Month: September 2024

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is junior running back Isaiah Craig. The offensive lineman of the week is junior Luis Donjuan. Craig opened the season with back-to-back 100-yard rushing games. In the season-opener against East Chapel Hill, Craig rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown. The following week against Northwest Halifax, Craig ran for 155 yards and a touchdown. It was the most yards rushing by a Cedar Ridge running back since Isaiah McCambrey rushed for 190 yards against Chapel Hill on October 11, 2019. Craig played at Stanback Middle School and has helped the Red Wolf offense to an improved showing so far in 2024. In all of 2023, Cedar Ridge scored 42 points. In its opening two games of 2024, they have scored 24. This is Craig’s third year playing varsity football. Craig is also a middle linebacker on defense. Donjuan was one of the players who stepped up in Cedar Ridge’s early practices. Another player who originated from Stanback, Donjuan is the anchor of Cedar Ridge’s offensive line that helped the Red Wolves rush for 168 yards against East Chapel Hill and 164 yards against Northwest Halifax. Craig and Donjuan are two of the contributors that are helping Cedar Ridge coach Bret Bailey resurrect football in Red Wolves country. Cedar Ridge will play its final nonconference game of the season against Sanderson in Raleigh on Friday night.

Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week: Isaiah Craig; Offensive Lineman of the Week: Luis Donjuan

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is junior running back Isaiah Craig. The offensive lineman of the week is junior Luis Donjuan. Craig opened the season with back-to-back 100-yard rushing games. In the season-opener against East Chapel Hill, Craig rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown.

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For the first time this year in the midst of one of the toughest schedules in the state, the Orange volleyball team has won consecutive games. On Tuesday night, the Lady Panthers swept Southern Alamance on scores of 27-25, 25-18 and 25-13. Sophomore Sawyer White finished with eleven kills, 12 digs and four assists as Orange improved to 6-5 overall, 4-1 in the Central Conference. Senior libero Abby Silinski had 19 digs, two assists and two aces. Southern Alamance led most of the first set until Orange tied it at 18 after a block by Aubry Hodges. The Lady Panthers fought off a set point when Poole got a kill off an assist from Katie Silcott, which triggered a 4-1 run to finish the set. Ava Wilkerson gave Orange its first lead of the set off a powerful spike set up by Silcott. Orange would win the set 27-25. Coming up tonight, Orange will venture to Pittsboro to face Seaforth. Wilkerson had 12 kills in the second set, which Orange won 25-18, a set where Silinski had nine kills. Orange wrapped up the match by winning the third set 25-13. Poole had an ace on match point. The Panthers had ten aces against the Patriots. Last year, the Hawks won the Mid-Carolina Conference championship with a 12-0 record and are currently 9-1.

Orange volleyball’s Sawyer White & Abby Silinski discuss sweep of Southern Alamance

For the first time this year in the midst of one of the toughest schedules in the state, the Orange volleyball team has won consecutive games. On Tuesday night, the Lady Panthers swept Southern Alamance on scores of 27-25, 25-18 and 25-13.

Volleyball: Cedar Ridge 3, Eastern Alamance 0: Following its win over Orange last week, Cedar Ridge remains in first place in the Central Conference after sweeping the Eagles at Red Wolves Gymnasium last Thursday. Junior Claire Hargett led the Red Wolves with 17 kills and six digs.

Before the match, Hargett was one of three players honored for mid-century milestones. Hargett was awarded for her 500th kill and 500th dig. Hargett joined Cameron Lloyd (now at Bucknell) and Cameron Lanier (now at Elon) in the career 500 kill club. Libero Sydnee Tapper was honored for her 500th dig, which she eclipsed after registering a career-high 41 digs in a five-set marathon against Carrboro on September 4th. Mia Marty was awarded for her 500th career assist.

Marty finished with six kills, eight digs, 22 assists and two aces. Junior middle blocker Kayla Stoll came away with seven kills.

Cedar Ridge jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the opening set, which led to an Eagles timeout following a kill by Marty off an assist from Emory Williams. Charlotte Lowry scored a block on set point to send the Red Wolves on its way.

Orange 3, Southern Alamance 0: Following its win over Person last Thursday, the Lady Panthers had five days between games. After a rocky start, the Lady Panthers looked refreshed and better defensively in a sweep of Southern Alamance on Tuesday night in Hillsborough.

The Lady Panthers improved to 6-5, 4-1 in the Central Conference. Junior Ava Wilkerson finished with eleven kills, while sophomore Sawyer White came away with eleven kills, 12 digs, four assists and three aces.

The Patriots got off to a 10-4 lead in the opening set, where Orange didn’t have a lead until Wilkerson swatted down a set from Katie Silcott, who registered 25 assists and eight digs, to make it 25-24. Southern’s Roslyn Taylor slammed home a kill off an assist from Ava Duggins to send the opening set to overtime. Wilkerson’s fourth kill of the set put Orange ahead 26-25. On set point, the Patriots sent a return into the net and the Lady Panthers prevailed.

Orange rolled in the final two sets, winning 25-18 and 25-13. In the second set, the Lady Panthers led 16-12 when libero Abby Silinski had three digs on one lengthy rally that ended with Mariah Poole scoring off a feed from Silcott. Wilkinson slammed down a lofted return by the Patriots to give the Lady Panthers a 19-12 advantage. Wilkerson scored set point.

Poole had an ace on match point in the third. Orange will travel to Seaforth in Pittsboro on Thursday night.

Orange 3, Person 0: Last Thursday, Orange journeyed to Roxboro and came away with its fifth straight win over the Rockets. Aubrey Jordan finished with nine kills while Wilkerson had ten kills and two blocks.
Every set was competitive, though Orange didn’t trail in the opening game after getting off to a 10-3 start that included kills from While and Wilkerson. Katie Silcott registered 32 assists, 12 digs and two kills. Poole, who had nine kills, scored unassisted as Orange took the opening set 25-18.

Person led most of the second set, holding a 15-11 advantage before the Lady Panthers reeled off four straight points keyed by the serve of Silcott, who had an ace. Wilkerson spiked down consecutive kills to even the set 15-15. Orange reeled off six straight points to take control of the set. Wilkerson and Silcott had consecutive blocks. A return by Person that went long propelled Orange to a 23-18 lead. Jordan sent an attack across the floor that landed inside the right sideline on set point, again assisted by Silcott.

In the third set, Person led 17-14 before Orange had another late rally. Silcott delivered another ace to cap four straight Orange points to put them ahead 18-17. Person even the set at 21-21, but Orange ended the match with the final four points, starting with a kill by Poole. White delivered an ace, followed by another spike by Poole. Person sent an attack into the net on match point.

The cracks are gone. The fading pine green courts have a bright, vivid shade of new paint. The lighting is bright enough to be see hundreds of yards away from the baseball press box.

Theses are the new Orange High tennis courts, which received renovations at the end of the men’s season in April. After spending the first three-and-half weeks of the season on the road, the Orange women’s tennis team  finally returned home on Monday and continued a stellar season.

The Lady Panthers defeated Eastern Alamance 7-2 in its first match after the reopening of their courts on Monday afternoon. Up to this point, Orange had played matches against in-county rivals Cedar Ridge and Eno River Academy at the Walker Tennis Complex in Mebane.

The last time the tennis complex had been refurbished was 2008. Cracks started to develop across all eight courts.

“It was just time,” said Orange men’s and women’s tennis coach Justin Webb. “For the past four years, the (Orange County) School Board had been looking at redoing the tennis courts. They just wanted to make sure they had the money and the resources to get it done.”

There is also new fencing and new drainage, which clears up some water issues that had been building in recent years. Plus, there’s an expanded walkway that is more handicap accessible. It came in handy on Wednesday night when Orange hosted Western Alamance as the mother of one of the Warriors got to sit comfortably in her wheelchair behind court 1 to watch her daughter’s doubles match.

“She came up and thanked me,” Webb said. “This walkway is big and allows people to get to the end courts. There’s a gate for American Disability Association accessibility. So I think those were some of the big things that needed to be fixed. And we got some new light posts.”

Following its wins over Eastern Alamance and Western Alamance, Orange remains just one game behind Walter Williams for first place in the Central Conference.

In 2022, Orange won its first-ever conference championship in women’s tennis with a heavy array of players who didn’t have tennis as their best sport, but they were stellar athletes. Sydney Rogers, Katelyn Van Mater, Isabel Jones and Makayla Davis were all starters who helped Orange reach the second round of the 3A State Playoffs.

This year, Orange has more multi-sport athletes who are regulars in Webb’s lineup. Molly Kruse, a junior who has played soccer the past two years, has been on Orange’s top doubles team with Shannon Sollars, one of only two seniors on a squad with 21 players.

Against the Eagles, Orange won 8-1, improving to 8-2 overall, 6-1 in the Central Conference. Freshman Kalynn Mason claimed two wins on the night. She defeated Madison Drewery 6-3, 6-4 at #2 singles. Mason teamed with Ellie Wilson to defeat Ryan Tanner and Claire Monroe 8-3. Orange won five singles matches to wrap up the dual match victory before doubles play started.

Wilson, a sophomore, won at #3 singles over Tanner 6-4, 6-2. Junior Oakley Gaddy won at #4 singles over Monroe 6-1, 6-2. Junior Casey Robinson knocked off Jayci White at #5 singles 6-0, 6-0. Adelyn Alvis, who runs track and field for Orange in the spring, won at #6 singles when her opponent retired after one set.

Sollars and Kruse won at #1 doubles over Camila Rosa and Monroe 8-0. At #3 doubles, Kyla Mehl and Alvis defeated White and Areli Silva Flores 8-0.

On Wednesday night, Orange defeated Western Alamance 7-2 to sweep the regular season series for the fourth straight year. The Lady Panthers will face Williams on Monday night in Hillsborough. The Bulldogs are 6-0 in conference play after edging Orange 5-4 on August 21 in Burlington. Williams is 7-0 on the year. Orange is the only team to win four individual matches against the Bulldogs this year.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior running back Ja’ki McDaniels. And the Defensive Player of the Week is linebacker Jayden Medley. On Labor Day weekend, the Orange football team defeated Chapel Hill 21-13. McDaniels had the first 100-yard rushing game of his career, going for 130 yards. He also scored three touchdowns as the Panthers defeated the Tigers for the first time since 2019. McDaniels scored the game-winning touchdown off a short pass from quarterback Hank Nunnery. Coming into this year, there was a hole in the running back position after three-year starter Nate Sorrells graduated to play at Mars Hill College. McDaniels, who had been a linebacker, asked head coach DeVante Pettiford to move to running back. Medley had eight tackles for the Panthers. The most critical defensive play of the night for Orange came when Medley picked off a pass in the first half and returned it 74 yards to the 15-yard line. As Chapel Hill was making a last ditch effort to tie the game, Medley tackled Tigers quarterback Josh Roberson at the 7-yard line on the last play of the game to preserve Orange’s 21-13 win. Medley is also a wrestler for head coach Spenser Poteat during the winter. Orange will travel to Montgomery Central on Friday night.

Orange Panther of the Week: Ja’Ki McDaniels; Defensive Player of the Week Jayden Medley

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior running back Ja’ki McDaniels. And the Defensive Player of the Week is linebacker Jayden Medley. On Labor Day weekend, the Orange football team defeated Chapel Hill 21-13. McDaniels had the first 100-yard rushing game of his career, going for 130 yards.

Three matches over the course of three days for Cedar Ridge volleyball put them atop the Central Conference. Last week, the Red Wolves rolled past Eastern Alamance in a sweep at Red Wolves Gymnasium. Before the match, junior Claire Hargett was honored for her 500th kill and her 500th career dig. She joins Cameron Lloyd and Cameron Lanier in Cedar Ridge’s 500 kill club. Also, Red Wolves junior liberal Sydnee Tapper was honored for her 500th career digs, which happened against Carrboro in a thrilling five-set match last Wednesday. Against the Eagles, Stoll finished with seven kills. Tapper added 14 digs and two aces to her career total. Hargett had a season-high 20 kills as Cedar Ridge remained undefeated in conference play. Last Tuesday, Cedar Ridge defeated crosstown rival Orange in three sets at Panther Gymnasium. That put the Red Wolves back atop the Central Conference. On Tuesday night (tonight), Cedar Ridge will venture to Elon to face Western Alamance. The Warriors will look to tie Cedar Ridge and Orange for first place with a win. Cedar Ridge is 4-0 in the Central Conference while Western Alamance is 2-1. Last year, the Warriors defeated the Red Wolves 3-1 in Elon, Cedar Ridge’s first loss to an Alamance County team since the Central Conference was formed in 2021.

Cedar Ridge volleyball’s Sydnee Tapper & Kayla Stoll discuss win over Eastern Alamance

Three matches over the course of three days for Cedar Ridge volleyball put them atop the Central Conference. Last week, the Red Wolves rolled past Eastern Alamance in a sweep at Red Wolves Gymnasium. Before the match, junior Claire Hargett was honored for her 500th kill and her 500th career dig.

In a few years, if Orange can maintain its current levels of participation at the junior varsity level, they’ll be better prepared to win a battle of attrition.

It’s the battle that Vance County has dictated against the Panthers over the past two years. At another time, say in 2017, when the varsity roster was at 55 players Orange would have been equipped for the challenge.

On Friday night, with a roster of 29 players (but with a growing junior varsity team), the Vipers gradually worked its way past the Panthers.

Senior Jontavious Nile rushed for 113 yards and a touchdown while Antoine Doyle caught seven passes for 95 yards to lift Vance County over Orange 14-6 at Auman Stadium to ruin the Panthers’ home opener.

The Vipers held Orange to 145 yards total offense and seven first downs, but the Panthers had a chance late because of senior Deandre Brown. A wrecking ball on defense who finished with eleven tackles, Brown also scored Orange’s only touchdown midway through the fourth quarter on a three-yard plunge. Brown jump started the dormant Orange offense and the crowd when he roared up the middle for a 20-yard gain on a 3rd-and-19 from the Vipers 49-yard line. It was Orange’s only 3rd down conversion of the night.

Orange running back Ja’ki McDaniels ran up the gut for 21 yards to break into the Vance County red zone for the first time, leading to Brown’s first touchdown of his senior season.

Before that drive, Orange had been held to 70 yards and four first downs in the opening three quarters simply because the Vance County running game kept Orange’s offense off the field. The Vipers ran 35 plays in the first half. Orange ran 12.

Orange’s Keyshawn Farrington made a stop on Nile on 3rd-and-eight as Vance County went 3-and-out in its opening drive. After Orange couldn’t move the ball on its first series, the Vipers alternated between a spread setup and the old Power-I formation to control the ball on its next drive, a 14-play, 95-yard drive. Quarterback Javion Vines-Holder threw to Andre Perry for 12 yards on a 3rd-and-2, the first of three 3rd-down conversions on the Vipers opening touchdown drive. On a 3rd-and-12 from the Vipers 33-yard line, Vance County went to the perimeter to show off its speed advantage as Vines-Holder tossed a slip screen pass to Perry for 20 yards.

There appeared to be daylight for Orange after brown tackled Nile for one yard on 2nd-and-10. But on 4th-and-7 from the Panther 18-yard line, Nile took a handoff and followed blocks from halfbacks Maurice Jackson and Zion Thornton for an 18-yard touchdown run. Aidan Labra kicked the extra point to put the Vipers ahead 7-0.

The Vipers chewed up the majority of the second quarter clock with a 11-play drive that stalled out at the Orange 5-yard line when Panther linebacker Jayden Medley stopped Symahj Charles for a two-yard gain on 4th-and-3.

After the subsequent Vance County drive died out in Viper territory, punter Ayden Foster fielded the snap while on his knees, giving Orange the ball at the Viper 30-yard line with 38 seconds remaining in the first half. Orange dialed up a double pass that was intercepted by Vines-Holder, who is also a defensive back.

Vance County scored on its opening drive of the second half. Vines-Holder found Doyle on a 3rd-and-17 for 20yards to advance the ball into Orange territory. Vines-Holder hit Doyle again for a 10-yard touchdown pass on a slant.

Following Brown’s touchdown, Orange still had time to get the ball back, but the Vipers successfully ran out the clock with another time-draining drive to improve to 3-0.

Orange (1-2) will make its first-ever trip to Montgomery Central on Friday night. Last year, Orange shut out the Timberwolves 20-0 in Hillsborough.

It was better late than never for the Orange men’s soccer team in its first trip to Northern Durham’s new on-campus facility.

Thanks to some late heroics, the Panthers are now off to its best start since 2010.

After assisting on the game-tying goal in the 81st minute, junior Demetrius Holmes scored the game-winning goal with two minutes remaining in regulation as the Panthers defeated the Knights 2-1 last Wednesday.

After winning its final tuneup before the Central Conference opener, the Panthers are 5-2. Orange last started 5-2 in 2010, when they were a 2A team.

Northern scored its only goal just before halftime. William Mejia chipped in a pass from sophomore Derrick Corea to give the Knights the lead going into halftime.

Holmes scored in first varsity goal on August 28 against Eno River Academy. Brendan McDonald scored evened the game off a feed from Holmes, which was his first varsity assist.

Holmes scored the game-winning goal off a rebound. Sophomore Hector Garrido earned his fifth win, stopping four shots.

Orange has won three in a row going into its conference opener against Western Alamance on Wednesday night in Hillsborough. The Warriors recently added former Cedar Ridge All-Conference midfielder Dominic McNerney to its roster. McNerney has opened the year with eight goals and six assists for the Warriors, who are 6-1.

Cedar Ridge 2, Eno River Academy 0: Four weeks into the season, the Cedar Ridge men’s soccer team hasn’t played a home game and lost its top player to Western Alamance two days before the opener.

Last Tuesday, the Red Wolves found reason to believe when they defeated Eno River Academy 2-0 at soccer.com Soccer Complex in Efland. Niko James, who scored Cedar Ridge’s first goal of the season in a loss to Carrboro, scored the Red Wolves’ first game-winning goal of the season off an assist from Andy Tarija.

Rodrigo Arellano added another goal off an assist from Noah Koehler. Erik Galunas made five saves for his first clean sheet of the season.

Cedar Ridge will start Central Conference play at Person in Roxboro on Wednesday night.