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If Friday night had a 90s retro theme inside Orange High Gymnasium, an apt musical selection would have been songs from Boys II Men.

On December 20, the Orange men’s basketball team pulled away from Southern Alamance and won 80-63. By the time the Panthers returned home on Friday night, a month had passed.

Through heartbreak and narrow victories, the Panthers have grown up a lot. And the proof was in living color on Friday night.

The Panthers tore through Western Alamance 84-36 to start the second half of the Central Carolina Conference slate. Orange stomped out to an 8-0 lead in the opening 1:34 and led by double-figures nearly for the balance of the game.

In Elon, the Panthers gradually pulled away from the Warriors to win 57-45, but it was still a contest the entire 32 minutes. On Friday in Hillsborough, it was a first-round knockout as opposed to an unanimous decision with the 1-2 punch of freshman Coleman Cloer and sophomore Xandrell Pennix landing the haymakers.

Cloer drained a three-pointer on Orange’s opening possession, followed by a jumper from Kai Wade. Pennix sank a three-pointer from 21-feet after an illegal screen call against the Warriors and the rout was on.

Cloer, a freshman who has scored in double-figures in 18 of Orange’s 19 games, led all scorers with 19 points. Pennix finished with 15.

Orange had a season-high 16 3-pointers. It was the most points scored in a conference game for Orange since Derryl Britt became the head coach in 2018. It was Orange’s most lopsided conference win since they defeated East Chapel Hill 82-32 on December 17, 2019. Among the highlights was Cloer draining a 35-footer, with a defender right in front of him, from the midcoast logo along with Thomas Loch sinking a 3-pointer from the corner as the first quarter expired.

Kris Barnwell led the Warriors with 15 points. He was the only Western Alamance player in double figures.

Orange started this season with an abundance of youth and hopes to simply make the state playoffs for the first time in six years. Now, they’re 13-6, 5-2 in the Central Carolina Conference, tied with Person for second place. With six games remaining in the regular season and a postseason birth all but sewed up, Britt said afterwards the focus on the remainder of the season will be on mental strength for the playoffs.

“We talked about flipping the switch, going to another level, landing in another gear,” Britt said. “We did what we said we wanted to do. Now we have to maintain it. It can’t be for one game.”

Defensively, Orange didn’t led up in the second half. The Warriors got only four points in the third quarter. Pennix drained three 3-pointers in the third quarter, the last of which started a running clock with the Panthers got its lead over 40 points. Pennix has been in double-figures in eight of Orange’s last ten games.

On Tuesday night, the Panthers will host Walter Williams in another big game. Orange upended the Bulldogs 66-59 on December 16. The Bulldogs are one game behind Orange for third place in the CCC and are coming off a 31-point home loss to Northwood. If Orange wins, they will control the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Bulldogs with four conference games remaining.

Orange hasn’t hosted a game in a conference tournament since 2016.

“None of my guys have been to the playoffs,” Britt said. “My goal is to start to prepare for that now. They’re going to see a different level of intensity, a different level of physicality. We started preparing for that over the past week-and-a-half. The first time around the conference, we finished 4-2. Now, we have to validate that. We have to confirm that. We can’t have a letdown.”

There wasn’t quite the sense of finality for the Cedar Ridge wrestlers that they would have ordinary felt on Senior Night.

In two weeks, Cedar Ridge will host dozens of schools for the 3A Mideast Regionals. One Red Wolf senior, Fernando Martinez, will be defending his regional championship at 113-pounds.

Nonetheless, for Martinez, Nick Meyer, Jalen Williams, Justin Hartsell, Gavin Mintz, and Louis Tedder, it was their final dual match at Cedar Ridge High School. Together, they’ve helped the Red Wolves bridge from the Big 8 Conference into the Central Carolina Conference. They’ve reached the brink of qualifying for the Dual State Tournament playoffs this year, finishing 3rd behind Orange and Person.

It’s possibly Cedar Ridge’s best 3A squad.

For Martinez, it was a poignant moment as the Red Wolves defeated Eastern Alamance 66-12 inside Cedar Ridge’s Auxiliary Gymnasium on Thursday night. The most successful Cedar Ridge wrestler since Josh Collins, who won 151 matches from 2001-2005, Martinez earned a pinfall victory over Kaitlyn Watson in 41 seconds at 113 pounds for his final victory as a Red Wolf in a dual match. Martinez now is in third-place in career wins at Cedar Ridge with 135. He has an outside chance of catching Collins for second-place at 151 career wins.

Martinez and Tedder have been teammates for six years going back to their days at Stanback Middle School. Tedder, a heavyweight who also played football this season, improved to 24-16 after he pinned Noel Jennings in 34 seconds.

“I’ve grown to have a great relationship with my coaches,” Martinez said about his time at Cedar Ridge, where he has started since he was a freshman. “Aidan Kearns and a couple of those guys have been on the team for a long time. So the relationship with them over the years has been pretty awesome. I’ve developed my skills in this room.”

All four of the Red Wolf seniors claimed wins in their final dual match. In addition to Martinez and Tedder, Williams claimed a forfeit win at 126 pounds. Justin Hartsell pinned Aidan Clark in 5:11 at 152 pounds. Hartsell improved to 23-16 with 13 pins.

At heavyweight, Cedar Ridge’s Connor Womble pinned Jeff Giovani in 3:05. Red Wolf sophomore Ryan Rakouskas improved to 29-16 with a pin against Chasen Phillips in 1:19. Rakouskas has 22 pins this year. At 160 pounds, Edwin Huerta pinned Chris Solomon in 5:34.

Kaden Tatro notched his team-leading 46th win of the season with a forfeit at 182 pounds. Angus Pritchard and James Este-Wittinger also had forfeit victories for the Red Wolves.

Cedar Ridge ended its dual season with an overall record of 24-11, 4-2 in the Central Carolina Conference.

This afternoon, Cedar Ridge will join the other six teams for the 1st annual Central Carolina Conference Tournament at Orange High School. The first match begins at 10AM.

Orange, the regular season champions of the Central Carolina Conference, will have Acoya Isley as the favorite at 195 pounds. Isley was the runner up at the Tiger Holiday Invitational in December at 195.

At heavyweight, Person’s Trevquan Gary figures to be a frontrunner. Last week, Gary outscored Orange’s Hugo Vazquez 3-1 in a dual match in Roxboro, which Orange won 43-25 to sew up its third straight conference title. Gary also pinned Tedder earlier this year.

Cedar Ridge’s Pierce Prescod will compete at 120 pounds. Prescod, a sophomore who claimed the individual championship at the Silver Fox Invitational at Riverside High last week, is 39-9 for the Red Wolves. Orange’s Quadir Medley is also a contender at 120 pounds.

Kaden Tatro also claimed an individual championship at the Silver Fox at 182 pounds. Tatro went undefeated against conference opponents this season. Ethan Kuball of Northwood and Malakai Newman of Person may be Tatro’s main challengers.

Jared Hutchins of Orange will be a contender at 132 pounds. Orange senior Sam Crawford will be a contender at 152 pounds. On January 4, Crawford held off Northwood’s Abraham Owusu Tu 6-5 in Pittsboro, which may be a preview of the championship match at 152.

After all this time, Katie Belle Sikes is still surprising herself.

In her second dual meet for the Orange swimming team last month, Sikes competed in the 500 yard freestyle, largely on a whim. She had never done it before in club swimming with the Hillsborough Aquatic Club or her new team, Eastern Carolina Aquatics.

It’s a marathon event compared to her forte, the 50-yard freestyle, where she won the 3A State Championship last year.

“I really like the 500,” Sikes said. “As a club swimmer, that’s not considered one of my prime events.”

Swimming against Cedar Ridge, she got out of the pool at the Orange County Sportsplex and saw a time of 5:19.81 on the digital scoreboard–a new school record.

“I think I’ll do the 500 one more time this year,” Sikes said.

When Sikes started her college recruitment, she wasn’t sure what schools would show interest. Her travel coach, Claudio Battaglini of ECA, told her she would hear from plenty of schools and encouraged her to see as much of the country as she could. She went into the process with her eyes wide open and unsure of what was ahead.

When the University of Georgia reached out, Sikes was pleasantly surprised.

It also caused a flashback of memories, or as much of one as a 16-year-old can have, anyway.

At the age of 12, Sikes competed at the University of Georgia’s Gabrielsen Natatorium for a national competition. It’s still her favorite place to swim.

“I knew back then that my dream was to swim in college,” Sikes said.

Sikes wasn’t sure if she was a Southeastern Conference-caliber swimmer until the recruitment process told her otherwise. She discovered that not only was she someone who could compete at the highest level of college swimming, but she could do it at the very place where her dream of swimming at the next level started.

“Honestly, it took me a really long time,” Sikes said. “I definitely didn’t think I was at that level. I kind of had other people tell me I could do this. I was like ‘OK, I guess?’ I didn’t want to set it as my goal because what if I don’t get there? It was pretty shocking.”

As part of her recruiting trip, Sikes attended Georgia’s football game against Auburn at Sanford Stadium on October 8. Of course, she also returned to Gabrielsen.

Days later, Sikes formally committed to Georgia. She also had recruiting trips to the University of North Carolina, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Virginia and Michigan.

Before deciding on Georgia, Sikes listened to Battaglini and saw the country. She stood inside massive Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor during the change of seasons as the leaves started to change colors.

“It was so cool,” Sikes said. “Honestly, I think it was just a little too cold for me. My parents said ‘I thought you liked the cold.’ I said ‘Not that level of cold.’ Hearing stories from swimmers about how they had to walk in the snow if they didn’t have a ride to the pool made me think I didn’t want to be around that.”

Sikes met one-on-one with Georgia head swimming coach Stefanie Williams-Moreno.

“I feel like there wasn’t a wrong decision at the end of the day,” Sikes said. “They were all such amazing experiences. Georgia was definitely the best option. There wasn’t a wrong answer, but Georgia was definitely the right one.”

Her decision didn’t just come down to swimming. Georgia has a college of veterinary medicine, which Sikes has in mind for a post-swimming career. Having grown up around dogs, her family fosters a pit bull mixed puppy named “Penny” that they got during the pandemic.

“I think she’s the favorite child,” Sikes said.

She also wanted a college town. Growing up next to Chapel Hill, she understood how special a college community can be.

“I wanted my own personal bubble,” Sikes said. “That’s what I like about Chapel Hill. In Athens, it feels like the college is the center of the town. I wasn’t interested in being in a big city where I’m secluded. Georgia is a good balance of all of that.”

Last February, Sikes became the first female swimmer in Orange High history to win a state championship when she captured the gold medal in the 50-yard freestyle in Cary. The only other swimmer to win a state championship in school history was Ben Scott, the 2018 3A 100-meter freestyle champion.

“Kristin and I are just so grateful to her current coaches here in North Carolina,” said Sikes’ father, Tommy. “We’re appreciative of her future coaches in Georgia for supporting her and allowing her to follow her dream of swimming in college. She has worked extremely hard, in and out of the water, and we are both so proud of her accomplishments.”

In her freshman year, Sikes was an immediate sensation amid quirky circumstances.

Starting her high school career in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sikes couldn’t compete with other swimmers across from her in opposite lanes like a standard dual meet. She was only able to attend a handful of practices. For much of the year, a  meet consisted of Sikes swimming in an empty pool competing only against a clock.

She won the 50-yard Central Regional championship, finished second in the state, and did all of it before she even had her first in-person class at Orange. As a freshman, she was named the Big 8 Conference Swimmer of the Year.

Sikes has plenty to accomplish before she packs the family SUV for Athens. This year, she has already qualified for six events in the Central Regionals, though she can only compete individually in two of them. She wants to set the state record in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle.

Perhaps what scariest for her competition is that Battaglini has encouraged Sikes to continue high school swimming, unlike previous travel coaches.

“High school swimming is a lot less stressful than club swimming,” Sikes said. “Claudio really wants me to do well in high school.”

Battaglini has gone as far to design a training plan for Sikes right up to the state championships next month. This season, in addition to the 500 yard freestyle, she has broken her own school record for the 50 yard freestyle, the 100 yard freestyle, the 200 yard freestyle and the 100 yard backstroke.

With one more year ahead of her and a 4.4 grade-point average, there’s still new ground that Sikes is trying to break for herself.

Her story is far from complete, but Sikes can rest assured that all the times that Sikes trained at the Sportsplex six days a week has paid off. Not just with a state championship and whatever else may come in the future, but also in how her dream as a 12-year-old came true.

The Cedar Ridge men’s basketball team, fighting for a spot in the state playoffs, defeated Franklin Academy 56-42 at Red Wolves Gymnasium on Thursday night. Without forward Luke Orstad, junior Hayden Kirk earned his first start of the season and had seven points. It was a big night for junior center Harrison Perel, who had a career-high 14 points. Coming off Tuesday’s close loss to Orange, the Red Wolves opened slow from the field, scoring just one field goal in the opening 12 minutes. After Colton Taylor scored on a field goal while being fouled, the Red Wolves went on an 11-0 run down the stretch of the first half to take the lead. Perel had three field goals down the stretch of the first half. Colton Taylor finished with 12 points while Jonovan Wingate had ten points as the Red Wolves earned its first win of the calendar year 2023. Cedar Ridge went into the game ranked #33 in the MaxPreps 3A East region rankings, putting them right on the bubble for the 3A State Playoffs. Cedar Ridge, looking for its first trip to the state playoffs in six years, will continue their pursuit for the postseason when they travel to Eastern Alamance tonight. You can hear that game tonight on Hillsboroughsports.com starting with the women’s game with Jon Franklin at 6PM.

Cedar Ridge’s Harrison Perel & Hayden Kirk discuss win over Franklin Academy

The Cedar Ridge men’s basketball team, fighting for a spot in the state playoffs, defeated Franklin Academy 56-42 at Red Wolves Gymnasium on Thursday night. Without forward Luke Orstad, junior Hayden Kirk earned his first start of the season and had seven points.

The Orange women’s basketball team went home from Gibsonville with hardware. The Lady Panthers captured the championship of the Eastern Guilford Holiday Invitational with a 46-25 win over Northeast Guilford on Wednesday night. Jada Reed had her best game of the tournament with 13 points. Orange senior center Erin Jordan-Cornell also scored 13 points. Jordan-Cornell, Nikayla Whitted and Sophomore Evelyn George were named to the All-Tournament team. Jordan-Cornell was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Whitted scored five points in the championship game. She scored seven points in the win over Walter Williams. It was the first time since 2017, when they won the Big 8 Conference Championship. It was a well-earned championship for the Lady Panthers, who won three games over three days against The Burlington School and Central Carolina Conference rival Walter Williams. Orange coach B.J. Condron won a tie for the contest as he does whenever the Panthers play in a tournament championship game. It was a title earned for the Orange seniors: Jordan-Cornell, Reed, Whitted and Katelyn Van Mater. Orange will continue its season on January 3 with a home game against Cedar Ridge on Tuesday at 7.

No Title

The Orange women’s basketball team went home from Gibsonville with hardware. The Lady Panthers captured the championship of the Eastern Guilford Holiday Invitational with a 46-25 win over Northeast Guilford on Wednesday night. Jada Reed had her best game of the tournament with 13 points. Orange senior center Erin Jordan-Cornell also scored 13 points.

There is no finish line.

At least not with Gabriel Schmid.

Just 19 months ago, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the 2020-2021 North Carolina High School Cross Country State championships to be held on a frigid January day in Kannapolis. If you scroll down the 97 names who qualified in the 3A Championships that day, Schmid’s is conspicuously missing. He was a freshman then.

Now, he’s a state champion.

On November 5, Schmid won the 3A State Championship at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville. He captured his first state championship with a time of 15:44.28, a full 16 seconds ahead of runner-up Stephen Fernetti of North Lincoln. Eli Julian of South Rowan finished third at 16:13.79.

Schmid became only the second runner ever from Orange to win a state championship in cross country. Bradsher Wilkins won the 4A State Championship in 1997 and 1998.

Just as Schmid flipped the script on his performance, so did the climate that he competed in. Last November, he ran his first state championship meet with temperatures in the mid-50s. He finished 12th. This year, captured the state title in downright balmy conditions with highs in the low 80s, as warm as many observers could ever recall for the final cross country event of the year.

After crossing the finish line, some runners searched fervently for the table that had dozens of cups of water just beyond the concourse. Schmid, however, actually preferred the warmer weather.

“Last year, it was hard to stay warm,” Schmid said. “This was an amazing time. I’d rather have this 100%.”

Schmid followed in the footsteps of a teammate and mentor who nearly captured his own state championship several times. Spencer Hampton, who graduated in June, finished 2nd in the 3,2000 meters in the 2021 3A Outdoor State Track and Field Championship. A week prior, Hampton won the 1,600 meters Mideast Regional championship at Southern Lee High School in Sanford. Last year, Hampton came in 8th in the state cross country championships.

“We were feeling good about the race,” said Orange Men’s Cross Country coach Brian Schneidewind. “It was a nice, relatively calm week of having faith and trust in all the decisions he’s been making throughout the last several years to get to this point. What makes him special is the fact that he’s strong in so many different areas whereas a lot of runners have a lot of obvious strengths, but a lot of weaknesses as well.”

In May, Hampton won another regional championship in the 3,200 meters at Franklinton High School. Schmid finished 2nd. Schmid also finished 3rd in the 1,600 meters, while Hampton came in 2nd.

A week later at the 3A State Championships at North Carolina A&T State University, Schmid came in 2nd in the 3,200 meters.

“Spencer definitely helped me win this championship,” Schmid said. “He pushed me hard my freshman year because he saw potential in me. It’s something he engraved in me early on. It’s definitely something that started it all. From there, my parents, my coaches, my teammates saw that I have something. It motivated me to do that. At the end of the day, the motivation can get you through the days, the years, the months. Waking up every single day and having to do a 8-10 mile run. You can’t just have motivation. You have to have people pushing you.”

After the outdoor state championships, Schmid underwent a rigorous summer training regimen to prepare for cross country. He attended the Brevard Summer Distance training camp where he ran through the craggy terrain in a mountainous region. He also ventured to West Virginia for a Ragnar relay race, described as the “hardest fun you’ll ever love” on its website.

“The Pisgah Forest is definitely the way to train,” Schmid said. “It improved my endurance. One day we ran three miles uphill at an elevation of about 1,500 feet. Brevard started it all for this season. That was the hardest training I’ve ever gone through. I may do it again next year.”

Schmid finished the 2022 cross country season with six wins. In addition to the Central Carolina Conference championship at Lake Cammack Course in Burlington, Schmid won the Mideast Regional championship at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary. That’s also where he opened the season with a victory in the Early Bird Challenge on August 20, outdistancing the field by 40 seconds against the nearest competitor, Cedar Ridge’s Roman Morrell.

In the state championships, Schmid beat out 170 other runners.

Since then, he hasn’t stopped competing. He has already qualified for the state championships in indoor track and field. On November 19, Schmid finished 14th in the New Balance Dash for Doobie 3200 in Pfafftown. His time of 9:20.33 was well under the state qualification standards of 10:00.000.

Last week, Schmid returned to WakeMed Soccer Park and finished fifth in the NXR Southeast Regional Championships. His time of 15:13.30 was good enough to qualify for the Nike Cross Country Nationals in Portland, OR on December 3rd.

The Orange men’s soccer team started its season with a 2-nil loss to Riverside on a mild August night at Linny Wrenn Stadium in Durham.

As indicated by the scoreline, it was a tepid showing offensively for Orange, whose best chance to score came on a penalty kick that was saved in the first half by Riverside goalkeeper John Ballard.

Offensively, that Orange team from two months ago bares little resemblance to the squad that is now in the state playoffs. Along the way, the ride through October has been filled with last minutes heroics that have paced the way for the Panthers’ first appearance in the state playoffs since 2017.

Orange, which finished third in the Central Carolina Conference, received a #21 seed and will face #12 seed J.H. Rose in Greenville on Halloween night. The field of 64 in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 3A State Tournament was released on Friday afternoon.

Rose, who finished third in the 4A/3A Big East Conference, received a #12 seed. The Rampants ended the regular season on a five-game winning streak, including a victory over D.H. Conley, who tied with Jacksonville for the Big East Championship.

Orange started 1-5 and didn’t score multiple goals in a game until they defeated Cedar Ridge 3-1 on September 14 in the opening leg of the Hillsborough Derby. At that point, the offense picked up and the Panthers won five in a row, its longest winning streak in five years.

The Panthers’ run to the postseason hasn’t lacked for drama. On October 13, Orange stunned Chapel Hill 3-2 at Ron Benson Field. They played the final 20 minutes with only ten men. Junior Emmanuel Mil Cruz scored the game-winning goal with 35 seconds remaining after Cooper Zinn scored the equalizer off an assist from Darius Corbett.

The following game, the Panthers defeated Northwood 3-2 in Pittsboro after scoring two goals in the final 15 minutes. Dylan Silverman notched the game-winning goal with 1:32 remaining with a laser shot from 25 yards away. Tyler Mann, the leading scorer on the team, tied the game. Mil Cruz scored Orange’s opener.

Orange’s senior night against Eastern Alamance last Monday may have been the most memorable of all. In a 4-2 overtime win, Corbett scored two goals in his final game at Orange Soccer Field. Zinn and Mann also scored.

Corbett, a centerback, scored Orange’s first goals of the year on penalty kicks, including the game-winner in a 1-0 victory over Knightdale, their first win of the season. Mann leads Orange with eleven goals. Cooper Zinn has seven goals.

Corbett is paired as a centerback with senior Tucker Gaddy, who were instrumental in four shutout wins this season, along with goalkeeper Connor McMurtry.

The winner of J.H. Rose-Orange will face the winner of #5 Southern Nash vs. #28 Southern Wayne in the second round.

Orange’s inclusion in the field of 64 continued a strong showing for the Central Carolina Conference, home to the defending 3A State Champions Western Alamance. Five CCC teams made the state playoffs. Walter Williams, who defeated Orange 3-0 in the regular season finale on Wednesday, is the top-overall seed in the 3A East Region.

Western Alamance (#13 seed) will host Northern Nash in the opening round. Northwood (#22) will travel to Swansboro on Monday. Eastern Alamance will go to Croatan.