Cedar Ridge Wrestling

Despite losing seven starters from last year’s Central Conference championship team, Cedar Ridge wrestling is still a force to be reckoned with.

Red Wolf senior Ryan Rakouskas won his 100th career match en route to the 157-pounds championship as Cedar Ridge won the Atkins Invitational at Atkins Academic and Technology High School in Greensboro on Saturday. Rakouskas defeated Brice Baker of Oak Grove High in overtime 14-11 in the championship final.

Rakouskas becomes the eighth Cedar Ridge wrestler to win 100 career matches. He is the fourth grappler in the last three years to win 100 matches. Fernando Martinez, who graduated in 2023 and now wrestles at UNC Pembroke, won 100 matches during his senior year. Last year, Kaden Tatro also joined the 100-win club. Senior Pierce Prescod surpassed 100 wins last winter.

Rakouskas finished 35-13 with 29 pins last season. He opened his first tournament of the 2024-2025 season with a pin over Braxton Bragg of East Mecklenburg. In the quarterfinals, Rakouskas pinned Adam Curry of Asheboro in 1:02. He secured a spot in the championship match with a 10-4 victory over Jack Martin of Mount Airy.

Cedar Ridge finished with 159 points, tops in the 25-team field. Atkins Academic and Technology finished second with 137 points.

“I thought we had a shot to crack the top five,” said Cedar Ridge coach Scott Metcalf. “I’m shocked that we won, honestly. We lost seven starters from last year’s team so it’s hardly imaginable that we could be better this year. But this is a really good group of kids who get along great and work really hard. So it’s entirely feasible if things keep coming together.”

The surprise of the weekend was Will Meyer, who captured the 190-pound championship. Meyer has spent the past three years on junior varsity and appeared in three matches at the varsity level last year. He pinned all four of his opponents in the tournament, including a victory over Matthew Oliver of R.J. Reynolds in the semifinals at 2:41. In the championship match, Meyer pinned Glenn Huskey of Rockingham County in 1:58.

Meyer faced a higher-seeded competitor in each of his four matches. He opened by pinning 7th-seeded Michael King of Reagan High in 3:10.

The Red Wolves had three others reach the finals in their respective weight classes. Jordin Blue won three matches in the 165-pound tournament, pinning Jack Steele of Southeast Guilford in the semifinals. Cooper Ranson of Atkins Academic on the championship over Blue. In the quarterfinals, Blue scored a technical fall over Kolvin Walker of Alexander Central.

At 126 pounds, Prescod reached the championship match. Prescod, the top-seed, defeated Braylen George of Mt. Airy 18-2 to advance via technical fall. In the championship match, Omar Rushing of Mt. Airy held off Prescod 4-3. Prescod took a 1-0 lead into the third period, but Rushing scored the only takedown of the match with 37 seconds remaining in the third period. Prescod got an escape in the final seconds, but couldn’t gain the final point.

Alejandro Briones, the defending Central Conference champion at 144-pounds, reached the final at 150 pounds. Briones, who won both of his matches in the season-opening tri-meet at Uwharrie Charter Academy last Thursday, pinned Daniel Runion of R.J. Reynolds in 1:57 in the semifinals. Briones scored two pins and a tech fall leading up to the championship match. Cole Kenerley of East Mecklenburg pinned Briones in 3:09 to win the title. Briones led 6-1 in the opening minute of the match, but Kenerley scored four near fall points in the final 30 seconds of the opening period.

Favio Jaramillo Esparza finished third at 113-pounds. In the consolation final, he pinned Gavin Cranford of Montgomery Central in 3:49.

In the women’s tournaments, Cedar Ridge’s Thalia Paterno reached the final at 100-pounds. Paterno pinned Naria Selomith of West Forsyth in 14 seconds. Victoria Pioquinto of West Forsyth won the championship via pinfall in 3:36.

At 138 pounds, Cedar Ridge’s Chloe Pankratz reached the final, finishing runner-up. In the semifinals, Pankratz pinned the 2nd seed, Amelia Martino of East Mecklenburg in 5:13. Jadyn Magallanes of West Forsyth won the championship.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is junior wrestler Pierce Prescod. This season, Prescod finished 47-11 and had 36 pins. He won the 120-pound Central Conference championship at Walter Williams High School. He pinned Pedro Manuel Ramon of Walter Williams and Adrian Sierra of Orange to win the tournament. It was a season full of individual accolades in tournaments for Prescod. He captured the Red Wolf Invitational in November, when he pinned Bearik Bigelow of Green Hope in the championship match. This year, Cedar Ridge won the Central Conference championship, its first-ever team championship as a 3A team and only its second in wrestling. They defeated crosstown rival Orange for the first time in history. He also finished third in the prestigious Tiger Holiday Invitational at Chapel Hill High School. Prescod went undefeated in league matches, going 10-0 including the Central Conference Tournament and state dual tournament. Cedar Ridge reached the state quarterfinals of the 3A State Dual Team Tournament at Currituck County, winning in the opening round over Carrboro and then pinning Person’s Julian Combs. It was Cedar Ridge’s best-ever showing in the 3A State Dual Team Tournament. Presocd finished 4th in the Gate City Grapple. Prescod will be relied upon to be one of the leaders for next year’s Cedar Ridge wrestling team as he enters his senior year.

Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week: Pierce Prescod

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This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is senior wrestler Kaden Tatro. This season, Tatro won the Central Conference Championship at 165 pounds at Walter Williams High School in Burlington. Tatro ended the year 49-5. He completed his career with 159 wins, the second-most in school history. This season, Tatro helped Cedar Ridge win the Central Conference regular season championship, their first team title at the 3A level and just their second regular season championship ever. He also helped Cedar Ridge beat crosstown rival Orange for the first time. Tatro won two conference championships in his career. He finished third in the Mideast Regional championships at 165 pounds. As a junior, Tatro helped Cedar Ridge win the Central Conference Tournament at Orange High School in February 2023. In his junior season, Tatro finished 54-8 and finished second at the Mideast Regional championships. He wound up finishing sixth in the 3A State Championships at the Greensboro Coliseum. Tatro’s name will forever be etched in Cedar Ridge wrestling history when his name on the all-time wins list is adorned inside the team’s wrestling room on a banner. Tatro also played lacrosse during the pandemic in 2021 when the Red Wolves made the state playoffs under the direction of former head coach Patrick Cavanaugh.

Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week: Kaden Tatro

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As the dual season ends for the Cedar Ridge Red Wolves wrestling team, they can take pride in the fact they are the first of its kind.

They were the first team in school history to reach the state quarterfinals in the 3A State Dual Team Playoffs. They were the first Red Wolf team since 2010 to win a match in the state dual playoffs. They were the first Cedar Ridge team to ever beat Orange in a dual meet and just the second team in school history to win a regular season conference championship.

The Jacksonville Cardinals defeated the Red Wolves 49-27 in the 3A State Dual Quarterfinals on Wednesday night in Jacksonville. Later that night, Union Pines would claim its third consecutive 3A Eastern Regional championship when they defeated the Cardinals 47-18.

Union Pines will face Eastern Guilford for the 3A State Championship at Novant Fieldhouse in Greensboro on Saturday.

Cedar Ridge ends the dual team season 18-9.

Red Wolf senior James Este-Wittinger opened the night with a 6-4 decision over Alexander Perry to give Cedar Ridge a 3-0 lead. Este-Wittinger will go into the 3A Mideast Regionals with a 31-11 record. At heavyweight, Jacksonville’s Eteuati Taula pinned Aaron Olivares in 3:04. It was only the third loss in the last 12 matches for Olivares.

At 106 pounds, Cedar Ridge’s Favio Jaramillo Esparza pinned James Wernimont in 3:53 to give the Red Wolves a 9-6 lead. Cole Hunt of Jacksonville pinned Trevor Long at 113 pounds, but Cedar Ridge’s Pierce Prescod pinned Maxwell David in 2:18. Prescod leads the team with 33 pins this year with an overall record of 44-9.

Jacksonville dominated the middleweight classes with five straight wins. Gavin Nipper claimed a 9-3 decision over Nathan Vendura at 126 pounds to even the match at 15-15. The Cardinals’ Gavin Costillo (132), Mason McMullen (138) and Joseph Gabriel (144) all claimed pins. At 150 pounds, Brock Smith earned a major decision over Angus Pritchard 13-5, vaulting the Cardinals ahead 38-15 with four matches remaining.

Cedar Ridge junior Ryan Rakouskas pinned Anthony Campbell in 1:20. Rakouskas is now 32-11 after his 94th career win.

At 165 pounds, Kaden Tatro pinned Ethan McWaters in 51 seconds. Jacksonville’s Jonathan Moses pinned Shea Spiller to clinch the match for the Cardinals.

Next up for Cedar Ridge will be the Women’s Mideast Regionals on Friday and Saturday at Jack Britt High School in Fayetteville. The Red Wolves’ Zoey Moreno will try to reach the 3A State Women’s Individual Championships after barely missing out last year.

Everything that Cedar Ridge wrestling has ever accomplished, they’ve done the hard way.

After two decades competing in the long shadow of Orange High, one of the most established programs in North Carolina, the Red Wolves broke through this winter. They won the Central Conference regular season championship, its’ first league title as a 3A team.

However, their first trip to the 3A State Dual Team Tournament wouldn’t be a short drive up the road. Instead, Currituck County, the champions of the Northeastern Coastal Conference, finished the regular season 23-0, ranked #10 in the final dual team rankings.

Which meant the Red Wolves, which earned the #6 seed for the tournament, would drive four hours by bus on Saturday afternoon to the upper northeast corner of the state. Joining them would be Central Conference rival Person and Carrboro.

It was a long way to go, but by the end of the day, an exhausted Red Wolves team returned home late on Saturday night as the first Cedar Ridge wrestling team to ever reach the 3A State Dual Team quarterfinals.

Cedar Ridge started the day with a 70-7 win over Carrboro. On the adjacent mat inside Knights Gymnasium, the Red Wolves watched on as Person stunned Currituck 40-37. The Rockets’ Gavin Jones pinned Kurtis Spruill to vault the Rockets ahead in the final match and hand the Knights its first loss of the year. The match had five ties and four lead changes.

At the end of the day, Cedar Ridge drove a total of 448 miles to face a conference opponent that’s ordinarily about a 35-minute drive away from Hillsborough. But it would be worth it.

The Red Wolves blended youth with experience to defeat the Rockets 45-33 and advance to the state quarterfinals.

On Wednesday night, Cedar Ridge will face Jacksonville in the round of eight at Jacksonville High School. On the opposite mat, defending 3A Eastern Regional Champion Union Pines faces Croatan. The regional championship match will immediately follow.

While Cedar Ridge had already defeated Person 45-30 on November 21 in Hillsborough, that was a lifetime ago in wrestling circles.

On Saturday, the lead changed four times in the opening seven matches. it was freshman Alejandro Briones who put the Red Wolves ahead for good with a pin over Gabe Cameron in a dual match that had 12 pins and only two decisions. Briones, coming off his championship at 144 pounds in the Central Conference tournament, defeated Cameron to improve to 23-11 with his eleventh pin of the season.

It was the first of four consecutive pinfall victories for the Red Wolves.

Another conference champion, senior Angus Pritchard, pinned Ryan Dollar to give the Red Wolves some breathing room with a 27-18 overall lead. Pritchard, who won the 150 pound championship in the conference tournament, improved to 23-9 with his 12th pin of the season.

Junior Ryan Rakouskas pinned Addison Carey to improve the Red Wolves lead to 33-18. Kaden Tatro, who is now 2nd all-time in school history in wins, pinned Thai Meeler to improve to 47-4 with his 22nd pin this year.

Person’s James Rose (175) and Malakai Newman (190) each scored pins to pull the Rockets within 12 points at 39-27 with two matches remaining. The last of those matches was at heavyweight featuring Person’s Trevquan Gary, the conference champion and a potential All-State candidate.

Fortunately for Cedar Ridge, Joe O’Melia made the heavyweight match moot when he pinned Jones to ensure the win. Gary won by forfeit at heavyweight as Cedar Ridge exited Barco with a 45-33 victory.

The last time Cedar Ridge won a match in the state dual tournament, they defeated North Johnston 51-27 in the opening round of the 2A State Tournament in 2010. Later that night at Red Wolves Gymnasium, Topsail defeated the Red Wolves 53-25.

In the opening match against Carrboro, Cedar Ridge scored seven pins to cruise to victory. Heavyweight Aaron Olivares started with a pin over Milo Thornton. Olivares improved to 25-17 with his 20th pin. Olivares has pinfall victories in nine of his last ten matches. At 113 pounds, Cedar Ridge’s Trevor Long scored his fourth pin of the year against Penelope Tovar. At 132 pounds, Graylon Collins earned a major decision over Ajax Hopler 8-0 to put the Red Wolves ahead 22-7. At 144 pound,  Briones pinned Ajax Hopler.

That pin officially put Cedar Ridge into the second round.

Pritchard pinned Zach Westrick at 150 pounds. Rakouskas pinned Shiloh Smith at 157. Rakouskas, who now has 93 career wins, is 31-11 this season.

Pierce Prescod, Jordin Blue, Shea Spiller and James Este-Wittinger all earned forfeit wins. Tatro pinned Spencer Crawley.

The Cedar Ridge wrestling team crowned four champions during the Central Conference Tournament at Walter Williams High in Burlington last Saturday. Freshman Alejandro Briones won the 144-pound championship when he defeated Eastern Alamance’s Mason Tanner 10-9. After losing to Tanner 22-7 via technical fall in November, Briones jumped out to a 9-1 lead last Saturday. In the final 20 seconds of the mach, Tanner evened things up at 9-9 when he earned a near fall, but Briones bridged out and scored an escape point with one second remaining to earn the victory. Briones took his first tournament championship of his Cedar Ridge career and improved to 22-11 on the season. Senior Angus Pritchard won the 150-pound championship with a 15-7 win over Andrew Dudley of Southern Alamance. Pritchard jumped out to a 4-1 lead and never trailed. After Dudley got an escape to cut Pritchard’s lead to 8-6, Prichard got a late takedown and scored the final five points of the match. Pritchard is 21-9 this season with ten pins. Cedar Ridge won the Central Conference regular season championship and will compete in the 3A State Dual Team Wrestling Championships this Saturday. The Red Wolves will face Carrboro in the opening round at Curritcuk County High School. If the Red Wolves win, they will face either Currituck County or Person in the round of 16. 

Cedar Ridge wrestling Alejandro Briones & Angus Pritchard talk winning titles at Central Tournament

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BURLINGTON–There were expected winners for Cedar Ridge in the 2nd Central Conference Wrestling Tournament.

And then there was freshman Alejandro Briones.

In November, Eastern Alamance’s Mason Farmer defeated Briones by technical fall 22-7 during the Red Wolf Invitational at Cedar Ridge in the 150-pound tournament.

On Saturday at Williams High School, Briones and Farmer met again, this time in the 144-pound championship match. Briones immediately let it be known that there would be no technical fall on this day, scoring two takedowns in the opening period to take a 4-1 lead.

Briones would increase his advantage to 9-1 after he opened the second period with a takedown and scored three back points. Farmer fought back and took Briones’ back, eventually earning two back points to cut his deficit down to 9-5.

The third period may have been the most thrilling finish of the day. Tanner got a double leg takedown. In the final ten seconds, Tanner got a near fall as Briones struggled to keep his shoulders off the mat. Tanner evened the match at 9-9, but Briones escaped off the mat in the final second and earned a 10-9 upset in a thrilling finish.

Briones earned his first tournament win of the season as he improved to 22-11. Earlier in the day, Briones defeated Gabe Cameron of Person 6-3.

After clinching the Central Conference regular season championship two weeks ago, the Red Wolves appeared set to repeat as tournament champions. But Person scored three pins in the heavier weight classes to close out the day with 187 points. Cedar Ridge, with four first-place finishes, came in second at 179.5 points. Southern Alamance finished third at 148 points.

Two Red Wolves defended their individual conference titles from 2023, while a senior came through with his first conference title.

Senior Kaden Tatro continued his march towards the all-time school wins record by easily taking the 165-pound championship. Tatro, who now has 154 career wins, defeated James Rose of Person by tech fall 18-1 in four minutes. In the semifinals, Tatro pinned Chris Solomon of Eastern Alamance in 1:58.

Tatro is 45-4 this season with 21 pins and 16 technical falls. He how has 154 career wins. The all-time record is held by Chandler Collins at 166 wins.

Tatro won the 182-pound conference championship last year, beating Northwood’s Ethan Kuball 8-3 in the championship match.

At 120 pounds, junior Pierce Prescod pinned Orange’s Adrian Sierra in 1:30 in the championship match. Prescod pinned Pedro Manuel Ramos of Walter Williams in 3:04 in the semifinals. This season, Prescod has a 41-9 record with 31 pins, which leads the team. Last week, during senior night at Cedar Ridge, Prescod won his 100th career match as a junior. He now has 104 career wins. He is now three wins behind Ethan Knapp for sixth place on the all-time school career wins list.

At 150 pounds, senior Angus Pritchard captured the championship. A year after not placing in the 170-pound conference tournament, Pritchard scored a major decision over Southern Alamance’s Andrew Dudley 15-7 to take his first conference title.

Pritchard, 21-9 this season with ten pins, pinned Orange’s Evan Parker in the semifinals.

In addition to Cedar Ridge’s four conference champions, they had four others place in the top three in their weight divisions.

Junior Ryan Rakouskas reached the championship match at 157-pound tournament. Rakouskas, who reached the state championships last year, pinned Addison Carey of Person in the semifinals. Jace Rich of Southern Alamance pinned Rakouskas in the title match. Rakouskas is 29-11 with 23 pins this year.

At heavyweight, Aaron Olivares extended his streak with his eighth straight pinfall win in the semifinals by beating Luke White of Southern Alamance. Person’s Trevquan Gary defeated Olivares for the championship. At one point this year, Olivares was 8-9. Now, he goes into this weekend’s State Dual Team Tournament playoff match with a mark of 24-17 with 19 pins.

At 132 pounds, Graylon Collins pinned Hamden Wagner of Southern Alamance in 2:43 of the third place match. Collins is 23-14 with eleven pins in his first year at the varsity level.

Favio Jaramillo Esparza finished third at 106 pounds. He wrestled Person’s Ayden Dymes of Person twice, including in the third-place match. Esparza scratched out a 5-3 decision to improve his record to 31-10 with ten pins.

At 138 pounds, Jordin Blue pinned Dylan Maloney of Southern Alamance to win third place. Blue scored two pins in the tournament and has 13 wins this year.

Cedar Ridge is now waiting for the bracketing for the 32-team 3A State Dual Team Tournament. It will be their seventh appearance in the state tournament. The first and second rounds will be held on Saturday at a location to be determined.

There’s been plenty of milestones around the Cedar Ridge wrestling program recently.

Senior Kaden Tatro is on the verge of breaking the school’s all-time record for wins in program history.

Last week, junior Pierce Prescod won his 100th career match, becoming the seventh wrestler in school history to surpass the century mark.

Yet Prescod is the third Cedar Ridge wrestler in the past three years to win 100 matches, joining Tatro and Fernando Martinez, who is now redshirting as a freshman at Division II UNC Pembroke.

When you consider that Cedar Ridge went 16 years without a 100-win wrestler, it tells you all you need to know about how much depth has arrived within the program under the direction of head coach Scott Metcalf since the pandemic.

Last week, the surest sign came on Senior Night when the Red Wolves celebrated an undefeated Central Conference season by beating Walter Williams 69-9 on January 10 at Red Wolves Gymnasium. Cedar Ridge wrapped up its first Central Conference regular season championship.

It is Cedar Ridge’s second regular season conference championship in wrestling and its first at the 3A level. The other league title came in 2010, when the Red Wolves were a 2A team competing in the Mid-State Conference. With the title, Cedar Ridge automatically gains a spot in the State Dual Team Tournament, which was a point of emphasis for Metcalf.

Last year, Cedar Ridge won the Central Conference Tournament at Orange High School, the first sign of what was ahead in 2024. But the Red Wolves lost dual matches to Orange (the conference regular season champion) and Person, leaving them out of the field of 32.

The Red Wolves officially clinched the title with a 48-21 victory over Western Alamance on January 3 in Hillsborough. Fittingly, senior James Este-Wittinger won the match that sewed up the conference title for the Red Wolves. Este-Wittiner, who qualified for the state championships last year, earned a 6-5 decision over Cameron Pettigrew at 215 pounds to put the Red Wolves ahead 45-15, which proved insurmountable.

Earlier in the night, Prescod, Nathan Vendura, Graylon Collins and Shea Spiller all earned pinfall victories for the Red Wolves. Cedar Ridge’s Alejandro Briones defeated Jaxon Poole 8-6 at 144 pounds to improve Cedar Ridge’s lead to 21-6. Tatro held off Zeke May 6-0 at 175 pounds. Favio Jaramillo Esparza pinned Toriana Murphy at 106 pounds later in the night, while Luis DonJuan won at heavyweight over Evan Hensley of Western Alamance 8-1.

In addition to its victory over Williams on January 10, the Red Wolves defeated Southeast Alamance 71-9 and East Chapel Hill 53-27 to close out the quad meet on its senior night.

Tatro earned his 150th win with three technical fall victories. He defeated Sawyer Marshall of Williams, Holden Noble of East Chapel Hill and Nichols Saounders of Southeast Alamance. In addition, Tatro picked up two more wins during the Chapel Hill quad at Chapel Hill High School last Friday. Tatro got another technical fall win over Sergio Hewitt of Chapel Hill, then pinned Mohammed Jatta of Millbrook. Tatro is now at 152 career wins. The school record is held by Chandler Collins, who finished with 166 victories from 2003-2007.

Tatro is 43-4 with 20 pins and 15 technical falls this season.

Another emerging star is heavyweight Aaron Olivares, who has pinned his last seven opponents. Olivares earned victories over Chris Mellon of Williams, Landen Hill of Southeast Alamance and Stephen Halsey of East Chapel Hill on senior night. He is 23-16 with 18 pins this season.

Prescod, competing at 120 pounds, won all three of his matches on Senior Night. Prescod earned career win #100 with a pin of Henry Parnell of East Chapel Hill. Over the weekend, Prescod pinned Owen Rector of Chapel Hill and Kyle Amose of Millbrook to improve to 39-9 this season with 29 pins.

Junior Ryan Rakouskas has won five straight matches going into this weekend’s Central Conference Tournament. Rakouskas pinned Gabriel Waterhouse of Chapel Hill and John Burch of Millbrook to improve to 28-10 with 23 pins. Rakousaks also qualified for the state championships last year.

It’s not even Christmas yet, but the Cedar Ridge wrestling team already has its New Year’s Resolution set.

Win the Central Conference championship.

When 2024 begins, the Red Wolves will be just two wins away from its first-ever undefeated conference season as a 3A team, and just its second regular season conference championship ever.

Last week, the Red Wolves earned bonus points in six consecutive matches to defeat Eastern Alamance Eagles 58-18 at the Tal Jobe Court in Mebane. The Red Wolves improved to 10-7 overall, 5-0 in the Central Conference.

The Eagles (6-5, 2-2) got pinfall victories from Braxton Ballard (126 pounds), Chasen Phillips (138) and Elijah Watson (113).

Cedar Ridge junior Pierce Prescod started the night by pinning Jayden Batten in just 28 seconds at 120 pounds. Prescod, who won the Central Conference championship at 120 pounds last year, improved to 21-2 after his 15th pin of the season.

Ballard’s pin at 126 evened the match, but Cedar Ridge’s Graylon Collins put the Red Wolves ahead when he pinned Lucas Dodson in 32 seconds. Phillips pinned Jordin Blue in 2:37 to even the dual match at 12-12, but Cedar Ridge won the next nine individual battles for sew up the win.

Alejandro Briones earned his first technical fall win of the season at 144 pounds, beating Carson Gardner 17-1 in 3:07. Angus Pritchard earned a 10-8 decision over Mason Tanner a 150 pounds to put the Red Wolves ahead 20-12.

Ryan Rakouskas, who won the Red Wolf Invitational at 157 pounds last month, chalked up his 14th pin of the season with a victory over Aidan Clark in 33 seconds.

Shea Spiller, at 165 pounds, pinned Wyatt Facuette in 2:36.

At 175 pounds, senior Kaden Tatro notched his tenth victory via technical fall this year when he defeated Christopher Solomon 20-3 in 2:03. Tatro improved to 21-0.

James Este-Wittinger and Joe O’Melia picked up forfeit victories while heavyweight Aaron Olivares pinned Jett Giovani in 2:30.

At 106 pounds, Cedar Ridge’s Colton Jones earned his sixth win of the year with a 10-8 decision over Christopher Hamm.

Cedar Ridge will need to defeat Western Alamance and Walter Williams next month in order to secure an undefeated conference season. The Red Wolves opened the dual season with a 75-6 win over Williams in a non conference tilt on November 15 in Hillsborough.

It’s already been a milestone season for Cedar Ridge, which defeated crosstown rival Orange for the first time ever during a quad meet in Red Wolves Gymnasium December 6.

Last weekend, the Red Wolves split dual matches against two teams from Greensboro. The Red Wolves defeated the Page Pirates 66-15. The Dudley Panthers knocked off Cedar Ridge 49-23.

Tatro maintained his undefeated record with two wins on the day. He scored another tech fall over Cameron Perryman of Dudley, winning 17-2. Tatro earned a victory via injury stoppage against Taylor Parrish of Page. Tatro is 24-0 with 12 pins and eleven tech falls.

Prichard pins both of his opponents. He defeated Deion Marshall of Dudley at 150 pounds. Pritchard also pinned Jax Harrison of Page to improve to 9-2 on the season with four pins.

At 132 pounds, Collins earned a 14-7 decision over Jamarr Parker of Dudley. Later, he pinned Page’s Culley Beavers for his seventh fall of 2023.

Prescod pinned Page’s Lorenzo Kimber for his 16th fall of the year. Dudley’s Jazion Humphrey defeated Prescod 10-8. Prescod is 22-3.

Rakouskas pinned Trystin Andrews of Page to improve to 18-5 with 15 pins on the year. Rakouskas 65% pin percentage is the highest on the team.

On Thursday, Cedar Ridge will make its return to the Tiger Holiday Classic, one of the biggest annual wrestling events in the southeast. Held annually at Chapel Hill High School, the Red Wolves will be one of 41 teams in the event, which will include three teams from Virginia.

There will also be a women’s event, which will include members of Cedar Ridge’s female squad like Zoey Moreno, Julie Hancock, Chloe Pankratz and Mariana Duqum.

For over 20 years, the Cedar Ridge wrestling team had not defeated its crosstown rival, Orange. On Wednesday night, the streak finally ended in resounding fashion as Cedar Ridge defeated Orange 54-21 at Red Wolves Gymasnium. Junior Pierce Prescod earned three wins during the quad match. He pinned Orange’s Adrian Sierra in 1:33. Prescod, competing at 120 pounds, is 16-2 this season with a championship in the Red Wolf Invitational last month. Kaden Tatro won at 175 pounds, beating Orange’s Andre Hill 13-8. Tatro went on to pin Rosewood’s Aldinio Previl in 3:20 later in the night. Tatro is 15-1 this season with individual championships at the Red Wolf Invitational and the Green Hope Grapple at 175 pounds Tatro is looking to return to the 3A State Wrestling championships in February. As a team, Cedar Ridge has a bigger goal ahead: winning the Central Conference regular season championship. Cedar Ridge’s last conference regular season championship in wrestling came in 2010. Last year, the Red Wolves won the Central Conference Tournament championship, but didn’t make the state dual team playoffs. Cedar Ridge is already 3-0 this season with wins over Orange, Person and Southern Alamance. Next Wednesday, Cedar Ridge will travel to Eastern Alamance. This weekend, the Red Wolves travel to Apex High School for the Cougar/Crusader Duals, featuring Apex and Cardinal Gibbons.

Cedar Ridge wrestling’s Kaden Tatro & Pierce Prescod discuss first-ever win over Orange

For over 20 years, the Cedar Ridge wrestling team had not defeated its crosstown rival, Orange. On Wednesday night, the streak finally ended in resounding fashion as Cedar Ridge defeated Orange 54-21 at Red Wolves Gymasnium. Junior Pierce Prescod earned three wins during the quad match. He pinned Orange’s Adrian Sierra in 1:33.