Rizal, QC stun higher seeds in Wesley So Cup play-in

MANILA, Philippines — This is why the games are played.

The Rizal Batch Towers and the Quezon City Simba’s Tribe scored one of their biggest wins in their young PCAP history by pulling off a stunning upset of Cavite.

Going into the play-in of the northern division Wesley So Cup, Cavite, the seventh seed at 18-16, was armed with a twice-to-beat advantage against tenth Rizal (10-24). They dispatched Rizal in the elimination round, 11-10 and 11.5-9.5. 

The battles were close and could have gone either way.

In the play-in held last Saturday, July 24, the Batch Towers had their revenge.

Although it seemed like Cavite was going to coast and advance to the playoffs after they took a rather easy 5-2 win in blitz in the first set.

Rizal came alive in rapid chess of the first set with a 9-5 win for an 11-10 squeaker that allowed the Batch Towers to send the match to a winner-take-all.

Flush with confidence, Rizal reversed the boards in blitz play of the second match, 5-2. 

This time, fighting for their playoff lives, Cavite came roaring back. They took rapid play, 8-6, but were unable to overcome the deficit for an 11-10 loss.

NM Elias Lao Jr. of Rizal won crucial points against Cavite’s AFM Eduardo Tunguia in the second set. Earlier, Tunguia claimed the three points of the first set. 

IM Richelieu Salcedo III led the way for Rizal taking 4.5 of the six points from his match-ups against IM Joel Banawa of Cavite.

NM Noel Cruz claimed all six of his points against Cavite’s Board Two of IM Petronio Roca while Marlon Constantino and Kelly Ann David-Salcedo provided crucial support. 

The Simba’s Tribe, the ninth seed with a 12-22 slate, needed to beat eighth seed Isabela Knights of Alexander (13-21) who possessed a twice-to-beat advantage.

Quezon City knew they had a chance as they split their conference series with Isabela taking the first meeting, 12.5-8.5, and the Simba’s tribe getting even, 14.5-6.5 last July 6.

In the first set of their own play-in, QC, found themselves trailing, 4-3 after blitz play of their first set. They rallied in rapid chess with their homegrown players in NM Robert Arellano, Joseph Navarro, and Freddie Talaboc winning crucial points for an 8-6 win for an 11-10 overall triumph to send the series to a second set.

There Quezon City played better as they took blitz, 4-3, and rapid chess, 9-5, for a masterful 13-8 triumph to send them to the playoffs for the very first time in their PCAP history.

Navarro shone for QC taking five of the six points from his match-up against Lordwin Espiritu and Alvin Aguinaldo. His teammate, Talaboc also bagged four of the six points from his match-up against Anwar Cabugatan.

Cavite knows what it is like to upset a higher seed with its twice to beat advantage. In last year’s Wesley So Cup, as the ninth seed, they stunned the Cagayan Kings to advance.

The Mindoro Tamaraws were the second squad to pull that trick as they also did that during that same Wesley So Cup of last season when as the 10th seed, they ousted the seventh seed, Palawan in two.

Cagayan de Oro was the third team to repeat the feat when they ousted luckless Palawan-Albay in the recent All Filipino Cup of this second season of PCAP.

As a reward for their steadfastness, Rizal will face top seed Pasig while Quezon City will battle the Caloocan LoadManna Knights in the quarterfinals of the Wesley So Cup this Wednesday, July 27.