Cedar Ridge Football

Rodney Brooks: St. Augustine’s defeated Livingstone 20-12 at George Williams Comp Stadium in Raleigh on Saturday. Rodney Brooks, who graduated from Orange in 2017, tied for the Livingstone team lead with six tackles. He also had a pass breakup. Brooks has now played six games since arriving in Salisbury last summer. The Blue Bears have dropped two in a row and are 3-2, 2-1 in the CIAA. They return to Raleigh next weekend to face Shaw, led by former Southern Durham head coach Adrian Jones.

Payton Wilson: On Thursday night, N.C. State earned its first ACC win of the season with a 16-10 victory over Syracuse. Wilson finished with three tackles. After six games, Wilson has 26 tackles, including three tackles for loss.

Trent Gill: As State found itself in a rugged defensive battle with the Orange, Gill found himself busy as a punter. He had six punts for an average of 48.8 yards per boot. His longest punt was 55 yards, and he had two over 50 yards. Gill had two punts downed inside the 20-yard line. N.C. State faces Boston College next Saturday at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, MA.

Adam Chnupa: A rousing day for the Elon football team on Saturday. The Phoenix defeated Delaware, ranked #15 in FCS, 42-7 at Rhodes Stadium in Elon. Chnupa, a redshirt freshman who graduated from Cedar Ridge in 2017, saw action in his third game of the season. Elon travels to Rhode Island next weekend. The Phoenix are 3-4, 2-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Kevin Wright: It was a memorable day for the Division III North Carolina Wesleyan football team on Saturday. The Battling Bishops played its first game on its own campus. Wesleyan defeated Greensboro College 44-7 at the Vernon T. Bradley Complex. The Bishops are 3-2, 2-0 in the USA South Athletic Conference. They face Averett in Danville, VA next weekend.

Jackson Schmid: Though Schmid hasn’t played for Division III Wheaton College since September 21st, the Thunder is now ranked #5 in Division III. The Thunder defeated North Park University 63-0 in Chicago on Saturday to improve to 5-0, 1-0 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. Schmid graduated from Orange in 2017.

Taylin Jean: The Division II Limestone women’s soccer team defeated Converse College 2-0 at Saints Field in Gaffney, SC on Saturday. Jean posted her fifth shutout of the season starting as goalkeeper for Limestone. She made one save to earn her fifth win of the year. Limestone is 5-5, 4-2 in Conference Carolinas.

Jordan Rogers: Division III Methodist defeated William Peace University 2-0 at Monarch SoccerPlex in Fayetteville on Saturday. Rogers started at wingback for the Pacers. She has started all 14 of the Pacers’ games this season. Peace falls to 6-6-1, 2-2 in the USA South Conference.

Lionel Reid-Shaw: Th Division III Dickinson men’s soccer team defeated Washington College 2-1 for its third straight win on Saturday at Miller Memorial Field in Carlisle, PA. Reid-Shaw started for the Red Devils at center back. He has started nine games this year. Dickinson is 8-5, 4-1 in the Centennial Conference.

Lili Henry: The Division III Methodist volleyball team dropped both of its tilts in a tri-match at Greensboro College on Saturday. Greensboro swept the Monarchs to open the day at Hanes Gymnasium. Henry had eleven assists and five digs against the Pride. William Peace upended Methodist in four sets. Against the Pacers, Henry had 17 assists, six digs and two aces. Methodist falls to 3-13, 2-6 in the USA South Conference. They travel to Salem College in Winston-Salem on Wednesday.

August 18, 2017 was never supposed to be a famous date. Sure, it marked the beginning of a new football season and all the promise and excitement that contains, but there wasn’t much more to it than that. On that day, the Cedar Ridge football team opened its season at home against Carrboro, but the game was never completed – with 2:39 left in the second quarter and Cedar Ridge on top 21-6, awful weather in the area forced the game to be delayed, postponed, and ultimately called. It wasn’t pretty, and it sure wasn’t perfect, but Cedar Ridge still got the win. 

Little did anyone involved with the Red Wolves program know that it would take more than two years for them to get another one. 

August 18, 2017 was the date of the last Cedar Ridge varsity football win. That win was followed by 10 straight losses to close 2017 and six straight to open 2019, with a full year without varsity sandwiched in between. Thus far in 2019, the Red Wolves had been outscored by an average of 30 points per game and had only held one lead all season – the wait for that next varsity win seemed interminable. 

The Chapel Hill Tigers entered Friday night’s match with a story remarkably similar to that of Cedar Ridge. They too were unable to field a varsity team in 2018 after a one-win season in 2017, and their only win in 2019 was a thrilling 35-34 overtime victory over Carrboro in which the Tigers scored 16 points in the final 100 seconds of the game to force overtime. Since August 18, 2017, Chapel Hill only had one other varsity win: a victory at Cedar Ridge on October 6. 

In 2019, almost exactly two years later, Cedar Ridge got its revenge. Led by a trio of rushing touchdowns from Isaiah McCambry and a shorthanded defense that improved as the game progressed for the first time this season, the Red Wolves (1-6, 1-2 Big 8) nipped the Tigers (1-6, 0-3) 20-19 on Homecoming night in Hillsborough. It had been 785 days since August 18, 2017, the now-infamous date of the last Red Wolves win. Reset that counter to zero. 

It was clear early on Friday that the Red Wolves and the Tigers were quite evenly matched. There are differences, to be sure – the Tigers are much more capable of passing the ball and Cedar Ridge has a dominant feature back, for example – but both teams seemed to recognize the opportunity for victory that had presented itself. After Cedar Ridge punted fairly early into its first possession, Chapel Hill marched 82 yards and opened the scoring on a 5-yard touchdown run by senior Caleb Clegg. The Tigers acted like they were going to go for two but flexed out of the formation with about 12 seconds left of the play clock, barely allowing kicker Luke Roeber to get set up, but he still made his kick to put the visitors up 7-0.

Those two drives used up all but 23 seconds of the first quarter clock, and the second quarter went by about as quickly. Both teams traded punts to open the period, but Tyler Roberts got a solid return of Roeber’s kick to set up Cedar Ridge at their own 47 – and then McCambry arrived. The sophomore tailback had already put together a solid showing in the game, but he made his mark with a 53-yard score down the left sideline to get the home team on the board. The Tigers snuffed out a 2-point conversion rush from Jake Mergenthal to keep the score 7-6. 

From there, Chapel Hill had only one more drive before they punted it away with less than two minutes to go – each team had only three full possessions in a half that lasted less than an hour. The players parted to make way for the Homecoming festivities, but then the fans in attendance were treated to even further drama.  

Chapel Hill opened the second half with a 75-yard touchdown drive capped off by a two-yard score from Jaylen Mitchell but that fake conversion formation robbed Roeber of the time to set up properly and he missed the PAT. Down 13-6, K.J. Barnes, fresh off his honor as a member of the Homecoming Court, returned the kickoff out to the Tiger 40-yard line, and McCambry soon punched it in from four yards out. The Red Wolves again went for two on a quick hitter from Will Berger to Barnes, but the Tigers again were up to the task, keeping the score 13-12.

The Tigers were often able to move the ball despite poor field position, and on the one drive where they did have a good start they capitalized quickly. Getting going from their own 40 on the first drive of the fourth quarter, Clegg soon capped it off with his second rushing score to put the visitors up seven. The Tigers initially lined up in a traditional two-point conversion formation – with about five minutes left a nine-point lead might have been insurmountable – but a Chapel Hill penalty changed coach Isaac Marsh’s mind. He instead elected to kick the PAT, but even with the traditional setup Roeber missed, keeping the Red Wolves within striking distance. 

And strike they did. Cedar Ridge began a drive on its own 40-yard line or better four times Friday, and the Red Wolves scored on three of those situations. Another good kickoff return brought the Red Wolves out to their own 41, and just a few plays later McCambry completed his hat trick with a 36-yard burst up the middle of the defense and into the end zone. That made it 19-18, and Torrean Hinton didn’t waste any time in going for two and the lead. Cedar Ridge lined up with two fullbacks stacked right and everyone thought the ball went to McCambry – but instead, Berger flipped it to Barnes running an end-around from right to left, and no one was there to stop him from skipping into the end zone. With 4 minutes to go, Cedar Ridge had its latest lead all season at 20-19. 

But Chapel Hill wasn’t done. The Tigers got a great kickoff return and started off at the Cedar Ridge 46, but the drive didn’t go well. Facing a 3^rd-and-15 from the 29 with about two minutes left, Caleb Kelley went for it all with a heave down the right sideline for K.J. Jones, but Desi Raspberry Jr. was there to break it up. Marsh elected to kick the field goal rather than have his offense try again, and his second-string kicker sent his possible game-winning bid fluttering to the goal line, nearly 15 yards short of its target. 

Cedar Ridge got the ball back. All it had to do was kneel a few times, and the wait would be over. For the first time in a long time, the Red Wolves had tasted varsity victory. After the handshakes and as the well-dressed Homecoming crowd filed out, the team circled around an energized Hinton for an address. Meanwhile, a few of the younger members of the team carted three Gatorade coolers over and doused the meeting’s inner circle – the seniors – with the drink. Cold, but good, they called it. The same could be said for the 2019 season so far – tough for a while, but, now, good.  

It was the perfect Homecoming for Cedar Ridge’s Isaiah McCambry, K.J. Barnes, Braedon Thompson and Braxton Mergenthal on Friday night. McCambry scores the game-winning touchdown with 4:06 remaining in the fourth quarter as the Red Wolves defeated Chapel Hill 20-19 at Red Wolves Stadium. Barnes scored the game-winning two-point conversion on a pass from William Berger. Cedar Ridge ended a 16-game losing streak. McCambry finished with over 100 yards as the Red Wolves won for the first time in varsity football in 765 days. Cedar Ridge will go for its second straight win at East Chapel Hill next Friday.

For the first time in 765 days, the Cedar Ridge football team won a varsity football game on Friday night. Trailing 19-12 midway through the fourth quarter, Cedar Ridge running back Isaiah McCambry scores a touchdown a 36-yard touchdown run with 4:06 remaining. The Red Wolves got a 2-point conversion on a pass from William Berger to K.J. Barnes for the game-winning score as the Red Wolves defeated the Tigers 20-19. McCambry scores three touchdowns as the Red Wolves won on Homecoming to end a 16-game losing streak. It was also Torrean Hinton’s first win as Cedar Ridge head coach to send the Red Wolves fans happy for a team that deserves it. Hinton took over as the coach of the Red Wolves in late July in pace of Antonio King, who left after one season.The Red Wolves travel to East Chapel Hill next Friday at Dave Thaden Stadium. 

Kevin Wright: The 2018 Cedar Ridge graduate made his season debut for Division III North Carolina Wesleyan on Saturday. Wright, a sophomore safety, made five tackles as the Battling Bishops defeated LaGrange 52-35 in LaGrange, GA. It was Wesleyan’s USA South Conference opener. Wesleyan is 2-2. Next week, they face Greensboro College in its first-ever on campus game in Rocky Mount.

Adam Chnupa: For the second week in a row, Chnupa saw action for FCS Elon University. Chnupa, another 2018 Cedar Ridge graduate, entered as a reserve as the Phoenix lost to New Hampshire 26-10 at Wildcat Stadium in Durham, NH. Elon falls to 2-4, 0-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association. They host Delaware at Rhodes Stadium in Elon next Saturday.

Rodney Brooks: The Division II Livingstone football team lost to Virginia Union 44-0 at Alumni Stadium in Salisbury on Saturday. Brooks recorded a tackle for the Blue Bears, who suffered its first loss of the season. Livingstone is 4-1, 2-1 in the CIAA. They travel to St. Augustine’s next weekend.

Taylin Jean: Jean recorded her third clean sheet of the season as goalkeeper for the Division II Limestone women’s soccer team on Saturday. The Saints defeated Erskine 2-0 at Huggins Field in Due West, SC on Saturday. Jean, a 2018 Cedar Ridge graduate, made two saves for her fourth win of the season. Limestone is 4-4, 3-2 in Conference Carolinas. The Saints travel to Queens University in Charlotte on Wednesday.

Brittany Daley: The Division III Greensboro College women’s soccer team played to a 1-1 tie with Methodist University at Pride Field in Greensboro on Saturday. Daley started her eleventh game of the season at centerback. Greensboro is 8-3-1 overall, 2-0-1 in the USA South Conference. The Pride host Meredith on Wednesday.

Jordan Rogers: Marymount (VA) University defeated Division III William Peace University 3-0 in Arlington, VA on Saturday. Rogers started her eleventh game of the season for the Pacers at wingback. Peace falls to 4-4-1 overall, 1-1 in the USA South Conference.

Lili Henry: The Division III Methodist volleyball team split two matches in a tri-match at Meredith College at Weatherspoon Gymnasium in Raleigh on Saturday. The Monarchs ended the day with a sweep of Mary Baldwin. Against the Fighting Squirrels, Henry registered 22 assists and five digs. In the first match of the day, Meredith swept Methodist 3-0. Henry had 18 assists and eleven digs against the Avenging Angels. Methodist is now 3-11, 2-4 in the USA South Conference.

Bailey Lucas: In the aforementioned tri-match at Meredith, Lucas saw action for the Avenging Angels. Meredith won both of its matches against Mary Baldwin and Methodist. In the opening match against the Fighting Squirrels, Lucas played two sets. She had one kill, 14 assists and three digs. Against Methodist, Lucas played one set and had two assists. With the two sweeps, Meredith is 10-6 overall, 4-1 in the USA South.

Mia Davidson: The Mississippi State softball team started its fall schedule on Friday against East Mississippi Community College in Starkville, MS. Mia Davidson had a two run homer in the second inning, plus a RBI single in the first as the Bulldogs won 7-0. On Saturday, the Bulldogs swept a doubleheader. They defeated Meridian 14-1, a game where Davidson had an RBI double. Mississippi State completed the day with a 17-0 win over Meridian. Davidson had a pinch-hit, RBI double in the fourth. Mississippi State is under a new head coach in Samantha Ricketts.

By Tim Hackett

Something felt different this week. Back at home in front of a sizable crowd for the first time in nearly a month, following three weeks of far-flung road games featuring flush-it-and-forget-it final scores, the Cedar Ridge Red Wolves somehow looked like a different team. For about the first 20 minutes of the 48 that comprise a game, Cedar Ridge looked like they might have a chance – a chance to finally win its first game of the season, its first varsity game since August 2017, in what would have been a serious upset against the reigning Big 8 Conference champions Northern Knights. Cedar Ridge trailed by only a point early in the second quarter and by just two scores at halftime.

But, as has been the case so often this season, things changed. Eventually, Cedar Ridge’s momentum faded, their steam evaporated, their offense dried up – all euphemisms which conceal the fact that Northern simply dominated the second half. Despite countless self-inflicted penalties that could’ve made the scoreline worse, the Knights played the second half perfectly, running the clock when they needed and running the ball whenever they wanted – Cedar Ridge (0-6, 0-2 Big 8) only possessed the ball three times after halftime, and Northern (4-2, 1-1 Big 8) scored three more rushing touchdowns, for a grand total of seven overall, to run away from the Red Wolves 47-12 in Hillsborough on Friday. 

The game started about as poorly as Cedar Ridge could’ve expected. On just the second play from scrimmage, quarterback Will Berger appeared to have his pass tipped at the line and intercepted off the ground by a defensive lineman. Or perhaps it was fumbled and briefly returned. It was one of those moments where no one really knew what was going on, but the Knights had the ball, and just a few plays later Jaylon Chestnut has the game’s opening touchdown on a wingback run.

That could have been that for Cedar Ridge. The Red Wolves have deflated in the face of adversity at times this season, and after spotting a superior team an early lead through no real fault of their own, they could’ve folded again. But they didn’t. Instead, they marched right down the field on their next drive, going 80 yards in no time at all. In what was easily his most impactful game of the season, Brandon Poteat made a nice catch on the left sideline before dashing 26 yards to the house on a right-to-left end-around to cap off the scoring drive. Cedar Ridge failed to get the two-point conversion, but they had pulled within one, 7-6. 

Cedar Ridge had planned to kick it away. Ian Kavanaugh sent the kick low and away, but it hit a Knight in the armor around his head, and Cedar Ridge fell on it – it was a bit of a reversal of fortunes, flashing back to what happened to Cedar Ridge on the very first kick of the contest against Providence Grove two weeks prior. But the Red Wolves couldn’t capitalize, and a botched punt gave the Knights plus field position. They capitalized on a run by halfback Anthony Freeman but missed the PAT, making the score 13-6. 

Cedar Ridge tried to respond, with Elijah Whitaker now leading the charge at quarterback, but Darius Channer, Northern’s top corner, picked off a pass down the right seam to take the ball away. But Cedar Ridge’s defense buckled down and forced a Northern punt – the only Knights drive to not end in a turnover or a score – which set up the offense to go right back down the field and score on a QB dive by Whitaker. Kavanaugh missed the PAT and Cedar Ridge still trailed, but only just – 13-12. 

Things were looking good, or at the very least encouraging, for Cedar Ridge in what’s been a discouraging season for the team overall. But with half of the second quarter gone, the Knights rallied to the charge. Maybe it was a sense of desperation. Maybe it was the need for revenge after Northern lost their always-important rivalry game to Southern a week before. Maybe it was an embracing of a new run-first, run-always scheme headed by “quarterback” Caleb Steele, a wideout who had never played that signal caller role before Friday. Whatever the motivation, the Knights admirably soldiered on, and they dominated the final 30 minutes of game time. 

Freeman reeled off two more touchdown runs before the break, and if Cedar Ridge felt it still had a chance after perhaps its best offensive half of the season, Northern did everything in its power to squeeze the life out of the home side. Chestnut fumbled on Northern’s first possession, but Whitaker answered with one of his own, and Northern possessed the ball for easily the final seven minutes of the third quarter. The Knights were hampered by countless penalties – just about every violation in the book was in effect Friday – but hampered isn’t really the right word – despite constantly finding themselves in 2^nd-and-25 scenarios, and some more dire than that, the Knights still were able to grind out the yardage on the ground. Northern might have attempted four passes all game. Freeman added another score at the onset of the final quarter to give him four for the day, and the Knights scored on both of their other possessions in the fourth quarter while the Red Wolves punted on both of theirs. Seven rushing touchdowns by four different players, and a breakout performance by Steele, eased Northern to a 47-12 victory. 

It’s fair to say that Cedar Ridge hasn’t looked great this season. There’s no avoiding that. But, it’s also fair to say that Cedar Ridge has looked good enough at times that there should be plenty of excitement for the next two weeks – the Red Wolves’ next two opponents, Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill, have combined for one win over their first 10 combined contests. The Tigers will head to the Den next week at 7 PM, in what is probably Cedar Ridge’s best chance to snag a win in more than two years. If you can’t be there, we’ve got you covered on hillsboroughsports.com with the C&R Ski Outdoor Pregame Show live at 6:50. A chance at history arrives next week. Join us!   

Last week, the Orange women’s tennis team defeated Cedar Ridge for the first time since 2013. The Cedar Ridge volleyball team maintained its share of first place in the Big 8 with a five-set victory over Vance County, then rolled past Southern Durham on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Orange volleyball team showed its depth. They started the week with a convincing 3-1 disposal of East Chapel Hill, the Wildcats’ first Big 8 Conference loss of the season. Orange, despite missing senior Emma Clements and sophomore Avery Miller, still swept Northern Durham on Thursday for its third win in four days.

Yet Cedar Ridge and Orange will hardly get a chance to enjoy their victories. Both teams have monster road games this week.

Cedar Ridge starts the week tied with Chapel Hill for 1st place in the Big 8. The Red Wolves travel to CHHS on Thursday.

Orange has a rematch against East Chapel Hill, this time at Wildcat Gymnasium on Tuesday.

In football, it’s Orange-Southern Durham week. From 2012-2017, the winner of Orange-Southern dictated the Big 8 Conference Champion. After Southern’s 13-0 shutout of Northern Durham on Friday night, the Spartans appear poised to win its first conference title since 2015, when current Wake Forest wide receiver Kendall Hinton was the quarterback for Southern.

On top of all that, the Cedar Ridge women’s cross country team won the women’s invitational race at the Greensboro Cross Country Invitational on Saturday afternoon. Cedar Ridge finished with 55 points, beating East Chapel Hill, who wound up with 63.

And the Orange football team won its Big 8 opener over East Chapel Hill on Friday 40-7.

Think the candidates’ list for the Magnificent 7 was long this week? Well, it was. As always, two of the following seven athletes will be named the Orange Panther of the Week and the Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week on Tuesday.

Here is the Magnificent 7 for Week 6 of the Fall Sports season.

1. Anne Morrell: The Cedar Ridge junior was the top finisher at Saturday’s Greensboro Cross Country Invitational at Hagan Stone Park. Among 106 runners, Morrell finished 7th with a time of 20:52.34. Last season, the Cedar Ridge women finished 2nd in the Greensboro Invitational.
2. Emma Vosburg: In the Orange volleyball team’s 3-1 win over East Chapel Hill, Vosburg had eight kills, one ace, nine blocks, three digs and an assist. Orange would go on to defeat Southern Durham and Northern Durham over the subsequent three days.
3. Cameron Lanier: Another one of the power Cedar Ridge volleyball freshmen with Cameron Lloyd and Julie Altieri. Lanier had ten kills, one ace, one block and five digs in the Red Wolves victory over Bartlett Yancey. Cedar Ridge is guaranteed its first winning season since 2015.
4. James McAdoo: The Orange defensive end helped the Panther defense hold East Chapel Hill to 173 yards total offense. McAdoo caused a fumble for the third game in a row. McAdoo had two sacks as the Panthers secured back-to-back home wins for the first time since 2016.
5. Elliott Woods: The junior Orange wingback had a career-high 58 rushing yards and scored the first two touchdowns of his varsity career. Woods also leads the team in tackles at the end of five games. Woods added two receptions for 37 yards.
6. Lindsey Jouannet: The Orange junior tennis player won her match at #5 singles against Cedar Ridge 6-2, 6-1 on Monday. Jouannet teamed with Sydney Allison to win at #3 doubles 8-2 to sew up Orange’s first win over Cedar Ridge in women’s tennis since 2013.
7. Isaiah McCambry: Gave the Cedar Ridge football team its first lead of the season against Northwood by scoring a first quarter touchdown. McCambry also had Cedar Ridge’s first 100-yard rushing game since 2016 against the Chargers. Though Northwood won 24-8, McCambry showed more promise as a running back as the Red Wolves return home to face Northern Durham on Friday night at Red Wolves Stadium.