ROBBINS — In its first dual meet of the season, things couldn’t have gone much better for the Richmond Senior High School wrestling team.
Wrestling together as a team following last weekend’s individual invitational, the Raiders and head coach Andre’ Ellerbe swept both of their non-conference matches Thursday.
Richmond traveled to North Moore High School and faced the host Mustangs and also defeated Central Carolina Academy.
The Raiders’ biggest win of the night was a 54-24 win over North Moore, which was followed by a 48-36 victory against Central Carolina.
Ellerbe noted the entire team’s effort against the Mustangs and Eagles, saying the Raiders rose to the challenge to get the early-season wins.
“The motto for this season is standing on business and we had a lot of veteran guys and newcomers do just that,” Ellerbe said.
“A big shout out goes to Hayden Smith and James Coicou who both had the match of the night by grabbing pins in our debut team match.”
Pins highlight victory over North Moore
Five of Richmond’s nine victories against the Mustangs were pinfall wins, which accumulated six points apiece. The other four wins were forfeits, which also gave Richmond six points per weight class.
Starting off the winning was freshman NaSean McBride in the 138-pound match, who pinned Efren Salgado. Senior James Coicou (150-pounds), who joined the wrestling team for the first time, pinned David Scott for his first career win.
Richmond’s other three pinfall victories were courtesy of heavyweight wrestlers freshman Bentley Warwick (190-pounds), senior Dominic Santiago (215-pounds) and freshman Francisco Canales (285-pounds).
Warwick defeated Saul Ferrer, Santiago pinned Kevin Martinez Lopez and Canales notched a victory against Noah Mayes.
Earning points via forfeits were freshman Dylan Nunez (120-pounds), sophomore Hayden Smith (144-pounds), sophomore Konner Gardner (157-pounds) and senior Amier Bostic (165-pounds).
Falling in their matches, all by pinfall, were junior Davin Sweatt (113-pounds), sophomore Adan King (132-pounds) and freshman Trevor Smith (175-pounds). North Moore’s final six points were a forfeit in the 126-pound bout.
Forfeits help Raiders edge Central Carolina
A close match between the Raiders and Eagles saw the benefit of forfeits help Richmond to a 12-point team win.
Trotting out to the center of the mat to collect their free six points were Nunez (120), Coicou (150), Gardner (157), Smith (175) and Warwick (190). Those five combined matches collected 30 points for Richmond.
Richmond’s only two wrestlers to face an opponent and win both matches during the meet were McBride and Santiago.
McBride notched his second pinfall win to stay perfect on the season against Kevin Spivey Jr. Santiago followed suit by holding Thailik McCormick to the mat.
Central Carolina added points with forfeits in the 106 and 126-pound weight classes. Suffering pinfall losses for Richmond were Sweatt (113), King (132) and Bostic (165).
The Raiders wrestled Saturday at Scotland High School. Results will be published when they’re made available.
