BISCOE, N.C. — For the first time this season, the Richmond Senior High School varsity wrestling team brought home some team hardware over the weekend.
Competing in the Eagle Duals at East Montgomery High School, the Raiders swept their opponents, going a perfect 5-0 on the day. Not only was it the second-consecutive weekend head coach Earl Nicholson’s team went undefeated, the five victories were a single meet season-best performance.
Over their last 10 matches, including three at the Joel McCanna Invitational on Jan. 5, and their home Sandhills Athletic Conference matches last Wednesday, the Raiders are 9-1 overall. On the season, Richmond holds a 22-14 overall record.
Leading the way for Richmond Saturday were four wrestlers, all of whom posted perfect records while winning their respective weight classes. They were senior Skylar Standridge (220-pound, 4-0), while juniors Steven Morales (132-pound) and Joseph Nicholson (113-pound) and sophomore Kaden Walker (160 and 170-pound) all went 5-0.
Coach Nicholson was impressed with his team’s performance at the Joel McCanna Invitational just over a week ago, and echoed those sentiments after going 1-1 against Jack Britt and Seventy First last week. He was so confident in its ability that he said if the Raiders could “wrestle like that on Saturday, we can come home with the first-place trophy.”
Richmond’s largest margin of victory came against Chatham Charter School, 63-12. The 51-point win came mostly due to forfeit victories, as the Raiders picked up 54 points on nine forfeits. Chatham only had four wrestlers, and Richmond split those four matches.
Joseph Nicholson “avenged” a loss from earlier in the season against Chandler Steele, who is one of the highest-ranked wrestlers in the 1A classification, and the 2018 state runner up. Nicholson squeaked out a 6-4 decision over Steele, adding three points in the win.
Tyreese Jones (170-pound) picked up the only other win against the Knights when he pinned Collin Semrad.
The Raiders scored at least 51 points in their remaining four matches, averaging wins by 31.6 points on the day. Their second largest win, a 34-point differential, came against Thomasville High School (58-24), before the Raiders routed host East Montgomery (54-22), Elkin High School (54-24) and Randleman High School (51-30).
Of the four undefeated wrestlers, Morales had the most pins with three. He held Ivan Jaimes (East Montgomery), Tyquan Nowalk (Elkin) and William Flores (Randleman) to the mat. Standridge, who returned to the lineup after an absence from injury, picked up a decision and a pin — the first an 8-2 win over Hirbin Ramos (Randleman), and the second a pin against Nasir Barnes (Thomasville).
Adding to his decision over Steele, Nicholson picked up three forfeits and pinned Randleman’s John Gilmartin. Walker also had three forfeit victories, before pinning Garrett Worrell (East Montgomery) and earning a 12-4 major decision over Thomasville’s Will Lemons in the 170-pound bout.
Another Raider to have an impressive day on the mat was freshman Andres Sanchez (106-pound), who went 4-1 with one pin over Zach Lewis (Thomasville). Junior Austin Gallops (152-pound) went 3-2 with one pin (Logan Richardson, Randleman), and freshman Gabe Altman also went 3-2.
Against the Randleman Tigers, the Raiders had a team-best five pins in the match. Morales, Nicholson, Standridge and Walker combined for 107 total points across the five matches.
With each individual win helping wrestlers qualify for the upcoming regional tournament, the Raiders will look to keep things moving in the right direction on Wednesday, Jan. 16. They’ll face Sandhills Athletic Conference foe Scotland High School at 6 p.m., a match that has been moved up from its original date of Jan. 23.
