FAYETTEVILLE — Two Richmond Senior High School wrestlers found themselves return to the All-Sandhills Athletic Conference team for the second season in a row.
Following Saturday’s SAC championship tournament at Jack Britt High School, seniors Austin Gallops (160-pound) and Joey Nicholson (120-pounds) found themselves recognized on this year’s team. Both made it as juniors a season ago.
It was a good afternoon for several individual wrestlers and head coach Earl Nicholson, although the team would finish seventh overall. Pinecrest High School won the SAC title as a team.
Gallops and Nicholson would both earn second-place finishes in their respective weight classes, while sophomore 113-pounder Andres Sanchez earned a spot on the championship podium with a third-place finish, but was not named to the all-conference team for the second straight season.
Last season, Nicholson also finished second overall, then wrestling in the 113-pound weight class. Gallops was the individual SAC conference champion in 2019, wrestling in the 152-pound weight division.
“The guys wrestled really hard today, but they just couldn’t finish the close matches,” Coach Nicholson shared. “Joey and Austin both made it to the finals before losing to Jack Britt and Pinecrest, respectively.
“Andres wrestled well today and placed third,” he added.
Other Raiders to put forth strong performances and just miss out on a podium finish were sophomore Donte Baldwin (126-pound) and Bryant Coll (132-pound), who each took fourth place.
Sanchez went 3-1 on the day and started with a pinfall win over James Brown (Hoke County High School) in the quarterfinals. He would get pinned in his second match against Justin Kelly of Lumberton High School, moving him to the consolation bracket.
From there, Sanchez would pick up back-to-back wins in the consolation division. He opened with a pin over Scotland High School’s Marcel Martin, and took third place with a pinfall victory over Gregory Young (Seventy-First High School) in the third-place bout.
Earning his second straight second-place finish at the SAC tournament, Nicholson used a bye in the quarterfinals to then pin Pinecrest’s Riley Merchant in the semifinals.
Nicholson met his match when Edward Brady of host Jack Britt pinned him for the second time in as many meetings.
Gallops also started strong in his weight class, pinning Seventy-First’s Toryon Washington in the first round. In a regular-season match two weeks ago, Gallops also defeated Washington by pinfall.
Facing Isaiah McCain-Mercado of Jack Britt in the semis, a second round pin by Gallops set him up with a chance to repeat as conference champion. However, Hunter Hillis (Pinecrest) managed to pin Gallops in the first round, sending the Raider home in second place.
Now the Raiders will prepare for the regional championship, which is set for Friday, Feb. 14 and Sat., Feb. 15.
“We’ll have two weeks to get ready for regionals,”Coach Nicholson closed. “We should have 13 guys make regionals.”
Last season, only former wrestler Skylar Standrige, then a senior, advanced past the regional round and made it to states.
