Orange and Cedar Ridge will have momentum going into the Tiger Holiday Wrestling Classic next weekend.
The Panthers came away 5-0 in the Wayne Warrior Classic held at Eastern Wayne High School in Goldsboro on Saturday. Meanwhile in Franklin County, Cedar Ridge freshman Fernando Martinez and senior Daina Pritchard each had a solid weekend, going 5-0 as the Red Wolves competed in the Franklinton Rampage Duals at Franklinton High.
Cedar Ridge finished the day 3-2, but its match against Franklinton ended tied 42-42. The Rams won on criteria one, which was most first points scored–a category they edged the Red Wolves in by one point.
Orange improved to 13-1 overall after beating Southern Wayne 81-0, Smithfield-Selma 78-6, Cary 52-18, North Brunswick 54-26 and Northern Nash 76-10.
Orange senior heavyweight Juan Navarro finished 5-0 on the day with three pins to improve to 12-1 on the season. His pin of Northern Nash heavyweight Major Phillips in 46 seconds was the 56th win of his career.
At 106 pounds, Panther freshman Dillion Heffernan also went undefeated in five matches. Along with three forfeits, Heffernan pinned Cary’s Johny Ramos in 5:56 and North Brunswick’s Chase Phillips in 34 seconds. Heffernan, who won two Orange-Person Athletic Conference individual championships at Stanford Middle School, is 14-4 with seven pins thus far in his varsity career.
Overall, 24 wrestlers competed for Orange on the day. At 160 pounds, junior Korbin Nevius went 4-0, including a pin of Devin Bready of Northern Nash in 50 seconds. At 113 pounds, Joshua Dunn went 4-1 with two pins, while Kessel Summers finished 4-1, including pins of Dylan Ravine of North Brunswick in 3:03 and Julissa Rodriguez of Smithfield-Selma in seven seconds, the quickest pin of the day.
For Cedar Ridge, they defeated East Wake 72-12, polished off Louisburg 66-15, and handled Southeast Raleigh 66-18. In addition to the tight match against Franklinton, Dunn held off the Red Wolves 45-36.
Alex Davis of the Red Wolves also finished 5-0 on the day, in addition to Martinez and Pritchard. Davis won three matches via forfeit. Against East Wake, he pinned Dezzie Rhodes in 1:47. He also pinned Donovan Estes of Franklinton in 3:18 to give Cedar Ridge a 42-36 lead going into the final match.
Franklinton’s Joseph Murray claimed a pin at 145 to even the match and the Rams won on criteria.
Martinez pinned Jermaine Johnson of Southeast Raleigh in 3:45; pinned Shemar Davis of Louisburg in 3:44 and pinned Franklinton’s Nathan Hamrick in 1:22. He also had two forfeit victories.
Pritchard pinned Franklinton’s Javares White in 40 seconds. He pinned Fredy Gomez of Southeast Raleigh in 2:41, along with three forfeit wins.
At 160 pounds, Wyatt Robinson went 4-1, including a pinfall victory over East Wake’s Jesse Chase in 1:03. Robinson pinned Justin Williams of Southeast Raleigh in 2:10 and finished off Luis Reyes of Bunn in 29 seconds.
Cedar Ridge’s James Rosati-Brown, coming off a 5th place finish in the Jim King/Orange Invitational last weekend, went 4-1 with two pins, including a victory over Trent Wheeler of Franklinton in 1:42. Rosati-Brown also pinned Jaylin Robinson-Davis of Southeast Raleigh in 1:32.
The Tiger Holiday Classic, featuring teams from across the southeast, will start on Friday morning at Chapel Hill High School. Last season, Orange finished 8th, with Levi Anderson coming in 4th at 152 pounds. Anderson would go on to finish 2nd at 145 pounds in the 3A State Championships at the Greensboro Coliseum.