Cedar Ridge High School

By Tim Hackett

Last week in Hillsborough, something just felt different. Now, that sounds trite and impossible to conceptualize, but it was true – and last week, with a well-stocked and well-dressed Homecoming crowd on hand, Cedar Ridge turned that magical feeling into its first varsity win in close to 800 days. This week in Chapel Hill, everything once again just felt a little different – but the Red Wolves quickly realized that, this time around, different meant bad. 

With that mystical Homecoming magic now working against them, Cedar Ridge (1-7, 1-3 Big 8) went three-and-out on its first four drives, threw four interceptions, had two touchdowns wiped out due to penalties, and were simply outplayed by an East Chapel Hill (1-7, 1-3) team that hadn’t won at the varsity level in almost exactly a year. The Wildcats keyed in on the Red Wolves’ offensive gameplan early, and, from there, all it took was a few mistakes from the visitors and a few big plans from the hosts to help the Wildcats to a comprehensive 33-12 victory that snapped a ten-game losing streak dating back to October 12 of last year. 

A week ago, the Tigers and the Red Wolves were so methodical and successful moving the ball that each team had one possession in the first quarter and just three full possessions in the first half. That wasn’t the case this week: Cedar Ridge had four possessions in the first quarter alone, but didn’t pick up a single first down. Zach Holmes only had to attempt three punts last game. He had four in the first quarter in this one. On the other side, East Chapel Hill also produced three punts and two three-and-outs in the first quarter, but the Wildcats also produced an Anton Enoch quarterback keeper for a one-yard touchdown, set up by a massive connection from Enoch to his brother Anthony a few plays before. 

From that point until halftime, the Cedar Ridge defense was rock solid. East had three possessions in the second quarter – one ended in a three-and-out, one ended in a Desi Raspberry end zone interception, and one ended the half. But in that same span, East still managed to score 13 points with their offense watching from the sidelines. 

The Red Wolves were finally able to move the ball to begin their first drive of the quarter, but only because they fooled the Wildcat defense with the same trick play that won them the game against Chapel Hill last week – a Will Berger right-side toss to Isaiah McCambry ended up a handoff to K.J. Barnes running an end-around from right to left. Last week that got the Red Wolves two points, this week it got them about 45 yards and put McCambry in position to find the end zone on another right-side toss – only for the score to be called back due to a penalty. Facing a third-and-goal from the 15, Berger opted to pass for Barnes staring at one-on-one coverage, but ZaMail Vaughn won the individual battle and came away with a pick in the end zone to stop the threat. 

The Cedar Ridge defense promptly forced a three-and-out, and a bad East punt placed the Red Wolves right around midfield. But on the very first play, Berger tried to quickly hit Barnes on the left sideline, but the pass was too high and Barnes, volleyball setter-style, tipped the ball in the air with both hands. It fell perfectly into the hands of Zaion Vaughn, who redeemed himself for his poor punt by racing the pick back 46 yards to the house. A great return of the ensuing kickoff put Cedar Ridge right back at its own 45, but just a couple of plays later new quarterback Elijah Whitaker zipped a risky pass to the right flank that his receiver never saw – but Zaion Vaughn did see it, and he returned this pass about 60 yards to the house. The next Red Wolves possession saw Barnes ejected and while Raspberry was able to help save face by picking off Enoch in the end zone, the damage was done: the Wildcats led 20-0 at the break. 

Perhaps energized by the Homecoming festivities or the prospect of holding a halftime lead, the Wildcats struck instantly in the second half, with Anton Enoch once again connecting with Anthony on a 37-yard rainbow of a touchdown pass over the defense. Nicholas DeMasi doinked the PAT in off the left upright – it really was that kind of night. Cedar Ridge punted once and went four-and-out once in the third quarter, but McCambry opened the fourth with a two-yard score to finally get the visitors on the board. Vaughan Lanier missed the extra point, but any sniff of a Cedar Ridge comeback was instantly snuffed out when Zaion Vaughn caught Ian Kavanaugh’s low kickoff right in the gullet and freight trained his way for a 75-yard kickoff return. 

ZaMail Vaughn got back in on the action by picking off Berger again on the next drive, this time off a drop by Tyler Roberts, and East gifted Cedar Ridge the ball right back with botched snap on the next play, the Red Wolves simply ran out of time. The visitors marched down the field, helped by a couple of strong runs from Aiden Seagroves, to set up another McCambry score, but that too was wiped out due to a penalty – it really was that kind of night. For some reason the clock kept running during the final few minutes, but no one made any protest. East Chapel Hill deserved the win, and it got the win, 33-12.

Cedar Ridge probably should have been the favored team against the winless Wildcats, but, in truth, the Red Wolves were playing at a disadvantage from the get-go. Now that certainly doesn’t fully excuse the result, but it does go a ways towards explaining it. With a few key contributors present but not dressed and still other starters not even present, Cedar Ridge was playing short-handed, and that severely restricted the Red Wolves’ depth on both sides. Once Barnes was tossed, Cedar Ridge became more one-dimensional on offense than they were before, and the Wildcats’ defensive front stonewalled McCambry all evening. It remains to be seen if Cedar Ridge will get any of those missing players back any time soon, but, if not, those who are there will need to regroup in a hurry: up next is conference title frontrunner Southern Durham, and the Red Wolves will have to be ready to go if they want to avoid this kind of night again.

Doing play-by-play for football requires a lot of preparation. There’s a lot of names and numbers to memorize. Plenty of facts to pour over and write down. Football tends to draw the biggest listening audience to the website (though there have been baseball and softball games that have drawn more listeners, except for the 2016 Orange-Havelock football game), so no announcer worth their salt wants to sound uneducated to a listener.

When you try to fool the viewer at home, chances are the broadcaster is the one who will get fooled.

If you do enough games, a broadcaster will see some memorable ones, to one degree or another. The 2014 Orange-Chapel Hill football game stands out for me, when Orange came back from a 21-7 deficit to win 38-37. After Bryse Wilson recovered an onside kick, Tay Jones scored on a long touchdown run, then cashed in on a 2-point conversion with 37 seconds remaining.

I was lucky to do seven years of play-by-play for Northern Durham, where all of the teams had a goal to win the state championship every August. None of the squads I covered ever did, but there were some amazing games. The 2001 Northern Nash-Northern game stands out, where Fred Williams scored on a slant from 65-yards with 1:31 remaining to tie the game, only to have Northern Nash run the subsequent kickoff back 91 yards for a touchdown to win.

Every broadcaster will have forgettable games if they do it for a long time.

Then there are the games that are unforgettable for perverse reasons.

For me and some of my friends, that game is the 2006 Cedar Ridge-East Chapel Hill game.

The game was played on Labor Day, which was fitting, because both offenses sure did labor. Cedar Ridge won 3-0 in what was merely the worst football game ever played. How bad? The longest play from scrimmage was 14 yards. Cedar Ridge had 97 yards total offense—and won.

In the 2nd quarter, Cedar Ridge recovered a fumble deep in East territory and proceeded to go minus-three yards on the subsequent three plays.

And this was the game-winning drive.

Cedar Ridge’s kicker a 29-yard field goal and the two teams spent the rest of the night slogging across a muddy field with one punt piled on top of another.

Which leads us to the officiating, not a subject I look to insult because it’s a hard job and high school sports needs as many bodies as they can nowadays.

But they need people who know the rules.

Any casual football viewer understands what happens when a block in the back is called on the receiving team during a punt. It has to happen once a game, at least.

The receiving team is penalized ten years from the spot of the foul, but they keep possession of the ball.

This simple fact eluded the officiating crew on this night, who called the block in the back penalty against East. But instead of correctly switching possession to East, they gave Cedar Ridge the ball back like it was a roughing the kicker penalty.

And the crew did this TWICE.

After the second time, I completely lost it on the air. I ripped the officials, saying if they didn’t know the rules, they didn’t need to be out there. I threw it to a break at one point with the words “We go to the 4th quarter, and not a moment too soon.”

My colorman, Walter Storholt, couldn’t contain his laughter.

Did I mention there was a rain delay at halftime? Play-by-play men HATE rain delays in football because we have to kill time. We’re talking about anything. By the time the delay started in a slog of a game, I felt like I was sitting beside John Matuzak and Woody Hayes in football purgatory (O.J. Simpson’s seat is warm and waiting, by the way)

Ah, but one bright memory remains.

East’s coach was David Thompson, who spoke with a high-pitched lisp that Avery Johnson would have found exaggerated. His tenure at East was, at best, difficult. But it did lead to the greatest halftime interview in recorded broadcasting history, one that has remained in my Dropbox folder for some 13 years.

I’m not sure how my friend Johnny Jones maintained a straight face through this, but it’s a true tribute to his immense talent that he did.

Enjoy.

For my money, on the list of the greatest coaching rants, you can have your Dennis Greens. You can have your Jim Moras. You can have your Mike Singletarys.

“There’s my foot, I’m going to shoot it” lives on forever, as much as airing over a 5,000 watt AM station possibly can. When I see some of my former WCHL friends to this day, we blurt out “there’s my foot” just to crack each other up.

In 1995, Cowboy Junkies released a song called “A Common Disaster,” which is about people growing closer based off of troubling stories from their past.

Cedar Ridge-East from 2006 will always be my Common Disaster. Aside from most of my first dates, of course.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is sophomore running back Isaiah McCambry. On Friday night, McCambry ran for 190 yards and three touchdowns as Cedar Ridge defeated Chapel Hill 20-19 at Red Wolves Stadium. McCambry has rushed for over 100 yards twice this season. In the Big 8 Conference opener against Northwood on September 27, McCambry ran for 102 yards and a touchdown at Northwood. Isaiah was part of a promising group of young players who suited up for the Cedar Ridge junior varsity team last year.  Now he8s ready to help propel Cedar a Ridge football into the future under head coach Torrean Hinton. This Friday, the Red Wolves travel to East Chapel Hill looking for back-to-back wins for the first time since 2016. 

What’s better than winning your first varsity football game in 765 days? Winning two in a row would be the answer for Cedar Ridge, which is what the Red Wolves are focused on this week as they prepare for East Chapel Hill. Braxton Mergenthal had another strong game for Cedar Ridge in its 20-19 victory over Chapel Hill last Friday. Mergenthal also doesn’t believe in days off. He plays football in the fall, suits up for the varsity basketball team in the winter and then play lacrosse during the spring. As his Cedar Ridge football career winds to a close, he wants to leave in great shape for his younger brother, Jake, who also plays on team. Most of all, Mergenthal wants to go out with some more wins as Cedar Ridge enters its final four games. They start with East Chapel Hill this Friday at Dave Thaden Stadium in Chapel Hill. You can hear the game live on Hillsboroughsports.com with Tim Hackett, Jason Knapp and Jmari Graham starting at 6:55 with the C&R Ski Outdoor pregame show this Friday night.

It was the final home game of the season for Cedar Ridge volleyball team on Tuesday night. East Chapel Hill defeated the Red Wolves 3-0, but it can’t erase what the Red Wolves seniors have done to revitalize the program. Tori Dalehite, Caitlyn Thomas, Celeste Paisley and Emma Downing helped the Red Wolves go from seven wins in 2018 to 16 so far this year. It’s the first time since 2015 that Cedar Ridge will have a winning season. They defeated Chapel Hill on a memorable night last month, and followed that by beating Orange two days later for the first time since 2016. Now, Cedar Ridge will prepare for the state playoffs.  But first, they travel to Vance County on Thursday, and will conclude the regular season at Southern Durham next Tuesday. Congratulations to the four Cedar Ridge seniors on a successful season and what lies ahead in the playoffs. 

Last-minute strikes. Quick equalizers. Desperation defense. Yellow cards. Injuries. Timely saves. Smack talk. And, to top it all off, the ultimate drama of a penalty shootout. The second installment of the 2019 Hillsborough Rivalry, boys’ soccer edition, featured a little bit of everything. For the second straight meeting between Orange and Cedar Ridge, a second-half comeback set up a tense round of penalties, and for the second-straight meeting, Cedar Ridge prevailed.

A victory in the rivalry match would have been critically important for two teams that are on the fringe of HighSchoolOT’s current 3A soccer playoff projections. On Monday night in Hillsborough, the Red Wolves (6-9-1) withstood a steady barrage of Orange (6-10) offense and overcame a late Panther goal before winning the shootout 4-3 to seize the match 3-2, sweeping aside the Panthers for the first time since 2016.

In front of their home fans, with a few of those white “Beat the Ridge” shirts sprinkled throughout, the Panthers turned in a fairly dominant first half, but were never rewarded for their efforts. They controlled nearly all of the possession through the first 20 minutes and set up plenty of long-distance shots, most from either the right foot of Jose Beltran-Reyes or the left of Jason Franklin, but nothing got close enough to goal to trouble Cedar Ridge goalkeeper Ty Corbin. Finally, the unrelenting pressure resulted in a breakthrough in the 31^st minute, as Franklin laid in Tyler Werden with a perfect through ball in the left half of the box, but Werden was flagged for offside as he converted his chip shot over a sprawling Corbin. Beltran-Reyes hit a curler just over the bar with about four minutes left, and the teams headed to halftime with the score still deadlocked at zero.

After halftime, something changed. After a first half with plenty of chances but no real tests, both sides upped their game almost immediately. Cedar Ridge opened the second half with a long-range bid from right back Bryan Dock, but it sailed over the bar. A few minutes later, Werden was deemed offside again on a header attempt to finish a rush, but he would not be denied. Eight minutes into the half, Werden was played into the attacking third. Surrounded by three Red Wolves defenders with a fourth one crashing in, Werden somehow spun around and lobbed the ball over the goalie for the opening score.

Cedar Ridge looked stunned, but not for long. Barely two minutes later, the Red Wolves were on the attack, forcing Orange goalie Jonathan Cowan to knock a low shot away. But with Cedar Ridge’s Nick Frank crashing in, Cowan couldn’t control the ball, and Will Mendoza swooped in to knock it home at the far post to level the score. Orange protested that Frank interfered with Cowan, but to no avail.

After a frenetic first ten minutes, both teams settled down for a while until Cedar Ridge found its breakthrough when Frank was played in perfectly, guided towards goal behind two defenders. Frank did the rest, slotting home his sixth goal of the season in the bottom corner to Cowan’s right. With 16 minutes to play, the Red Wolves had the lead. Orange nearly equalized a few minutes later, but Connor Blankford made a sliding play to deny Beltran-Reyes a glorious opportunity at the right post with Corbin out of position.  

Still protecting the one-goal lead, Cedar Ridge continued to push forward, forcing a goal line clearance off a corner and threatening Cowan with a bid by Alex Jackan with two minutes to play. The Panthers knew they were running out of time. Cowan set up the goal kick after the Jackan miss, and, less than half a minute later, the Panthers passed the ball through their defense, past midfield, and into the stride of Elliott Sikes racing down the right sideline. With one big windup, Sikes blasted a shot around Corbin and into the back of the net from an impossible angle, tying the score at two apiece with 1:06 left to play. Beltran-Reyes got one more shot on goal with 20 seconds left, but Corbin did well enough to knock it away, sending the Hillsborough Rivalry to extra time for the second straight time.

The best chance of extra time came in the first minute when Orange’s Jerry Velazquez got an early shot on frame that Corbin parried right into the path of Franklin, but the Cedar Ridge defense was up to the task. Both offenses were quiet from there, setting up the ultimate drama that is the penalty shootout. Corbin and Cowan exchanged a cordial fist bump as they prepared to play their roles in the five-round showdown. The Red Wolves had to operate without co-leading scorer Reese Weaver, who had departed in the second half after a hard collision with Kobe Thompson that earned the Panther defender the game’s only yellow card. Instead, Garcia, the other co-leading scorer, led off with a confident goal. Leif Mahaney, who left the game himself with an injury on two separate occasions, returned to equalize.

Back and forth it went. Dock scored and Thompson equalized in a battle of defenders. Beltran-Reyes finally had a reward for his relentless pressure with a goal following a Mendoza miss to put the visitors ahead 3-2. Dean Allen responded for the visitors, but one more Orange goal might have been enough to make the difference. The Cedar Ridge contingent began clapping for Corbin, and he came through, getting all of a Luke Phillips shot that came straight down the middle.

It was down to round five. Frank calmly slotted his attempt past Cowan to put Cedar Ridge ahead. The crowd went silent. Orange senior Rohan Kasthuri stepped up to the spot and confidently – or, perhaps, casually – strolled up and curled the ball to the right post – and wide. Corbin, who had dived to his right, threw his arms in the air. The Cedar Ridge huddle at midfield exploded and rushed to join their goalie. As they raced past him at full speed, Kasthuri, seemingly in slow motion, fell to the ground.

MaxPreps updated its volleyball rankings on Monday morning. There was good news and bad news for Orange and Cedar Ridge.

The good news is both teams moved up after winning matches last week. The bad news is, if the season ended today, both teams would be on the road for the opening round.

Before we go any further, I’d like to thank Nick Stevens of highschoolot.com, who has answered various questions from me regarding seeding. And there are plenty of questions. If you have questions about the seeding system, Nick does a great job of answering them here.

There are 18 (Montgomery County is the only 3A team in the Rocky River Conference, which they share with five 2A teams) conferences with 3A teams in North Carolina. Among 3A teams, Cedar Ridge has a MaxPreps ranking of #17. That’s higher than eight teams currently leading their league, and higher than 13 teams currently in second place (or tied for first) in their respective league.

Orange’s MaxPreps ranking is #22, which is up two notches from last week after they defeated Cedar Ridge and Northwood.

Keep in mind, these projections are not final. Some conferences have conference tournaments next week. Plus, there are a huge week of games still ahead. However, the Big 8 Conference will not have a conference tournament.

With that in mind, if the season ended today Cedar Ridge would earn a #18seed and travel to #15 Cape Fear in the opening round. Like such much of this, the field of 32 in the East could change with one match. Cape Fear is currently tied with Terry Sanford for 2nd place in the Patriot Athletic Conference. The Colts and the Bulldogs split their regular season series. If they finish tied, they will break the tie in the Patriot Athletic Conference Tournament.

The winner of Cape Fear-Cedar Ridge would face either 2nd seeded Chapel Hill or Triton. Of course, Cedar Ridge split the season series with the Tigers, who have reached the Final Four of the 3A State Tournament each of the past three years.

Orange will also travel. The Lady Panthers earn a #20 seed and would face Clayton. The winner of Orange-Clayton would face Person or Northern Guilford. Of course, the Panthers split the season series with the Rockets in August.

Again, this could all easily change. Topsail and New Hanover are the top 3A teams from the Mideastern 4A/3A Conference. They split the season series against each other. If they finish tied, they will break the tie in the Mideastern Conference Tournament.

Another note: Northwood faces Vance County on Tuesday night. It’s a must win for the Chargers. They can’t get into the state playoffs if they finish behind Vance County in the Big 8 standings.

Here’s a look at My Best Guess for the 3A State Volleyball Projections.

EAST

1. D.H. Conley

32. White Oak

16. Southern Lee

17. Western Alamance

8. Franklinton

25. Terry Sanford

9. Jacksonville

24. C.B. Aycock

/

5. Topsail

28. E.E. Smith

12. Wilson Hunt

21. New Hanover

13. Clayton

20. Orange

4. Person

29. Northern Guilford

3. Gray’s Creek

30. Northwood

14. West Carteret

19. J.H. Rose

6. Cleveland

27. Northern Durham

11. Asheboro

22. Southern Alamance

/

7. Union Pines

26. West Johnston

10. East Chapel Hill

23. South Johnston

15. Cape Fear

18. Cedar Ridge

2. Chapel Hill

31. Triton

The finish line is approaching for several fall sports. After the Big 8 Women’s Tennis Championships last week at East Chapel Hill High School, two singles players qualified for the 3A Mideast Regionals at the Burlington Tennis Center. Another tandem qualified for the doubles regionals.

In volleyball, Cedar Ridge and Orange enter the week tied for 3rd place after the Lady Panthers defeated the Red Wolves last Thursday. Orange hosts Chapel Hill this week, while Cedar Ridge will have senior night on Tuesday against East Chapel Hill. Orange will also have its senior night on Thursday against Southern Durham.

In men’s soccer, the second leg of the Hillsborough Derby will be held tonight (Monday) at Orange. After Cedar Ridge rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat Orange in penalty kicks last month, the Panthers will look to split the season series tonight at Orange Soccer Stadium. Cedar Ridge defeated Orange last year at OHS. Cedar Ridge is on the state playoff bubble, currently ranked #63 in the Maxpreps ranking. Orange is #71.

Of course, on Friday night, there’s football. Cedar Ridge, coming off the Chapel Hill win last week, will look for its first winning streak since September 2016 when they travel to East Chapel Hill. Interestingly, the last time Cedar Ridge won consecutive games, they defeated Jordan-Matthews and East Chapel Hill en route to a 6-5 season.

Orange will make its first-ever trip to Vance County. After a disappointing performance against Northern Durham, Orange’s state playoff hopes may be on the line against the Vipers.

Without further ado, here’s this week’s Magnificent 7.

Isaiah McCambry: The sophomore was simply sensational in the Cedar Ridge football team’s 20-19 win over Chapel Hill. He amassed 190 rushing yards and three touchdowns as the Red Wolves won a varsity football game for the first time in 765 days. McCambry has a chance at a 1,000 yard season. With four games remaining, he has 630 yards and five touchdowns.

Brianna Cellini: Cellini qualified for the 3A Mideast Regional tennis tournament in doubles. Last week, Cellini and Mary-Hunter Millet partnered to advance to the semifinals of the Big 8 Conference Tournament. Cellini and Millet will start play this weekend at the Burlington Tennis Center. Cedar Ridge’s Olivia Ward also qualified for regionals in singles competition.

Anne Morrell: Cedar Ridge women’s cross country team won a meet at Orange last week. Morrell won the women’s race at 22:31.6. In fact, Cedar Ridge had the top seven finishers: Morrell, Zoe Wade, Jill Myler, Ariadna Solis, Allegra Hart, Allison Musty and Sarah Tucker. Morrell has been the top finisher for the Cedar Ridge women in races in Charlotte and Greensboro this season.

Cameron Lloyd: Lloyd is one of three Cedar Ridge players to register 100 points this year. The kicker is all three of those players are freshmen. Lloyd had two 20-kill matches last week. In a four-set win over Northern on Thursday at Poe Gymtorium in Durham, Lloyd had 20 kills, eleven digs, three aces and two assists. In the five-set loss to Orange, Lloyd had a career-high 25 kills, five aces, 17 digs, and an assist.

Jera Hargrove: A sophomore, Hargrove qualified for the 3A Mideast Regionals during the Big 8 Women’s Tennis tournament. In the quarterfinals last Wednesday, Hargrove defeated an opponent from East Chapel Hill 6-2, 6-4 Hargrove also won in Orange’s final dual match of the season against Northern Durham last Monday. Hargrove had to default in her semifinal match in the Big 8 Tournament because of a gimpy knee, but she is set to compete for a spot in the state championships this weekend.

Lottie Scully: The Orange volleyball team is headed to the state playoffs after sweeping Cedar Ridge and Northwood last week. Scully, a sophomore, had 12 kills, three aces, ten blocks and eight digs against the Red Wolves. Scully is second on the team with 72 kills going into Tuesday match against Chapel Hill.

Bennett Fleming: A senior for the Orange men’s cross country team, Fleming finished first in a meet against Cedar Ridge last week at Cedar Ridge. Fleming crossed the finish line at 18:53.6. as Orange won the meet with 26 points. Last month, Fleming was Orange’s top finisher at the Adidas Cross Country Challenge at WakeMed Soccer Complex in Cary.