No. 2 Toppenish rolls over both No. 5 Ephrata, Quincy in CWAC wrestling action

QUINCY — Quincy wrestling coach Greg Martinez still thinks his team will surprise some people down the trail, but what was not a surprise is just how good Toppenish really is.

“Oh yeah, they’re the real deal,” he said following Thursday night’s loss to the No. 2 ranked Wildcats (3-0 CWAC).

Toppenish rolled into town ranked No. 2 in the Washington Wrestling Report with seven ranked individuals and beat No. 5 Ephrata 54-15, then steamrolled Quincy 65-9 in the Central Washington Athletic Conference double-dual on Bob Woodworth Court.

Toppenish 65, Quincy 9

The night looked full of promise when Quincy’s Ruben Vargas pinned Damien Gama in the second period of the 220-pound match to give the Jacks (5-2, 1-1 CWAC) the early 6-0 lead.

“I just kept pushing because I knew anything could happen,” said Vargas, who improved to 9-0. “Being the first match of the night, I was a little bit nervous, but once I step on the mat I’m focused and ready to go.

“I thought it might give the team some energy, but that’s a very good team and we need to get back in the room and go to work.”

Martinez said, “Vargas is on a roll right now. He’s only gone the distance twice in nine matches. He’s working hard, keeping his hips low and that’s the key when you’re wrestling the big guys.”

The ‘Cats are just a few votes out of being the top-ranked 2A team in the state and it didn’t take them long to stomp their foot down and put distance between themselves and that six points their opponents started out with.

Terrell Underwood pinned Quincy’s Jared Vazquez to tie the score and that’s as close as the Jacks would be all night. They gave up forfeits at 106 and 113, which didn’t help, but it really didn’t matter. The Wildcats won the next two matches by decision, including Bonzalo Aleman’s tech fall at 126, before turning loose the dogs, winning five of the next seven matches by pin.

Quincy senior Salvador Chavarin flexed a little muscle, winning the 160-pound match 10-4 for the other win. No. 7 Nathan Ramirez wrestled well at 152, but dropped a 8-2 decision to Alex Rubio.

“I hope my guys saw that Toppenish didn’t do anything special. They wrestled very fundamentally sound,” Martinez said. “They controlled position, they controlled our second shots. They used armbars to turn the guys.

“I don’t think we wrestled bad at all. I’m not upset with the performance. I felt like our guys worked really hard, even some that were overmatched. We just have to keep working.”

Quincy is at the Cashmere Invitational on Saturday.

No. 2 Toppenish 54, No. 5 Ephrata 15

No. 2 ranked Sammy Flores won the 113-pound match with a 13-7 decision over Horatio Gooding. Clay Johns produced an 8-1 decision, but like the Quincy match that followed, Toppenish rolled it up with five straight pins, winning seven of the final nine matches by fall.

The Tigers wrestle at the Ike Invite this weekend, then take a rare visit to the 1A ranks where they will wrestle at Warden on Wednesday.