Only one team seems like a realistic threat to usurping Gilroy's throne - St. Francis - but the threat is real. The Lancers match the Mustangs with nine ranked wrestlers in CCS entering the season.

"They've assembled quite the all-star team," Gilroy assistant coach Greg Varela said. "If they beat us, they definitely worked harder than us."

For six years running, though, no team has been able to state such a claim.

"If we prepare like we're supposed to, [another CCS title] should happen on the way to state," Varela said. "We're not trying to be cocky, but we expect to win,"

Last year's 119-pound state champion Martin Gonzalez, competing at 125 pounds this season, is one of four Mustangs ranked at the top of his weight class in CCS. Along with Gonzalez, Jesse Delgado, who placed third in the state at 112 pounds last season and will be at 119 pounds this year, Vincent Aboytes (145 pounds) and Luis Barragan (heavyweight division) make up the Fab Four of Gilroy's roster.

But rankings are arbitrary at this point in the schedule.

"Everyone just has to perform and wrestle up to their ability," said Aboytes, who finished second in the section as a sophomore last season. "For me, rankings, you still gotta earn it."

Earning it has equated to a year-round wrestling schedule for almost everyone on Gilroy's team. Competing in local and national tournaments in the offseason and working out at Train For Life, a fitness gym in Morgan Hill owned by GHS strength and conditioning coach Dan Locsin, has given Gilroy's wrestlers and coaches piece of mind.

"I think it's likely," Delgado said of a seventh CCS title in a row. "I don't see anybody that's going to stop us. We've been working hard."

Gilroy head coach Armando Gonzalez believes his team has what it takes, but is willing to admit that plenty of landmines lie in the Mustangs' path.

"It's about who holds up better by the end of the season," he said.

Already, Gilroy will be without the services of Martin Gonzalez. Straining his knee twice while training over the last two months, the Cal-State Fullerton bound senior is expected to rest until January.

"It's disappointing, but I think I'll be fine," Martin Gonzalez said of the injury. "As long as I'm ready for state" is all that matters.

Similar to Hunter Collins, who graduated from GHS this past summer and is now wrestling for the University of Michigan, Martin Gonzalez was one of the most sought after recruits in the nation entering his senior year. Both individuals won state titles at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield in March to help Gilroy place second in the state as a team, the highest finish ever in school history.

Joining his brother, Armando Gonzalez Jr., on the Titans wrestling squad next year "wasn't a hard choice," Martin Gonzalez said.

How many wrestlers Gilroy can push on to state this season - last season the team took nine - will be decided by how many individuals place in the top four at the CCS meet.

Among the possible candidates are freshman Willie Fox (112 pounds), senior Rodney Balajadia (130), junior Adam Rosso (140), sophomore Ben Torcier (152), senior Mike Penyacsek (160), senior Sean Hale (171) and senior Fabian Laredo (215).

Sophomore Jasmine Yanez and freshman Aaron Gonzalez will split time in the 103-pound division, while the team is still looking to fill the 189-pound slot.

Despite their age, Fox and Torcier both enter the varsity level with considerable experience after winning youth titles with the Gilroy Hawks club team.

"We expect [Fox] to be in the top three or four at CCS and a contributor at state," Varela said.

As for Torcier, Varela noted that he isn't currently ranked, but "in a couple weeks he'll be in the top six."

Coaches have said Hale has improved dramatically since spending time with the junior varsity team last season, and Laredo is rejoining the Mustangs after taking the last two years off from wrestling.

With an incredibly competitive slate of tournaments lined up to begin the season, and St. Francis waiting in the wings at CCS, it would be premature to worry about state. Sizing up the competition, however, is all part of the process.

"[St. Francis'] program and my program have been on a parallel course over the last four years," Armando Gonzalez said, noting the excellent work of Lancers coach Matt Dana . "If they can beat us, more power to them. I look forward to competing. But I don't think they can beat us."