Cedar Ridge Wrestling

Going into the 3A Mideast Regionals at Eastern Guilford High School next month, two Cedar Ridge wrestlers maintain undefeated individual records after a tri-meet in Yanceyville.

On Wednesday night, the Cedar Ridge wrestling team improved to 11-5 after sweeping a tri-meet from Bartlett-Yancey and Burlington Cummings. The Red Wolves rode a key pinfall win by James Rosati-Brown to a 33-30 win over the Buccaneers. Competing at 152 pounds, Rosati-Brown pinned BY’s Logan Church in 3:09. It was Rosati-Brown’s 70th career win. Later in the night against Cummings, Rosati Brown would earn a forfeit win to go to 16-0 on the season.

At 160 pounds, freshman Kaden Tatro pinned Christian Smith in 1:30. Thomas Bradley secured the dual match win for the Red Wolves with a 10-8 decision over Jakoby Casselman.

Fernando Martinez, Kady Watkins and Daina Pritchard earned forfeit wins for the Red Wolves against the Buccaneers.

Pritchard moved to 16-0 on the year as Cedar Ridge defeated Cummings 47-30 in the final match of the night. At 145 pounds, Prichard earned a technical fall over Elijah Collins 18-3. It was one of only two matches that didn’t end in a forfeit. In the other, Cedar Ridge heavyweight Aidan Kearns pinned Cummings’ Wesley Reese in 37 seconds. Two female wrestlers for the Red Wolves, Watkins and Zoey Moreno, picked up forfeit wins. Watkins has ten victories this year. Also winning via forfeit against the Cavaliers were Rosati-Brown, Martinez, Tatro, and Bradley. Martinez, a sophomore, now has a career record of 49-14. He will go for his 50th career win tonight when Cedar Ridge faces Greensboro Grimsley and Montgomery Central in another tri-meet.

Women’s Tennis: Orange 8, Cedar Ridge 1; Orange 9, Vance County 0

The Orange women’s tennis team has won four consecutive matches, as well as seven of its last eight. For the second year in a row, the Lady Panthers swept the season series from crosstown rival Cedar Ridge. On Wednesday, Orange defeated Cedar Ridge 8-1.

Freshmen started in two singles spots for Orange Coach Justin Webb. Grace Pell won at #2 singles 6-1, 6-1. At #3 singles, Finley White captured her match 6-1, 6-0. Halle Boroski and Emma Williamson also had singles wins for the Lady Panthers.

Cedar Ridge captured the #1 singles match. Freshman Cameron Mayhew won 6-0, 6-2 to improve to 3-2 in single play this year. Mayhew is the younger sister of Josh Mayhew, who became the first Cedar Ridge player to reach a state championship tennis final earlier this month in the 3A men’s championships at the Burlington Tennis Center.

Orange junior Jinkie Andrews won at #4 singles 6-2, 6-2. Later in the day, Andrews teamed with senior Morgan Gwinn to win at #1 doubles 8-4. Boroski & Williamson won at #2 doubles. Tea Jones and senior Lindsey Jouannet finished the day with an 8-3 victory in #3 doubles.

In what will likely be the final head-to-head matchup between Orange and Vance County in any sport as conference rivals, the Lady Panthers two dual matches over the Vipers on Thursday afternoon. Orange won 9-0. The Vipers, who brought three players in from Henderson, forfeited the final match.

Andrews started at #1 singles and won 8-0. Jouannet won at #2 singles. Sophomore Madelyn Horn captured her #3 singles match. Isabelle Lynn and Ashley Behringer won the only doubles match that was contested 8-0.

Orange is now 7-3 overall, 6-3 in the Big 8 Conference. The Lady Panthers will host senior day against Northwood on Tuesday. First, the two teams will complete a suspended match from May 5 that started in Pittsboro. The Chargers led 4-3 at the time of the stoppage. Orange and Northwood will then play its regularly scheduled match.

Cedar Ridge will host Northern Durham on Tuesday. The Red Wolves defeated the Knights 9-0 on May 5. Cedar Ridge is also scheduled to face Vance County on June 7.

The Big 8 Women’s Tennis Tournament is scheduled for June 11. The 3A Mideast Regionals will be held at the Burlington Tennis Center on June 18.

The Cedar Ridge wrestling team’s dual matches continue to be tight. And their top three grapplers continue to hold undefeated records.

For senior night at Red Wolves Gymnasium on Tuesday night, Cedar Ridge defeated Southern Alamance 48-30. In its Big 8 Conference match, the Red Wolves narrowly lost to defending league champion Chapel Hill 45-33.

The loss ended Cedar Ridge’s five-match winning streak. The Red Wolves are now 7-5.

Two Cedar Ridge seniors improved to 12-0 for the season. At 145 pounds, Daina Pritchard pinned Stanley Eno of Southern Alamance in 2:48. Later, Pritchard rode out a 6-2 decision over Chapel Hill’s Bar Dinh 6-2. Pritchard is now 62-33 for his Red Wolves career. He also finished 4-0 lifetime against Chapel Hill.

At 152 pounds, Red Wolf senior James Rosati-Brown earned a forfeit win over Southern Alamance. Against Chapel Hill, Rosati-Brown pinned Leo Davenport in 2:58. Of Rosati-Brown’s 12 wins this year, seven have been via pinfal. His fastest came against East Chapel Hill’s William Weis in only 20 seconds last Thursday.

Also maintaining an unblemished record was Cedar Ridge sophomore Fernando Martinez, who added two more pins to his quickly growing career total Tuesday night. Competing at 120 pounds, Martinez pinned Southern Alamance’s Walker East in :58 seconds. Against Chapel Hill, Martinez disposed of Jack Krueger in 1:05. Midway through his sophomore season, Martinez has a 46-13 career record. Of those 46 wins, exactly half have been via pinfall.

Cedar Ridge senior and co-Captain Kady Watkins earned her seventh win of the season. Against Southern Alamance, Watkins pinned Lucas Perry in 2:35. It was her fourth pin of the season. Watkins has also pinned Southeast Guilford’s Colon Krall in 2:33 during a tri-meet at Orange on May 6. She pinned Eastern Alamance’s Mason Tanner in 2:49. Last week, Watkins defeated East Chapel Hill’s Cuong Tran in 1:57.

Against Southern Alamance, Thomas Bradley scored a pin at 182 pounds over Nicholas Reid in 40 seconds to secure the dual match win. Cedar Ridge’s Wyatt Robinson pinned Nate Ayers in 50 seconds at 195 pounds.

Cedar Ridge’s Gavin Mintz (160), Kaden Tatro (170) earns forfeit wins to complete the win over the Patriots.

The Red Wolves will face Carrboro and Orange in a special tri-meet on Thursday. It will be the second time this year the Red Wolves have taken on the Jaguars and the Panthers.

Cedar Ridge baseball to hold vs. Cancer benefit against Orange

The Cedar Ridge baseball team will start the second half of its season on Friday night against Northwood. However, Red Wolves baseball coach Bryson Emerson is quickly putting together a benefit to fight cancer for the game against Orange on May 28.

The Vs. Cancer game will have a first pitch scheduled for 6PM, immediately after the junior varsity contest between the Panthers and the Red Wolves.

“We’ll be raffling off lots of stuff,” Emerson said. “There will be many items from local restaurants and businesses.”

All proceeds will go to fight childhood cancer.

There will also be a proceed night at Jersey Mike’s on Oakdale Drive, a short drive from Cedar Ridge. There will also be items donated from several Major League Baseball players.

After forfeit wins over Vance County and Southern Durham over the past week, Cedar Ridge will start the second half of its Big 8 Conference slate against Northwood on Friday night in Hillsborough. First pitch will be at 6 o’clock at Red Wolves Territory. You can hear the game with Curran Campbell and Jmari Graham on Hillsboroughsports.com.

On Tuesday, Bethany Community School defeated the Red Wolves 7-6 in Summerfield. Trailing 6-4 going into the bottom of the seventh inning, Bethany scored three runs to win the game, ending with a walkoff single.

Senior Trent Kirby hit a two-run homer for the Red Wolves in the top of the second inning. Kirby scored Bryan Flores, who singled to leadoff the inning. Cedar Ridge’s B.J. Thornton went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is senior wrestler James Rosati-Brown. This season, Rosati-Brown is 10-0. Last week, he went 4-0. That included a pinfall of East Chapel Hill’s William Weis in just 20 seconds. He also pinned Khamani Dixon of Northern Durham as the Red Wolves won all four of its dual matches against East Chapel Hill, Eastern Alamance, Northern Durham and Vance County. Two weeks ago, Rosati-Brown edged Orange’s Matthew Smith-Breeden 4-3 at Orange High. Earlier that night, Rosati-Brown pinned Southeast Guilford’s Ryan Murphy in 2:35. He opened the year by pinning Northwood’s Nate Davis in 1:57. The pandemic has robbed Rosati-Brown of something he loves, which is wrestling in individual tournaments like the Jim King/Orange Invitational at Orange High, the Buccaneer Invitational at Bartlett-Yancey, the Red Wolf Invitational at Cedar Ridge and the Tiger Holiday Classic at Chapel Hill. With the 3A Mideast Regionals set for next month, Rosati-Brown hopes to end his career in the state tournament. He is the winningest active wrestler at Cedar Ridge with 65 victories. On Tuesday, Cedar Ridge will host a tri-meet with Chapel Hill and Southern Alamance as Rosati-Brown looks to remain undefeated for 2021.

What many would consider a successful start to their high school career is what Fernando Martinez describes as “getting his butt kicked.” Martinez, a sophomore wrestler at Cedar Ridge, went 34-13 in his freshman year while competing at 106 pounds. That included a fourth place finish at the Mideast Regionals in February 2020. Martinez also won the 106-pound tournament at the Buccaneer Cup at Bartlett Yancey High School in January 2020. This year, wrestling mainly at 120-pounds, Martinez is off to a 10-0 start. That included a gutsy win over East Chapel Hill’s Asher Yeo on Thursday, even though Martinez injured his left shoulder midway through the match. Last week, Martinez pinned Orange’s Colton Jones in 4:37, then earned a forfeit win against Southeast Guilford. On Thursday, Martinez picked up another forfeit victory against Vance County to improve his career record to 44-13 midway through his sophomore year. Cedar Ridge won both dual matches to improve to 6-4 on the season. The Red Wolves grapplers will return to action on Tuesday with a tri-meet at Cedar Ridge Gymnasium. They will face Southern Alamance and Chapel Hill.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is senior wrestler Daina Pritchard. Last week, Pritchard scored three pins as the Red Wolves faced Carrboro, Southeast Guilford and Orange. Pritchard pinned Carrboro’s Berk Kesimer in 57 seconds, pinned Sam Crawford of Orange in 3:50 and defeated Southeast Guilford’s Xavier Jones in 1:36. This season, Pritchard is 6-0 with five pins. Last season, Pritchard finished third in the 132-pound weight class of the Jim King Invitational at Orange High. In the third place match, Pritchard defeated Orange’s Matthew Smith-Breeden 9-1. He also won the 138-pound championship at the Buccaneer Cup at Bartlett-Yanchey High School in January 2020. Pritchard scored three pins to take the championship, ending with a victory over Bartlett Yancey’s Jakob Casselmann in three minutes. Many of the traditional tournament that Daina has competed in over the years, like the Jim King Invitational and the Tiger Holiday Classic at Chapel Hill, were canceled this year because of the pandemic. In addition to wrestling, Prichard was a linebacker for Cedar Ridge football this season. Pritchard will look to continue his strong senior season tonight when Cedar Ridge hosts a tri-meet inside Red Wolves Gymnasium.

Women’s Soccer: The standard for goal scoring at Cedar Ridge for years, and possibly decades, to come will be 87 goals.

That’s what Cedar Ridge senior forward Emerson Talley ended her storied high school career with after the Red Wolves defeated Vance County 9-0 in Henderson on Monday. It was Talley’s 14th career hat trick and the fourth of the abbreviated 2021 season.

The Red Wolves ended the season 5-9 after Southern Durham forfeited the final game of the season, which was slated for Wednesday night. Talley, who vowed to former Cedar Ridge head coach P.J. Michaelson that she would score 100 goals in her career, likely would have exceeded that total in her junior season if it wasn’t for the pandemic.

Last week, Talley formally signed with Division II Lenoir-Rhyne.

As Talley’s career ended with a hat trick, a Red Wolf freshman had her first three-goal game. Rachel Alverson had a hat trick for Cedar Ridge, as well. In her final game, Cedar Ridge’s Nicol Anderson had a brace.

ORANGE 4, NORTHERN DURHAM 1

The Orange women’s soccer team concluded its most successful season since 2015 with a 4-1 victory over Northern Durham at James Armstrong Stadium on Wednesday night.

Sophomore Madison Orange scored two goals for the Lady Panthers, who finished the season 11-5. In her final game, senior co-Captain Logan Rogers notched a goal and dished out an assist. Sophomore Isabel Jones also scored a goal for Orange. Freshman Ella Wimsatt had two assists. Junior Bella Brown, who transferred from Alamance Christian School last summer, also assisted on a goal.

Brown ended the year as Orange’s leading scorer with 15 goals and four assists, as well as four hat tricks.

In terms of record, Orange had its best season since they went 15-4-2 in 2015.

WRESTLING: ORANGE 78, NORTHERN DURHAM 0; ORANGE 60, EAST CHAPEL HILL 18

For the first time this century, the Orange wrestling team started as challengers to the Big 8 Conference title as opposed to the defending champions. Things started promising as the Panthers defeated East Chapel Hill 60-18 on Tuesday night inside Panther Gymnasium.

On Thursday, Orange rolled past Northern Durham 78-0 in Hillsborough. Only four matches were contested as the Panthers claimed the other nine bouts via forfeit.

Matthew Smith-Breeden pinned Wyatt Gardner at 152 pounds. At 220 pounds, Hugo Vazquez scored his second pin of the week. Tyler Larkin earned a pin at heavyweight over John Neiman. Samuel Crawford scored his own pin at 145 pounds. Dillon Heffernan, Talan Pearley, Joshua Dunn, Kessel Summers, Avery Clark, Chase Harward, Nate Hecht, Brendon Worsham, and Korbin Nevius all earned forfeit wins.

Against East Chapel Hill, Orange scored nine pinfalls. Summers, a junior who has committed to wrestle at Bluefield College (NAIA) in Virginia, earned a pinfall victory. Joshua Dunn (126), Jose Grimaldo (145), Smith-Breeden (152), Hecht (170), Worsham (182), Nevius (195), Vasquez (220), and Larkin also scored pins for Orange.

CEDAR RIDGE 52, SOUTHERN DURHAM 24

On Thursday night, the Cedar Ridge wrestling team earned its first win of the young season with a 52-24 victory over Southern Durham. The Red Wolves got pins from Fernando Martinez at 120 pounds and veteran James Rosati-Brown at 152 pounds.

Daina Pritchard, fresh off of wrestling season ending, scored a major decision over Thomas Johnson 14-5 at 145 pounds. Mac McGhee, Gavin Mintz, Kaden Tatro, C.J. Jackson, Wyatt Robinson, and Aiden Kearns all claimed forfeit wins.

On Tuesday, Cedar Ridge participated in a tri-match against Northwood and Providence Grove. The Chargers edged the Red Wolves 40-36. Martinez scored a pin at 1:16 in his match. Pritchard, Rosati-Brown and Tatro all earned pinfall victories, as well. At 195 pounds, Wyatt Robinson pinned Northwood’s Jason Schroeder in 1:59.

Providence Grove defeated the Red Wolves 60-21. Martinez earned another pin over Logan Armfield in 1:18. Pritchard pinned Derrick Isley in 1:43. Rosati-Brown pinned Nathan Hutcherson in 3:03. Robinson grinded out a 5-2 decision over Gavin Hardister at 195.

MEN’S TENNIS:

CEDAR RIDGE 9, SOUTHERN DURHAM 0

Will Ballenger and Colby Alford ended their senior seasons successfully for the Cedar Ridge men’s tennis team on Wednesday afternoon. The Red Wolves rolled past Southern Durham to conclude the regular season 9-4. It was Cedar RIdge’s most successful dual season since 2017, when the Red Wolves finished 10-3.

Ballenger started at #1 singles and captured a 6-1, 6-1 win. Alford started at #2 singles and won 6-0, 6-2. Junior Derrick Stephens, Bowen Woods and Leo Filley also picked up singles wins for the Red Wolves.

In doubles, Ballenger and Alford teamed for a win at #1. Walker Richards-Baker and Jason Pattison won at #2 doubles. Woods and Filley completed the sweep at #3 doubles.

Cedar Ridge will start play in the Big 8 Conference Men’s Tennis Championships inside Lindsey Linker Tennis Courts at East Chapel Hill High School on Friday afternoon.

ORANGE 6, SOUTHERN DURHAM 0

The Orange men’s tennis team completed its fourth straight winning season with a 6-0 victory at Southern Durham on Tuesday.

Colin O’Hagerty, Joseph Clark, Finn Kelly, Tristan Plummer, Brandon Kessler and Jackson Panning took singles wins for the Panthers.

Photo by Cassie Summers

Despite a down year by traditional team standards, Orange High wrestling will have three representatives at the 3A State Championships this week.

Brendon Worsham, Kessel Summers and Xavier Tinnen all qualified during the Mideast Regionals at Cape Fear High School in Fayetteville on Saturday. Worsham, who had only four varsity matches entering this year, reached the finals of the 182 pound championship, falling to Eastern Guilford’s Perry Sharpe 13-10 in the final match.

On Friday, Worsham opened by pinning Alex Christian of Cedar Ridge in 3:40. Worsham pinned Carl Thames of West Johnston in 3:04 to advance to the semifinals.

On Saturday, Worsham defeated Walter Williams’ Joshua Shorter 11-3, becoming the only wrestler from Hillsborough to reach a championship final in the event. It was the 2nd time this year that Worsham finished 2nd in a tournament. In the Silver Fox Tournament at Riverside High in Durham on January 25, Worsham had a runner-up finish at 182 pounds.

Summers, a junior reached the state championships for the second year in a row. Competing at 126 pounds, Summers rolled past Union Pines’ Andrew Clark 14-5 in the 3rd place match. Last year, Summers finished third at 113 pounds in the regionals at Southeast Guilford High, where he pinned Southern Durham’s Shyheem Davis at 4:57 to move on to Greensboro.

Tinnen, who was 8-3 last season wrestling at 220 pounds, finished fourth at 195 pounds. This was the first time that Tinnen participated in a regional championship. Last year, Donald Hicks competed at 195 pounds for Orange, while Jake McBroom wrestled at 220.

On Friday, Tinnen pinned East Chapel Hill’s Fathi Awawdeh in 1:06, then pinned Eastern Alamance’s Gonzalez Turner in 1:22. In the semifinals, Westover’s Marcus Williams pinned Tinnen. In the consolation round, Tinnen defeated Malachi Nettles of Trinity to clinch a spot in the state tournament. Southern Durham’s Jamae Blank defeated Tinnen for third place.

The career of Orange heavyweight Juan Navarro came to an end shy of reaching his goal of qualifying for the state championships. Navarro faced Chapel Hill’s Benjamin Yates in the opening round, two weeks after their match in the regular season went past triple overtime and into a ride out. On that night, Navarro escaped and won 3-2. On Friday, Yates pinned Navarro at 5:59.

Navarro rebounded to beat Cedar Ridge’s Louis Tedder and Union Pines’ Kellen DeVries in the consolation round. Northwood’s Ben McGaughnea pinned Navarro, who won over 80 matches in his Orange career despite starting only the past two years.

Cedar Ridge’s season ended on Saturday. Freshman Fernando Martinez and Alex Davis came the closest to reaching Greensboro. Martinez was eliminated in the consolation semifinals by Southern Durham’s Ashton O’Neal via forfeit. Martinez pinned Western Alamance’s Evan Connetta in 1:18 of the opening match, then he reached the semifinals after beating Grey’s Creek’s Zane Ray 15-9. Chapel Hill’s Lucas Daly defeated Martinez by technical fall and was injured during the match.

Davis, competing at 138 pounds, also reached the semifinals. In the opening round, he pinned Western Alamance’s Mason Hogsed in 2:41. Davis defeated Harnett Central’s Jorge Cruz in 3:05. Union Pines Aaron Faison, who won the championship, pinned Davis in 4:30. Kaleb Williams of Fayetteville Byrd, who eliminated Orange’s Henry Joubert-Stenzel earlier in the day, defeated Davis 12-1.

The 3A State Championships get underway at 5 o’clock Friday afternoon at the Greensboro Coliseum. The consolation rounds start Friday morning at 9, while the championship semifinals will be at 6 PM. The Championship Finals will be held at 4 o’clock Saturday afternoon.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is junior wrestler Kady Watkins. Last week, Watkins became the first female wrestler in Hillsborough history to reach the semifinals of a state championship. Watkins defeated Swansboro’s Madeline Copley 9-6 in the 120B-pound division. Watkins earned ten victories this season for Cedar Ridge. She got involved in wrestling when she realized that cheerleading wasn’t her taste. Even though she’s competed in track & field, wrestling is her top sport. In fact, her younger sister Emma is also a wrestler at Cedar Ridge and the Red Wolves wrestling team had four female grapplers on the squad this year. Now that Kady’s wrestling season has ended, she will focus on track & field this spring. Then it will be back to training for the start of wrestling season next fall, where Watkins aims to place in next February’s women’s state championships.

Last year, Kady Watkins made history. This year, she wanted something more.

In 2019, Watkins became the first woman from Hillsborough to compete for a high school wrestling state championship in the 1st annual North Carolina High School Athletic Association Women’s Wrestling Invitational in Winston-Salem. Competing at 126 pounds, Watkins lost her first round match, but rebounded to pin Haley Shipes of West Mecklenburg in the consolation round. Sarah McLaurin of the N.C. School of Science and Math eliminated Watkins in the next round via a 9-2 decision.

On Saturday in the 2nd annual women’s invitational in Concord, Watkins wanted to place in the 120 pound championships–if not win it.

 “She is an absolutely wonderful kid, she is not only a role model for the other girls on the team but the guys as well,” said Cedar Ridge wrestling coach Scott Metcalf of Watkins, who frequently leads the team in stretching exercises to conclude daily workouts. “She has the respect of her teammates, she works hard, has a great attitude and most importantly is extremely coachable, which not all kids our nowadays.”

In the end, Watkins fell short of her goal, but she did make some history along the way.

She became the first female wrestler from Hillsborough to reach the semifinals of a state championship when she defeated Swansboro’s Madeline Coplen via a 9-6 decision in the quarterfinals.

On top of that, Watkins lost to the eventual state champion. Abby Phillips of South Caldwell defeated Watkins by technical fall. Phillips, who ended the year 25-16, pinned Makalya Wright in 2:29 to win the championship.

“She was really hoping to place this year. But I know she’ll use it as motivation for next year,” said Metcalf. ” Sometimes matchups play a role in some of these tournaments on whether a wrestler will place or not. I think that may have been the case here. She has been an absolute joy to coach and I was really heartbroken today when she came up a little short because she deserved it.”

Watkins, a junior, finished 10-19 this year. She still has her senior season to meet her goals. But if the middle school scene in Hillsborough is any indication, she can take solace in knowing she is very much a trendsetter.

This year, there were four female wrestlers at Cedar Ridge. Freshmen Sun Tha (106 pounds), Raelyn Broucksou (113), and Emma Watkins (Kady’s sister at 126 pounds) all joined Watkins in the state women’s championships.

Plus, the middle school scene at Stanback Middle School has active female wrestlers who helped the Bulldogs to a 2nd place finish in the Orange Person Athletic Conference this year.

Tha pinned Desta Daniels of Jacksonville in the opening round of the 106B pound division. Laila Sa of Hoke County pinned Tha in 41 seconds. Sophia Forquer of Corinth Holders eliminated Tha in the consolation round.

Broucksou lost her opening match, but rebounded to pin Eastern Alamance’s Alaina Kunder in 4:20 of the 113B pound division. Broucksou defeated Hertiage’s Bryanna Luihn 4-0 to reach the consolation semis, but was pinned by Jacksonville’s Teah Chunn, who wound up finishing third.

Emma Watkins, a freshman, won three matches in the consolation round. After dropping her opening bout to Marissa Connelly of West Henderson, Watkins pinned Northern Nash’s Elizabeth Daniels in 1:52. She pinned Alliana Garcia of Albermarle in 2:54. Watkins pinned Dekira Baker of Fairmont in just 14 seconds. Lillian Sealey of High Point Central pinned Watkins in the consolation semifinals.