Cedar Ridge High School

The fall sports season is drawing to a close with some playoff intrigue in football and men’s soccer. On Monday night, the Cedar Ridge men’s soccer team dropped a 1-0 decision to Southern Durham on senior night at Red Wolves Stadium. The Spartans scored in the opening minute and largely packed in its defense the rest of the game to hold Cedar Ridge scoreless.

It was a costly loss to Cedar Ridge’s playoff chances. On Tuesday, the Red Wolves’ MaxPreps ranking fell to #68. They’re 7-12-1 overall, 5-9 in the Big 8 Conference. While Southern Durham’s MaxPreps ranking is #67, they can’t make the state playoffs ahead of the Red Wolves because Cedar Ridge finished ahead of them in the Big 8 standings.

Last week, the Orange football team kept its playoff hopes alive with a dramatic 31-30 overtime win over Northwood. Machai Holt scored in overtime for the game-winning score. Sophomore Omarion Lewis scored three touchdowns.

On Saturday, the season ended for the Cedar Ridge and Orange High volleyball teams. Terry Sanford defeated the Red Wolves 3-1 in the opening round of the 3A State Playoffs. Clayton swept Orange. Two nights later the Comets stunned previously undefeated Grey’s Creek 3-0 to advance to the Round of 16.

The Big 8 Conference Cross Country Championships were held at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary last Thursday. We’ll have more details on the results in a post coming up later tonight.

Now, here’s the Magnificent 7 from Week 9 of the Fall Sports Season:

Anne Morrell: Finished 10th in the Big 8 Women’s Cross Country Championships with a time of 19:52.70. Helped Cedar Ridge finish 3rd in the Big 8. The Red Wolves will compete in the 3A Mideast Regionals at Northwood High School in Pittsboro on Saturday.

Allison Musty: This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week, Musty was also named to the All-Big 8 Conference team in women’s cross country (Morrell was, as well). Musty finished 15th overall in the Big 8 Championships, crossing the finish line at 20:34.30.

Reese Weaver: Scored a hat trick in Cedar Ridge’s 9-0 win over Vance County on October 23. Weaver has eleven goals for the Red Wolves this season.

Levi Draughon: A sophomore, Draughon finished 19th in the Big 8 Men’s Cross Country Championships for Cedar Ridge. He was the highest finisher among Cedar Ridge runners. Cedar Ridge finished 4th as a team.

Omarion Lewis: The sophomore Orange running back was named the Orange Panther of the Week after rushing for 95 yards and three touchdowns in the Panthers 31-30 win over Northwood in overtime last Friday night. Lewis leads the team in rushing.

Machai Holt: Made an interception in the fourth quarter of the Northwood game. Two plays later, Holt scored off a 32-yard touchdown pass from Wyatt Jones to tie the game against Northwood. Holt scored on a 10-yard touchdown run in overtime. Holt leads the team with eight touchdowns.

McKenzie Hawks: Hawks competed in the 3A Central Regional Women’s Golf Championships at Greensboro National Golf Club last week. Hawks, a senior, shot 107. Sarah Durham, an Orange sophomore, were the only Hillsborough representatives in the Central Regional Championships.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is cross country runner Allison Musty.  Last week, Musty finished 15th at the Big 8 Championships at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary. She made the All-Big 8 Conference team. Musty helped Cedar Ridge finished 3rd as a team in the conference. Musty, a senior, helped set the school record in the 4×400 relay team in outdoor track & field for Cedar Ridge in 2017.  Last year, Musty was part of the Cedar Ridge 4×800 relay team that qualified for the 3A State Track & Field Championships in Greensboro. In cross country,  Musty helped the Cedar Ridge women’s cross country team qualify for the state championships as a team when they finished 2nd in the 3A Mideast Regionals in 2018. This weekend, Cedar Ridge has a goal of repeating its success when they compete in the Mideast Regionals again. It will be held Saturday at Northwood High School in Pittsboro.  

By Curran Campbell

We had another week of coastal chaos, and another week of football teams performing at levels of derp never seen before by mankind. We also have our third team so far this season to hit the bottom of the power rankings, keep reading and find out who has become the worst of the worst.

Miami

Miami took advantage of too many Pitt mistakes and busted out the turnover chain 3 times in a gross 16-12 victory over the Panthers. The Miami offense continues to be absolutely dreadful, as they only put up a measly 208 yard of total offense. That being said, they did enough to win and that’s all that matters at the end of the day.

Louisville

Tailback Javian Hawkins and quarterback Micale Cunningham combined for 233 yards rushing as Louisville took 28-21 victory over Virginia. The scoreboard would indicate a close game but the Cardinal ground attack was just too much to handle for the Hoos, and Louisville completely dominated the second half of play.

Clemson

Clemson beat Boston College 59-7. That is all.

Florida State

Florida State started running away with it early, and a couple of garbage time touchdowns made it look way closer than it really was as the Noles took care of Syracuse 35-17. Cam Akers continues to look like one of the top 3 tailbacks in the conference along with Clemson’s Travis Etienne and Louisville’s Javian Hawkins as he put up 144 yards and 4 touchdowns on the ground.

North Carolina

Carolina kind of played like garbage against Duke if we are going to be honest. They did their very best to make sure the Victory Bell stayed in Durham for a fourth straight year, but as most of you probably know already, it’s back in Chapel Hill. The Heels barely, and I mean barely held on for a 20-17 victory as the Tar Heel defense really did play their best game of the season and Chazz Surratt made the big play with 14 seconds left with the interception on the Deon Jackson jump pass when it really mattered. We will have a lot more to say about this game in the Duke section of this ramble.

Pitt

So far this season, Pitt has had a habit of playing the same level of football as their opponent. Playing up to Penn State and UCF, while playing down to the likes of Duke, Syracuse, Delaware, and now Miami in a 16-12 loss. Kenny Pickett was dreadful, going 18-32 for only 146 yards and throwing it to the wrong colored jersey twice. The Pitt defense was good, as it has been all season, but if that offense doesn’t clean it up, they’re going to continue to struggle down the stretch.

Virginia

Virginia on the road is bad. Virginia at home is good. Unfortunately, we were stuck with road Virginia on Saturday as they dropped this one to Louisville 28-21. UVa is now 1-3 on the road and it’s not going to get any easier as they have to travel to Chapel Hill next week. Until UVa can figure out how to win on the road, they will not be the team they are capable of being. Which in my opinion, is a 9 win season with a coastal crown. So far, they’re underperforming.

Boston College

I am sorry that you guys had to lose 59-7 to Clemson. That is all.

Syracuse

Syracuse football continues to disappoint me in new ways every single week. This time with a 35-17 loss to another bad team, this time it was Florida State. The offensive line is still dreadful, surrendering 7 sacks, and quarterback Tommy DeVito isn’t getting any better as the season progresses. DeVito has been lauded as the QB of the future for the Orange and his performance has been so bad that the Orange are now prowling the transfer market looking for another quarterback. A report from Chris Carlson of syracuse.com indicates that former North Carolina quarterback Cade Fortin will be taking an official visit to Syracuse this week. Take with that what you will.

Duke

Duke lost the Battle for the Victory Bell for the first time since 2015. A 20-17 loss in a game you had every opportunity to win stings, and really all the blame can be put on two guys. Those being quarterback Quentin Harris and offensive coordinator Zac Roper. First up to be grilled, Quentin Harris. On the surface, 22-39 for 229 yards with one touchdown and one pick isn’t terrible. That being said, the interception came on a wide open throw that Harris simply missed deep in Carolina territory, taking at least 3 points away from the Blue Devils. Outside of the interception, Harris missed quite a few crucial 3rd down throws that could have kept the ball moving for Duke and avoided having to put together a final drive in the first place. Now Zac Roper, you’re going to be remembered for this mistake for a long, long time. Who in the right mind calls a jump pass at the 2 yard line with your tailback throwing it? If you want to throw the ball there, you run a fade route to one of your receivers who the Carolina corners had been struggling with the whole game. But for whatever reason, Roper took a class at the Larry Fedora School For Coaches That Get Too Cute Near The Goal Line, and went with the jump pass by the tailback. Yikes.

Power Rankings

1. Clemson, duh.
2. Wake Forest
3. North Carolina
4. Virginia Tech
5. Louisville
6. Virginia
7. Florida State
8. Pitt
9. Duke
10. Boston College
11. NC State
12. Miami
13. Georgia Tech
14. Syracuse

Predictions

NC State at Wake Forest: Wake Forest, 35-24

Boston College at Syracuse: Syracuse, 21-20

Virginia Tech at Notre Dame: Notre Dame, 38-17

Miami at Florida State: Florida State, 34-10

Wofford at Clemson: Clemson, 100-0

Pitt at Georgia Tech: Pitt, 45-24

Virginia at North Carolina: North Carolina, 31-28

Last week’s predictions: 4-1

Season total: 13-9

Adam Chnupa: On Saturday, the Elon football team came from behind to defeat Rhode Island 38-13 in Meade Stadium in Kingston, RI. Chnupa, a former Cedar Ridge All-Big 8 football and baseball player, played on special teams as the Phoenix won its second straight game. This season, Chnupa has played in four games for Elon, who are now 4-4 overall, 3-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association. The Phoenix host William & Mary for Homecoming next Saturday at Rhodes Stadium.

Keshawn Thompson: Among the wild games throughout the country on Saturday was Campbell’s 49-47 triple overtime win over Gardner-Webb at Spangler Stadium in Boiling Springs. Thompson, a redshirt sophomore who graduated from Orange in 2017, assisted on two tackles for the Camels. He also had a tackle for loss. Campbell is 6-1, 3-0 in the Big South. They travel to North Alabama next Saturday for a nonconference game.

Rodney Brooks: In the CIAA on Saturday, Winston-Salem State shutout Livingston 21-0 at Alumni Memorial Stadium in Salisbury. Brooks entered the game as a safety, made one tackle and assisted on two others. The Blue Bears fell to 4-4, 1-4 in the CIAA. They host Fayetteville State next Saturday.

Kevin Wright: In Rocky Mount, Division III Brevard defeated North Carolina Wesleyan 26-20 at Rocky Mount Stadium. Wright had one solo tackle and assisted on two others as the Battling Bishops fell to 3-4, 2-2 in the USA South Athletic Conference. Wright has played in four games for Wesleyan this season. The Bishops travel to Methodist next Saturday.

Lionel Reid-Shaw: On senior day for the Division III Dickinson men’s soccer team on Saturday, Reid-Shaw started at centerback as the Red Devils defeated Haverford 2-1 in Carlisle, PA. Reid-Shaw fired a shot on goal as Dickinson improved to 9-6, 5-2 in the Centennial Conference. On Wednesday, Reid-Shaw will play his final home game for Dickinson, who will host Muhlenberg on Wednesday night. Dickinson is in 3rd place in the Centennial Conference, one game in the loss column behind Franklin & Marshall.

Kayla Hodges: The Elon women’s soccer team suffered a tough loss on Thursday. Delaware defeated the Phoenix 2-0 at Grant Stadium in Newark, DE. Hodges, who had goals in three consecutive games coming into the game, started at midfield and fired a shot on net. The Phoenix had only three shots on net in the game. Elon is 11-4-2 overall, 5-2-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association. Elon is now tied with Delaware for third in the loss column in the CAA.

Taylin Jean: The Division II Limestone women’s soccer team defeated Southern Wesleyan University 2-0 at Saints Field in Gaffney, SC on Saturday. Jean posted her seven shutout of the season. She started and played 52 minutes before being replaced by Paige Renkosik, who was among eight seniors who played their final home game. Jean is 8-6 as the goalkeeper of the Saints this season. Limestone is 7-2 in Conference Carolinas. They’re in 3rd place in the league, two games behind Mount Olive for 1st place.

Brittany Daley: On Senior Day for the Division III Greensboro College women’s soccer team defeated North Carolina Wesleyan 2-0 at Pride Field on Saturday. Daley started again at centerback. She has started all 17 games for Greensboro. The Pride ended the regular season 12-4-1, 6-1-1 in the USA South Athletic Conference. They will be the top seed for the USA South Athletic Conference Tournament, which starts later this week.

Jordan Rogers: The William Peace women’s soccer team defeated Averett University 3-0 at Campbell Stadium in Danville, VA on Saturday. With the victory, the Pacers set the program record for most wins in a season. Rogers, who graduated from Orange in 2018, started her 18th game of the season for Peace. The Pacers are now 7-10-1, 3-5 in the USA South. The Pacers will also start play in the USA South Conference Tournament this week.

Lili Henry: On Friday night, two former Hillsborough volleyball players squared off against each other again. Lili Henry, who graduated from Cedar Ridge in 2018, suited up for Division III Methodist against Meredith. The Avenging Angels defeated the Monarchs 3-1 on scores of 21-25, 25-13, 25-22 and 25-7. Henry had 15 assists, one ace, one kill and two digs. Methodist is 6-16, 5-9 in the USA South.

Bailey Lucas: Lucas played all four sets for Meredith against Methodist. She finished with 16 assists and five digs. The Avenging Angels are 16-7 overall, 10-2 in the USA South. Meredith is tied in the loss column with Averett for 1st place in the conference.

For the better part of the last decade, Southern Durham has been one of the most dominant teams in central North Carolina. But now, in 2019, after two surprising back-to-back losing seasons, the Spartans are back among the state’s elite – and on Friday night in Durham, Southern showed that it absolutely is a team to be reckoned with in the 3A state playoffs in a few weeks. Cedar Ridge came to town hoping to play spoiler and uproot one of the best seasons in recent Southern history, but the Spartans (8-1, 5-0 Big 8) scored 20 points within the first four minutes and dominated an outmatched Cedar Ridge (1-8, 1-4) squad from start to finish, 54-0. It was the eighth straight win this year for Southern, and the third loss by shutout for Cedar Ridge. 

Even in the face of such a strong team with very few flaws, Cedar Ridge sure didn’t look scared. The Red Wolves looked calm as ever during warmups and never looked like giving up even in the dying moments of the game itself, but, in all fairness, this was always going to be an uphill battle – and that was evident from the opening series. The usually sure-handed Isaiah McCambry fumbled on the first play from scrimmage, and, three plays after that, Southern punched it in on a two-yard score from running back Logan Harper. 

But that was only the beginning. On the ensuing kickoff, Sincere Lecraft hit return man Elijah Whitaker at the 15-yard line, spun him around, ripped the ball away like a vice grip, and jogged down the sideline with the ball, escorted by an entourage of teammates for the strip-and-score. McCambry was pummeled on the next Cedar Ridge possession and coughed the ball up again, and, two plays later, Omari Smith hit top receiver Xavier Rhodes on a quick in, and Rhodes did the rest, evading tacklers and racing 40 yards for the touchdown. The Red Wolves looked up at the small endzone scoreboard: it read 20-0, and four minutes hadn’t even gone by.

Southern wasn’t done. Later in the first, punter Zach Holmes had to scramble to field a poor snap and right after he found the ball Lecraft found him for a tackle for loss on fourth down, and Harper soon scored again to make it 27-0. Cedar Ridge punted on all three of its possessions in the second quarter, and Southern scored on two of their own, one on a bullet of a touchdown pass from Smith to Cinsere Clark, and the other on a 25-yard touchdown run almost unimpeded from Smith himself. Mercifully, the first half came to an end with the home team on top 41-0.

Sure, the running clock was in effect for the entirety of the second half, and sure, the Spartans had nothing more to prove in a game that was no longer in doubt, but the Red Wolves’ defense still showed marked improvements after the halftime break. But even with that said, the Southern offense was just too strong, and the Spartans were able to add an eight-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-goal from linebacker Jaki Brevard, his first career score, as well as a 96-yard touchdown run from safety Jacquez Warren – a remarkable play where Warren somehow dodged tacklers in his own end zone, and ended up in the other end zone in a matter of seconds. The final score at Spartan Stadium on this night was 54-0, the most lopsided loss in a season that has featured a few of them. 

But as always, there were bright spots for Cedar Ridge. Aiden Seagroves showed some more flashes as the newly appointed number two running back. Jake Mergenthal and Desi Raspberry both recorded their first career catches. Zach Holmes ran a long-awaited fake punt, where the former quarterback baffled the Spartan defense by hitting Whitaker for a big gain on fourth down from midfield. Braxton Mergenthal added another note on the ledger of his excellent Cedar Ridge career by picking off a poor Smith pass in the backfield in the second half. Whitaker and the rest of the Red Wolves blocked John Paulino’s final PAT. And above all else – and yes, this too sounds trite and hard to conceptualize, but it’s true – the Red Wolves never gave up. Even on that Warren TD run with just minutes to go in the game, it’s not like the Red Wolves turned around and let him walk in from 96 yards out – they nearly tackled him around his own goal line, and from there, he was just simply too fast and did the rest himself. At that point, all the Red Wolves could do was tip their collective caps for a job well done.

For Southern, this was just another step towards a perfect conference season – and with matches with Chapel Hill and East left on the ledger, it would be stunning if the Spartans don’t finish this undefeated conference season off. For Cedar Ridge, Friday night was a night to forget, but the Red Wolves will have one more chance to create a night to remember when they host Orange for Senior Night and the football edition of the Hillsborough Rivalry at Cedar Ridge next Friday at 7 PM. Even with all the losses, all the injuries, the trials and the travails that Cedar Ridge has had to suffer this year in its return to varsity football, a win against Orange, a team with legitimate playoff aspirations after a legendary victory on Friday, might help make the 2019 season feel a whole lot better. 

Olivia Ward became the first Cedar Ridge women’s tennis player to qualify for the 3A State Singles Tournament, the 3A State Doubles Tournament and win a Big 8 team Conference Championship in her career on Friday. Though she lost in the opening round, Ward concludes her Cedar Ridge career as the most accomplished tennis player in school history. Here are some photos of Olivia’s match against Rose Kenny of Charlotte Catholic.

Not that it was in question for the past month, but the Cedar Ridge volleyball team is officially headed back to the state playoffs for the first time since 2015.

Meanwhile, Orange will journey across the Triangle for its opening round game.

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association released the 3A State Volleyball brackets on Thursday afternoon.

Orange received a 19-seed and will face Clayton on Saturday at 1 o’clock Saturday afternoon. Clayton (15-10) finished 2nd in the Greater Neuse Conference with a 8-2 record. The Comets lost three matches to the Rams, including in Wednesday’s Greater Neuse Tournament Championship game in three sets.

The winner of Clayton-Orange will face 3rd-seeded Gray’s Creek or 30th-seeded Southeastern Guilford in the 2nd round.

Cedar Ridge earned a 20-seed. The Red Wolves will travel to Fayetteville to face Terry Sanford of the 4A/3A Patriot Athletic Conference on Saturday at 2 o’clock. The Bulldogs finished 19-4, 12-4 in the PAC. Three of its four losses came against PAC Champion Grey’s Creek, who is 24-0.

The winner of Cedar Ridge-Terry Sanford will face 4th-seeded Cleveland or 29th-seeded Northwood next week.

The final MaxPreps ranking of the season was released Wednesday morning. It was the first poll of the year that had Orange ahead of Cedar Ridge, who jumped out to a 6-0 start and virtually guaranteed itself of its first winning season in four years by mid-September.

Orange and Cedar Ridge split the regular season series with two five-set battles. What may have pushed Orange ahead of the Red Wolves at the last minute was consecutive wins over teams that made the state playoffs. Last Friday, the Lady Panthers defeated Roxboro Community School in five sets. RCS wound up making the 1A playoffs as a #20 seed. In its regular season finale on Tuesday, Orange rallied from two sets down to defeat Northern Durham at Poe Gymtorium. The Knights earned a 26-seed in the 3A playoff and will travel to Union Pines on Saturday.

Cedar Ridge, on the other hand, were swept by East Chapel Hill on Senior Night. They concluded the regular season with wins over Vance County and Southern Durham, the only two teams from the Big 8 to miss the state playoffs.

The unveiling of the bracket proved what had been obvious to anyone who paid attention to the local volleyball scene this year: the Big 8 is really deep.

Six of the league’s eight teams made the playoffs. Big 8 Champion Chapel Hill received the top seed and will host Triton in the opening round. The Tigers have reached the final eight in each of the last three seasons, and claimed the Eastern Regional Championship in 2016 and 2017.

Big 8 runner-up East Chapel Hill received a 10-seed and will host South Johnston on Saturday at Wildcat Gymnasium.

Orange’s 16 wins are the most for the team this decade. The Lady Panthers will go for its first state playoff win since 2015, when they reached the Round of 16 with victories over Eden Morehead and Northern Guilford.

In the three years since then, Orange has been eliminated in the opening round each time. Franklinton took out the Panthers last year. Chapel Hill eliminated Orange in 2017 and Cleveland swept them in 2016.

The Cedar Ridge women’s cross country team had another strong showing at the Big 8 Cross Country Championships at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary on Thursday. The Red Wolves finished third behind Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill. In a sprint to the finish line, Cedar Ridge Anne Morrell edged out East Chapel Hill’s Sara Oren for 10th place, meaning Morrell was named to the All-Big 8 Conference team for the second year in a row. Allison Musty, Zoe Wade, Ariana Solis, Jill Myler, Ruby Lapham and Sarah Tucker also ran for the Cedar Ridge women. Next week, Cedar Ridge will compete in the 3A Mideast Regionals at Northwood High School in Pittsboro. Last year, the Cedar Ridge women finished 2nd in regionals and qualified for the state championships as a team.