HAMLET — For the first time in Richmond County Schools’ history, Richmond County Ninth Grade Academy was the site for the district’s inaugural middle school wrestling match last Wednesday.
After beginning its season a week prior with two impressive wins over East Hoke and West Hoke middle schools on the road, Richmond went 1-1 against fellow Southeastern Middle School Athletic Conference opponents Sandy Grove Middle School (Hoke County) and Scotland County.
Coached by Andre Ellerbe and Richard Kerekes, two teachers in the district, Richmond’s middle school wrestling team is made up of wrestlers from all four county middle schools. Richmond squeezed out a 52-48 win over the Sandy Grove Panthers, and finished tied 52-52 with Scotland County. The victory was awarded to Scotland via a coin flip.
Now 3-1 on the season, Richmond saw Irwin Campos, Tykeen Ellerbe and Will Whitley each pick up three points against Sandy Grove via minor decision wins. Those nine points were helped out by pinfall victories by seven of their teammates, which was enough to earn the victory.
Getting pins for Richmond over Sandy Grove were Matthew Burns, Jabari Douglas, Sebastian Fullwood, Dylan Locklear, Naamon Perakis, Messiah Shaw and Raymond Shubert.
Against Scotland in the second match of the day, Whitley and teammate Aiden Roundtree each secured six points by way of a forfeit since Scotland didn’t have wrestlers in their respective weight classes. Damon Bryant earned a major decision over his opponent, and added four more points to Richmond’s tally.
The match ended with Douglas, Fullwood, Locklear and Shaw collecting their second respective pins of the afternoon. Getting in on the pinning parade were Campos and Ellerbe, who joined their four teammates to finish the day a perfect 2-0.
The RCS middle school wrestling team will look to continue its hot start to the season when it travels to SEMSAC opponent Anson Middle School Thursday, Dec. 13. Richmond will face the host Bearcats and have a shot at redemption against Scotland County. Matches begin at 4:15 p.m.
