Cedar Ridge High School

For the second time this month, Cedar Ridge has lost a home conference game at the buzzer.

The first time it was Northwood’s Abe Omar who scored on a stickback with :03 remaining on January 5th to seal the Chargers’ 83-82 overtime victory at CRHS. On Friday night, it was even more painful for the Red Wolves.

Elijah Haynes scored on a scoop shot with :01 remaining to give Chapel Hill a 55-53 victory over the Red Wolves on Saturday night at Red Wolves Gymnasium. Haynes, who didn’t start the game due to disciplinary reasons, finished with 16. Chapel Hill’s Kai White led all scorers with 19, while Ben Gaynes added 15.

Once again, it was underclassmen who paced Cedar Ridge. Sophomore Terrence Crawford scored 16 points, while freshmen Mekai Collins and B.J. Freeman each scored 13.

Chapel Hill (11-8, 7-1) will host Orange on Tuesday night in a meeting for first place in the Big 8 Conference. The Tigers are one game back of the Panthers.

The Red Wolves, trailing 45-28 with 7:32 remaining, made a furious rally to tie the game at 53-53. After Gaynes’ three-pointer with 5:23 remaining put Chapel Hill ahead 48-34, the Red Wolves went on a 10-0 run, punctuated by consecutive treys by Crawford.

Trailing 53-48, Cedar Ridge reeled off five consecutive points in the final minute to tie the game. Freeman hit two free throws, then drew a charge on Haynes on the subsequent Tiger possession.  Crawford sank a three-pointer, his third of the fourth quarter, to even the game with :7.3 seconds remaining.

Coming off a win over J.F. Webb on Wednesday, the Red Wolves (7-12, 2-7) missed a chance to win consecutive conference games for the first time this season.

White started the third quarter with a personal 5-0 run, including a running one-handed to push Chapel Hill’s lead to 31-21 with 4:21 remaining in the 3rd quarter. Haynes closed the third quarter with back-to-back three pointers, then continued a running dialogue with the Cedar Ridge student section.

After Collins scored the game’s first five points, Chapel Hill reeled off 13 consecutive points. Kai White scored seven points in that span, and Haynes drained a 30-footer at the first quarter buzzer to send Chapel Hill to a 16-7 lead.

In the second quarter, CHHS extended its lead to 20-10 after Haynes and Cook scored consecutive field goals. Then the Red Wolves went on a 7-0 run behind a 3-pointer from Khalil Barnett and a lay-up from Collins. The Tigers followed with six straight, including a three pointer from White, to take a 26-19 advantage into the locker room.

Cedar Ridge will play three games in five days next week. They travel to Northwood on Tuesday, followed by a home game against Southern Durham on Wednesday and a road trip to J.F. Webb in Oxford on Saturday.

CHAPEL HILL 55, CEDAR RIDGE 53

CHAPEL HILL: Elijay Haynes 16, Ben Gaynes 15, Kai White 19, Andrew Cook 4, Darius Burnette 1.

CEDAR RIDGE: Dmonte Kinney 2, Khalil Barnett 7, Terrence Crawford 18, Mekai Collins 13, B.J. Freeman 13.

Even without its top two players, the Cedar Ridge girls basketball team found a way to earn its first win of 2017.

Taylin Jean scored a career-high 16 points while Miracle Page added 12 to help Cedar Ridge (9-6, 3-3) defeat Northern Vance 49-33 on Friday night at Vikings Gymnasium.

Cedar Ridge played without Carrie Davis and Madison Wardlow, who were both injured in last Saturday’s game against Orange. Davis injured her knee in the waning seconds trying to get her feet set for a jumper. Earlier, she suffered a cut above her left eye after colliding with Orange’s Enzyah Holt for a loose ball, but that’s not believed to be the reason why she missed Friday’s game.

Wardlow suffered a leg injury against the Panthers in the second quarter, but returned to finish the game.

That left Red Wolves’ coach Felton Page without his top two scorers, forcing him to insert several players into unfamiliar positions. Playing on the road following exam break, Cedar Ridge opened lethargic, trailing 10-8 at the end of the first quarter to the Vikings (0-5, 0-14).

Cedar Ridge’s defense held the Vikings to three points in the second quarter, while Jean and Page carried the offensive load to give the Red Wolves an 18-13 halftime lead.

Page scored six points in the third quarter to open up a 22-15 lead. After the Vikings’ Kayleigh Spencer canned a three-pointer with 5:13 remaining in the frame, Yolanda Simpson scored consecutive field goals to extend the Red Wolves’ lead to 28-19.

Jean, who had three of Cedar Ridge’s ten steals, scored six points in the fourth quarter as the Vikings never got the deficit below double figures in the fourth quarter.

Simpson finished with six points, while Natalia Garay had four points and seven rebounds. The Red Wolves beat the Vikings on the boards 32-16.

On Tuesday, Cedar Ridge travels to Southern Durham at 7, starting a span of six games in ten days. The Red Wolves are now in fourth place in the Big 8, one-half game behind J.F. Webb. Cedar Ridge will host Webb on Wednesday night at 6, followed by a Friday date at Chapel Hill.

The 6’8 Christian Fischer made his final swim meet at the Triangle SportsPlex memorable on Thursday afternoon. He won two events: the 50 and 100 yard freestyle. In the 100, he edged Orange’s Gabe Walker with a time of 52.38. In the 50, he narrowly defeated Collin Montague by four-tenths-of-a-second.

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Fisher won the 100 yard freestyle and the 50 yard freestyle against Orange on Thursday afternoon.

In her final meet at the Triangle SportsPlex in Hillsborough, Cedar Ridge senior swimmer Hannah Kloetzer captured victories in two events. She won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:33.33, 44 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor. She also captured the 200 yard freestyle at 2:05, ahead of Orange’s Lauren Behringer.

Cedar Ridge’s Hannah Kloetzer Talks Winning Two Events on Senior Night vs. Orange

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You can do a lot in a lifetime
If you don’t burn out too fast
You can make the most of the distance
First you need endurance
First you’ve got to last

–Neal Peart

Ironically, despite winning back-to-back Big 8 Cross Country Individual Championships, Ian Elliott doesn’t think he’s a marathon runner.

“I’m bigger than most runners,” said Elliott. “I figure I’m more of a track runner. Cross country is pushing it.”

The mental hurdles that may keep Elliott from running further didn’t factor into his final cross country season at Cedar Ridge, even when it should have. The Big 8 Confernece Championship meet at Chapel Hill High School was run in 89-degree temperatures on October 19.

Despite the unseasonably warm weather, Elliott finished with a time of 16:42.08, eight seconds better than Chapel Hill’s Ryan Combs to win his 2nd consecutive Big 8 Championship. In fact, Elliott was the only non-Chapel Hill runner in the top 10.

“It was a lot grittier this year,” said Elliott. “Mainly because of the weather. But I also feel I’m good in heat. I put in fairly hard miles in heat during the summer. Although I knew it feel awful. But that’s running.”

The heat is something Elliott relished during his stint at Cedar Ridge. He went on to finish 7th at the MidEast Regionals at Northwood High a week later. He finished 26th in the state meet, when the traditional fall weather had finally settled in.

“I think some people are just better in the heat and some aren’t,” said Elliott. “I’m not as good in the cold, even though I practice a lot in the cold and the rain. I never perform well in the rain.”

“You just have to be gritty. It doesn’t have to be a pretty race as long as I do well.”

Elliott has already started his indoor track season, recently finishing 15th in the 1500 meters in the NC Runners Holiday Invitatational at JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem.

After Elliott finishes the upcoming spring outdoor track season, he plans to hang up his sneakers, leaving as the most accomplished cross country runner in Cedar Ridge history.

“I’m not looking to run competitively in college,” said Elliott. “I’d love to stay in shape and run for a club. Maybe run a Fun Run 5K. Maybe take one hard every now and then. But after this track season, I think I’ll be done with competitive running.”

The only thing standing between Cedar Ridge’s Elizabeth Zarzar and more individual championships during the 2016 fall season were the very best runners in the state.

Zarzar finished 3rd in the Big 8 Girls Cross County Conference championship on a sultry fall day at Chapel Hill High School. The only runners who crossed the finish line ahead of her were two from Chapel Hill, a squad that captured the 3-A state championship claimed its second straight state championship.

However, nothing held Zarzar back on October 11 at Orange High. Competing against runners from Orange, J.F. Webb and Southern Durham, Zarzar completed the course in 21:05, beating the closest competitor by over one minute.

“I was proud of my run,” said Zarzar. “Especially because of the heat. My time was a lot better than I thought. I didn’t get my personal record, but I really wasn’t expecting to because of the heat. I was really happy with how I placed.”

Zarzar also finished 3rd in the 3-A Mideast Regionals at Northwood High School in Pittsboro, earning at spot in the state championships. In the 3-A state meet, she finished 11th overall at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville.

Chapel Hill junior Katherine Dokholyan captured the conference, regional and state championships.

Zarzar, a senior, was still proud of her season, often running in temperatures far warmer than previous years.

“I thought I started this year really strong,” said Zarzar. “We start training in June, so once conference and regionals come around we have to make sure we don’t get sore.”

Elizabeth is ranked 6th in her class at Cedar Ridge and holds all of the school’s long distance records. She earned WRAL’s Extra Effort Award in October.

After playing twice in two days, the Cedar Ridge boys basketball team will have to be content with a split going into Christmas break.

Elijah Haynes scored 21 points as the Tigers defeated the Red Wolves 75-62 at Tiger Gymnasium.

Terrance Crawford led the Red Wolves with 16 points, while Dmonte Kinney and Khalil Barnett added ten.

According to the News of Orange, Cedar Ridge led 22-15 in the second quarter before the Tigers finished the half on a 18-2 run. CHHS led 33-24 at the half and never trailed again.

Cedar Ridge heads into the Holiday at the Pines Tournament in Southern Pines with a 5-4 record, 1-2 in the Big 8.

On Monday night, the Red Wolves had a healthy Caleb Cashaw against Granville Center, which made a big difference.

Cashaw paced the Red Wolves with 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field as Cedar Ridge cruised past the Panthers 68-54 in Stem. Freshman Mekai Collins added 13 points, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range.

Trailing 15-14 after the first quarter, Cedar Ridge held the Panthers to nine points in the second quarter. Cedar Ridge shot a season-high 51 percent from the field.

B.J. Freeman added eight points and nine rebounds.

The Cedar Ridge girls basketball team enters the holiday break on a three-game winning streak. The Red Wolves defeated Granville Central 71-35 on Monday, then knocked off Chapel Hill 40-25 on Tuesday. Cedar Ridge is now 6-3, 2-1 in the Big 8. The Red Wolves of Coach Felton Page will start play in the Eastern Alamance Holiday Tournament on Thursday.

Before the Cedar Ridge and Orange boys and girls basketball teams go thinking about opening presents, getting much-needed rest during Christmas break and enjoying the NBA’s smorgasbord of games next Sunday, they have their business to take care of on the hardwood.

On Friday, the Cedar Ridge boys and girls were supposed to play on Friday against Southern Durham. The Orange squads were slated to face Northern Vance. None of those games took place. They Orange County School System cancelled after school activities on Friday afternoon due to the threat of freezing rain. That despite the fact that Northern Vance’s boys and girls team had already made the 75-minute trip from near the Virginia border to Hillsborough by bus, only to be told there would be no games that night (The doubleheaders are slated to be rescheduled for January, though a date hasn’t been determined by school).

Now, CRHS and Orange have vital games this week before going into their holiday tournament. Cedar Ridge will play two games in two days, starting with its first road trip of the season tonight against Granville Central in Stem. (It will be another tripleheader, with the girls playing at 6, the boys at 7:30). Then on Tuesday night, the boys travel to Chapel Hill, while the girls will host the Red Wolves.

Cedar Ridge is 4-3, 1-1 in the Big 8 Conference. They will enter tonight’s game against the Panthers will five days off after its thrilling 39-36 victory over Northern Vance last Wednesday, a game where Dmonte Kinney hit the game-winning 3-pointer with :18 remaining.

For Cedar Ridge, the layoff between games was welcomed with open arms. Center Colby Cashaw has been hampered with a knee injury since the Orange game on December 10. He was held to two points against the Vikings.

The Orange boys have only one game this week, but it will play a huge role in the Big 8 Championship race. They travel to Southern Durham on Tuesday night for at 7:00 tipoff.

The Panthers lost to East Chapel Hill on Wednesday 67-58 to fall to 5-4. They shot 36% from the field, but only 5-of-24 from 3-point range. Connor Crabtree scored a season-high 35 points, but Logan Vosburg was held to a season-low four points.

The Orange girls will get a chance to go into Christmas undefeated when they host Soutnern Durham on Tuesday at 7:00. Orange held off East Chapel Hill 46-39 on Tuesday at Wildcat Gymnasium. Kaylen Campbell scored 13 points while Jazlyn Watson registered 12. Icez Barnett had 12 rebounds, though East Chapel Hill outrebounded the Panthers 38-34. The Panthers’ defense stifled the Wildcats, limiting them to 22% shooting from the field.

The local schools will split in different directions for their respective holiday tournaments.

The Orange boys travel to Greensboro for the Eastern Guilford Holiday Tournament, starting Wednesday, December 28. It will be an eight-team field with the championship slated for December 30.

The Orange Girls and Cedar Ridge girls will both play in Mebane at the Eastern Alamance Holiday Tournament starting December 29th. It’s also an eight-team field with the championship set for New Year’s Eve.

As for the Cedar Ridge boys, they head to Southern Pines for the Holiday in the Pines tournament. The Red Wolves will open against Pinecrest on December 28th.