RAEFORD — Two wrestlers for Richmond Senior High School kept their strong starts to the season going in Wednesday’s Sandhills Athletic Conference tri-meet.
Beginning conference action, Richmond traveled to Hoke County High School and split its pair of matches against Lee County and Pinecrest high schools. The Raiders fell to the Patriots to start the meet but rebounded with a big win over the Yellow Jackets.
Senior K’Mauri Morgan (215-pounds) and sophomore Hayden Smith (144-pounds) were the two Raiders who went 2-0 on the night.
With his two technical fall victories, Morgan improved to 9-0 on the season. Notching a decision victory and a technical fall, Smith improved to 6-2.
Tough task for Raiders against Patriots
Facing perennial SAC powerhouse Pinecrest to start the meet, Richmond only had two wins in the 14 matches it wrestled.
The Raiders lost 65-8 and surrendered 42 points on seven losses via pinfall. Pinecrest scored the rest of its points on a forfeit (6 points), two technical falls (10 points), one major decision (4 points) and one decision (3 points).
Trailing 12-0 as a team after the first two matches, Smith got Richmond on the board with a decision victory over Liam Ewan. Going all three rounds, Smith earned a 9-7 win in the final seconds.
Tied 5-5 with Ewan after the first two rounds, Smith battled through an apparent leg injury that he suffered during the opening two-minute period. A late reversal for two points with less than 10 seconds left gave Smith the win.
Morgan was quick to take down Cole Harrison in his match via a 20-4 technical fall. Jumping out to a 16-4 lead after the first period, Morgan collected several batches of back points to take the advantage.
With 55 seconds remaining in the second period, Morgan notched his final four points on back points to give Richmond five team points.
Dozen Raiders earn points in victory over Lee County
The Raiders’ match with the Yellow Jackets went in their favor, thanks in part to six forfeit victories. Richmond cruised to a 69-5 win, notching 36 free points due to a limited Lee County roster.
Collecting those forfeits were junior Davin Sweatt (106-pounds), freshman Dylan Nunez (120-pounds), sophomore Adan King (126-pounds), freshman Elijah Murphy (138-pounds), sophomore Konner Gardner (157-pounds) and junior Jordan Hamilton (190-pounds).
Richmond registered three pinfalls (18 points) and three technical falls (15 points) in six of the remaining eight matches. Both teams forfeited the 113-pound match and Lee County won the 175-pound match.
Freshman NaSean McBride (132-pounds) earned a pinfall over Diego Hernandez, needing just 43 seconds into the first round to get the win.
Richmond’s next pin was by sophomore David Morton (165-pounds), who defeated Michael Ritter. Trailing 6-2 entering the second round, Morton flipped the script and pinned Ritter with 56 seconds remaining.
The final pin of the match was by sophomore heavyweight Jeremiah Covington. He held Caleb Williams to the mat, needing just 30 seconds to get the job done.
Morgan, Smith and senior Joseph Patterson combined for the three tech falls (winning by 15 points).
Earning the win in the opening two-minute period were Morgan and Smith. Morgan cruised to a 22-5 win against Matthew Thomas as time ran out and Smith recorded a 15-0 win over Landen Barber with 1:05 to go in the first.
Patterson’s victory in the 150-pound match was a 20-5 defeat over Drake Thomas. That bout came to an end when Patterson recorded his final three points on a takedown just 18 seconds into the second period.
Richmond (5-6, 1-1 SAC) will host a conference tri-meet next Wednesday at the Richmond County Ninth Grade Academy. The first contest will start at 5 p.m.
The Richmond Observer will publish photo galleries of the varsity and junior varsity matches soon.
