Staff photo by E.J. HarrisHeppner's Tim Jaca drives Pendleton's Josh Mendoza to the mat before pinning him Wednesday in Pendleton.

PENDLETON — Morgan Holcomb was ready to have some fun.

After rolling through the 152-pound bracket at the Rollin Schimmel Memorial Tournament on Tuesday, the Pendleton junior stepped onto the mat in the first place match and stared across at his opponent — which happened to be teammate Scott Chambers.

But in that instance there were no bragging rights, no hyped competition, and no hard feelings — it was about having fun.

“We wrestle eachother every day in practice and it’s just fun for the experience in an actual match,” said Holcomb after the win.

As tough as Holcomb said the match was, the junior wrestler came out on top with a 14-2 major decision. The win improves Holcomb’s season record to 17-0 and also notches his fourth tournament victory of the season.

“It’s a little tougher wrestling a teammate because you’re working moves on your partner (Chambers) in practice,” said Holcomb. “It was a little different today because Scott had some new moves he put on me and he almost had me a few times.”

From a coaches’ perspective, seeing teammates wrestling in the title match brings a little different feeling than most matches do.

“Of course you want to see both guys going for the title,” said Pendleton coach Fred Phillips. “But we told them that we’ll be sitting there but we won’t be coaching … just figure it out on your own and have some fun.”

On the team side, the Buckaroos took first place in the tournament with 276.5 points and finished with 16 placers. Walla Walla placed second with 213 points, while Willamina placed third with 209.5 points.

“I’m really impressed with the effort,” said Phillips. “I didn’t see anyone lay down or wrestle scared, which is good. And I keep getting more and more impressed with the young guys and our upperclassmen are improving.”

Other placers for Pendleton included Lane Evens (second) at 106 pounds, Chris Chambers (third) at 106 pounds, Caleb Tremper (fifth) at 106 pounds, Blake Davis (fourth) at 120 pounds, Koby Jones (third) at 126 pounds, Alex Rendon (third) at 132 pounds, Shawn Yeager (fourth) at 138 pounds, Brendon Bedolla (fifth) at 138 pounds, Mychael Pointer (sixth) at 145 pounds, J.D. Peters (second) at 160 pounds, Alex Gear (sixth) at 170 pounds, Greg Lee (third) at 182 pounds, Marcus Taylor (second) at 195 pounds, and Jeff Priester (sixth) at 220 pounds.

The Mac-Hi Pioneers also had a strong showing at the tournament as well, finishing in fourth place with 188.5 points and 11 placers. The Pioneers performance was highlighted by Riley Chester taking first place at 138 pounds and Cole Skramstad taking first at 160 pounds.

Skramstad made quick work of Pendleton’s J.D. Peters in the final, earning the win with a fall just 19 seconds into the match. Chester faced Edwin Romero from Walla Walla in the final, and earned the victory with an 8-2 decision.

Other top finishers for Mac-Hi included Zach Crisman (second) at 113 pounds, Zach MacPherson (fourth) at 113 pounds, Deazen Zerba (fifth) at 113 pounds, Kaden Kilburg (fourth) at 160 pounds, Alyxander Shaw (second) at 170 pounds, Brandyn Chaney (sixth) at 182 pounds, Joshua Torres (fourth) at 195 pounds, Greg Moreno (second) at 285 pounds, and Donnie Clark (sixth) at 285 pounds.

The Riverside Pirates finished the tournament in eighth place with five placers, led by A.J. Rockwell’s first place finish at 132 pounds. Rockwell earned the victory over Jose Rayo-Landa from Vale with a fall at the 4:07 mark. Other placers for the Pirates were Andrew Barker (fifth) at 120 pounds, Silvestre Vazquez (fifth) at 126 pounds, Ulises Calvillo (third) at 145 pounds, and Anthony Kernal (fifth) at 220 pounds.

The Heppner Mustangs took eight wrestlers to the tournament, and head home with two placers and one winner. Ryan Smith earned first place at 120 pounds over Ethan Howard with a fall at the 3:22 mark. And at 220 pounds, Cord Flynn finished in second place after losing by a fall at 3:41.

The Irrigon Knights also competed at the tournament, finishing No. 12 out of 12 teams with 28 points and did not yield any placers.

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Contact Eric Singer at esinger@eastoregonian.com, (541) 966-0839, or follow on Twitter @ByEricSinger.