PEMBROKE — After dropping its first Sandhills Athletic Conference wrestling match to Jack Britt, Lumberton has gotten on a roll.
The Pirates earned a pair of wins at Purnell Swett on Wednesday over Richmond and Scotland to improve to 3-1 in league play. But more valuable than the wins was the experience gained.
“It’s all about matches. We wrestled Jack Britt pretty early so we didn’t have as many matches under our belt, especially with younger guys,” Lumberton coach Jamie Bell said. “We have probably like 20 more matches than we were with Jack Britt.”
Lumberton pinned Scotland to a 56-24 win before downing Richmond 43-22 to stay a half a match back of Jack Britt in the league standings. Purnell Swett suffered two losses to stay winless on the season in conference matches with a 56-19 defeat to Richmond and a 51-24 loss to Scotland.
On top of earning a pair of dual match wins, the Pirates also continued to build on its experience with a handful of newer wrestlers still learning their roles.
“Scotland had some tough individuals, and the Richmond match is always a tough one,” Bell said. “It’s about starting to win tough matches that could go either way. Those matches that go down to the last second, we need to start coming away with them.”
Bell mentioned how Tristan Rodriguez carried over from a strong weekend showing to earn a hard fought win over Richmond’s Hector Castro via a pin early in the second match.
“We had a freshman at 132 that beat a kid for the first time that had already beat him twice,” Bell said. “You’re seeing progress there.”
Lumberton also saw its experience continue to carry over in the two matches, especially in the middle weights. Austin Lowery, Zyeal Lloyd, Davieyon King-McCallister, Joshua McLaurin and Darionte McLaurin each earned a pair of wins on the day.
Lumberton turns its focus to the Boneyard Bash hosted by Jack Britt on Saturday.
“There’s somewhere between six to 12 matches (coming up),” Bell said. “The big thing is our team has a lot of younger wrestlers that need experience. The more matches the better.”
Purnell Swett coach Rashaad Sanders saw his team battle through tough situations in both matches but still stick together.
“We stick together. No matter if we are winning or losing, they do a good job of banding together to pick each other up,” he said. “We have good morale. Win or loss, they still treat each other like they’re family.”
Purnell Swett led at one point 18-6 over Scotland, but then surrendered three straight forfeits to put the Scots ahead for good. Along with wins coming from Cayden Scott, Sanders liked what he saw from Derrian Jenkins with two by fall.
“He’s definitely starting to learn and put in extra work,” Sanders said. “It’s starting to show on the mat.”
Richmond earned a pair of wins from Dante Baldwin, Andres Sanchez, Christian Sanchez and Evan Ingram.
