CAMERON — Returning to Sandhills Athletic Conference action for the first time in over a month, the Richmond Senior High School wrestling team suffered two losses Wednesday.
Competing on the road at Union Pines High School, the Raiders fell to the host Vikings and Southern Lee High School.
In their match against the Cavaliers, the Raiders were edged 42-36. Richmond came up short 68-12 to Union Pines.
“We faced two tough opponents in Union Pines and Southern Lee,” head coach Andre’ Ellerbe said. “Due to a lack of a full roster, we came up short in winning against Southern Lee. We had tough matches against some of the best guys in our conference.
“All of our guys wrestled really tough. We’re prepared to fine-tune a few things leading up to our tournament this weekend and our last conference match against Hoke County. Our wrestler of the week is Jackson Hamilton.”
Richmond surrendered 42 points to Union Pines in forfeits in seven weight classes. The Vikings added 18 points on pins, five points on a technical fall and three points in a decision.
The Raiders’ 12 points came courtesy of junior Adam Estridge earning a forfeit win in the 144-pound weight class and a pinfall by sophomore Demonte Martin in the heavyweight class.
Facing David Marcum, Martin pinned his opponent just 26 seconds into the first round.
In their second match against the Cavaliers, the Raiders also gave away a large chunk of points in forfeits (36 points).
Southern Lee took the win by earning a pinfall victory in the 150-pound match.
Five wrestlers earned a win by pin against the Cavaliers and junior K’Mauri Morgan (215-pounds) added six points with a forfeit.
Martin improved to 2-0 on the night with a pin over Carlos Sosa in the 285-pound bout. Estridge (150-pounds) also earned his second victory of the meet, pinning Jack Mitchell.
Collecting their solo wins, all by pinfall, were junior Joseph Patterson (144-pounds), junior Jackson Hamilton (165-pounds) and sophomore Jason Gainey (190-pounds).
Patterson defeated Matthew Lerbu, Hamilton pinned Diego Badillo and Gainey bested Antonio Smith.
Richmond (5-9, 1-3 SAC) will wrestle in a tournament at Montgomery Central High School Saturday.
