Cupertino - The Los Gatos Wildcats spoiled senior night for the Pioneers with a 44-25 win Thursday night. The two teams wrestled several close matches, but L.G. came away with 8 wins out of the 13 matches wrestled. With the win Los Gatos clinches a dual-meet league championship; Cupertino can secure second place, and gain momentum for the league finals tournament, with a win at Fremont H.S. next Thursday. Varsity Pioneers that won by pin were: sophomore George Sakkas (112 pounds), junior Ian Maeesaros (160), and senior Gurmukh Singh (171).
The Pioneer j.v. team picked up their second league win of the season by the score of 45-21. J.V. wrestlers who won by pin include: freshman Evan Drake (119), sophomore Nick Tucci (130), and junior Matt Fostiropulo (135).
San jose - The Cupertino varsity squad competed at the 45th Annual Overfelt Classic on Saturday, sending three wrestlers to the championship finals and finishing in the top four of the team standings. All nine Tino wrestlers won at least 1 match, and six of them placed in the top 4 of their weight class. Gilroy H.S. won the team title, out of a total of 40 schools, with 236.5 points; followed by St. Francis Prep. (219.0), Overfelt (154.0), Cupertino (148.5), and Fremont (128.0).
George Sakkas continued a strong season taking fourth place at 114 pounds, with 1 of his wins coming by way of a pin. Garun Arustamov (137 lbs.) took third place at a tough weight class, and also pinned one opponent.
Junior Ian Messaros (154 lbs.), and seniors Gurmukh Singh (162 lbs.) and Martin Alvarez (173 lbs.) qualified for the championship match in dominating fashion. Messaros had 1 pin, and Singh and Alvarez each pinned three opponents leading to their finals match. Messaros wrestled Cody Rodebaugh of San Lorenzo Valley H.S. for the fourth time this season (and the third time in a tourney final) losing by the score of 5-0. Singh faced off against Giroy's Dominic Kastl, for a second time this season, and fell by the score of 19-5. Martin Alvarez wrestled Tyler Edwards of Monterey H.S. and was pinned in the first period.
Three other Cupertino wrestlers won matches but did not place. Senior Arturo Arias (132 lbs.) finished with a record of 2-2, with one pin. Freshman Joseph Ochsner (142 lbs.) had a first round bye and then had his tournament end early with a record of 1-2. Senior Matthew Fostiropulo (147 lbs.) finished his day with a record of 2-2 and one pin.
Come out and support the Cupertino wrestling team as they host the Los Gatos Wildcats on Thursday evening. It will be a match between the last two undefeated schools in the S.C.V.A.L.'s De Anza division. It will also be Tino's "Senior Night", as it will be the last home dual-meet for all of the Pioneer Seniors.
Santa Clara - The Wilcox Chargers played host to the Pioneers on Thursday evening and gave Tino all they could handle. This dual-meet was tightly contested, and proved that the S.C.V.A.L. is one of the toughest leagues in the Central Coast Section. Despite their winless record the Chargers wrestled their best daul-meet of the season, and made several lineup moves that forced Cupertino to adjust and counter. The Pioneers came away with a 42-31 win, and need just two more victories to clinch a second straight league dual-meet championship. Varsity pins came from: freshman Joseph Ochsner (145 pounds), junior Ian Messaros (152), sophomore Deshaun Stuart (171), and senior Martin Alvarez.
The Pioneer j.v. team came up short, due to several spots left open to forfeit. The Wilcox 2nd man team came away with a 43-25 win over Tino. The next daul-meet for the Pioneers will be next Thursday when Tino will host Los Gatos.
