.

Los Gatos opened the league season in grand fashion with a lopsided 60-10 win over Palo Alto last week. Pins by Kevin Cho at 125, Matt Miguel at 130, Nguyen at 135, Mike Ross at 145 and Eric Chen at 171 helped the Cats roll over the Vikings.

"We're getting a lot of pins," said the coach.

But the big win of the night, according to the coach, came at 160 pounds when Wysuph pulled out a 7-2 win over a top Paly wrestler.

Schonig won 15-1 at 103 pounds, Gavin won 8-4 at 112, France won a technical fall at 119 and Olangian won 7-2 at 140 to round out the list of Gatos winners.

Downs looks at Fremont as the team to beat in the division this winter, but ranks his own Wildcats—who finished second in the dual match standings and first at the league tournament last year—as a top contender.

"We have a solid team, but we've got to replace the excellent leadership we lost to graduation," said the coach. "We're still unsettled at several weights. However, if we have the improvement curve that's typical, we'll be a contender for a league title and a top five CCS team."

"We're off to a pretty good start," added Downs. "We're starting to emerge, to find out who we are."

The Wildcats will have a good chance to see who they are over the next couple of weeks. Los Gatos was to take part in the Dec. 23 Silicon Valley Classic.