Saratoga News
Sports
Wildcats finish 4th as a team
By Mike Barnhart
Since placing sixth at the state high school wrestling meet last winter, Los Gatos senior Geoff Doss has been on a mission to become a state champion.
This weekend, Feb. 29-March 1 at Bakersfield's Rabobank Arena, he will get another shot.
Doss earned a trip to the CIF State Wrestling Championships by impressively beating five challengers at the Central Coast Section championships, Feb. 22-23, at Independence and Overfelt. With four pins and a 16-5 major decision over San Benito senior Fernando Lucatero in the final, Doss captured the gold medal for the 154-pound weight class.
"I'm chasing a state title, so this was just one step in the process," explained Doss, who never looked back after taking down Lucatero with an ankle pick that earned a quick 5-0 lead. "This was just taking care of business."
Some would say it was business as usual for the determined Doss, who continues to build upon his school takedown record each time he takes the mat.
"He's relentless and very self-motivated," said Los Gatos coach Ken Perrotti, after Doss improved his season record to 43-2 and became the first Wildcat since Bobby Pease (2003-04) to win at CCS two years in a row.
It certainly was business as usual for Gilroy, which claimed the team championship for the sixth straight season. With four individual winners and nine state qualifiers, the Mustangs scored 249.5 points, well ahead of second-place San Benito (151). St. Francis was third with 140.5 and Los Gatos took fourth with 140.5. In all, 76 schools were represented in the two-day meet. The top four finishers in each of the 14 weight classes qualified for state.
Los Gatos teammate Calvin Hawkes, who for two seasons has been doing everything in his power to "be like Geoff" on the wrestling mat, now has his shot too.
After a second-period escape and takedown, Hawkes held on to beat San Lorenzo Valley sophomore Cody Rodebaugh 3-2 for the 137-pound title and a chance to be a state medalist.
"When we were sophomores, I saw him place at CCS and I was just a JV league champion," recalled Hawkes, who will take a 46-4 record to the state meet. "From that moment, I started to play catch-up, putting in a lot of work."
Although Los Gatos fell short of its team goal to replace Gilroy as team champion--the Mustangs, with four individual winners, won their unprecedented sixth consecutive team title--Doss and Hawkes gave the Wildcats two CCS champions in the same year for the first time since 1970.
No other local athletes captured gold at CCS, but Saratoga junior Nathan Nguyen (105 pounds) and Westmont senior Abe Matsui (132) reached the championship round, before losing to No. 1 seeds.
In the first match of the finals program, Nguyen lost 4-0 to Overfelt's talented Joshua Go.
"This was his third loss to Go, and the other were pins," Saratoga coach Kirk Abe said, "so this was his best match against him."
Nguyen, who was third at CCS last year, barely escaped the semifinals. Down 10-4 in the third period, he rallied for an 11-10 win over Michael Lim of El Camino.
"He used a high-risk move he calls the 'cement mixer' to turn things around," Abe explained.
Matsui, the Blossom Valley Athletic League champion and the No. 6 seed, led his title match against Watsonville senior Emmanuel Lanuza 5-3 and had his eyes on an upset when he started the third round in the bottom position. But Matsui was penalized twice in the final period for stalling, forcing a 5-5 tie and overtime. Lanuza scored a takedown to win 7-5.
Matsui, who finished in the top eight at CCS as a junior, will be joined at the state meet by Westmont teammate Chris Sutton, who placed fourth at 137 pounds with a 5-2 record.
Los Gatos senior Victor Gonzalez pinned Saratoga junior Jasper Loren in the second round of the fifth-place match at 147 pounds. Both competitors entered the second day 3-0, but lost in the semifinals to the top seeds. Then in the wrestle-back for third and fourth place, Gonzalez lost 4-2 to Gilroy's Travis Sakamoto, and Loren lost 2-1 to Harbor senior Eric Lopez. Interestingly, in Friday's quarterfinals, Gonzalez had knocked off Lopez and Loren had decisioned Sakamoto.
"Victor worked his butt off in this tournament," Perrotti said. "He was doing things on the mat that we work on. He did not make his goal as a state qualifier, but we are proud of him."
Los Gatos senior Sean Goodison reached the 162 semifinals before finishing sixth with a 3-3 mark.
Fremont senior Donny Mena (217) placed sixth, going 5-3 with four pins. In the process, he pinned and eliminated the SCVAL champion, senior Nick Kalpin (2-2) of Los Gatos, and the league runner-up, Travis Johnson of The King's Academy.
Los Gatos junior Jack Hogan, the No. 4 seed at 105 pounds, could not wrestle because of a broken wrist suffered in practice shortly after league finals, but senior Gurbaksh Sohal (191), junior Marcel Schwager (127) and sophomores Andy Kreidle (114) and Omri Rahmil (132) all turned in top eight showings for the Wildcats.
"The underclassmen did a great job for us," Doss said of his teammates.
Kreidle, the SCVAL runner-up, pinned his first two foes before losing by a second-round fall to No. 2 seed Junior Davilla of San Benito. He reached the consolation semifinals with a 4-2 decision over Santa Clara's Eric Serrano, the SCVAL champion. Kreidle ultimately lost 2-0 in overtime in the consolation semifinals 2-0 in overtime. He finished 3-2 and in the top eight.
Schwager, the SCVAL champion, won three of four matches--all by fall--to reach the final eight. After Independence senior Michael Rodriguez, the top seed, pinned Schwager at 3:00 of their quarter-final bout, Schwager bounced back with another pin before losing to eventual state qualifier Rey Tanada of South San Francisco.
Rahmil lost in the 132 quarterfinals to the eventual winner, Lanuza, then finished in the top eight with a 3-2 mark. Another top eight finisher in the 132 class was Saratoga junior Richard Macklin (4-2).
Also at 119, Leigh junior Trevor Borello went 2-2 with a couple of pins. Seniors Matt Anzalone of Los Gatos and Vincent Huang of Lynbrook and sophomore Joe Johnson of Fremont all went 1-2.
At 142, Los Gatos senior Robbie Nakata, the SCVAL champion, finished 2-2 and in the final 12. He fell into the consolation bracket right away, losing his first bout of the day by fall to Willow Glen senior Bobby Lopez. After a bye, Nakata scored a pair of decisions, before Palma junior Joe Basco eliminated him with an 8-5 decision.
Sophomore 162-pounder Sebastie Chene of Leigh finished in the top 12 with a 3-2 record. After Gilroy's Ethan Ogle pinned him, he put three straight consolation challengers on their backs, before bowing 4-2 to sophomore Rob Riedler of King City. Junior Brian Butrice of Westmont went 2-2.