Quincy ekes past Warden to open wrestling season

WARDEN — Quincy junior Nate Ramirez picked his spot with a reversal at the end of the second period to take a two-point lead into the final period of Thursday night’s non-league dual with Bryce Martinez of Warden.

He had it going from the bottom, so he did it again in the final two minutes of the 152-pound match to help the Jacks secure a 39-33 victory in the final match of the night.

“He’s a good rider and well conditioned, so I knew I had to try and outwork him,” said Ramirez, who went into the final match of the night with the Jacks up 36-33.

“Going into the third period, I knew I could score. I just needed to keep working.”

It was a good night of wrestling for a couple of teams looking for an identity moving forward. Warden forfeited one match, Quincy forfeited three, so the Jacks had to make up 12 points.

Quincy got consecutive pins from Tanner Bushman at 120 and Damion Casillas at 126 to erase a three-point deficit and take a 30-27 lead with four matches remaining.

“That’s why we love opening our season against Warden. They’re always going to bring out rosters that attack the entire match. It’s a good gig for us,” Quincy coach Greg Martinez said. “It was a good team win. The matches we did lose weren’t big and we won matches where we needed to.”

Anthony Martinez of Warden pinned Jesus Buenrostro and the Cougars cut into the Jacks’ lead 33-30. Edgar Hernandez worked a reversal and an escape in the third period for an 11-8 win at 138 to tie the match at 33-33 with a big win over Oswaldo Perez.

“I just like to go out there and get it done,” Martinez said. “I try to send a message early. I was looking for a pin right away and didn’t get it. In the second round, I went out stronger and got the pin. As a team, we feel like we could have done more as a team. We need to get into the room and work harder.”

Quincy’s Devon Salcedo set the stage, out-dueling Rodrigo Ozuna in a blistering bout at 145 that went 12-10 into the third period. Clearly two guys that knew what was at stake, Salcedo worked a reversal to tie it at 12-12. Ozuna got a takedown to make it 14-14 with less than a minute remaining. Salcedo finally gave the Jacks the three-point edge going into the final match of the night with an 18-15 victory at 145.

“This is exactly why we wrestle Quincy because they’re always competitive. It’s nice of them to come over here to wrestle a 1A program,” Warden coach Brent Cox said. “We knew the 152-pound match was going to be a tough match. But to tell you the truth the last three or four matches were really good.”

Quincy wrestles at the Bob Mars Invitational in Kennewick and Warden wrestles at Omak, both on Saturday

Quincy 39, Warden 33

160 - Eliseo Valdovinos, Q, p. Ivan Dominguez, 3:23.

170 - Victor Tafoya, Q, wins by forfeit

182 - Elijah Gonsalez, W, d. Ray Robinson, 7-1

195 - Tyrone Mendez, W, d. Jerry Hodges, 3-2

220 - Martin Dominguez, W, d. Ruben Vargas, 7-4

HWT - Leo Perez, W, wins by forfeit

106 - Conneach West, W, wins by forfeit

113 - Tony Martinez, W, wins by forfeit

120 - Tanner Bushman, Q, p. Osvaldo Dominguez, 5:30

126 - Damion Casillas, Q, p. Abe Suarez, 5:41

132 - Anthony Martinez, W, p. Jesus Buenrostro, 3:15

138 - Edgar Hernandez, W, d. Oswaldo Perez, 9-6

145 - Devon Salcedo, Q, d. Rodrigo Ozuna, 18-15

152 - Nate Ramirez, Q, dec. Bryce Martinez, 8-3