ROCKINGHAM — It was a busy and successful night for the Richmond Senior High School wrestling program on its home mat Wednesday.
The Raiders held their annual senior night before hosting Hoke County and Overhills high schools for a Mid-South Conference dual.
Richmond finished the night with a 1-1 team record, opening with a win against Overhills before falling to Hoke County.
Of the team’s 11 wrestlers in action, four of them finished with a 2-0 record — senior Jordan Hamilton (215-pounds), junior Hayden Smith (150-pounds) and sophomores NaSean McBride (144-pounds) and Dylan Nunez (120-pounds).
McBride and Smith each had a pair of pins and Hamilton and Nunez both had one pinfall and one technical fall.
The majority of the rest of the lineup went 1-1 — seniors Jason Gainey (190-pounds) and Esaias Brunson (285-pounds), junior Konner Gardner (175-pounds), and sophomores Axel Nunez (126-pounds), Brandon Wiltshire (157-pounds) and Jacob Hall (165-pounds).
Head coach Andre’ Ellerbe sang the Raiders praises for their efforts to get their first team win in conference competition, as well as hanging tough with one of the best programs in the state.
“Hoke is always a tough team and they’re tops in the state right now,” Ellerbe said. “But it’s always a lot of fun and we always learn a lot when we face Hoke.
“Overhills may not have had a full lineup, but they took some of our better guys a couple of rounds,” he added. “We enjoy wrestling tough competition and having these two teams here tonight was great. We love to represent the green and gold and I’m glad we did so the way that we did tonight.”
Pins lead to win over Jaguars
Seven of Richmond’s 10 victories in a 59-18 win over Overhills were the result of pinfalls. The Raiders added a technical fall and two forfeit wins.
Axel Nunez (126) and Brunson (285) each earned six points when the Jaguars didn’t field a wrestler. Hamilton (215) contributed five points with a 19-2 tech fall against Ayden Castro, which he achieved near the end of the second period.
Starting the pins was Dylan Nunez (120) against Lucas Nicolay, who ended the match with 31.4 seconds on the clock. That marked the first of five first-round pins for the Raiders in the match.
The next two first-round pins came from McBride (144) and Smith (150), who defeated Jaylen Spillman and Peyton Blumenauer, respectively. McBride won with 24 seconds remaining and Smith got the pin with one second to go to give the Raiders a 24-12 lead.
Wiltshire (157) and Gainey (190) were the other first-round pinfall victors and added to the lead. In his match against Matthew Harbot, Wiltshire rallied to get the win with 55.3 ticks on the clock. Gainey was a little quicker, needing just 44 seconds to outmuscle and hold Xander Harbot to the mat.
Hall (165) and Gardner (175) each recorded pins in the third period. Building leads of 6-2 and 12-4 after the first two periods, Hall pinned Levi Westerhold. Gardner rolled out to a pair of leads, 9-2 and 15-2, before he ended his match with Michael Socha.
Four Raiders win matches in loss to Bucks
It was a tougher go in the second match of the night for the Raiders, who lost to Hoke County 58-23.
Richmond suffered two forfeit losses, five pinfall losses and two tech fall defeats. The four Raiders who won combined for three pins and one tech fall.
Dylan Nunez (120) helped cut an early deficit to 6-5 when he defeated Naje Ross 22-4 via tech fall early in the third period.
Richmond picked up back-to-back wins from McBride (144) and Smith (150), both pins, to pull the Raiders to within six points, 23-17. Each wrestler ended the match in the first period, as McBride defeated Dylan Britt and Smith pinned Brayden Bullard.
The final win of the night came from Hamilton (215) against Javonta McCrimmon. With 51.2 seconds left in the opening period, Hamilton pinned his Buck opponent.
Lady Raiders split matches
Richmond’s two female wrestlers — sophomore Gabbi Geiger (120-pounds) and senior Brooklyn Windley (185-pounds) — both went 1-1 Wednesday.
Geiger and Windley scored six points each with a forfeit win against Overhills, and each suffered a third-round pinfall loss to Hoke County.
Richmond (11-17, 1-2 MSC) will compete in the David M. Smith Duals Saturday at Monroe High School.
