Jacks fall short in battle of CWAC unbeatens

QUINCY — The CWAC's final two undefeated teams faced off in a dual meet Thursday in Quincy, with Selah winning both a 39-23 victory over the Jacks and the inside track to the conference dual-meet championship.

The dual opened with a thriller of a match, as Quincy's Colby Melburn faced off with Selah's Levi Garcia at 145 pounds. In the third round, Melburn gave Garcia an escape to start the round, then took the Selah wrestler down with 46 seconds to wrestle for an 8-5 lead.

With 25 seconds remaining, Garcia went for a switch reversal that Melburn was unable to defend. Not only did Garcia get two points for the reversal, he gained an additional point as Melburn was penalized for locking hands during the exchange, tying the match 8-8. Garcia, possibly unaware of the penalty point and without the knowledge that the match was tied, allowed Melburn to escape with 18 seconds on the clock. Melburn was able to protect his 9-8 lead over the final moments of the match to get Quincy off to a 3-0 start in the dual meet.

After a pair of Selah victories at 152 and 160 pounds, Quincy trailed 10-3. In both matches, and throughout the night, Selah used arm-bars to score near-fall points and control Quincy wrestlers' escape attempts.

"They worked that arm-bar a lot," said Quincy coach Manuel Ybarra. "We knew they do that; we practiced the counters, but they just do it real well."

Nick Melburn got Quincy back in the dual with a 16-4 major-decision victory at 171 pounds. Melburn took Selah's Roger Guerrero down six times in the match, and the Selah wrestler was warned once and penalized three times for stalling. It would not be the last time a Selah wrestler was penalized for stalling.

Now trailing 16-7, Quincy needed Max Melburn to win at 215 pounds to keep Jacks close in the dual meet. Melburn quickly established dominance in the match, putting Selah's Sean Hiede on the defensive.

In the second round, Hiede was warned and twice penalized for stalling. The Selah wrestler initiated very little action from the bottom position, and repeatedly backed off the mat under pressure from Melburn in the standing position, giving the referee no other choice but to call the penalties.

With roughly 13 seconds to go, Melburn turned Hiede for a 3-point near fall. The Selah wrestler returned to his stomach with eight seconds to wrestle and as he had done earlier in the bout quickly pulled his arms in and laid motionless on the mat. The referee immediately began a count on the Selah wrestler, and with one second remaining in the match, called another stalling penalty on Hiede. This penalty, the fourth of the match for the Selah wrestler, resulted in a disqualification, giving the Jacks a big boost in the dual.

Quincy was unable to sustain the momentum, as Selah responded with a pin and a technical fall to take a 27-13 lead. Quincy then answered back at 112 pounds when Carlos Magana rallied from an early 5-0 hole to score a takedown and a 3-point near fall in the third round to pick up a 7-5 decision win over Noel Wyatt.

Jared Reyes followed with a gutsy 4-0 victory for the Jacks at 119 pounds, using Selah's signature arm-bar to pick up a crucial 2-point near fall that gave him his final 2 points of the match.

Quincy's last win of the night came at 130 pounds, where Gabe Lindquist dominated Selah's T.C. Girard in winning a 20-8 major-decision victory.

"I didn't think we wrestled as well as we could have," said Ybarra.

"They're real solid," added the Jacks coach when asked about Selah. "They're a good team, you can't take that away from them."

Selah 39, Quincy 23

145 — Colby Melburn (Q) dec Levi Garcia, 9-8; 152 — Jon Borden (S) m.d. Breck Webley, 10-0; 160 — Willie Hayes (S) pin Kyle Arnall, 3:30; 171 — Nick Melburn (Q) m.d. Roger Guerrero, 16-4; 189 — Daniel Escamilla (S) pin Kelly Schwint, 3:16; 215 — Max Melburn, win by disqualification over Sean Hiede; 285 — Brock Huffman (S) pin Michael Reyes, 1:04; 103 — Shane Merritt (S) t.f. Tony Lee, 17-2; 112 — Carlos Magana (Q) dec Noel Wyatt, 7-5; 119 — Jared Reyes (Q) dec Robert Espinoza, 4-0; 125 — Carlos Torres (S) dec Henry Hernandez, 8-1; 130 — Gabe Lindquist (Q) m.d. T.C. Girard, 20-8; 135 — Caleb Burton (S) dec Dan Somers, 9-2; 140 — Steven Schram (S) pin Jesus Zafra, 5:03.