Month: April 2022

The Orange baseball team won its final regular season home game on Thursday night. The Panthers defeated Eastern Alamance 2-0 behind Ryan Hench’s production in the field and at the plate. Hench drove in Orange’s opening run on a base hit down the third base line, scoring Jackson Berini. In the fifth inning, Hench added a solo homer. It was his fourth of the season, which leads the team. On the mound, Hench struck out ten for his fourth win of the season. In the seventh inning, Connor Funk came in from centerfield and earned his second save of the season. Funk struck out two of the three batters he faced. After Eastern Alamance mounted threats in the first and third innings, the Orange defense retired 12 of the final 13 Eagles. The Panthers are now 15-7 overall, 10-1 in the Central Carolina Conference. Orange will travel to Mebane to face the Eagles on Friday night, which will conclude the regular season. The Panthers will then prepare for the Central Carolina Conference Tournament. Orange, the champions of the CCC regular season, will be the top-seed in the conference tournament and will receive a bye into the semifinals. Orange will start play in the tournament on Tuesday night in Hillsborough.

It was once new to see Orange lacrosse pull an improbable comeback.

Now, it’s becoming as common as conference championships, which is just fine for a growing program that has spent the season changing the balance of Orange County lacrosse.

On March 21, Northwood led Orange 7-1 with 8:47 remaining in the first half in Pittsboro–and the Chargers didn’t even have its second-leading scorer Taylor Laberge in the lineup. His absence was felt in the second half when the Panthers, behind sophomore goalkeeper Katie Wolter, held the Chargers scoreless in the final 13 minutes. The Panthers scored the final seven goals of the game, including three from junior Jake Wimsatt, to win 14-9.

On Wednesday night for the rematch in Auman Stadium, Laberge was back in the Charger lineup. So was junior Will Smith (whose must have been subjected to an endless array of bad jokes during the past five weeks), who had tallied 63 goals going into Tuesday night.

Orange entered the game 9-0 in the Mid-Carolina Conference, but it appeared the presence of Laberge would be enough to break the streak. With the game tied 7-7 going into the fourth quarter, Laberge used his tall yet mobile frame to fire in his sixth, seventh and eighth goals of the game, all within the opening 4 minutes and 45 seconds to put Northwood ahead 10-7 with 7:15 remaining.

Orange assistant coach Franklin Zirkle, the father of head coach Chandler Zirkle, joked afterwards he heard the fat lady singing.

There’s never a fat lady with Orange lacrosse. Ever.

The Panthers closed the game with a 5-0 run over the final seven minutes. Junior Joe Cady, who led Orange with four goals, tied the game with 5:48 remaining off a lead pass from sophomore Connor Kruse. Northwood’s Jeremy Fernandez was subsequently penalized for a slash, leading to Tigh Metheny scoring the game-winning goal off a jump shot from the top of the box to put Orange ahead 11-10. After Wimsatt won the subsequent face-off, Cady muscled in a tight shot from point-blank range to make another improbable comeback complete.

The Panthers would go on to win 12-10, clinching the Mid-Carolina Conference championship. Zirkle became the first coach in Orange lacrosse history to win consecutive conference championships. Last year, Orange won the Conference 9 title.

Orange (13-2, 10-0 in the Mid-Carolina) will wrap up its season at Eastern Alamance in Mebane tonight.

Kruse, who came into the game with 60 goals, was held to a season-low one goal. Kruse opened the Orange scoring with 5:30 remaining in the first quarter. He did assist on three goals on his birthday.

It was another frustrating trip to Hillsborough for the Chargers. Last year in the second round of the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs, after Kruse scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal, the Chargers had two potential game-tying goals waved off in the final five minutes.

Back-to-back conference championships is just another previously unattainable stage that Orange has unlocked this spring. In March, the Panthers defeated East Chapel Hill, where Chandler Zirkle played football and lacrosse, for the first time ever. They’ve also set a new school record with 13 wins in a season.

“I feel like we had a really stacked season at the beginning of the year,” Wimsatt said. “We played a lot of really good teams and we’ve grown more comfortable playing at higher levels.”

All of this from a team that has twice as many sophomores (10) as seniors (5).

“We did a lot of leadership development at the start of the season,” Chandler Zirkle said. “We picked Mondays as our leadership academy training. We had about 10-12 kids practice these scenarios about getting down in games, how we talked to our team, how we handle things, these guys have done a phenomenal job.”

Despite being on defense the vast majority of the first quarter, Northwood never trailed in the first half. To start the game, Laberge and Jason Walden each scored transition goals, which were the only possessions that the Chargers could muster because of Wimsatt’s domination at the face-off circle. Wimsatt won 15 face-offs and lost only two. In the draw to open the second half, Northwood didn’t even contest it, allowing Wimsatt to simply pick up the ball from the X.

After Will Smith slapped the rock into the upper-corner of the net with 2:55 remaining in the first quarter to put Northwood ahead 4-1, the Panthers went on a 5-1 run to even the game. Wimsatt tallied his first, Josh Crabtree won a ground ball in front of the net and dumped it over Northwood goalkeeper Robbie Delgado to cut the Charger lead to 4-3.

Metheny took an assist from Kruse to tie the game early in the second quarter.

Cady notched his second goal with 5:26 remaining in the third quarter to give Orange its first lead at 7-6. Laberge, who scored all four of Northwood’s second half goals, tied the game with 4:31 remaining in the third quarter.

Orange is expected to be the #1 seed in the East Region of the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs when the brackets are released on Saturday.

Another comeback win for the Orange lacrosse team—and another conference championship. On Wednesday night, the Panthers trailed 10-7 with 7:15 remaining against Northwood, but the Panthers finished the game with the final five goals of the game to beat the Chargers 12-10. After Andrew Harris scored to open the rally, Jake Wimsatt notched his second goal off an assist from sophomore Connor Kruse. Junior Joe Lady, who led Orange with four goals, evened the game at 10-10 off another assist from Kruse. Tigh Metheny scored the game-winning goal after the Chargers’ were called for a slashing penalty. Metheny scored off a jump shot from the upper-left box to put the Panthers ahead. Cady ended the game with his fourth goal of the night. On Tuesday night, Cady led Orange with six goals and one assist in a win over Eastern Alamance. Orange coach Chandler Zirklle became the first coach in school history to lead the Panthers to back-to-back conference championships. Dating back to 2021, Orange has won 14 consecutive conference games. They will try to finish undefeated in the Mid-Carolina Conference on Thursday night when they travels to Eastern Alamance.

Photo from Methodist University

Cy Horner: Horner, who played at Orange, is midway through his freshman season at Division III Methodist University. On Saturday, Horner scored two goals and added two assists in a 15-13 loss to LaGrange College. Horner fired eleven shots for the Monarchs. Against William Peace on April 20 in Raleigh at WakeMed Soccer Park, Horner scored two goals. This season, Horner is second on the team with 27 goals. He is also second in scoring with 45 points. He had his first hat trick against Marietta on March 9, when he scored five goals. Against Greensboro College on March 25, Horner scored three goals. Methodist is 8-8 overall, 3-5 in the USA South Athletic Conference.

Chase Finley: Former Cedar Ridge lacrosse goalkeeper Chase Finley is now starting regularly for the Division II Shorter University Hawks in Rome, GA. To open the season, Shorter routed Point University 23-6. Finley earned the win in net making nine saves in 45 minutes of action. On March 26, Shorter defeated Davis & Elkins 11-9 in Elkins, WV. Finley made four saves in 51 minutes Shorter is 3-12 overall this season, 0-4 in the Gulf South Conference. Most recently, Lander University defeated Shorter 25-4 in Greenwood, S.C. Finley made 16 saves against 27 shots in 45 minutes of action. Finley has started all 13 games this season for the Hawks. He has made 211 saves with a 19.50 goals against average. On April 13, Pfeiffer rolled past Brevard 24-7 in Misenheimer. Jones assisted on a goal by Quinn Becraft in the second quarter. Pfeiffer is 10-3 overall, 6-2 in the USA South Athletic Conference.

Jaylin Jones: The Division III Pfeiffer Falcons men’s lacrosse team lost to Piedmont 9-3 on Saturday in Demorest, GA. Jaylin Jones, a senior who played at Orange, had three ground balls and created one turnover for the Falcons. On April 16, Pfeiffer defeated LaGrange 20-11 at Panther Field in Georgia. Jones scored an unassisted goal for Pfeiffer in the first quarter to put the Falcons ahead 6-3. He added an assist on a goal by Brayden Sokolowski in the third quarter. Jones also amassed two ground balls and created two turnovers.

Dylan Boyer: The Division II Queen’s University men’s lacrosse team won five of its last six to conclude the regular season. On April 6, the Royals defeated North Greenville University 20-6 at the Queen’s Sports Complex in Charlotte. Boyer played for the Royals off the bench. On Saturday, the Royals routed Catawba 21-8 in Charlotte. Boyer entered the game late. Queen’s, who is reportedly exploring jumping to Division I, defeated Newberry in the quarterfinals of the South Atlantic Tournament. The Royals, who are 12-4, will face top-seeded Limestone on Friday afternoon in Hickory.

Thomas Poole: The Division III Greensboro College men’s lacrosse team continues its season. Poole, a former Cedar Ridge defenseman, has played in 13 games for the Pride this season, starting three. Poole started in an 28-1 win over Warren Wilson on April 6 in Greensboro, which the Pride won 28-1. Poole also started on April 2 when Greensboro defeated Huntingdon 16-10. Against Averett on March 19, which Greensboro won 17-2, Poole created three turnovers and scooped up three ground balls. Greensboro is 9-6 overall, 5-3 in the USA South Athletic Conference. The Pride closes the regular season against LaGrange College in LaGrange, GA on Saturday.

Kate Burgess: The University of North Carolina rowing team continues its spring season at the Lake Wheeler Invitational in Raleigh. The Tar Heels finished with five points. Burgess participated with the second four. UNC finished fourth among five teams in heat 1. They finished with a time of 8:03.855. Syracuse finished first, while UCF was second.

Men’s Tennis: The Cedar Ridge men’s tennis team will play in its first-ever 3A State Dual Team Tennis playoff match today. The Red Wolves will face Carrboro, the champions of the Northern Lakes Conference, at Jaguars Tennis Courts.

This will be the second matchup between the Red Wolves and the Jaguars in 2022. Carrboro defeated Cedar Ridge 6-3 on March 21. The Jaguars are in the midst of its first season as a 3A team after spending its first 14 years as a 2A school. Carrboro has won three 2A State Championships, the last in 2018 when they defeated Brevard 5-2. The Jaguars also won five 2A Eastern Regional titles.

The 3A Dual Team State Championship is a 32-team tournament. Cedar Ridge, the champions of the Central Carolina Conference, received a 10-seed in the pairings released Monday. The winner of this match will face either 2nd-seeded Croatan or 15th-seeded Northwood in the round of 16 next Tuesday.

It will be a busy week for Cedar Ridge On Friday, the 3A Mideast Regionals for singles and doubles will be held at the Burlington Tennis Center. Cedar Ridge’s Josh Mayhew will be the top-seeded singles player after being named the CCC Player of the Year. Mayhew is 12-0 this season.

Also competing in the regionals for the Red Wolves will be sophomore Lev Bearman, who was the 3rd-seed at the CCC Tournament last week.

Cedar Ridge’s doubles team of Eli and Holden Rachlin will be in the regional doubles tournament. Orange’s doubles team of senior Justin Conover and freshman Porter Phelphrey, the #2 seed from the CCC, also will compete in the regionals starting Friday.

The Mideast Regionals will conclude Saturday. Semifinalists in the singles and doubles tournament will qualify for the 3A State Championships.

Golf: There will be two returning local players and a newcomer for next week’s 3A Central Golf Regionals.

On Monday at the Central Carolina Conference Golf Championships at Valley Golf Course in Burlington, Western Alamance completed its run to the team title. Northwood’s Jake Conklin won the individual championship with a season-total of 279 strokes.

Orange senior J.J. Thompson, in his first year on the golf team, was the highest finisher from Hillsborough. Thompson finished the season with 351 strokes, finishing 8th in the conference. Thompson’s lowest nine-hole round total of the year was a 43, which happened in Burlington last month.

Joining Thompson in the regionals will be Orange’s Thomas Loch, who also qualified last season. Loch, a junior, completed the season 12th overall in the CCC. He shot the lowest 9-hole score for any Orange player this season with a 40 at Occoneechee Golf Course in Hillsborough in a dual match against Cedar Ridge. In the interest of full disclosure, Loch is a forward on the Orange men’s basketball team and also a play-by-play man for broadcasts on Hillsboroughsports.com.

Cedar Ridge’s Bradley Monschien is headed back to the Central Golf Regionals, also for the second straight year. Monschien finished 11th in the individual standings this year with 361 total strokes across eight rounds. Monschien, coached by Chris Casey, reached regionals in 2021. He also played junior varsity baseball.

Orange’s Josh Roberts, Cooper Zinn, Ryder Lee and Brad Marochak also played in the CCC Championships. Cedar Ridge’s Dylan Froehling, Ward Mann, Drew Langevin, Ryan Capps and Rowan Parker also competed in the tournament.

The 3A Central Regionals will also take place at Valley Golf Course in Burlington.

Women’s Soccer: Orange 5, Walter Williams 0: Two weeks after losing to Williams in Burlington, the Orange women’s soccer team made a 180-degree shift on Monday night in a dominant win over the Bulldogs.

Goalkeeper Abby Montieth earned the shutout in the win at Orange Soccer Park. Bella Brown, freshman Elliana Sullivan Gaddy, Ella Wimsatt, Isabel Jones and Caroline Cathey all scored goals for Orange. The Lady Panthers are 6-6-1, 5-3 in the Central Carolina Conference.

Northwood 5, Cedar Ridge 1: The Chargers pulled away from the Red Wolves at Red Wolves Stadium on Monday night. Fleury Nicholson scored Cedar Ridge’s only goal.

Cedar Ridge 5, Durham School of the Arts 0: On April 14, Cedar Ridge defeated the Bulldogs in Durham. Fleury Nicholson and Breana Sienra each scored twice for Cedar Ridge. Ianna Pfeifer added a goal and assisted on another. Freshman Anna Peterson assisted on two goals. Sophomore Addie Reid earned the shutout going all 80 minutes.

Cedar Ridge travels to Orange tonight. The opening kick will be at 6.

The five seniors on the Orange lacrosse team were honored during Tuesday night’s win over Eastern Alamance at Auman Stadium. Together, Jack DiFabio, Brantley Porterfield, Austin Dillard, Zack Martin and Joey Bernardo have helped Orange set a school record for most wins in a season. The Panthers defeated the Eagles 19-5 for its 12th victory of the season. Orange is also 9-0 in the Mid-Carolina Conference. With one more win, this senior class will become the first in school history to win back-to-back conference championships in lacrosse. DiFabio, the son of Gwen and Mike DiFabio of Caldwell, is a starting midfielder. Porterfield is a regular defensive player for an Orange team that has made its deepest runs in the state playoffs over the past four years. Dillard played goalkeeper in the second half against the Eagles. Orange will try to complete its run to another conference championship on Wednesday nigh when they host powerful Northwood at Auman Stadium. The opening face-off will be at 6 PM.

The nominations are out for the HighSchooolOT.com Honors for 2022, operated by Capitol Broadcasting, and Cedar Ridge has two finalists.

In the category of Boys Tennis Player of the Year, Cedar Ridge junior Josh Mayhew is one of five nominees. Also nominated are Carrboro’s Aidan Chung, Greensboro Grimsley’s Carl Gedlitchka, Greensboro Day’s Carter McWhorter and Carmel Christian’s Gabe Avram.

For the award of Female Coach of the Year (regardless of sport), Cedar Ridge volleyball coach Fiona Cunningham is one of the five nominees. Joining Cunningham on the finalists list are Alston Godbold, the head coach of the Green Level Volleyball team; Deb Clarke of the Fuquay-Varina volleyball team; Kerri Snipes, the women’s basketball coach at Northwood; and Julie van Olden of the Marvin Ridge women’s tennis team.

Voters are allowed to go to HighSchoolOT.com and vote once per day until May 15. The finalists will be honored during an awards ceremony at the Duke Energy for Performing Arts Center on June 18 in Raleigh.

The High SchoolOT.Com honors are statewide and not limited to one geographic region.

Last May, Mayhew became the first Cedar Ridge men’s tennis player to reach the finals of the 3A State Tennis Singles Tournament. This season, Mayhew helped Cedar Ridge win its conference conference championship in men’s tennis. On Wednesday, the Red Wolves will face Carrboro in the opening round of the 3A State Dual Team Tennis Tournament.

As Cedar Ridge’s #1 singles player, Mayhew was named the Central Carolina Conference Player of the Year. He qualified for the Mideast Regionals, which will start this Friday at the Burlington Tennis Center. If Mayhew advances to the semifinals, he will qualify for the 3A State Championships for the second straight year.

This season, Mayhew went 12-0 as a singles player as the Red Wolves went 9-1 in the Central Carolina Conference. He faced players from Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Northwood en route to an undefeated regular season.

In her second season at Cedar Ridge, Cunningham led the Red Wolves to the 3A State Championship in volleyball last November. It was the first state championship by a women’s team in school history. The only other female team to ever win a state championship in Hillsborough was the 2017 Orange High softball team.

Cunnigham’s first season as Cedar Ridge head coach (in 2020-2021) was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but she hit the ground running. In her second game as a head coach on November 19, 2020, the Red Wolves swept Chapel Hill 3-0 at Smith Middle School. The Tigers were a year removed from winning the 3A Eastern Regional Championship. Cunningham played at Chapel Hill High and served as an assistant coach under current Tigers head coach Ross Fields before starting her head coaching career with the Red Wolves, replacing Anna Seethaler.

In two seasons as a head coach, Cunningham is 23-0 against conference opponents. She has won two conference regular season championships, the 2021 Central Carolina Conference Tournament championship, and the 2021 3A Eastern Regional championship. Last November, the Red Wolves defeated North Iredell 3-1 at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh for the 3A State Championship.

Playing in possibly the toughest 3A conference in the state, Cunningham played a non-conference schedule that was every bit as rigorous. On August 20, 2021, the first Friday night of the academic year, the Red Wolves made it clear this would be a special season when they defeated D.H. Conley, the defending 3A State Champions, 3-0 in Greenville. Cedar Ridge also played Conley in Hillsborough, as well as Chapel Hill, Green Hope, Carrboro and Pinecrest. The Red Wolves faced Northwood, Person and Orange in conference play, all of whom were ranked in the #10 of the 3A East Region.

Cunningham, who formerly played at UNC Asheville, managed to accomplish winning the state championship while expecting her first child. Tony Collichio arrived just in time to see his mother’s favorite basketball team, the UNC Tar Heels, make the most surprising run to the NCAA Championship game in school history.