Richmond Senior wrestling coach Ken Neal wished his squad could have gotten more work in its season-opening dual meet Wednesday night against Class 1A Red Springs.

The Raiders took advantage of seven Red Devil forfeits, which resulted in 36 total team points.

But Richmond also recorded five pins in en route to a 66-12 victory over Red Springs at Raider Gymnasium.

“It was a good start and I think our skill level was a little better than theirs (Red Springs),” Neal said. “Once we did the basic fundamental stuff that we do in practice, we were able to finish off matches.”

Although Neal was satisfied with the win, he admitted his grapplers still have some work to do. Neal added that the seven Red Spring forfeits did little to help his wrestlers.

“We had some kids that tried to do some of that fancy stuff that I talked about before,” Neal said.

“They’ve got to understand if they go against better experienced wrestlers that they’re going to lose. We also had a couple upperclassmen who were locking hands, and that’s something that we never do when we drill in practice. I hate the forfeits in the middle because the kids that lost got more work in and we need to get some work.”

Once both teams finished with the exhibition portion of the meet, Richmond’s 275-pound heavyweight, Kevin Alfonso, got the Raiders off to a 6-0 lead.

Alfonso pinned Red Devils’ Zaquan Cobb, 91 seconds into the first period.

“The thing I wanted to do was set the tone for our team,” Alfonso said.

“I know with me being one of the captains, the younger guys kind of look up to me. With me coming out and getting a pin, I think the guys saw how it is supposed to be done. After myself and my opponent reset after we went out of bounds, I put him in the half-nelson and was able to get the pin.”

Both squads failed to have a wrestler at 103-pounds, which produced a double forfeit and no points for either team.

The next match was Richmond’s female wrestler, Gabby Wright at 112, facing the Red Devils’ Mattia Tomat.

Wright survived the first period, trailing 4-2, but Tomat was able to outmaneuver Wright in the second and record a pin with 1:25 remaining in the period. Tomat’s victory evened the meet at six apiece.

“Gabby has only been practicing for two days because she just recently got her physical,” Neal said.

“She has to learn how to get better with her technique, but Gabby is really scrappy. I’m hoping she does well in the future matches.”

Red Springs forfeited at 119 as Richmond’s Jeremy Cairo gave the Raiders six free points. The Red Devils got six quick points on Richmond’s forfeit at 125 to tie the match again at 12.

Zach Covington at 130 allowed the Raiders to regain an 18-12 advantage when he earned a quick pin over Nelson Chavis 65 seconds into the first period.

Tyshawn Robinson at 135 pushed the Richmond advantage to 24-12 when he pinned Tony Pittman with one second left in the first.

Red Springs forfeited the next five matches.

Trenton Bostick (140), Wesley Mason (145), Antoine Bostick (152), Justin Flores (160) and Andrew Spears (171) all gave Richmond six points apiece to help the Raiders increase their lead to 54-12.

Richmond’s Dustyn McCary at 189 pinned Michael Henderson with 1:02 left in the first period. Joshua Patterson at 215 pinned Daquan Bright with 1:16 remaining in the second period to end the meet.

The Raiders wrestle in a five-team dual tournament Saturday at St. Pauls. Richmond faces Lumberton in its Southeastern Conference opener next Wednesday, Dec. 16 at Raider Gym.

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