CONTRIBUTED

It was pure teamwork spiced with a generous helping of solo wrestling performances Wednesday in Southern Pines. When it was over, Pinecrest had marooned the Jack Britt Buccaneers 38-33 to take sole possession of the Mid-Southeastern Conference lead.

The Capp brothers, Trevor and Travis, provided the bookends for a match that the Patriots led from start to finish.

Trevor Capp cranked the engine for Pinecrest in the 152-pound opening match when he bounced Britt’s Gregory Thomas for two takedowns before exacting the pin in just 31 seconds.

Older brother Travis Capp’s 8-3 decision over Buccaneer James Peterson at 135 gave the Patriots a 17-point lead that clinched the win with two bouts remaining. Capp took Peterson to the mat on the opening whistle and never trailed as he improved his personal mark to 18-5.

If the first match ignited the Patriots, Zack Martin and Glenn Holmes brought the ship up to ramming speed with major decisions at 160 pounds and 171, respectively.

Martin frustrated Britt’s 160-pound kingpin, Max Saalmann, taking him 8-0 in a major decision. Saalmann’s No. 3 NCMat ranking didn’t carry any clout in a match that was all Pinecrest. Martin chose the defensive position in the second period following a deadlocked, scoreless opening round. An escape at the whistle followed by a takedown put the Pinecrest senior up 3-0. Saalmann’s choice to take the bottom position for the final two minutes backfired as Martin clamped down and squeezed five back points on a pair of nearfalls that sealed the contest.

Holmes continued his freight train course through opponents, pressuring Britt’s Nicholas Keller for five points in the first two minutes. From the defensive start in round three, Holmes reversed Nicholas early to go up 7-0, then grabbed an opportunity to boost the team score when he let Keller up for a one-point escape, then hit the takedown for two to run the score to a 9-1 major decision.

There was no hesitation for Pinecrest 215-pounder Mike Cummings, who backed up Britt’s Joey Schneiders two steps and took him straight to the mat. It was all over in 16 seconds in the quickest pin of the evening.

The Buccaneers sandwiched a pair of wins around the 215-pound feature, with Justice Ike taking Austin Moss in the first round at 189 and Jonathan Felix getting the pinfall over Pinecrest’s Andrew Pugsley at heavyweight.

A Pinecrest triple shot in the lightweight classes left Britt reeling and the Patriots on a roll to the finish.

Sam Ransdell notched win number 20 and racked up 11 points against Britt 103-pounder Tyler Byrd en route to a third-round pin at the 4:47 mark. Ransdell has 10 wins by pin. His only losses have come against ranked opponents.

Pinecrest red-lined the machine when 112-pounder Kevin Brown stunned Manuel Ramirez in a power pin that left the Buccaneer bench speechless. Ramirez, who transferred to Britt from Seventy-First, started the season at 119, where he is currently ranked ninth by NCMat.com.

The Buccaneers were counting on a win at 112. When Ramirez got the first takedown, it looked as if the match might go that way. But when Brown twisted free and immediately took Ramirez to his back, the match was over. Brown captured the pin in just 54 seconds to improve to 19-3 for the season.

Tommy Ransdell made it a lightweight sweep for the Patriots with a 5-0 decision over a familiar opponent, Jordan Alfaro. Ransdell and Alfaro traded matches two years ago when both wrestled at 103. Last season, Alfaro stayed at 103 where he finished sixth in the state. Alfaro started this season at 112, where NCMat rates him No. 4 in the state, but has moved up to 119 where he will wrestle the remainder of the season.

In a match eagerly anticipated by both wrestlers, Ransdell got the upper-hand early on a takedown in the first round, and squelched Alfaro’s efforts to score.

Ransdell earned some insurance in the third period when he escaped from a defensive start and took Alfaro down again to stretch the lead to 5-0.

Ransdell, a senior with over 100 career wins, crossed the 20-win threshold for the fourth year in a row, improving to 20-4 for this season.

It took overtime for Britt’s Ethan Creek to edge Pinecrest 140-pounder Brad McKeever. The Pinecrest sophomore trailed 4-1 at the beginning of the third round, but rallied for an escape and takedown as time expired in regulation.

Creek got the takedown in the one-minute overtime period for the 6-4 win.

Eric Jackson, fifth-place state finisher for two years running for Britt, pinned Kevin Bounds in the 130-pound contest.

Sean O’Connell (145) went to the midpoint of the match before Rico Diaz, another Britt transfer, caught him for the pin. Diaz finished fourth in the state last season at Westover.

The win puts the Patriots in the driver’s seat in the conference race at 4-0, and 12-4 overall.

As the only undefeated team in the league, Pinecrest still faces Seventy-First, Westover and Douglas Byrd to complete the conference schedule. The Patriots travel to Westover on Wednesday.

Seven Pinecrest wrestlers, Sam Ransdell, Brown, Tommy Ransdell, Travis Capp, Martin, Holmes and Cummings are in Alliance, Ohio, this weekend participating in the Ohio Top Gun Tournament.

Pinecrest 38, Jack Britt 33