PA's Pinto PA's Pinto (January 14, 2004)pins down a silver

Viking wrestlers bring home medals from the Bianchini Memorial

by Keith Peters

With heavyweight standout James McCluskey sidelined by an injury, the spotlight on Palo Alto wrestling now shines on those previously competing in McCluskey's shadow.

One such athlete in the spotlight is senior Max Pinto, who earned a silver medal in the 171-pound division last Saturday in the 19th annual Gary Bianchini Memorial Invitational at Cupertino High.

Pinto went 3-1 in the tournament, arguably one of the most competitive single-day events in Northern California. His only loss (8-1 in the finals) was to Mark Zabala of Gilroy, the No. 1-seeded wrestler in the Central Coast Section who finished fifth in the state meet a year ago.

Pinto won his first three matches while allowing just one point. The effort, which gave him a 17-3 season record, likely will move Pinto among the CCS top six. He began the season not ranked among the top 25.

Senior teammate Adam Dexter finished third at 160 pounds and Paly junior Fernando Shahpouri captured the consolation title at 112 pounds. Both finished with 4-1 records.

Dexter's path to his medal included two big comebacks. Just to reach the third-place match, Dexter had to rally from a 10-6 deficit with 45 seconds remaining to beat his Bellarmine opponent. Dexter first threw a reverse, worth two points, then earned three points with a near fall.

"That was a great one," said Paly assistant coach David Jones.

In the third-place match, Dexter gambled with the match tied at 5 by allowing his King's Academy opponent to escape four straight times. Despite giving up four points, Dexter earned eight points with four straight takedowns.

Shahpouri also staged a comeback in the consolation finals, rallying from a 4-1 deficit to post a medal-winning 10-4 victory.

The Vikings play host to Wilcox on Thursday (6:30 p.m.) in a SCVAL De Anza Division dual meet.

While Paly competed in Cupertino, Gunn sent half of its team to the San Ramon Invitational. There, senior Will Keller went 3-1 and finished second at 171 pounds and junior Adam Juratovac took third at 275. For Keller, he lost only his first match of the season and now is 13-1. Juratovac, meanwhile, also went 3-1 to improve to 12-2.

The Titans (6-0) will host Lynbrook on Thursday (5:30 p.m.) in their final home dual meet of the season.
Boys basketball

Eastside Prep (16-1) opened its Christian Private Schools Athletic League season with an easy 59-28 win at North Valley Baptist last week. Clarence Webster made all seven of his field goals for 14 points. He also had five steals and five assists, while Keith Garner contributed 13 points, eight rebounds and six steals.

Mid-Peninsula (2-0, 8-4) got 25 points from Daron Maxie and 13 from Jason Stergion in a 71-38 romp over host San Francisco Christian in CPSAL action.

Menlo-Atherton (2-0, 13-2) maintained a share of the four-way lead in the PAL Bay Division with a 57-36 romp over visiting Carlmont last Friday. Steve Yob and Dan Trautman each tallied 13 points for the Bears, who visit Aragon (2-0) on Wednesday in a key division matchup at 3:15 p.m.

In the Private Schools Athletic League, Sacred Heart Prep (4-0, 10-2) continues to roll over the competition. The Gators held visiting Valley Christian-Dublin to just 12 points through three quarters while posting a 51-22 win on Saturday. Tyler Holland led SHP with 16 points, breaking his streak of five games of 20 or more points.

In the SCVAL De Anza Division, Palo Alto (1-1, 12-2) and Gunn (1-1, 10-6) both head into this week trailing Milpitas (2-0) and Los Gatos (1-0) with a chance of moving ahead of Los Gatos.

The Titans hosted the Wildcats on Tuesday while the Vikings welcome Los Gatos on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Gunn and Paly meet for the first time on Jan. 23 on the Vikings' court.

Gunn is coming off a 44-42 win over Wilcox last Friday, thanks to a game-winning basket by freshman Peter Jordan. He finished with 18 points. Paly let an 11-point lead in the third quarter disappear and suffered a 48-42 loss to host Milpitas. Paly got just 26 points from its starters despite shooting better than 50 percent from the floor.

Girls' basketball

Castilleja's early-season showdown with Notre Dame-San Jose last Thursday night was postponed when the visiting team didn't show up.

"We were all dressed and ready to go," said Castilleja coach Jez McIntosh.

The mixup occurred because Notre Dame's new athletic director believed the game was scheduled for Friday night. The game was rescheduled for Monday, Feb. 16 at Castilleja and could decide the West Bay Athletic League title.

The night off actually was a good thing for Castilleja, which rested injured starter Mika Peterman. She also sat out Saturday's 48-20 thumping of host Harker, while Nikki Perlman led the way with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Palo Alto (2-0, 13-4) has a testy week ahead with home games against Saratoga (1-1) on Wednesday at 7 p.m., and Los Gatos (0-1) on Friday at 6 p.m. The Vikings, however, appear up to the task after polishing off host Milpitas last Friday, 59-38. Sophomore Bre Clay had a game-high 20 points, 16 coming in the first quarter as Paly raced to an 18-10 lead. Senior guard Jossy Tseng added 17 points and senior Sara Schulte had 11 as the two-time defending SCVAL De Anza Division champions avenged their only league loss of last year.

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