Cedar Ridge High School

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.

The Cedar Ridge women’s basketball team is in position to reach the 3A State Playoffs for the first time since 2018. The Red Wolves are 9-6 as they prepare to face Walter Williams in Burlington on Friday night. The Red Wolves defeated crosstown rival Orange last Wednesday behind 35 points from Amiyah Ware, which was the most points any player from Orange County has scored so far this year, regardless of gender. Last Monday, the Red Wolves defeated Chatham Central 46-35 at Red Wolves Gymnasium in its final nonconfernce game of the regular season. Ware led the Red Wolves with 17 points. Freshman Calla Lundberg, who was called up from the junior varsity team last month, chipped in with nine points as the Red Wolves reached nine wins in a season for the first time in six years. Lundberg and Kate Finnegan were both moved up to varsity before Christmas and have provided an immediate contribution. Cedar Ridge is only one game behind Orange, Western Alamance and Eastern Alamance for first place in the Central Conference as the second half of the conference campaign starts next week. Ware, who signed to play with Division II North Greenville, is having another All-Conference season. She scored 24 points in a loss to Eastern Alamance on Friday.

Cedar Ridge women’s basketball’s Amiyah Ware & Calla Lundberg discuss win over Chatham Central

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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 news that another Orange women’s basketball game went down to the wire.

All four of its Central Conference contests this year have followed the same path. The only different on Wednesday night was Orange was opposed by Amiyah Ware, who was more than they could deal with.

Now, after Cedar Ridge’s first win at Orange since December 19, 2017, it’s officially game on in the race for the Central Conference championship.

Ware added to her legacy of statistically incredible performances with 35 points in the Red Wolves 54-47 win over the Panthers on Wednesday night. It wasn’t the 54 points that she scored against Western Alamance last February, which broke the Orange County record. But Ware did either score or assist on every Cedar Ridge field goal in the second half.

Evelyn George, who was matched up against Ware most of the night, led Orange with 21 points.

It was the Red Wolves first win over its crosstown rival since January 8, 2019. On that night, Cedar Ridge defeated Orange 44-37 at Red Wolves Gymnasium behind 23 points from Madison Wardlow.

“She really stepped up tonight,” said Cedar Ridge coach Megan Skouby. “The past couple of games after she got hurt I think was a little hesitant. This game she really picked it back up again.”

Cedar Ridge’s win overshadowed a strong performance by Orange center Marshea Byrd, who finished with the first double-double of her career with 12 points and 12 rebounds. With 1:16 remaining in regulation, Byrd fouled out after trying to block a shot from Ware. Orange, who played without sophomore forward Mariah Poole, missed Byrd’s post presence in the extra session.

After Byrd’s fifth foul, Ware sank a free throw to tie the game at 42-42.

Cedar Ridge didn’t miss a shot in overtime. After Orange won the jump ball, Ware pulled down a defensive rebound and sank a three-pointer over George to give the Red Wolves a 45-42 lead. Junior Sarah Utley stole the ball away from Shannon Murphy on Orange’s next possession and split two free throws after being fouled by Maura McMurtry.

After Murphy scored off an offensive rebound to cut the Red Wolf lead to 46-44, Cedar Ridge freshman Kate Finnegan drained a jumper from the top of the key off a pass from Utley.

Finnegan, who wasn’t even on the varsity when Cedar Ridge started its season in November, finished with ten points and seven rebounds.

“She isn’t afraid to shoot,” Skouby said. “That’s something you can’t teach a freshman. She’s working hard. We pulled her up from junior varsity a couple of weeks ago and she’s now one of our starters because she’s working her butt off.”

Orange missed a three-pointer on its next possession and Ware drained four three throws in the final 90 seconds to put the game away.

The contest had 12 lead changes and six ties. Just as they had done against Western Alamance, Southern Alamance and Walter Williams, it appeared Orange would mount a late run to earn another home win. After Ware scored the opening points of the fourth quarter, Byrd and George scored field goals, both assisted by McMurtry, to put the Lady Panthers ahead 36-34.

Ware wouldn’t be denied as she went on a personal 6-0 run to vault the Red Wolves ahead 39-36. Following a free throw by Lily Crayton with 4:36 remaining, McMurtry grabbed an offensive rebound and fed George for a 3-pointer to put Orange ahead 40-39.

Following a Cedar Ridge timeout, Ware drained a baseline jumper off a drive with 2:12 remaining to give Cedar Ridge the lead at 41-40. After an Orange turnover, Alexis Stephens blocked a shot by Cedar Ridge’s Addie Reid, which led to a fast break where George scored off a lay-up from a pass by McMurtry.

Cedar Ridge, who fielded a team with only five players during the pandemic three years ago, is now tied with Orange, Western Alamance and Eastern Alamance for first place in the Central Conference in a race that is anything but predictable just one-quarter of the way into the league slate.

“I think on any given night, whoever is playing their best is gonna come out on top,” Skouby said. “I think a lot of games are going to go down to the end this year.”

Amiyah Ware came up with her biggest game of the season for the Cedar Ridge women’s basketball team on Wednesday night. The end result was Cedar Ridge’s first win over its crosstown rival, Orange, since 2019. Ware finished with a season-high 35 points as the Red Wolves defeated Orange 54-47 in overtime. It was Cedar Ridge’s first win inside Panther Gymnasium since December 19, 2017. Ware either scored or assisted on all 22 points that Cedar Ridge scored in the second half. Ware tied the game at 42-42 with a free throw with 1:16 remaining in regulation. Cedar Ridge never trailed in overtime after Ware opened with a three-pointer on the Red Wolves opening possession. Kate Finnegan sank a crucial jumper from the top of the key off a feed from Sarah Utley with 1:54 remains in overtime to put the Red Wolves ahead 48-44. Ware has had another big week. On Monday night, she scored 17 point in Cedar Ridge’s 46-35 win over Chatham Central. Cedar Ridge is 9-5 overall and tied for first place in the loss column with three other teams in the Central Conference. The Red Wolves haven’t won ten games in a season since 2017-2018, when they were coached by Felton Page. Cedar Ridge will face Eastern Alamance tonight at 6PM at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

Cedar Ridge women’s basketball’s Amiyah Ware & head coach Megan Skouby discuss win at Orange

Amiyah Ware came up with her biggest game of the season for the Cedar Ridge women’s basketball team on Wednesday night. The end result was Cedar Ridge’s first win over its crosstown rival, Orange, since 2019. Ware finished with a season-high 35 points as the Red Wolves defeated Orange 54-47 in overtime.

From the start of this season, Cedar Ridge men’s basketball coach Mike Jones has touted freshman point guard Jordan Jacobson as a rising star. On Monday night, Jacobson showed why Jones is so enthusiastic. He scored the game-winning three-pointer with :5.4 remaining in overtime as the Red Wolves defeated previously undefeated Chatham Central 53-52 in overtime. Not only did Jacobson hit the game-winning shot, but he also put the game into overtime with a 16-footer with :8.1 remaining to even the score 46-46. Jacobson had a career-high 12 points. Braeden Wilbourn paced Cedar Ridge with 18 points. Chatham Central led 43-36 with 3:51 remaining before the Red Wolves finished regulation with seven consecutive points. Wilbourn scored on a lay-in off an assist from Jacobson to start the comeback. Then Wilbourn hit two free throws off a technical foul to put the Red Wolves within a bucket. After Jacobson knocked down the 3-pointer in overtime, Wilbourn sealed the game with an interception of a skip pass by the Bears. Afterwards, Jones called it the Red Wolves best win of the season. Last week, Cedar Ridge upset Person at Red Wolves Gymnasium. Cedar Ridge will return home tonight (Friday) against Eastern Alamance for a doubleheader. The women’s game will be at 6PM while the men’s game starts at 7;30. 

Cedar Ridge men’s basketball’s Jordan Jacobson & Braeden Wilbourn talk with vs. Chatham Central

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Even in the darkest hole, you’d be well advised to never count out Cedar Ridge men’s basketball this season.

It wouldn’t make much sense to think that Cedar Ridge could take down Chatham Central on Monday night, especially when the Bears came into the game 12-0.  Chatham’s first win came against Cedar Ridge, 65-48, on November 21 in Bear Creek.

Since then, the Bears had beaten ten of its twelve opponents by double-figures. Only Seaforth (64-57) and Southeast Alamance (69-64) had given Chatham Central a competitive game.

Yet not only did the Red Wolves pull off a 53-52 upset in overtime on Monday night at Red Wolves Gymnasium, but it was a freshman who paved the way.

Jordan Jacobson drilled the game-winning three-pointer with :5.4 seconds remaining in overtime to lift the Red Wolves to its third win of the season. In the final sequence, Cedar Ridge’s Landon Dalehite had an open look from the left elbow but missed a three-pointer. The Red Wolves Braeden Wilbourn attempted a catch-and-shoot on the rebound, but it was blocked by the Bears’ Aidan Johnson. Cedar Ridge center Hayden Kirk knocked the ball back to Jacobson on the wing for the game-winning shot.

Jacobson was responsible for the game going to overtime in the first place. He drained an 18-footer with :8.1 remaining in regulation to even it up at 46-46. The Bears’ Reed Albright missed a three-point attempt over Dalehite at the fourth quarter buzzer.

The Bears’ final chance to win was intercepted by Wilbourn, who swiped a skip pass and dribbled up the floor untouched. As the clock ran out, a triumphant Cedar Ridge coach Mike Jones thrust both of his fists into the air in jubilation for possibly the biggest win in his second year on the job.

“We’ve got so much more confidence now,” Jones said. “I’m so proud of my guys. They were down in the fourth quarter but they never got down on themselves. I knew Jordan was ready to take those shots. He has the confidence to do that. I love my team.”

Wilbourn led Cedar Ridge with 16 points. Jacobson had a career-high 12 points.

Jeremiah Young came off the bench to lead the Bears (13-1) with 17 points. Albright added 13.

Wilbourn started overtime with a beautiful spin move down the lane for a lay-in. Albright responded with two free-throws to even the game at 48-48. It appeared Dalehite would have a chance to put the Red Wolves ahead by three when he drove the lane for his own lay-up, but he was called for a charge as he collided with Johnson.

Chatham Central’s Luke Gains split two free throws to put the Bears ahead 49-48. Wilbourn responded with a gorgeous lay-in off the dribble.

While the Bears have a wide array of outside shooters, for a fleeting moment it appeared their hero would be Logan Maness, who drilled a 3-pointer from the left corner with 1:01 remaining in overtime. It was Maness’ only points of the game and vaulted the Bears ahead 52-50.

Cedar Ridge trailed 30-26 at the half. The Bears increased its lead to 43-36 with 3:51 remaining after a 15-foot jumper by Young. Jacobson started the comeback with a lay-up on a dribble drive. Dalehite blocked a shot by Alrbright on the next Chatham possession and fed Jacobson, who hit Wilbourn down the floor for another lay-in. Seconds later, a Chatham Central reserve who never played in the game was hit with a technical foul after he yelled something to an official about the lack of a foul call on Dalehite’s block.

Two free throws by Wilbourn cut Chatham Central’s lead to 43-42 with 2:36 remaining.

The Red Wolves will face Orange tonight in Hillsborough. While the Red Wolves will be underdogs, it’s something that Jones won’t worry about after a memorable Monday night.

“This win stomps that Person win,” Jones said. “This was a bigger one.”

The Cedar Ridge women’s basketball team found its backbeat again.

In any good rock n’roll band, the backbeat provided by the drummer keeps everything in rhythm, provides proper time and makes everything swing properly.

Amiyah Ware is the Neil Peart or Keith Moon of the Cedar Ridge women’s team.

Ware returned to the lineup after she missing two games with a right knee injury. In her absence, the Red Wolves had 33 turnovers against Person, but still managed to scratch out a 46-43 victory over the Rockets.

While it took time for Ware to get her offensive engine cranked up against Southern Alamance, her ball-handling reliability chopped down Cedar Ridge’s turnover total to a mere 18 miscues.

Ware scored a season-high 28 points, including seven 3-pointers, as the Red Wolves defeated Southern Alamance 48-43 at Red Wolves Gymnasium on Friday night.

Cedar Ridge (8-5, 2-1 in the Central Conference) were held to nine points in the opening 15 minutes, but shot 7-of-11 in the third period to take a 32-29 lead into the fourth quarter.

Ware gave the Red Wolves the lead for good with a 3-pointer off a pass from Sarah Utley with 5:40 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Patriots were led by Sunny Yarnell, who finished with eleven points, but fouled out after she was called for a charge when she ran into Red Wolf freshman Kate Finnegan. Ware scored the Red Wolves next four points, including a 3-pointer assisted by Finnegan. Ware also drained several free throws in the final minute.

Morgan Isley and Madison Brouillard also each had eleven points for the Patriots (4-9, 0-3).

While Ware didn’t start the game, the Red Wolves were limited to just three shots from the field in the opening quarter. The Patriots took a 10-3 lead at the end of the first quarter as Yarnell scored the first three field goals.

Cedar Ridge will travel to Orange on Wednesday night at 6PM.

Orange 46, Walter Williams 44: The Orange women’s basketball team is now the only undefeated team in Central Conference play after they survived a battle with Walter Williams.

Orange used a 20-4 run at the end of the third quarter to overcome an early deficit to the Bulldogs. Junior Evelyn George sparked the run for the Lady Panthers (8-4, 3-0 in the Central Conference). George finished with 16 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Addie Atkins added eight points.

Williams forward Reagan Averett led all scorers with 17 points, while Alaiyah Mitchell added ten points.

With 6:36 remaining in the third quarter, Williams’ Jordan Taylor scored off a lay-in off a pass from Scout Winter to put the Bulldogs egghead 27-21. Orange sophomore Maura McMurtry nailed a three-pointer off a pass from Atkins to spark an Orange run. After a field goal by Taylor, McMurtry dropped in a straightaway three-pointer off a pass from Alexis Stephens. Orange sophomore Mariah Poole tied the game off a steal and lay-in at 29-29.

Averett knocked down two free throws for the Bulldogs, but that would be its last lead. Orange guard Shannon Murphy tied the game with a jumper, which was followed by a steal by George, who scored on a lay-in. George would score off a stickleback basket, then added a 3-pointer at the third quarter buzzer assisted by McMurtry to increase the Panthers’ lead to 38-31.

McMurtry opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer, followed by another lay-in by George with 6:37 remaining in regulation to build the Orange advantage to 43-31. That turned out to be Orange’s final field goal.

The Bulldogs would chip away at the lead with Averett scoring a three-pointer off a feed from Winter. Atkins hit two free throws with 2:15 remaining in the fourth quarter to build the Orange lead back to 46-40.

Taylor and Aaliyah Mitchell scored field goals to cut the Bulldog lead to 46-44 with :48 remaining. Williams’ full court pressure led to an Orange turnover in a frantic final 10 seconds, but the Bulldogs threw the ball away in a rush to get the ball to the basket with :3.1 left. With Orange clinging to a 46-44 lead, McMurtry took the inbounds pass and dribbled away from Mitchell long enough to run out the clock.