Othello starts strong, Quincy finishes stronger

Pins from Valdovinos, Reyes, Melburn help Jacks stun Huskies

OTHELLO - The Quincy Jackrabbits probably thought they were in their home gymnasium during Thursday evening's final match.

It would've been easy to think that, what with the loud chants of, "Let's go Melburn!"

In actuality, the Jacks were at Othello's P.J. Taggares Gymnasium for Thursday's Central Washington Athletic Conference wrestling dual, and it was junior Max Melburn who found the final result resting on his shoulders in the evening's final match.

Quincy trailed 32-16 with only three weights remaining, but after 171-pounder Baldo Valdovinos and 189-pounder Michael Reyes made up some ground by pinning their opponents, the 215-pound Melburn found himself in a pressure spot. Winning by decision wasn't good enough - he needed a pin.

What was Melburn's mindset?

"You just go out there and do your job," he said. "You practice all year for it."

Melburn took a 5-0 lead on Othello freshman Adrian Garcia, then cemented the Jacks' 34-32 victory by turning Garcia onto his back and getting the pin at the 4-minute, 45-second mark.

Melburn has been a leader for a Quincy team that hopes to do serious damage at the upcoming district, regional and state tournaments.

"I was going for an arm bar and then it slipped, so I just went to a half Nelson," Melburn said of his winning move against Garcia. "I feel pretty good about the improvement I've made since last year. Last year, my record wasn't real good."

Valdovinos, a sophomore, also earned six huge points for the Jacks. He was nearly pinned early on by Othello's Sage Hines, but used a quick reversal to polish off the victory at 1:48. That set the stage for Reyes, who dominated Jusdin Lynch, pinned him at 3:26, and left the Jacks down by only four points.

Jacks head coach Manuel Ybarra explained just how big the Valdovinos pin turned out to be.

"Our 189 and 215 (wrestlers) are hurt," Ybarra said. "So if our 171-pouder wouldn't have gotten a pin, I may not have wrestled those two last guys. We made it close enough that we had to wrestle just to have a chance to win."

Reyes and Melburn aren't at 100 percent right now, but won because of their tremendous competitive desire, Ybarra said.

"Those guys have got to have big hearts to be able to want to go out there," he said. "They're competitive kids. They go out and they want to win. They deal through the pain and get it done."

Huskies head coach Ruben Martinez wasn't overly displeased with the outcome, especially considering Othello started five freshman and were without two major talents - 125-pounder Nicoh Montemayor and 135-pounder Kiki Rebuelta, both injury victims last weekend in Spokane.

"We're so young," Martinez said. "It was kind of frustrating, but it really isn't because we're a good tournament team.

"You'd like to win a dual meet, but we're pretty fortunate that the postseason doesn't rely on that," he added.

The Huskies, who were coming off a two-point win at Selah on Tuesday, looked well on their way to a second straight win. They took three of the first four weights, including Jake Smith's 4-0 triumph over Tony Lee at 112 pounds. Othello heavyweight Michael Carmona won by forfeit and 119-pounder Matt Jordan rallied to beat Carlos Magana 9-4.

But while the Huskies were setting for decisions, the Jacks were getting pins. The 103-pound match saw Quincy freshman Johnny Navarro blitz fellow frosh Pepe Lozano, leading 9-0 before pinning him at 5:07.

Othello's Reuben Lopez (130) gutted out a 9-8 win over Manny Ybarra, a match in which Ybarra needed five timeouts for blood just to finish.

Quincy's Armando Herrera punished Anthony Melo at 125, winning 15-2. Dan Somers (135) was also sharp, building a 7-0 lead on Chris Gifford before a pin at 3:58 put the Jacks in front 16-15.

But the Huskies won four straight and looked in complete command. Amando DeLeon (140) clobbered Ben Horning, piling up a 16-4 lead after one period and winning a 19-4 technical fall early in the second. Daniel Walker (145) got six team points with a pin of Ronald Sorto at 3:04.

At 152, Quincy's Colby Melburn had a 4-3 lead early in the third but fell victim to a reverse and lost 5-4 to Tyson Alvarez. At 160, Kevin Smith tried desperately to give the Huskies some extra team points, but could only manage a 15-10 decision over Breck Webley.

"We just didn't do enough," Martinez said. "There was matches where we probably could've picked up some extra points. That's probably the only frustrating part."

Both teams will be at the Ellensburg Invitational on Saturday, where they'll face off against a number of other CWAC squads - good preparation for the rapidly-approaching postseason. Action begins at 10 a.m.

For Quincy, a dual meet win was a good way to go into the event.

"Othello's always tough," coach Ybarra said. "Any time you beat Othello, it's always nice."

For Othello, a good effort against a good opponent will have to be enough for now.

"As long as we wrestle like we did today and on Tuesday, we'll be pretty happy," Martinez said.