CCS titles, individual feats dominate 2005’s top stories
As a local paper with a sports section that caters mostly to the
high school varsity scene, the measuring stick for compiling our
list of the top sports stories from 2005 and past years is
typically to look back and see how much success all of the teams
had over the past year and write about the best teams.
At the high school level, the apex of that success comes in the
form of winning Central Coast Section championships – the ultimate
goal for most high school teams that compete in our area.
CCS titles, individual feats dominate 2005’s top stories
As a local paper with a sports section that caters mostly to the high school varsity scene, the measuring stick for compiling our list of the top sports stories from 2005 and past years is typically to look back and see how much success all of the teams had over the past year and write about the best teams.
At the high school level, the apex of that success comes in the form of winning Central Coast Section championships – the ultimate goal for most high school teams that compete in our area.
And in 2005 this little area that stretches from Hollister to Morgan Hill had three teams that can claim that feat. They were: the Live Oak softball team, the San Benito High football team, and the Gilroy High wrestling team – which captured its third CCS title in a row last year.
Beyond team feats like those, we also look at the most remarkable individual accomplishments that were achieved by athletes in our area and examined how impressive or how much of an impact the accomplishment had from the local to the national level.
Since most of the stories that made this year’s list were the result of outstanding accomplishments in different sports, we decided that it would be impossible to rate them from top to bottom. Therefore, the list below is random but the impact that each story had on the community is without debate.
World Record
One of those feats came on the drag strip in August when Morgan Hill’s Sean Renteria got behind the wheel of the Renteria Brothers Racing’s blown 1965 Plymouth Valiant and took it up to 209 mph in 6.63 seconds to set a new world record quarter-mile time at a track in Seattle.
Although 40-year-old Sean got the most credit for it, his feat was accomplished via a solid effort by his racing team, which is made up of family members. Sean’s older brother Tom handled the vehicle’s maintenance, the family’s oldest brother Mike handled the tuning duties and 32-year-old Dusty built the Valiant’s engine.
San Benito Football Team
Although we opted not to list these stories in order of significance, most would agree that the San Benito High football team’s story this past season would be near if not at the top of the list.
The 2005 Balers faced adversity and looked as though they wouldn’t make the playoffs at one point before shifting gears going on a tear down the stretch that was capped off 27-21 win over No. 1 seed Oak Grove in the CCS Large School Division Championship.
In winning the title the Balers, who were led by quarterback Karson Klauer, put together a seven-play, 80-yard drive that culminated with a first-and-10, game-winning touchdown play from the Eagles 31-yard line.
With just 17.3 ticks left on the clock, Klauer dropped back in the pocket and was pressured immediately from the blitzing Eagle defense. Twice he was touched and looked as though he would be sacked for a loss or minimal gain as he bolted toward the right side of the Balers’ offensive line.
And just as it appeared that the Balers would have a second-down-and-10 play to deal with and hardly any time left on the clock, Klauer caught a glimpse of Artie Esparza breaking toward the left side of the end zone and winged it up in his direction.
Esparza answered the challenge and turned back and made the dramatic, over-the-shoulder catch to seal the championship.
The Balers game-winning drive was not only the best, most-clutch drive of the year but arguable the best in the history of the CCS playoffs.
Frank La Corte
Today he owns and operates Marx Towing in Gilroy but last June former Major League pitcher Frank La Corte and his teammates from the 1980 Huston Astro’s team were honored as being the greatest team in the history of the franchise.
And La Corte was a big part of that equation for success.
In 1980, the right-hander from Gilroy had his best year ever. At the All-Star break La Corte led the league with a mind-numbing 0.38 ERA. He wound up the season with a 2.82 ERA, striking out 66 batters in 83 innings and also posted an 8-5 record.
The Astro’s pitching staff that year was arguably the greatest ever in baseball. In addition to La Corte, the Astro’s 1980 rotation included Nolan Ryan, Joe Niekro, J.R. Richard, Joe Sambito, Joaquin Andujar, Dave Smith, Ken Forsch and Vern Ruhle.
Five players from that team finished the season with an ERA under 3.00. As the team’s closer, La Corte, who began his career in the majors as a starter was one of the best in the league.
Although that memorable season occurred 26 years ago, the honoring of that team last year brought La Corte’s accomplishments on the field to the forefront again and put the 53-year-old former pitcher, whose fastball was clocked at 96 mph, onto our list of memorable events in 2005.
Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero
Although he wound up losing his title of North American Boxing Federation Featherweight Champion last month to Gamaliel Diaz, Gilroy’s Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero electrified the boxing world this past year by winning the NABF title at the age of 21.
Guerrero’s 16-1-1 pro record has also earned him recognition throughout the boxing world as a future star of the sport. This year Guerrero’s combination of speed, ever-increasing power and natural talent catapulted him to the No. 2 ranking in the world by the World Boxing Council.
In the past year Guerrero had also been steadily climbing up the ratings ladder for the World Boxing Association and the International Boxing Federation.
Prior to the loss to Diaz Guerrero was ranked 12th by the WBA and 7th by the IBF.
Had Guerrero beaten Diaz it was expected that he would get a title shot with the WBC or at the very least get an elimination fight for the No. 1 ranking early this year.
Instead, Guerrero is now two or three bouts away from his dream shot. But that didn’t prevent the Bay Area’s top boxing prospect and former Gilroy High graduate from making our list.
After all, he’s only 22 now and he lost to Diaz by a single point-in a bout that could have been argued the other way.
Alfonso Motagalvan
Today he’s playing soccer for the University of California-Santa Barbara. Last winter Alfonso Motagalvan was playing soccer for the Gilroy High Mustangs – and he was playing it better than everyone in the entire CCS section.
Motagalvan’s nomination as the CCS Soccer Player of the Year had to make our list. Not only was he the best player in a section that runs from King City to San Francisco but he earned the honor playing the unassuming midfield position on a team that didn’t advance past the opening round of the playoffs, which shows just how exceptional his skills were.
Typically the award is given to the top player on the championship team.
“That speaks volumes of him,” said Gilroy High Coach Brain Hall. “The coaches all realized what he meant to Gilroy High soccer and its success. For him to be singled out amongst all the great players in this section is quite an accomplishment.
During the season Motagalvan was second on the team in goals with 15, and piled up 11 assists playing a position that’s not known for its scoring opportunities.
As a junior the previous year Motagalvan was named the league MVP while playing on the Mustang team that went to the CCS finals before losing to Watsonville. That year he also led the team in assists and scored seven goals.
Live Oak Softball Team
Perhaps equally as dramatic as the Baler football teams win at CCS was the 2005 Live Oak softball team that entered the Central Coast Section tournament as the No. 6 seed and wound up beating league rival and the tournament’s No. 8 seed North Salinas in the Division I championship game.
In a sport where scoring two runs an entire game is commonplace, the Acorns found a way to score three in their final at bat to seal up the come-from-behind championship win.
Next year at this time the Acorns softball team could grace these very pages again as Live Oak lost only one senior last May to graduation.
Gilroy High Wrestling Team
For the Gilroy High wrestling team making this issue is becoming old hat as making news has almost become a formality for the talented Gilroy High wrestling team, which locked up its third CCS championship a season ago.
At the section tournament the Mustangs wound up with four CCS champions out of the 14 weight classes.
Last year Gilroy High also qualified five wrestlers to the state championship. Currently Gilroy High is ranked third in the state and 22nd in the nation and is the favorite to win the section title again this year.
Free Wheelers
Morgan Hill is home to mushrooms. Gilroy is the self-described “Garlic Capital of the World” and Hollister is home to the Free Wheeler s- the four-time Division I U.S. National Power Soccer Champions.
In June of last year in Indianapolis the wheelchair-bound soccer team earned that distinction after cruising to victory at the 19-team Power Soccer World Invitational.
The Free Wheelers Division II team also won the same prestigious tournament.
The Free Wheelers Division I team ousted the Atlanta Shepard Strikers in the final by a 3-1 margin while the Division II squad beat the locally based San Jose Steamrollers for the title.
The Free Wheelers compete in electric wheelchairs, and all of the players on both teams are physically challenged. Most either have cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy.
Linda Pulido Vargas
This area has some exceptional athletes, but only one can claim to be the world champion of her sport five years in a row.
It’s a claim that Gilroy martial arts expert Linda Pulido Vargas can make. In June, Pulido Vargas held on to her No. 1 ranking in the middleweight division after winning the U.S.A. World Martial Arts championship.
“Every year when the tournament gets closer everyone tells me ‘Oh, you’ll get it.’ But I get real antsy before the tournament,” said Pulido Vargas, who holds a first-degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. “What makes it tough is that you don’t know what style your opponent is.”
Pulido Vargas beat her competitor, who was from Mexico City, 6-2 in the final bout, which took place in Las Vegas.
Pulido Vargas has been competing in the martial arts for the last 24 years and has taught Tae Kwon Do at her Champions Martial Arts school in Gilroy for the past 16.
