LAURINBURG — The Fighting Scots wrestling team hosted its first and only home meet of the season on Wednesday against arch-rival Richmond.
The Scots weren’t able to pull off the win, despite home-field advantage, falling to the Raiders, 45-30.
Since it was the only home match for the Scots, they held Senior Night before wrestling got underway. The Scots have nine seniors on their roster this season — Dakota McLean, Allen Croke, Ethan Locklear, Deshawn Leach, Deonta Harrington, Ja’Quan Carr, Juan Sanchez, Omar Jones and Knowledge Patterson.
Only four of the Scots nine seniors wrestled against the Raiders and only Patterson, wrestling in the 285 pound weight class, picked up a win. Patterson earned a pinfall victory over Richmond’s Jackie Bloomfield.
The Scots other three seniors didn’t fare as well with Locklear, Carr and Harrington all losing to their Richmond counterparts. Locklear started the night off for the Scots at the 152 pound weight class with a close 11-8 decision loss to Richmond’s Austin Gallop.
Locklear spent the rest of the match seated next to assistant coach Daniel Trivette giving advice trying to help his teammates win their matches.
Carr and Harrington were pinned in their respective matches, as Carr lost to Richmond’s Brandon Nifong at 182 and Harrington fell to Richmond’s Skylar Standridge at 220.
The wins for the Scots came from their middle and lightweights as juniors Charles Wall and Jeremiah McRimmon, Seth English and Ian Smith pulled out victories for their team.
Wall wrestled in the 160 pound weight class against Richmond’s Stephon Butler, picking up a pinfall. Fellow junior McRimmon followed suit at 170 and pinned Richmond’s Tyler Nifong before Smith pinned his Richmond counterpart Kaleel Brown at 195 to give the Scots a 24-15 lead.
A double forfeit at 106 was followed by a pin by Richmond’s Joseph Nicholson over Scots Andrew Curric at 113 pounds. With their lead down to three points, 24-21 the Scots picked up a much needed six points in the 120 pound weight class as Richmond forfeited giving English the win.
Those would be the final points Scotland would score as Richmond pinned their way through the next four matches. Scotland’s Brendon Smith at 126, Cameron Robinson at 132, Ethan Tone at 138 and Leshawn Tyson-Smith at 145 all lost their matches via pinfall giving Richmond the 45-30 victory.
The Fighting Scots are back on the mats on Saturday to compete in the Western Harnett Duals tournament. The Scots will take on Leesville Road at 9 a.m. That will be the final match of the year for the Scots, who will return on Jan. 3 at Pinecrest at 6 p.m. for their first match of 2018.
Amber Hatten-Staley can be reached at 910-506-3170 or [email protected].
