Photo by Braeden Wilbourn
Technically, summer doesn’t end until September 22.
Yet around Orange and Cedar Ridge High Schools, the term “summer” is already being spoken in past tense.
Practice for fall sports got underway on Thursday and there was something in the air late on Friday night at Cedar Ridge’s football practice field that hasn’t been felt in years.
Stability.
Every year since 2018, Cedar Ridge has had to deal either with the loss of a head coach (on two separate occasions, the departures came during the first week of August practice) or word that there would be no varsity team due to a lack of players (which happened in 2018 and 2021).
Not only will the Friday Night Lights shine brightly at Red Wolves Stadium this fall, but the practice field lights were on for the first Friday in August.
Head coach Brent Bailey went back to his Clayton roots and held a practice with his newest team at 10PM on Friday night. The Midnight Madness event continued at 12:30, with humidity at 93%, though the temperature will still comfortable and players expressed interest in doing it again next year.
It was actually an offshoot of a concept that the original Cedar Ridge football coach, Lou Geary, did in the mid-2000s.
“It gets the kids excited and it allows the parents to come out and watch,” Bailey said. “It gets the community excited so that’s what I’m trying to build.”
The entire Cedar Ridge volleyball team, along with various fans, carried along lawn chairs to watch the workouts and enjoyed pizza and other refreshments when it all ended. So did several former players, including former running back Tyler Fields, who graduated in June.
This could have been another summer of uncertainty for Cedar Ridge football. Bailey still lives in Clayton and endures a 75-90 daily drive to Hillsborough. The job at Corinth-Holders in Wendell opened last spring and he could have easily applied for it. To the surprise of many locally, Person head coach Carl Smith opted to depart Roxboro to become the next leader of the Pirates.
“That’s how much I love being here,” Bailey said. “I think we’re going to see a much improved season this year. We had a good year in the weight room. Before I got here, we weren’t in the weight room at all. That’s going to help us in our conditioning.”
Rather than leaving, Bailey bolstered his staff. He added Ryan Johnson, a former head coach at Jordan-Matthews High and defensive coordinator at East Chapel Hill and Burlington Cummings. He will be the new defensive coordinator. The new quarterbacks coach, Phil Credle, previously was an assistant at Cleveland High in Clayton.
There’s also Verdis Brown, a native of Chicago who was an interior lineman at the University of Illinois before transferring to Campbell University. He’s played for head coaches Lovie Smith, Bret Bielema and Mike Minter.
The new secondary coach, Rahim Mateen, played college football at Division III Averett University before he transferred to Tiffin University.
“Our coaching staff, I would put them against any staff in the state of North Carolina,” Bailey said. “I tell them all the time that I’m the placeholder. I tell them to just coach because they’re not going to get micromanaged by me. They’re all really good and I’m blessed to have those guys with us.”
The best news of all is that Bailey expects 44 players to be in uniform once everyone returns from various summer commitments. It’s the best turnout for Cedar Ridge since Scott Loosemoore was the head coach from 2016-2018.
“Last year, when we started in the summer, we were only at about 20,” Bailey said. “We’re nearly double that starting out this year. We have a lot of young talent. Our junior class is loaded right now. It makes up about 18 of us. We have some seniors coming back from last year that have some experience.”
Bailey understood the obstacles he was facing when he accepted the Cedar Ridge job in 2023. The Red Wolves went 0-10 last season with just 42 points scored against the Bermuda Triangle that is Alamance County football, which comprises two-thirds of the Central Conference. His top two quarterbacks from 2023, Mason Cates and Tom Crawford, both graduated. Junior Thomas McDermott, who also had playing time behind center last year, is penciled in as the starter for this year.
“He’s been looking really sharp in practice,” Bailey said. “He’s taking ownership of being the leader in the huddle. Right now, it’s his spot to lose.”
Center Aaron Oliveras will move to Averett University later this month.
“You can’t replace a Mason Cates,” Bailey said. “He give everything for Cedar Ridge football. So it’s hard to replace him. We’re asking multiple people to come out and give the type of effort he gave and provide the impact he had in the locker room. I think we have some seniors who have picked up that slack.”
Luis Donjuan is expected to be the new center.
As the midnight hour came and went early Saturday morning, Bailey and his players started to pick up the equipment. Players were excited, as they usually are at the start of practice. Whether that paves the way for wins remains to be seen, starting with the August 23 season opener against East Chapel Hill at Red Wolves Stadium.
Though it’s a young Cedar Ridge team in a tough league, there was an area of something that has been missing around Red Wolves football for a long time.
Optimism.