December 16, 2005

Evergreen Sports

Just one of the guys

Silver Creek’s Tina Linhsamount makes strides
in wrestling as team’s only girl

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Editor

Small in stature and soft-spoken, Silver Creek junior Tina Linhsamount is your typical high school student—until you get her on a wrestling mat.

Tina Linhsamount is just one of the guys.

Linhsamount, the lone female wrestler on the Raiders’ varsity squad, has steadily made a name for herself among a sea of male competitors in the Central Coast Section.

“Every time she steps out onto the mat, I know she’s giving me everything she’s got,” said Raiders’ head wrestling coach Eddie Luna. “She’ll give you everything she’s got and she leaves it out there. She doesn’t hold anything back and she’s got a lot of heart. Nobody questions that.”

For Linhsamount, wrestling on a squad of all boys is nothing new, given the ample male presence at home.

“There wasn’t that much awkwardness because I grew up with five brothers,” she said. “Being around boys is normal to me. I kind of slowly went with it and became one of them.”

In 2004, she placed first in the FILA Cadet Freestyle Championships among female wrestlers in the 101.25-pound weight class. Last season, as a wrestler on Silver Creek’s varsity squad, Linhsamount impressed her coaches and teammates by placing among a horde of competitors in the Cupertino Memorial Wrestling Tournament, gaining a sixth-place finish overall. Silver Creek coaches said the annual tournament is arguably the toughest one-day tournament in the state.

“Placing in a varsity tournament as a sophomore, that kind of speaks for itself,” said Luna.

Her 2004-05 high school wrestling season reached a pinnacle when she qualified for CCS after finishing fifth in the Blossom Valley Athletic League Finals.

From there, Linhsamount competed in the Junior Girls State Championships, winning the 110-pound weight class competition in freestyle wrestling.

Those impressive accomplishments earned Linhsamount a 10th-place ranking in CCS in her 103-pound weight class this year.

“I want to try harder this year and go further with it,” Linhsamount said of her steady progression as a wrestler. “I’m going to work hard and I’m going to go for it. There’s no limit this year.”

What separates Linhsamount from others is her work ethic, according to Luna, who cited the fact that Linhsamount will run home from practice at night to get some extra work in, instead of accepting a car ride home. While strength is a disadvantage for her, Luna said Linhsamount makes up for it with other physical attributes.

Silver Creek’s Tina Linhsamount takes down her practice partner, Andrew Demarest, during a practice in the school’s gym earlier this season. Photo by Diego Abeloos

“She’s quick, she’s fast and she really likes it,” Luna said of Linhsamount’s attributes on the mat. “Her older brother (Tito) wrestled for me, so she kind of just picked it up. … When she’s here at practice, she works really hard. There’s
nothing she won’t do. She goes the extra mile.”

Linhsamount first gained an appreciation for the sport of wrestling during her time at Quimby Oak Junior High School, picking up the sport on the suggestion of her older Brother Tito during her seventh-grade year at the school.

“At first, I didn’t want to wrestle,” said Linhsamount. “My brother actually got me into it because he thought I was kind of tough for a girl. I told him ‘no’ lots of times, but I decided in the middle of the season at Quimby Oak to try it. When I beat my first opponent, it felt good. So, I stuck with it.”

After her brother graduated from Silver Creek, he took it upon himself to help his younger sister out with the finer points of the sport, giving advice when needed. But as luck would have it, Linhsamount paired up with Luna as her coach, who previously had a female wrestler in Renee Green in 2003.

Having a supportive coach who encourages females to take part in the sport has made being the only girl on a boys’ team no big deal for Linhsamount.

“I’m glad I have Luna as a coach because he treats me like no other coach has ever treated me before,” Linhsamount said. “He treats me like one of the wrestlers instead of treating me like a girl, like other coaches would.
… Some coaches don’t think girls can hang with the guys, but he believes in me and that makes me happy.”

In turn, the boys’ on the team have come to respect her skills as a wrestler and her support as a teammate.

“All the guys here take her seriously,” said Luna. “They know she’s the real deal. She’s the complete package.”

Cardinals’ boys soccer determined to shine in 2005-06 season

Mt. Pleasant drops league opener to Leland, 3-0

By Ken Lotich
Staff Writer

Nick Arellano, in his sixth year as head coach for the Mt. Pleasant varsity boys’ soccer squad, is hopeful for his team’s chance of winning the league title.

Mt. Pleasant’s Luis Topete passes the ball to teammate Gabino De Lallora during a 3-0 loss to Leland on Dec. 9. Photo by Ken Lotich

“The team is a great group of talented guys,” Arellano said. “We’re having a lot of fun.”

In the league opener against Leland, the Cardinals were shut out 3-0. With the loss, Mt. Pleasant is 3-4 overall and 0-1 in Mt. Hamilton Division play.

The Cardinals had 13 shots on goal in the game, with many close efforts. The team just couldn’t cash in its chips. On the other hand, Leland had 11 shots on goal.

In the 25th minute, Luis Salazar shot a ball that sailed just over the crossbar. Noel Garcia and Jose Alvidrez also had close shots on the goal as well, in the 46th and 55th minutes, respectively.

Goalie Adam Ramirez had to cut down the angle on several Leland attempts, and stopped several efforts by the Chargers.

Looking ahead
The team is ambitious in its attempt to finish at the top of league. In its 2004-05 endeavor, Mt. Pleasant tied for fourth place with Overfelt High School with a 5-6-3 record. Overall, the Cardinals were 10-7-4 during the season.

Daniel Ortiz, second team all-league, is back, and according to Arellano, he’ll be the go-to-guy for the Cardinals.

Ortiz, a midfielder by trade, is versatile enough that Arellano will play him at forward or even sweeper—wherever the team needs him, they’ll put him there.

“I’m willing to give myself up for the team,” Ortiz, the Cardinals’ team captain, said. “I’m here to do whatever it takes to win.”

Supporting Ortiz will be many weapons. The Cardinals possess an arsenal of talent, said Arellano.

“The future is amazing,” he said. “Most of our guys are underclassmen on the squad, and everyone here has a tremendous amount of talent to offer to the team.”

With eight underclassmen, including freshmen Fernando Rivas, Dario Cruz and Omar Rodriguez—compared to its nine seniors this season—Mt. Pleasant will be looking to get ready for the future now.

Noel Garcia, who will also be a key entity for the squad, said communication will be a key in getting some of the younger players familiar with the tempo of the varsity game.

“We have to talk and work together in order to get wins,” he said. “With the young guys, we are just trying to make them feel comfortable and not treat them differently than anyone else.”

Garcia said this season has started like previous ones—a bit sluggish—which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“Every season we start off a bit slow,” Garcia said. “This gets us pumped up to do well in the next games.”

Arellano said this year, like past ones, has no clear-cut league champion.
“
In this division, nobody’s an easy win—no team goes unbeaten,” Arellano said. “There’s nothing like being here. …

We’re very young, but we expect to go the (Central Coast Section) playoffs.”

Ortiz concurred.

“We’re looking at making it the CCS playoffs,” he said. “We have to keep going out there, play the game the way we know how, and learn from our mistakes. Doing that will make us better.”

Great expectations

Silver Creek soccer looks toward league title

By Justin Petersen
Staff Writer

Rudolph would wheeze at the preseason pace Silver Creek’s co-soccer coaches Tony Barajas and Adolfo Laguna set to prep the Raiders’ most promising lineup in recent history.

Come Christmas Day, the boys will have logged three tournaments, traveling to Fresno, Lemoore and Bakersfield, to train up against ‘tougher’ competition than local foes offer. And that comes between three league contests, amongst what promises to be a tight race in the West Valley Division, where just one champion draws a bid in CCS play.

Coach Barajas preps his team for an upcoming tournament this weekend.

According to Barajas, who translates his career as a wrestler, both as a coach and National Champion Heavyweight from San Francisco State University, into a mind over matter soccer regime, the Raiders have enough talent to compete with not only any team in the league, but any team in the section.

Five freshman responsible for Silver Creek’s ray of light 2001-02 frosh-soph championship—which coincidentally came during the first year Barajas and Laguna assumed reins of the varsity program and fought to turn Silver Creek soccer from a string of dismal standings—are seniors now, and Barajas, for one, anticipates the boys’ fate to seize the day with a West Valley championship.

“This team is strong,” said Barajas. “Physically, we can compete with anybody. We play tough defense and we’re physical. Mentally, though, we’re in the middle. At times we make mental errors that good teams don’t make. But this is our year. The kids have worked hard to get here.”

Rival squads from Andrew Hill and Branham high schools will challenge the Raiders for first place. While Branham reportedly fields a well-rounded team, it is Andrew Hill that intimidates with pedigree. San Jose Earthquake Ronald Cerritos will coach the Falcons this season, bringing a wealth of game time expertise to a group fresh down from B-League competition in the Santa Teresa Division.

“We’re selling the program short if we don’t win league,” continued Barajas. “It can become a pretty big head game with Ronald Cerritos standing on the sideline, but I just tell the kids, ‘It’s not about the coach; it’s about the athletes.’ And we have some of the best athletes in the section.

Barajas and Laguna will depend on senior captains Gilbert Solorio, Jorge Barajas and Jeffrey Sanchez to produce the majority of offense and guide freshmen Jaspao Bhoot and Miguel Quiroz, who have earned starting positions on the varsity team and will be thrust into action immediately.

Bhoot is also expected to breathe life into an offense that is historically less effective than Raider defense, thanks to fancy footwork and aggressive tactics, while Quiroz is mature beyond his years, and comes from a soccer family. His father has coached club in the area for years.

Two Raiders face off at practice Monday. Silver Creek is expected to vie for the league championship for the first time in recent years.

Sanchez, a returning all-league player who has yet to play this season, will be a welcomed reinforcement in January. The CCS Cross-Country qualifier is considered the Raiders’ top returner, however, he has been inactive since leaving with his family to Mexico.

“The whole team has to play hard and come together as one for us to make it to CCS,” said the younger Barajas, who also started at Quarterback last Fall on the Silver Creek football team. “The most impressive thing about this team is our toughness and attitude. We have chemistry.”

Outside of Sanchez, Silver Creek returns several past All-League performers including 2004-05 Sophomore of the Year Jose Viallanueva, senior Jose Montalvo, Solorio, Barajas and senior defensive back Leo Lopez.

The Raiders opened league Thursday, Dec. 8, pushing league favorite Branham High to a 1-1 tie at home.

“We were hoping for a win at home,” said Laguna. “But we’ll take a draw versus what some people think is the best team in the league. We still need a bigger threat offensively, but with our defense, we can stay in the game with any team they put in front of us.”

“We will continue working on internal motivation with speeches and incentives,” finished coach Barajas. “But we’re looking for more this season. We’ve got a great group of kids.”

The Raiders can next be seen Jan. 4 vs. Andrew Hill. Please visit www.silvercreekraiders.onlinesports.com.

Cougars drop heartbreaker to San Benito in overtime 55-54

Eleven-point fourth quarter lead disappears in three-minute stretch to force OT

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Editor

The Evergreen girls’ basketball team dropped a nail-biting 55-54 overtime loss to San Benito in the first round of the Oak Grove Tournament on Dec. 12, setting the team’s record even at 3-3.

Evergreen’s Valerie Ervin sticks close to her San Benito opponent on defense during a 55-54 overtime loss on Dec. 12. Photo by Diego Abeloos

The Cougars saw an 11-point fourth-quarter lead slip, as the Hay Balers put together a late 13-2 run, including a last-second 3-pointer with the clock expiring, sending the game into overtime, tied at 47-47.

In overtime, San Benito jumped out to a 53-50 lead with 2:01 left before Evergreen tied things up on a layup by Krista Frausto and a free throw by Courtney Taku with 1:01 left.

But the Hay Balers completed the comeback soon after, hitting two of four free throws down the stretch, while Evergreen mustered just one more point, a free throw by Jennifer Ames, setting the final score at 55-54.
For first-year head coach Dan Johnson, the loss was a tough one to swallow.

“It was a tough game, and we hope to learn from it,” Johnson said. “Preseason games are all about learning, and sometimes the best learning comes when you lose. I hope that’s what takes place here, because that was a game we should’ve won.”

The Cougars held a 39-31 lead in the early portion of the fourth quarter before going on a 6-2 run, getting layups from Frausto, Taku and Jennifer Gines for a 45-34 lead with 3:30 left in the game. Shortly before Evergreen’s run however, forward Camille Pena fouled out of the game, leaving the Cougars without the game’s most consistent post player that night.

“She’s an important part, just as every girl is an important part,” Johnson said of Pena. “We need our girls on the floor not committing fouls.”

Pena’s absence proved to be a significant loss on defense for the Cougars, as the Hay Balers put together their game-tying 13-2 run in a three-minute span at the end of the fourth quarter. Of those 13 points, six came on three layups in the paint.

“When you’re up by 11 in the fourth quarter, you just have to be smarter,” Johnson said. “You have to understand that you’re playing with a lead instead of playing behind. That’s something our team is going to have to learn to do.”

The game was a closely contested match-up from the start, with Evergreen taking an early 13-11 lead after the first quarter of play. In the second quarter, the Cougars briefly lost the lead at 17-16 before embarking on a 5-0 run, getting a layup from Candice Marquez, as well as free throws from Frausto and Taku to go up 21-17. The teams then went into halftime with the Cougars holding a 23-21 lead after a small 4-2 run by San Benito.

The Cougars jumped out quickly in the third quarter, stringing together a 9-2 scoring run in just under four minutes of play to grab a nine-point lead at 32-23. Later in the quarter, with the score at 32-25, the Cougars went on another run, a modest 5-0 stretch to take a 12-point lead at 37-25. The Hay Balers finished the third quarter on a 6-0 run of their own, spanning 1:14 seconds to tighten things up at 37-31.

For Johnson, losing close games that could’ve been won are harder to deal with than blowout losses.

“When it’s this close, it really hurts because you think about the one little thing you could’ve done here or this little thing there,” Johnson said. “One little difference would’ve made the difference.”