Scotland’s senior wrestlers go undefeated against Montgomery Central, Marlboro County

LAURINBURG — Senior night is a celebratory time when players — or in this case, wrestlers — strive to go out on top against their opponent.

On Thursday night, inside Scotland High School’s gymnasium, three of the Scotland women’s and men’s wrestling teams’ five seniors who wrestled were victorious. Their efforts helped the Lady Scots defeat Montgomery Central 46-0 and Marlboro County 42-24, and the Fighting Scots beat the Bulldogs 65-12 on senior night; Scotland’s men lost to the Timberwolves 59-12.

For the Lady Scots’ seniors, Minnie Locklear wrestled in the 114-pound weight class against Marlboro County and at 120 against Montgomery Central, pinning both her opponents. Patience Hudgens earned two uncontested wins, and Campbell Gross remained out with an ankle injury.

“Campbell herself has meant a lot,” said Thomas Havener, the coach for Scotland’s men’s and women’s teams. “She’s taken the role on as coach, so she coaches with me as well. And then, Patience has come a long way. Really wasn’t into the sport of wrestling initially, kind of weary about it, but then got really good at it. And she’s been with me for two years.

“Minnie Locklear is Minnie Locklear. She won me a Richmond match (Wednesday) night. She steps in when I don’t have a guy at her weight class. I’ve had girls come and go, but she’s the first four-year wrestler to stay from her freshman year, when she was wrestling boys, to where now she gets to wrestle girls and get a little taste of what it is to dominate competition.”

Joshua Stone (285) was the only senior Fighting Scot that took the mat, getting a 19-second pin against Marlboro County’s Zirell McKiver-Barker and a 30-second pin against Montgomery Central’s Aaron Ingram; senior Sebastien Hudgens didn’t compete.

“I wrestle Josh all the time,” Havener said. “Him and Vinny (Butera) are my little drill partners. So, if they can go against a 300-pound guy, that’s pretty fast and pretty aggressive at my age, it kind of sets them up for bigger guys, or even more aggressive guys that they’re going to face. It means that I get hurt sometimes, but at the end of the day, both kids have shown leaps and bounds, aggression and just overall accomplishment. So, Josh just staying consistent, staying available, and he’s a four-year varsity starter, so I don’t expect anything different from him.

“Sebastien is a two-year wrestler who works hard every day in the mat room and especially the weight room. He filled in at 215 and 285 and had a very productive year.”

Scotland’s women wrestled just three contested matches in both duals. Against Montgomery Central, Dawson Blue (132) joined Locklear in pinning her opponent, and Shyanne White (165) earned a 20-8 major decision over Kimberly Merida. Scotland’s other points came from forfeits at 126, 138, 145, 185 and 235; the remaining four bouts were double forfeits.

“We went up to Montgomery (Central) in the middle of the month, and we didn’t get a chance to get a girls’ match in,” Havener said. “And so, having the girls show up and go out there and wrestle, it’s one thing to have girls, but it’s another thing to have girls go out there in their matches and win their matches.”

Locklear’s pin against Marlboro County was the only engaged win for Scotland, but the Bulldogs forfeited six matches; Marlboro County took two matches by pin at 120 and 185 and two more by forfeit at 107 and 235; both teams forfeited the bout at 100.

“My girls in the Marlboro match, a lot of new wrestlers out there,” Havener said. “But the key thing is if you show up and you take a forfeit, then that helps your overall team score. So whatever way we can win, we’ll win.”

Scotland’s men downed Marlboro County with pins from Brayden Richardson (120), Thomas Salinas (144), Anthony Pate (157), Jhaere Banks (165), Aaron Chavis (190), Butera (215) and Stone, forfeits at 126, 132 and 138, a disqualification for the Bulldogs’ Christopher David against Kenan Smith at 175 and a technical fall for Josh Smith at 106. Marlboro County picked up pins at 113 and 190; the 150 match was a double forfeit.

“Marlboro County has a lot of good athletes, but there’s a few more tricks that we have up our sleeve that kind of help us out when we’re going against another young team,” Havener said.

The Scots pulled out only three wins against Montgomery Central, with a 9-4 decision by Josh Smith over Caleb Lynthacum at 106, a 7-1 decision from Kenan Smith against Cesar Munoz at 175 and Stone’s pin. The Timberwolves pinned Scots at 120, 126, 132, 138, 157, 165 and 190 and earned a tech fall at 113, a 7-2 decision at 144 and a 17-8 major decision at 215.

“Montgomery has nine seniors in their lineup, whereas I have one,” Havener said. “So Montgomery is, they’re tried and true. I’ve been wrestling them for about four years. They have a lot of veteran leadership. A lot of their guys have been wrestling for a long time. So it goes to show levels to where some of our guys may be a little bit more advanced going against Marlboro County.”

Scotland will now gear up for the Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament on Saturday at Pinecrest in Southern Pines.

“We’ve got one practice tomorrow, and then we go right into it,” Havener said. “We’ll try to go get what we can get. And, girls, I mean, we’ve been very competitive the past couple weeks. So my girls, hopefully, we come away with some individual championships, and we take this thing into regionals.”

Scotland men top Richmond, struggle against Hoke County with Lady Scots

The Scotland men’s wrestling team overcame one of its two opponents in the final Sandhills Athletic Conference tri-meet of the season Wednesday at Hoke County High in Raeford, downing the Richmond Raiders 47-30 while being defeated by the hosting Bucks 73-60; the Lady Scots wrestling team also lost to Hoke County 63-6.

The first five matches against Richmond were all forfeit wins for the Fighting Scots, with the Raiders also forfeiting the 175-pound match. The first contested bout didn’t come until the 138-pound match, which was one of two Richmond wins by decision, with the other coming at 150. The Raiders also took four matches by pin at 157, 190, 215 and 285. Helping the Scots prevail were Thomas Salinas, who triumphed with a technical fall over Adam Estridge at 144, and Jhaere Banks, who pinned David Morton at 165.

Against Hoke County, Salinas was the only Fighting Scot to win his bout, pinning Arthur Jones at 144; the Bucks pinned seven Scots at 106, 120, 138, 150, 157, 165 and 190 and took three matches by tech fall at 132, 175 and 285, two by forfeit at 113 and 120 and one by major decision at 215.

The Lady Scots weren’t victorious in any engaged matches against the Bucks but did get a win at 132 due to forfeit. Seven of Hoke County’s 11 wins in the match were by pin at 114, 120, 126, 138, 152, 165 and 185, three came by forfeit at 100, 107 and 235 and the last was by a sudden victory at 145.