ROBBINS — The Richmond Senior High School wrestling team put together its best overall performance of the season late last week.
Competing in the North Moore High School Quad on Friday, the Raiders swept their opponents en route to a 3-0 record.
Richmond wrestled against the host Mustangs and won 53-24. The Raiders followed that with victories over Central Carolina Academy 54-18 and Southern Guilford High School 54-6.
“We went 3-0 as a team and we matched really well against all three teams,” head coach Andre’ Ellerbe said. “All of the teams had given up a lot of forfeits, but we stayed on track and won the matches that we had.
“We wrestled tough and the majority of our wrestlers won all their matches,” he added. “The wrestler of the night goes to Hayden Smith.”
In their match against Southern Guilford, the Raiders and Storm double-forfeited four contests.
Richmond added 18 points to the board with three forfeits. Taking those matches were freshman Hayden Smith (138-pounds), senior Jesus Castro (157-pounds) and sophomore Jordan Hamilton (215-pounds).
The Raiders’ other 36 points in the win all came via pinfall wins from six different wrestlers. The Storm’s six points came on a forfeit in the 113-pound match.
Pinfall victors were junior Joseph Patterson (144-pounds), junior Adam Estridge (150-pounds), junior Jackson Hamilton (165-pounds), senior Amir Vaughan (175-pounds), sophomore Jason Gainey (190-pounds) and junior K’Mauri Morgan (285-pounds).
Eight of those wrestlers also picked up victories against Central Carolina, along with sophomore Demonte Martin.
Jackson Hamilton, Vaughan, Gainey and Morgan all improved to 2-0 on the day with a forfeit win. Martin added his first win thanks to a forfeit in the heavyweight match.
Smith (138), Patterson (144), Estridge (150) and Castro (157) each earned a pinfall win for six points apiece. The Eagles’ 18 points came courtesy of forfeits in the 106, 120 and 126-pound bouts.
Similarly against the Mustangs, the Raiders gave up 24 points on forfeits in the 113, 120, 126 and 132-pound matches. But like Ellerbe said, Richmond took care of business on the mat against live opponents.
The Raiders won all nine of the remaining competitions against the Mustangs, including eight pins.
Smith, Estridge, Castro, Jackson Hamilton, Vaughan, Gainey, Morgan and Martin all pinned his respective opponent to the match for six points. Rounding out the win with five points was Estridge, who earned a 15-0 technical fall win over David Scott.
The Raiders (4-5) will wrestle again on Tuesday in a quad match hosted by Eastern Guilford High School. Other teams set to compete are Asheboro, Glenn and Page high schools.
