Month: November 2022

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is sophomore cross country runner Naomi Dyreng. This season, Dyreng was the top qualifier for Cedar Ridge in the 3A State Cross Country Championships, held on November 5 at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville. Dyreng finished 23rd in the 3A State Championships. Last season, Dyreng played tennis, but opted to focus on cross country this fall. She finished 2nd in the Central Carolina Conference championships at Lake Cammack Cross Country Course in Burlington on October 19. Dyreng had another runner-up finish during a conference meet on August 31. The Cedar Ridge women’s cross country team narrowly missed qualifying as a team for the state championships by only eight points. At the Mideast Regional championships, Dyreng finished 5th individually. Cedar Ridge finished 5th in the Mideast Region with 152 points, while Eastern Alamance came in fourth with 144. Next season, Dyreng hopes to lead Cedar Ridge to qualify as a team in the state championships. Dyreng is also a member of the Cedar Ridge band, where she plays French horn. Dyreng will focus on track and field season this spring. 

Payton Wilson: In likely his final game at Carter-Finley Stadium, N.C. State linebacker had three tackles for loss against Boston College. For the day, Wilson finished with six tackles and one-half of a sack. The Eagles, who came into the game 2-7, stunned the #17 Wolfpack 21-20 with a touchdown with 14 seconds remaining. N.C. State will travel to face Louisville at Cardinals Stadium next Saturday in a matchup full of Hillsborough flavor. Louisville is coached by Hillsborough-native Scott Satterfield, who played quarterback and safety for Orange High. On November 5, N.C. State defeated Wake Forest 30-21. Wilson finished with seven tackles, including one for a loss. Wilson had one pass breakup. The Wolfpack is 7-3, 3-3 in the ACC.

Keshawn Thompson: The Campbell Fighting Camels football team lost its final home game of the season against Gardner-Webb 42-35 at Barker-Lane Stadium in Buies Creek on Saturday. Thompson, a graduate student at Campbell, had two tackles for the Camels. On November 5, Bryant University defeated Campbell 43-37 in Smithfield, RI. Thompson finished with four tackles. Campbell has lost four in a row and is 4-6, 2-3 in the Big South Conference.

Darius Satterfield: Elizabeth City State’s season ended on November 5 with a 54-8 loss to Chowan in Murfressboro. The Vikings end the season 2-8, 2-6 in the CIAA. Satterfield ended the season with 13 punts for an average of 35.5 yards. His longest punt for the season was 49 yards. One punt was downed inside the 20-yard line.

Braxton Mergenthal: On Sunday, the Division III Hampden-Sydney football team ended its season with a loss to #16 Randolph-Macon 38-17 at Lewis Everett Stadium in Hampden-Sydney, VA. Mergenthal played on special teams for Hampden-Sydney. On November 5, Shenandoah defeated Hampden-Sydney 23-7 at Shentel Stadium in Winchester, VA. Mergenthal had one tackle for the Tigers. Hampden-Sydney ends the season 5-5, 4-3 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.

Ivy Garner: The Liberty women’s soccer season came to a disappointing end in the championship game of the Atlantic Sun Tournament. Florida Gulf Coast defeated the Flames 4-3 in penalty kicks after the two teams played to a 1-1 tie in regulation. Garner started at forward and played 55 minutes, firing two shots. On October 30, the Flames defeated Eastern Kentucky in the Atlantic Sun semifinals 3-1. Garner started and played 39 minutes, firing one shot. Liberty, the regular season champions of the Atlantic Sun, finish the year 14-3-4 overall, 8-0-2 in the Atlantic Sun. Next year, Liberty will move to Conference USA. Garner, a freshman, ended the season with three goals and five assists in 18 games.

Emerson Talley: The Division II Lenoir-Rhyne women’s soccer team defeated Limestone 1-0 in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Tournament at Walden Soccer Complex in Columbus, GA. Talley, the all-time leading goal scorer in Cedar Ridge history, played eight minutes for the Bears. It was a measure of revenge for Lenoir-Rhyne. On November 4, Limestone defeated the Bears 2-1 in overtime of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament semifinals in Charlotte. It was the first time all year that Lenoir-Rhyne lost to an opponent from the South Atlantic Conference. The Bears finished the regular season 9-0-2 in SAC regular season play. Talley also played eight minutes against Limestone in the SAC Tournament. Lenoir-Rhyne faces #3 Columbus State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday afternoon.

Lottie Scully: The Binghamton volleyball team has clinched a share of the American East Conference regular season championship. On October 30, the Bearcats defeated Maryland-Baltimore County 3-2 in a five-set thriller at Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Baltimore. Binghamton, who lost to the Terriers on October 7, captured the rematch 23-25, 26-24, 20-25, 25-20, 15-13. Scully had 64 assists, three kills and four digs. On November 4, Binghamton defeated the New Jersey Institute of Technology 3-0 at West Gymnasium in Binghamton (25-17, 25-14 and 25-14). Scully finished with 35 assists, four digs, one kill and one assisted block. On November 6, the Bearcats defeated the University of Albany 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-18) at West Gym. Scully had 26 assists, three kills, one ace, one block, and four assisted blocks. Binghamton wraps up the regular season against Bryant University on Sunday afternoon in Smithfield, RI. If Binghamton wins, they will capture the American East regular season championship outright.

Braden Homsey: The Ferrum College wrestling team started its season in the Mount Union Invitational in Alliance, OH on November 5. Homsey finished 2nd in the 197-pound tournament. Homsey scored a technical fall win in the quarterfinals over Kaleb Gelter of Mount St. Joseph 17-2. In the semifinals, Homsey defeated Ethan Fragoso, his teammate at Ferrum, 12-1. In the championship match, Michael Sullivan of Brockport held off Homsey 10-6. The Ferrum wrestling team is back in action at the Cougar Open at Averett University in Danville, VA on Sunday.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior soccer midfielder Tyler Mann. This season, Mann led the Panthers with 12 goals as the Panthers put together its most successful season since 2017. Mann came up strongest in several last-minute wins that helped Orange reach the state playoffs. Against Northwood, he scored a goal in his final game in Hillsborough, a 4-2 win over Eastern Alamance in overtime. Against Northwood, Mann added another goal as the Panthers scored two goals in the final five minutes to beat the Chargers 3-2 in Pittsboro. This season, Mann scored two goals in a game four times, starting with a 4-3 victory over Northwood on September 21 in Hillsborough, a game where the Panthers scored the game-winning goal in the final five minutes. He also scored two goals against Southern Durham on September 23, a Spartans team that made the State Playoffs. Fittingly, Mann scored off a corner kick in his final game against J.H. Rose, Orange’s first state playoff game since 2017. Mann is one of 13 seniors who played under Coach Palmer Bowman in 2022. 

GREENVILLE–The city of Greenville will always be linked to the most successful senior volleyball class in Cedar Ridge history.

It’s where the Red Wolves suffered its first loss under head coach Fiona Cunningham. It’s where they first served notice to the rest of North Carolina that there were a state championship contender, a dream they later fulfilled in 2021.

Now, It’s where their unparalleled run in Hillsborough volleyball history has ended.

After their first meeting in August, when J.H. Rose defeated the Red Wolves in four sets, the Rampants spent the whole season ranked #1 in the 3A East Region while Cedar Ridge was #2. As both teams disposed of one conference opponent after another, almost always in straight sets, it seemed destined that they would collide in the Eastern Regional Championship match.

On Tuesday night, the inevitable battle finally took place, but it was anticlimactic.

The Rampants (28-1) rolled to a 3-0 win over the Red Wolves in front of a crowded gymnasium at Rose High on scores of 25-17, 25-20 and 25-17. J.H. Rose will face North Iredell for the 3A State Championship on Saturday at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh.

Going into Tuesday, the theme around Cedar Ridge circles was redemption after the August loss to the Rampants. Red Wolves coach Fiona Cunningham wasn’t on the sidelines for the initial matchup because of illness. Cedar Ridge had beaten the Rampants in three sets last November to win the Eastern Regional championship, which led to expectations around Red Wolves Gymnasium that the defending 3A State Champions would rise again with another championship on the line.

Instead, the Red Wolves turned in a disjointed, rhythmless performance that was even more lopsided than last summer’s season-opener. The loss ended Cedar Ridge’s 25-game winning streak. Rose will go into the state championship match on a 66-set winning streak, having won 22 straight.

“I think that Rose showed up and played a better game today,” Cunningham said. “They absolutely deserved the win today and they played great. Their confidence was the difference in the match. They felt like it was theirs to take. We played like we were trying not to lose.”

The Rampants superior size wrecked havoc on the Red Wolves attackers. Powerful strokes by Red Wolf seniors Cameron Lloyd and Melissa Benkowitz that ordinarily would have fallen to the hardwood were dug up by Rose’s defensive corps of libero Forbes Hall, Riley Cutler and Anna Bayes. After Lloyd notched the first point of the match, the Rampants reeled off four in a row. Rose outscored Cedar Ridge 14-5 on service points in the opening set. Cedar Ridge’s only rally in the opening frame came off consecutive kills by Lloyd and Anaya Carter, which only narrowed the deficit to 23-16. Rampants middle blocker Helen Wilford, who has committed to Bowling Green, spiked home a kill to end the brief run.

In the second set, Cedar Ridge jumped out to its largest lead of the match at 4-1 behind an early block from Addie Reid, a kill from Lloyd and an ace from Julie Altieri. The Rampants quickly erased the early dry spell with a 6-1 spree behind kills from Anna Bayes and Amelia Taft. Rose would widen the advantage to 19-12 and eventually take the set behind a spike from Taft, who has committed to play beach volleyball at LSU.

At this point, the only way for Cedar Ridge to win would be to take a five-set victory, something they haven’t done since October 1, 2019. Rose dashed what little hopes remained immediately with a 6-1 spurt to start the third set, keyed by two aces from Taft. The Rose lead grew to 18-10 and they claimed match point on a center line violation.

Several of the Cedar Ridge seniors, many of whom grew up playing together in White Cross when they were in elementary school, were in tears in the postgame huddle. Some remained inconsolable as fans left the gymnasium.

“I told the girls that one game doesn’t determine your season,” Cunningham said. “One game doesn’t determine your careers. They have changed this program forever and we will reap the benefits that these seniors have given us for years to come in how they’ve changed Hillsborough volleyball.”

During the pandemic year of 2020-2021, Cedar Ridge won the first of its seven championships when they captured the Big 8 Regular Season title with an undefeated league mark. They lost to D.H. Conley in front of a limited crowd (due to COVID-19) in four sets in Greenville in the 3A State Playoffs. Six months later, after Conley won the 3A State Championship, the Red Wolves returned to Greenville and swept the Vikings, the first sign that something special was brewing.

Last November, Cedar Ridge took the pregame walk of champions under the spotlight at Reynolds Coliseum in its state championship match against North Iredell. They basked in the glory of starting introductions in a darkened arena, jumped off the bench when an improbable dig by Young somehow fell to the other end of the floor in the fourth set, then mobbed together in a pileup after Lloyd scored match point to deliver the first female team state championship in Cedar Ridge history.

In August, with all of their rotation players back, plus the addition of freshman Claire Hargett, there was no reason to think Cedar Ridge couldn’t experience it again.

The hardest part of repeating is running into a team that may be just a bit healthier and bigger at the right time. How many other 3A teams could say they were truly better than Cedar Ridge?

In 2022, there was one. There was only one.