Congratulations to Jose, Alec, Alejandro and Bret for qualifying and wrestling in this year's Maryland State Tournament! Alejandro  brings home top honors by placing 3rd in the 132lb weigh class!. Alec and Bret both won two matches to finish in the top eight of their respective weight classes. The team earned enough points to finish tied for 22nd place out of the 72 teams that had wrestlers qualify for States. Way to guys! A great finish to you all for the 2016-17 season and to your QO wrestling careers for Alec and Bret!

3/4A Final Results: Maryland State Tournament Brackets  and Photos

Alejandro Lopez tilts his opponent on the way to a third place finish in the Maryland State Tournment!

Congratulations to the Cougars for placing in 6th place at the MPSSA 4A West Regional Tournament where five Cougars placed in the top five of their respective weight classes. Senior co-captain Bret Williams won the 160 lb title. Senior co-captain Alec Falconer also made it to the 138 lb championship final match earning a 2nd place medal. Junior co-captain Alejandro Lopez toughed out an injury he received at practice earlier this week and earned 3rd place honors as did 106 lb sophomore Jose Echeona. All four of these QO wrestlers will be headed to The Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro next weekend to compete in the Maryland State 3A/4A tournament. Senior Jarret Kowalski finished in 5th place and is the west region’s first alternate in the 170lb weight class. The Cougar grapplers finished in 6th place overall in the region where only five points separated the 3rd and 6th place teams.

Regional Tournament Photos

17 Junior Varsity Cougar grapplers entered the Gaithersburg Invitational JV tourney competing with over 300 wrestlers from 27 Montgomery and Frederick county schools. Only three of QO’s entrants had more than one year of wrestling experience so this was a great opportunity for all to show how far they’ve improved since they entered the practice room for the first time back in November.
Freshman Jeffrey Ruiz was the Junior Cougars only placer taking home a 4th place medal in the heavyweight division. His twin brother Jessey made it to the semi-finals with a win by fall and finished in the top six. Fellow freshmen Rico Cornejo and Thomas DeCastro earned two and one wins respectively, both only one match from a top four placement. Junior Quintin Nguyen was one match away from placing after earning two wins before taking his second loss. Sophomore Erick Olmos and Senior Daniel Cooper (pictured below) also got their hand raised once during the competition.

JV Tournament Photos

Congratulations to our five placers at this weekend’s 55th Annual MCPS Wrestling Tournament which featured all 25 of the Montgomery County Public Schools. Senior Co-Captain Alec Falconer finished in 2nd place in the 138 lb weight class. Junior Co-Captain Alejandro Lopez and Senior Co-Captain Bret Williams earned 3rd place medals in the 132 and 160 lb weight classes respectively, Sophomore Jose Echeona was a 4th place finisher in the 106 lb weight class and Senior Jarret Kowalski wrestled back strong to take 5th place honors. All five wrestlers have qualified to compete in the  3A/4A West Region tournament to be held at Sherwood High School.

Click for: Photos  and Updated brackets

In the final day of the dual meet season, the Cougar grapplers made the short ride over to Northwest High School where they would face 4-time defending state champions Damascus along with the host school, Northwest. QO didn’t fare any better than the last 100+ schools have faced against the Swarming Hornet wrestling dynasty but they did score more points against Damascus than did any other team this season with 24. Five Cougars got their hands raised before leaving the mat, including Senior Co-Captain Bret Williams who pinned Damascus’s 160 lber who was ranked #1 in the county; Senior Jarret Kowalski who earned an 8-2 decision, Sophomore Jose Echeona who had a first period pin, Freshman Rico Cornejo who earned his win by forfeit and Junior Co-Captain Alejandro Lopez who won a 4-3 thriller with a last second takedown.

In the second match of the afternoon tri-meet, also the season finale, Quince Orchard went toe to toe with division rival Northwest in the Jaguars gym. The Cougars started off with a 6-0 lead thanks to a big pin by Freshman Marquez Cooper, his 18th win of the season. Northwest went on to win four straight hard fought and close matches to take a 12-6 lead. The Jags outmatched QO in the next 3 weight classes extending their lead to 26-6 before the Cougars Sophomore Jose Ephoeona notched his team leading 31st victory of the season with a 13-0 major decision. Co-Captains, Junior Alejandro Lopez and Senior Alec Falconer, won by decision and fall, respectively, in the last two matches of the day. Alejandro finished the regular season with the second highest win total, 29 while Alec had 23 and Senior Jarret Kowalski had 22.
The varsity grapplers will now have two weeks to get ready for the Montgomery County Tournament to be held at Gaithersburg High School on February 17th and 18th. The county tourney is the first of two qualifiers for the Maryland State Tournament.

The Cougars travelled to Winston Churchill High School for a tri-meet with the Bulldogs of Churchill and the Wildcat of Walter Johnson. Both of these matches are make-ups from those originally scheduled for December but were moved due to the varsity football team’s season being extended when they qualified to play in the state finals. Quince Orchard was shorthanded due to sickness and injuries which were ill-timed against the 2nd best team in the county. The Cougars forfeited three weight classes but fought hard in all of their matches. Sophomore Jose Echeona was the only Cougar to get his hand raised before leaving the mat with a decisive 10-4 victory over one of Churchill’s best wrestlers.

In the second match of a make-up try-meet at Winston Churchill High School, QO faced off against Walter Johnson. In a very closely fought contest which came down to the final match, Walter Johnson held on to win by a narrow margin. Sophomore 106 lber Carlos Guerrero got things started off for the Cougars with a first period fall. Sophomore Jose Echeona added four more team points with a 9-1 major decision. In the 145 pound weight class, Senior Co-Captain Alec Falconer went to overtime with his Wildcat opponent before pinning him in the second period of overtime. Freshman 152 lber Marquez Cooper and Senior Co-Captain Bret Williams added two more falls for QO before Senior Jarret Kowalski was awarded a forfeit to complete the scoring.

In their final home match of the season, the Cougar wrestlers dismantled a short-handed Watkins Mill team by a score of 63-17. The Wolverines were missing wrestlers in 6 of the 14 weight classes giving up six team points for a forfeit in each. Sophomore Carlos Guerrero started off the match with a 25 second pin over his 106 lb Watkins Mill opponent. Freshman Marquez Cooper and Seniors Blake Adkins and Bret Williams also added six team points to the Cougar’s tally with wins by fall. Senior Jarret Kowalski added another three team points with a 9-2 decision. Earning six team points each after having their hands raised in forfeited matches were: Sophomore Jose Echeona, Junior Areiyan Golchin, Seniors Alec Falconer and Cory Amoroso and Freshmen Thomas DeCastro and Jessey Ruiz. The Cougar varsity grapplers are now 8-2 on the season. On Wednesday they visit Churchill for a 4:15 pm tri-meet with the host Bulldogs as well as Walter Johnson. They wrap up their regular season at 1:00pm on Saturday at Northwest High School where they will face both Northwest and Damascus.

Watkins Mill Photos

It was Senior Day at Quince Orchard and nine senior Cougar wrestlers were honored before the match with Clarksburg began. Blake Adkins, Cory Amoroso, Hemon Asadi, Daniel Cooper, Desiree Dietz, Alec Falconer, Jarret Kowalski, Charlie Patino-Guerra and Bret Williams along with their family members paraded into the gym to celebrate their QO wrestling careers.
The match started at the 113 lb weight class with sophomore Jose Echeona getting the Cougars off to a quick start with a first period pin. Clarksburg earned falls in the next two matches followed by a decision and a win by forfeit to go up 21-6. Alec Falconer was the aggressor in his match and finished his Coyote opponent with a second period fall. Freshman Marquez Cooper, wrestling at 152 lbs, earned 3 team points with a 7-3 win. Blake Adkins got the first takedown in his 160 lb bout (which would be important later) but lost with a late flurry from Clarksburg’s wrestler in a 8-4 decision. Bret Williams, Jarret Kowalski and Cory Amoroso landed a 1-2-3 Cougar Senior punch with 2 pins and a decision to put Quince Orchard in the lead 30-24. Clarksburg earned two pins in a row to take a 36-30 lead with only the 106 lb weight class left to contest. Clarksburg did not present a wrestler giving Cougar Sophomore Carlos Guerrero a win by forfeit and ending the match with a 36-36 tie. After reviewing the tie-breaking criteria in the rule book, QO was awarded an additional team point due to the 8th criterion which is most first match points scored where QO held an advantage by a 9-3 margin. Four of the Cougar wrestlers who lost their individual matches (Rico Cornejo, Alejandro Lopez, Blake Adkins and Jessey Ruiz) helped to contribute to the team win anyway due to the fact that they scored first in their matches.

Senior Day Photos

The Cougar wrestlers were shorthanded from the start with several key starters out of the lineup due to sickness and injury. Poolesville took advantage of that and won 9 of the 14 matches. Senior co-captains Alec Falconer and Bret Williams earned QO’s first wins by a decision and fall respectfully. Senior Jarret Kowalski followed up with a major decision. Freshman Jessey Ruiz earned his first win with a first period fall. Sophomore Jose Echeona picked up his 25th win of the season when he pinned the Falcons 113 lb opponent. Final score QO 26 Poolesville 51. 
Before the match, a check was presented from QO Wrestling to Poolesville’s longtime coach Kevin Dorsey to help support his and his family’s fight with ALS.

Poolesville match photos.

Junior Alejandro Lopez sets up for the pin!

Quince Orchard travelled to Whitman to face off with the host Vikings in the first of their two matches on the day. The match started off at the 145 lb weight class where Senior Co-Captain Alec Falconer won by a first period fall. The next three Cougar wrestlers; Freshman Marquez Cooper, Senior Blake Adkins and Senior Co-Captain Bret Williams each won by fall giving QO a 24-0 lead. Senior Jarret Kowalski then won 7-0 to add three more team points to the Cougar’s total. Starting with Junior Desmond Johnson in the 285 lb weight class, QO rattled off another four straight wins by fall. Sophomores Carlos Guerrero, Jose Echeona and Erick Olmos all being part of that pinning streak. Olmos was losing 5-1 in the third period when he reversed his opponent to his back to tie the score and then pinning him with 4 seconds left on the clock. Junior Co-Captain Alejandro Lopez put the final six points on the board with a first period pin. Final score QO 57 Whitman 20.

In the 2nd match of the day, Quince Orchard’s grapplers held on to edgeout the Colonels of Magruder by 2 points. Senior Co-Captain Alec Falconer started off the match bumping up to the 152 lb weight class where he pinned his Magruder opponent five seconds before the first period buzzer could sound. In the 160 lb match, Senior Blake Adkins was trailing 7-1 after the first period but a quick reversal in the early part of the 2nd period followed by Adkins putting his opponent on his back and pinning him put the Cougars up 12-0. Senior Co-Captain Bret Williams and Senior Jarret Kowalski each got their hands raised by forfeit in the 170 and 182 lb weight classes respectively. Junior 285 pounder Desmond Johnson finished off his Colonels counterpart with a first period pin. Magruder moved up to within two points of QO’s lead when Freshman Connor Moats, who was in the lineup due to the regular starter being out sick, pinned Magruder’s 126 pounder as the first period buzzer sounded. Senior Co-Captain Alejandro Lopez picked up QO’s last 6 points with a win by forfeit to clinch the win.

Alec Falconer sets up, throws his opponent to his back and then pins him for a big win over another ranked opponent from Magruder.

Magruder & Whitman Photos

The Screaming Eagles of Seneca Valley came to visit with a depleted lineup of only 6 wrestlers and forfeited the other 8 matches to host QO. Five of the six Cougar wrestlers who had matches – Alec Falconer, Marquez Cooper, Blake Adkins, Carlos Guerrero and Gaines McKnight – all earned victories with first period pins. Jarret Kowalski earned 4 points with a 9-1 major decision. Earning six team points a piece by forfeit were: Bret Williams, Cory Amoroso, Thomas DeCastro, Desmond Johnson, Jose Echeona, Erick Olmos, Hemon Asadi and Alejandro Lopez. Final score 82-0.Seneca Photos

Junior Gaines McKnight returns after a year off a lot bigger and stronger! Welcome back Gaines! 

The Kennedy Cavaliers were the 2nd match for Quince Orchard in their Saturday tri-meet and the Cougars came out on top with an easy 60-24 victory. Kennedy forfeited 9 weight classes. 6 team points were picked up by Carlos Guerrero, Jose Echeona, Rico Cornejo, Alejandro Lopez, Alec, Falconer, Marquez Cooper, Jarret Kowalski, Bret Williams and Cory Amoroso. Senior Blake Adkins, who just found out he was accepted to Georgia Tech a few hours earlier, finished off the day with win by fall.

Senior Blake Adkins sets up and gets another pin on the season!

In Quince Orchard’s home opener the Cougar grapplers held on to win a close one versus the Battling Barons of B-CC, 35-33. The two teams split the 14 weight classes with 7 wins a piece but QO earned two more bonus points on major decisions by Senior Co-Captain Bret Williams and Junior Co-Captain Alejandro Lopez to assure the win. Seniors Jarret Kowalski and Cory Amoroso each earned 6 team points by forfeit. The big heroes of the day were Junior Desmond Johnson and Freshman Marquez Cooper. Johnson pinned B-CC’s heavyweight in the first period with a lateral drop. The match was on the line with Cooper up in the 152 lb weight class in the next to last match. Marquez outlasted his B-CC opponent 9-3 to clinch the win for the Cougars.

BCC & Kennedy Tri-Meet Photos

Senior Bret Williams gets back-points on his way to a major decision.

QO’s varsity wrestlers started off their 2017 dual season in grand fashion by beating the Wootton Patriots 48-24. The Cougars won nine of the fourteen matches led by senior co-captain and Wootton transfer Alec Falconer who ended the match with his former teammate in the 2nd period with a pin. Seniors Jarret Kowalski and Cory Amoroso earned six team points with wins by fall as did junior Desmond Johnson and sophomores Carlos Guerrero and Jose Echeona. Freshman Ben Rosenbloom got his hand raised when he earned a forfeit in the 220 lb weight class. Senior co-captain Alejandro Lopez and Freshman Marquez Cooper each added three points to the Cougars tally with 6-0 and 10-3 wins by decisions respectively.

Wootton Photos

Cory Amoroso pins his opponent for six more points for QO!

The Cougar varsity grapplers were up in Hagerstown again this weekend to compete in the prestigious 30th Annual Hub Cup wrestling tournament. Quince Orchard was among a very competitive group of 22 public and private school teams hailing from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. QO finished in 16th place overall with three wrestlers making it to the medal stand. Senior Co-Captain Alec Falconer earned the 3rd place medal in the 145 lb weight class. He lost to the eventual champion in the semi-finals 3-1. Junior Co-Captain Alejandro Lopez was the 4th place finisher in the 132 lb class which was filled with highly ranked wrestlers. 

Sophomore 113 lber Jose Echeona won four matches along the way to his 5th place finish.

Hub Cup Photos

The Quince Orchard grapplers travelled to Westminster High School for a two-day, 18-team holiday dual tournament with a highly competitive field of public and private school squads from Maryland and Pennsylvania. QO was a bit shorthanded as several varsity starters were either out of the lineup due to winter break vacation or because of injury. The Cougars forfeited 3 weight classes in each match on Tuesday and another injury reduced the lineup by one more for Wednesday’s matches. Even though giving up 18-24 points before each match started, QO managed to win 3 of their 10 contests taking down Patuxent, Liberty and Dunbar. Their duals with Queen Anne’s, St. Mary-Ryken, Hammond, Milford Mill and Manchester Valley were all relatively close and could have gone the Cougars way had they had their full lineup. The Cougars also faced the 1st and 2nd place teams on day one, WC Henderson HS of West Chester, PA and the two-time defending 2A state champion South Carroll HS of Sykesville.
Junior Co-Captain Alejandro Lopez went 10-0 including wins over highly ranked wrestlers from South Carroll and Manchester Valley. His record is now 18-2 for the season.
Sophomore Jose Echeona and Freshman Marquez Cooper both posted impressive 8-2 marks for the tournament. Junior Gaines McKnight and Sophomore Carlos Guerrero each finished a very respectable 7-3. Senior Jarret Kowalski who faced a number of highly ranked wrestlers in both the 170 and 182 pound weight classes earned five wins.
Senior Hemond Asadi Tehrani and Freshman Rico Cornejo each earned their first wins as Cougar varsity wrestlers.
The Cougar wrestlers travel back to Hagerstown next weekend for the 30th annual Hub Cup tournament hosted by North Hagerstown HS.

Twelve Montgomery County schools brought their junior varsity squads to Whitman’s annual Viking Quest JV Holiday tournament including a team of 11 QO JV wrestlers from the Quince Orchard Cougars. Each competed in a 4 man round robin with wrestlers from opposing schools of the same weight. All 11 of our Cougar grapplers came away with at least one win. Freshman Rico Cornejo was the 1st place winner of his group with a 3-0 record. Senior Hemon Asadi Tehrani along with Juniors Nick Shen and Mehir Uddin all posted two wins a piece. Senior Daniel Cooper, Junior Quintin Nguyen, Sophomore Harout Tartarian and Freshmen Ben Rosenbloom, Thomas DeCastro, Jessey Ruiz and Jeffrey Ruiz all had the hands raised after earning victories.

The Cougar wrestlers opened up their dual season where they off last year with a match against the Blue Devils of Springbrook. QO was no match for the boys from the Brook this time as the Devils came out strong winning the first six contests until junior co-captain Alejandro Lopez ended the slide with an 18-1 technical fall victory and 5 team points. Senior co-captain Alec Falconer was winning his match when he received a deep cut which forced him to default the match. Seniors Jarret Kowalski and Cory Amoroso both recorded pins for the Cougars.

Springbrook Photos

The junior varsity QO wrestlers made the short trip over to Northwest High School to participate in the 2nd Annual Jaguar JV Dual tournament. 20 JV squads from around Maryland and Virginia filled Northwest’s gym to wrestler each other in a team dual match format.
QO faced a combined team from Damascus & Wheaton, Magruder, Gaithersburg and Walter Johnson. They has also had a few exhibition match-ups with B-CC and Northwest.
QO’s squad beat Magruder, Gaithersburg and Walter Johnson. The main goal was to get our JV wrestlers some experience on the mat which was successfully accomplished with about 60 matches overall. Freshmen Rico Cornejo and Erick Olmos each posted four wins on the day as did sophomore Jonny Melera. Seniors Charlie Patino and Dennis Zacarias each earned 3 victories. Junior Nick Shen, Christian Neylon along with Freshmen Connor Moats, Sara Mesri and Konstantine Kahadze all earned wins for the Cougars.

The Cougar grapplers travelled to North Hagerstown High School to compete in the 2nd Annual Armed Forces Dual Tournament. Among the ten teams participating in this two day event were some of the best teams and wrestlers in both Maryland and Virginia. Perennial power house Robinson High School of Fairfax went undefeated over the weekend highlighted by a last match pin in their match against one of the top teams in Maryland, host the North Hagerstown Hubs. The rest of the field included Arundel, Century, Dematha, Georgetown Prep, Linganore, Old Mill and Rockville.
With six members of QO’s starting lineup in Annapolis playing in the state championship football game, the shorthanded Cougars gave each of their opponents a strong fight with several matches coming down to one match. The only victory they had over the weekend was against Arundel.
Sophomore Jose Echeona missed his target weight of 113 pounds on Friday and was forced to wrestle the day in the 120 and 126 pound classes. He lost in a close battle to Robinson’s standout 120 pounder and then went on to win his next three matches in impressive style. On Saturday Jose was on weight and wrestling in the 113 pound class and dominated all five of his opponents winning three times by fall and twice by major decision.
Senior Co-Captain Alec Falconer pinned his first five opponents all in the first period and added one more win by fall along with two more victories each by a seven point margin. Alec finished 7-1 for the weekend.
Junior Co-Captain Alejandro Lopez went 7-2 for the tournament. His only two losses were to the #4 ranked wrestler in the state of Maryland, DeMatha’s Nathan White, and to University of Virginia recruit, Sam Book from Robinson, who is the top ranked 126 lber in Virginia.
Senior Blake Adkins earned four wins with three by fall.
Senior Cory Amoroso beat two of his opponents.
Sophomore 106 pounder Carlos Guerrero was perhaps in the toughest weight class of all and fought hard in all of his matches taking home two victories for the Cougars.
Seniors Nick Shen and Charlie Patino-Guerra both earned their first varsity wins while Freshman Marquez Cooper, who was on the football field in Annapolis on Friday night, made the early morning ride to Hagerstown on Saturday morning and earned his first career win as a Cougar wrestler.

Senior Jarret Kowalski won his first three matches and got his hand raised five times over the two day tournament.

Armed Forces Photos

Loss 17-63  to Springbrook
Win  48-24  over Thomas S. Wotton    
Win  35-33  over BCC
Win  60-24  over Kennedy
Win  82-0    over Seneca Valley
Win 57-20   over Walt Whitman
Win 42-40   over Magruder
Loss 26-51  to Poolesville    
Win 37-36   over Clarksburg
Win 7-17     over   Watkins Mil
Loss 66-3    to Churchill
Loss 43-34  to Walter Johnson
Loss 51-24  to Damascus
Loss 45-19  to Northwest