After a promotion to a higher league based on last year’s excellent performance, the wrestling team has had an up-and-down season.

The season started on a sour note when the team fell to Cupertino High School and Gunn High School for the first two dual meets. However, the team has kept its composure and found a new mental toughness.

“The team has been hanging in there,” captain senior Chris Jimenez said. “We have been practicing really hard lately and are pushing ourselves.”

The team showed serious determination on Thursday, January 12 against Fremont High School, last year’s league winner. “The win over Fremont was big time,” Coach Randy Jimenez said. “We were down 28-0 after the first five matches and it looked like Fremont was going to [beat us]. All that did was light a fire in the kids and we ended up fighting back and beating Fremont 42-37.”

After the comeback, the team worked even harder rather than slack off after the win. The practices increased more in intensity to prepare for Saratoga High School.

“Going to Saratoga, I tried to keep preaching to the kids they needed to keep it going and they did,” Jimenez said. “We trained really hard all week and they were hungry.”

The efforts paid off as the team knocked off the Saratoga team by a wide margin of 66-17. Still, the team believes it has ability to further improve.

“They have come such a long way but there is more to learn and further to go,” Jimenez said. “They are ready to keep [going] and getting better and I would proudly put my team against any team out there. We might not win all the fights but [the] team will not just roll over and die. We will fight from the first whistle to the last.”