ROCKINGHAM – The mats were rolled out for the first time this season for the Richmond Senior High School wrestling program, as the Raiders hosted a handful of schools in the Raider Rumble Saturday in the school’s gymnasium.
Led by longtime head coach Earl Nicholson, Richmond competed against five other programs, finishing the season-opening meet with a 2-3 record. The Raiders wrestled against Sandhills Athletic Conference opponents Lumberton and Scotland high schools, while also facing non-conference competitors Anson, Asheboro and Douglas Byrd high schools.
Richmond picked up team wins against the Douglas Byrd Eagles 48-36 and the Scotland Fighting Scots 72-12. The Raiders fell in a close match with the Bearcats from Anson 48-36, before finishing out the day with losses to the Lumberton Pirates 57-21 and the Asheboro Blue Comets 58-18.
With the Raider football program still in full playoff mode, Nicholson was without several returning starters, including all of his senior wrestlers. But despite their absence, he was pleased with his team’s performance.
“We did as good as we could have expected,” Nicholson explained. “My six veteran wrestlers went 25-5 on the day. I was hoping that my newer guys could go at least 15-25 in their matches, but they finished with an 8-32 record.
“Now I know what we need to work on,” he added. “Right now we are trying to keep things together until I get my varsity football players back.”
The Raiders are led by Nicholson’s son, junior Joseph Nicholson (113-pound), as well as junior Austin Gallop (152-pound). The duo went an undefeated 10-0 on the day, with Nicholson and Gallop each winning five matches, respectively.
Junior Steven Morales (138-pound), and sophomores Bryant Koll (132-pound) and Cale Luckey (106-pound) all finished with a 4-1 tally. Rounding out the top performers for Richmond was sophomore Kaden Walker (160-pound), as he went 3-2 on the day.
In the first match the Raiders won over Douglas Byrd, eight different Richmond wrestler picked up a win by pinfall. Luckey defeated Jyrell Mcleod by pinfall, 6-0, and was followed by Nicholson winning over William McKoy by the same result. Hector Castro (126-pound) and Koll also won over Emmanuel Jack and Kaleb Williams, respectively, with pinfalls.
The four other Raider wins came via a 6-0 pinfall, with Morales downing Demarcus Carroll, Gallop finishing off Louis Velez, Walker beating Carmello Wesley and Jamarion Short (182-pound) holding off NyJuan Brown.
Against Scotland, the Raiders earned nine match victories via a forfeit. Picking up wins were Koll with a pinfall over Nathan Joyner and Gallop added another pinfall over Quron McDonald.
Perhaps the most impressive match of the day came when Nicholson faced Asheboro’s Yu Chen in the 113-pound match. Both wrestlers entered their final match with a perfect 4-0 record, and it was Nicholson who emerged victorious, winning by a 10-4 decision.
Richmond will be back in action after the Thanksgiving holiday, traveling to Asheboro High School on Saturday, Nov. 24.
