Quincy goes down slugging against Ellensburg

QUINCY — The night started with two or three different scenarios for the Central Washington Athletic Conference postseason picture. Not one of them included the Quincy Jacks.

There was if the Jacks (2-5, 0-4 CWAC North) beat Ellensburg, it would knock the Bulldogs (4-3, 3-1 CWAC North) from the contention scenario, but that was it.

When that didn’t happen in Thursday night’s 47-8 loss, the only thing left was to play with pride. That’s what the Jacks did. With Ellensburg up 47-0 and the game under the running clock since the third quarter,

Felipe Zepeda planted hard as if to run an out route. Jacks quarterback Israel Cavazos, pump faked, and the 5-foot-7, 145-pound Zepeda broke off the double move up the grandstand sideline.

Cavazos, who spent much of the game running for his life, put a money ball on the streaking receiver. To the Ellensburg defender’s credit, he chased Zepeda down at the 10-yard line, but the Quincy sophomore pulled free and completed the 70-yard scoring play to put the Jacks on the board just over three minutes remaining.

Adrian Hernandez slipped free in the end zone and Cavazos’ final pass of the night made good on the two-point conversion.

That was the highlight for a program that lost its four North Conference games, but the Jacks went down swinging.

“There was no giving up and we wanted to put up points against a good team,” Cavazos said. “We went into the night wanting to knock them out of the playoffs, but we didn’t want to get shut out, so we played hard to the end.”

Zepeda saw the opportunity to make the big play earlier in the night. He told his quarterback it was time to make it happen.

“The guy bit on the out, which he did earlier. This time I went blowing by and had him by maybe 10 yards,” the Jacks wide receiver said. “I saw the ball coming through the air, it slowed down. I made the catch, but I had to shake loose to get to the end zone and that’s what I did.”

After losing to Othello last week, Ellensburg was fighting for its playoff life. Quincy stayed close through the early going, trailing 7-0 after the first quarter. But the Bulldogs turned it up a notch with four second-quarter scores, including a scoop-and-score when Tate Morris picked up a loose ball and returned it for the touchdown to cap a 28-point second quarter.

Brenden Swanson made it 40-0 with a rushing touchdown with 6:30 remaining in the third quarter to set the running clock in motion.

Said Zepeda, “We just come out and do what we had to do, play hard for the team,” he said. “We all play with heart. We work hard to prepare and we play hard for each other.”

Quincy will host Wapato (1-6, 0-3 CWAC South) on Thursday in a CWAC Crossover game at Jaycee Stadium in the final game for both programs.

Ellensburg did it’s part. Depending on what happens Friday night between Ephrata (3-4, 2-1 CWAC North) and East Valley (3-4, 1-2), the CWAC North could end in a three-way tie. Othello (4-3, 3-1) ensured a portion of first place with a win at Ellensburg last week. If the Tigers beat the Red Devils, they will make it a three-way tie. If not, the Huskies will repeat as the North champion and Ellensburg will finish second.