Corey Davis

Richmond County Daily Journal

Two good things happened for the Richmond Senior wrestling team Wednesday night.

The Raiders won on Senior Night and they also posted their first Southeastern Conference victory of the season, prevailing 39-36 over Purnell Swett at Raider Gymnasium.

The win improved Richmond’s record to 8-6 overall, 1-2 in the SEC. Raiders coach Ken Neal said it was good to finally get a win in the league.

Neal added he was pleased that seniors Kevin Alfonso, Zac Covington, Wesley Mason, Antoine Bostick and female wrestler Ann Frank were able to walk off the home floor winning their last home meet.

“At least we won’t go winless in the conference,” Neal said. “I was glad that our seniors can leave with a good memory on Senior Night.”

Despite dropping to 1-12, 1-2 in the SEC, the Rams recorded five pins to Richmond’s three. However, Swett was hurt by three forfeits at 119, 125 and 145 that cost the Rams 18 points.

“Those really hurt us and to have that many forfeits is hard to overcome,” said Purnell Swett coach Reubon Daniels.

Nonetheless, Daniels said the match that proved to be the difference was Bostick at 152 winning over the Rams’ Shand Strickland.

Strickland led Bostick 7-6 with time ticking away, but Bostick outmaneuvered Strickland in the waning moments to win 8-7. Bostick gave Richmond three crucial points that eventually provided the difference in the meet.

“We came close, but it was too little, too late for us,” Daniels said. “The close match we lost, which they earned three points, was the one that proved to be big in the meet,” Daniels said.

The meet began with Swett’s Stan Locklear pin over Richmond’s Randal Altman in the second period with 1:35 remaining, giving the Rams a 6-0 lead. The Raiders took advantage of back-to-back forfeits by Swett as Jeremy Cairo at 119 and Austin Lane at 125 both earned six points apiece to give Richmond a 12-6 advantage.

Covington at 135 pinned Tyler Baker with 1:02 left in the second, increasing the Raiders’ lead to 24-6. Swett’s Randy Locklear at 140 pinned Trenton Bostick with 56 seconds remaining in the first period, cutting Richmond’s lead to 24-12.

Mason at 145 extended the Raiders’ advantage to 30-12 on Richmond’s third forfeit triumph.

Bostick’s win earned Richmond three more points to push the lead to 33-12. Justin Flores at 160 posted the Raiders’ third and final pin when he received a first period one-count win over Roderick Mcmillian, giving Richmond a 39-12 lead.

But Swett recorded pins in the final four matches. Jarred Jacobs pinned Kenneth Hester in the first period with 1:32 remaining, cutting the Raiders’ advantage to 39-18.

Nick Locklear at 189 pinned William Wright in the second with .16 seconds left to make it 39-24. Billy Hunt at 215, who Daniels said had his best match this season, pinned Lucas Newton with 29 seconds to go in the second period, narrowing Richmond’s lead to 39-30. Steven Jacobs at 285 heavyweight pinned Alfonso in the first period with 47 seconds remaining to end the meet.

“I felt like if we didn’t make some stupid mistakes, we could have won a couple more matches and it wouldn’t have been this close,” Neal said.

The Raiders went 2-3 in the five-team dual tournament meet at Union Pines last weekend. Richmond returns to the mat at Red Springs tonight, with the nonconference meet scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

“They’re a younger team than we are, and we’ve beaten them three times already,” Neal said. “We should have a good chance of coming out with a victory again.”

n Contact sports reporter Corey Davis at 997-3111, ext. 44; e-mail cdavis@yourdailyjournal.com