After losing seven players from last year’s team, the Cedar Ridge men’s basketball team had plenty of players making their varsity debut against Durham School of the Arts on Monday night. The Red Wolves didn’t let that stop them in a 61-40 victory over the Bulldogs in the season opener at Red Wolves Arena. In his first varsity game, junior guard Colton Taylor scored 15 points leading all scorers. The Red Wolves led 33-25, but scored 28 points in the final quarter to pull away. Taylor started the run with a lay-in off an errant shot at the third quarter buzzer, then opened the fourth quarter with consecutive field goals to keep Cedar Ridge’s lead in double-digits for good. Neco Clark, a junior, added ten points. All eleven Red Wolves played and ten of them scores as Cedar Ridge won its season opener for the second time in three years. It’s the start of a busy opening week for Cedar Ridge. The Red Wolves will host Voyager Academy on Tuesday night at Cedar Ridge. The women’s game starts at 6, while the men will start afterwards. On Friday night, Cedar Ridge will host East Chapel Hill.

Two weeks after Cedar Ridge’s volleyball team became the first female squad in school history to win a state championship, their captain has received another honor.

Junior Cameron Lloyd has been named the 3A State Player of the Year by the North Carolina Volleyball Coaches Association. Lloyd was also named to the All-Region 3 Team by the NCVBCA, along with classmate Cameron Lanier.

Lloyd was named the Most Valuable Player of Cedar Ridge’s 3A State Championship victory over North Iredell at Valvano Arena in Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh on November 6. Lloyd had 13 kills, eleven digs, two assists and an ace as the Red Wolves prevailed in four sets over the Raiders. Lanier finished with 12 kills against the Raiders, along with seven digs, two blocks, and one ace.

This season, Cedar Ridge won a school-record 31 games. The Red Wolves went 12-0 in the Central Carolina Conference, which had five teams in the top 16 of the 3A East RPI rankings, including #3 Person, #4 Northwood and #6 Orange. Nonetheless, the Red Wolves defeated their aforementioned top rivals in the CCC three times each. Cedar Ridge topped Orange and Person in the CCC Tournament, then beat Northwood in the 3A Eastern Regional semifinals.

Lloyd led Cedar Ridge with 360 kills this season, setting a new single-season school record. On September 9, she recorded her 500th career kill in a 3-1 win over Eastern Alamance in Mebane. On two separate occasions, Lloyd reached her single-game high of 19 kills, first against Orange on September 7 at Red Wolves Arena, then again against East Chapel Hill on September 21 in Hillsborough.

A major ingredient to Lloyd’s 360 kills was her setter, junior Julie Altieri, who finished with a team-record 717 assists. Altieri was awarded a golden volleyball before Cedar Ridge’s game against Northwood for 1,000 career assists on September 28. Altieri, who is now a member of the Red Wolves’ women’s basketball team, will go into her senior season with 1,499 career assists.

Altieri also kept opposing teams off balance by being a left-handed setter. She led the team with 70 aces.

In January, Lloyd was named All-Big 8 Conference and team MVP when the Red Wolves finished 8-0 and captured the Big 8 Conference Championship in an abbreviated season because of the pandemic. After beating Union Pines in the opening round, they lost to D.H. Conley in Greenville.

Cedar Ridge learned a lot from that loss to the Vikings. More importantly, they filled several gaps.

While Lloyd led the team in kills, her attacking load wasn’t as full this year compared to her freshman and sophomore seasons. The addition of former East Chapel Hill libero Melissa Benkowitz, who transformed into a reliable outside hitter, and the debut of sophomore Addie Reid gave the Red Wolves more weapons.

“We learned that we have to rely on everybody,” Lloyd said after the Red Wolves win over South Johnston in the 2nd round of the state playoffs on October 26. “We couldn’t rely on one person to two people. It’s a team sport and we needed to step up and own our position.”

While it wasn’t heralded at the time, Lanier also reached the 500-kill plateau in the win over North Iredell. This season, Lanier had 245 kills, along with 39 total blocks.

When the conference portion of the schedule started, Lanier had a string of six consecutive games with double-digit kills. That was capped by a 15-kill effort against Williams on September 16 in Burlington. Lanier had a season-high 16 kills against Northwood on September 28, which essentially put the conference championship race out of reach.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is sophomore cross country runner Gabriel Schmid. This fall was the most successful season in Orange men’s cross country history. The Panthers won the Central Carolina Conference championship. They also captured the Mideast Regional Championship, just the second regional title in team history. Schmid played a big role in the Panthers’ success. He placed third in the Central Carolina Conference championship meet with a time of 16:44.28, which helped the Panthers finished with 28 points and earn the championship. In the Mideast Regionals, which included a field of 130 runners, Schmid finished 4th. He crossed the finish line at 16:44.31. Orange came in 3rd in the 3A State Championships. Schmid, in a field of 175 runners, finished 12th. Since cross country season ended, Schmid has gone right back to work with many of his teammates. Now, they’re preparing for the indoor track & field season, which will start in January. In addition to running, Schmid sings in the Orange chorus.

After the unorthodox wrestling season from last spring, Cedar Ridge wrestling coach Scott Metcalf had to find a way to replace two captains and a senior who qualified for the Mideast Regionals.

Instead of rebuilding, the Red Wolves may now have the deepest team in Metcalf’s tenure.

On Wednesday night, Cedar Ridge opened the season with three wins in a quad meet inside Red Wolves Arena. The very first match of the season was also the Red Wolves’ Central Carolina Conference opener, where they defeated Person 42-33. Cedar Ridge also defeated Jordan 60-24 and Panther Creek 52-24.

It was Cedar Ridge’s first match since the graduation of Daina Pritchard, an All-Big 8 Conference selection in 2021 who qualified for the 3A State Championships at 145 pounds and finished 24-4 last season. Another graduate, Kady Watkins, was the first female wrestler in Hillsborough history to compete for a state championship.

James Rosati-Brown, a starter at 152 pounds last spring, also graduated with a career record of 77-48.

“The only weight we’re missing right now is 106 (pounds),” Metcalf said. “We’re looking pretty stout. We have a lot of young guys. A lot of them wrestled in middle school so a lot of them have experience. They’re more talented as freshman than Daina and Kady were when they started when they first came in. These kids are a little more athletic and up on things.”

On Saturday, Cedar Ridge held its annual Red Wolves Invitational, which included 21 teams from across the state. Northwest Guilford, which had six wrestlers win individual championships, captured the team title with 233 points. Cedar Ridge finished eight with 54 points. Kaden Tatro came in fourth place at 170 pounds for the Red Wolves. Cedar Ridge sophomore Joe O’Melia reached the consolation semifinals.

Orange’s Vincent Joubert-Stanzel finished fourth for Orange at 220, reaching the consolation finals via forfeit.

In the quad meet last Wednesday, Tatro had the fastest pin of the night when he defeated Jordan’s Jaylon Little-Moore in 18 seconds. Tatro pinned Panther Creek’s Mason Davis in 1:23.

O’Melia was one of several underclassmen who made an instant impact for the Red Wolves on opening night in the quad-meet, scoring three pins. He defeated Person’s Victor Rodriguez in 5:44, which officially wrapped up the dual match win for the Red Wolves. Later, O’Melia pinned Daniel Maxwell of Jordan in 1:38. Against Panther Creek, O’Melia got another pin over John Dube in 59 seconds.

The closet thing to a veteran on Cedar Ridge’s wrestling team is junior Fernando Martinez, who now has 60 career victories after finishing 4th at 120 pounds in the Red Wolves Invitational. Last week, Martinez pinned Noah Vo of Panther Creek in 1:07 and Angel Perez of Jordan in 1:20. He also earned a forfeit win over Person. Martinez was an All-Big 8 Conference selection last season, but fell short of qualifying for the state championships after receiving a tough draw in the regional championships.

At 126 pounds, Pierce Prescod won all three of his matches, two of them by pinball.

Another strong newcomer was freshman Leo Oguntoyinbo at 138 pounds. Oguntoyinbo, the younger brother of Cedar Ridge lacrosse midfielder Romon Oguntoyinbo, won all three of his matches last week in his high school debut. Oguntoyinbo, who attended Stanback Middle School, pinned Joshua Zacharias in 1:43. Competing at 138 pounds, Oguntoyinbo defeated Nasir Henderson of Panther Creek in 1:38, and also earned a forfeit win over Person. Leo Oguntoyinbo could also be the starting goalkeeper for the Cedar Ridge men’s lacrosse team this spring.

Ryan Rokouskas, the younger brother of former Cedar Ridge volleyball and softball player Marlee Rokouskas, scored two pins for Cedar Ridge in the quad match. He defeated Christopher Ceballos of Person in 1:10, then pinned Jack Bowser of Panther Creek in 1:03.

Kessel Summers: Summers, who won over 100 matches in his Orange wrestling career, started in his second meet at Bluefield University on November 14. In the Averett University Open in Danville, VA, Summers went 2-2, reaching the quarterfinals before losing. On Sunday, the Rams participated in the King University Open in Bristol, TN.

Braden Homsey: The Division III Ferrum Wrestling team went 3-1 during the Star City Duals at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, VA on Saturday. Former Orange wrestler Braden Homsey won all four of his matches. Ferrum defeated #24 Ozarks 28-19, where Homsey pinned Cruz Partain in 3:40, which ensured a Panther victory. Homsey pinned Porter Trapp of Southern Virginia in 1:01 at 197 pounds. Ferrum defeated Southern Virginia 38-15. The Panthers defeated Apprentice 32-21. Homsey scored a technical fall over Robin Edens 26-8. The only loss on the afternoon for Ferrum came against Roanoke 25-16. Homsey did earn a major decision victory over Collin Milko 14-3. Homsey is 10-0 so far this season for the Panthers.

Trenton Gill: The #25 N.C. State football team rolled past Syracuse 41-17 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh on Saturday night. It was actually a defensive struggle for most of the first half before the Wolfpack scored four touchdowns in the final 6:20 of the second quarter. Gill had three punts for an average of 36 yards. The longest was 42 yards. Two of them were downed inside the 20-yard line. Gill had eight kickoffs, only one of which was a touchback. The Wolfpack will face North Carolina on Friday night in the biggest matchup between the two schools in decades. N.C. State is now ranked #24. If State wins and Wake Forest loses to Boston College, then the Wolfpack will go to the ACC Championship game in Charlotte for the first time ever.

Keshawn Thompson: The Campbell football team’s season came to an end with a 20-17 overtime loss to Robert Morris on Saturday at Joe Walton Stadium in Moon Township, PA. In the final game of his career, Thompson had an interception in the fourth quarter, which set up the Camels for a chance to win the game on a 27-yard field goal. A facemask penalty pushed the attempt back to 42-yards, which came up wide right. Thompson had two tackles on the afternoon. Campbell ends the season 3-8, 2-5 in the Big South Conference. Thompson led Campbell with 78 tackles this season, including 24 unassisted and 54 assisted. He also had two interceptions.

Adam Chnupa: The Elon Phoenix football team ended the season strong with a 43-28 victory over #25 Rhode Island at Rhodes Stadium. The Phoenix ended the year 6-5, its first winning season since 2018. Chnupa didn’t play in the game, but played in each of Elon’s other ten games this season.

Connor Crabtree: Drake defeated the Richmond men’s basketball team 73-70 at the Drake Knapp Center in Des Moines, IA on Saturday. Crabtree came off the bench to play 13 minutes for the Spiders. He finished scoreless after attempting one 3-pointer. On Tuesday, the Spiders defeated Georgia State 94-78 at the Robins Center. Crabtree scored five points, including a 3-pointer. He also grabbed two rebounds. Richmond is 2-2 and will host Hofstra on Monday in Richmond.

Joey McMullin: Last week, the Sandhills Community College junior varsity team defeated the Methodist University junior varsity squad 107-46 in Fayetteville. McMullin scored 13 points and grabbed three rebounds for the Flyers, who improved its record to 5-2. On Saturday, Richard Bland College defeated Sandhills 82-76. McMullin, who started once again for Sandhills, finished with 13 points, two rebounds and two assists. In eight games thus far with the Flyers, McMullin had started ever game. He is averaging 15.5 points per game and shooting 54.5% from the field. In its final game before Thanksgiving, Sandhills will host Spartanburg Methodist on Tuesday in Pinehurst.

“Pittsburgh’s going to the Super Bowl. I got a feelin’.”

That would be the song that Lou Geary would sing during loose moments in his woodshop class at what was then called Stanford Middle School. It was a trademark tune crooned by Pittsburgh fans almost annually as fall gave way to winter and head coach Chuck Noll took a franchise that was once the laughing stock of the National Football League (one playoff team from 1945-1971) and led them to four Super Bowl championships in six seasons.

The names that shaped those championship teams and made the Pittsburgh Steelers a worldwide brand name are synonymous with football. Terry Bradshaw. Joe Greene. Franco Harris. Jack Lambert. John Stallworth. Lynn Swann.

They all captured Geary’s imagination as he played under coach Bud Billiard at Brooke High School in Weilsburg, West Virginia. Just as Noll built the Steelers franchise from the ground up starting in the early 1970s, Geary did the same thing with various athletic programs at Stanford and at Cedar Ridge High School in the subsequent three decades. Like Noll, Geary was a championship coach many times over.

On October 31, Geary passed away in New Bern after a four-year battle with dementia at the age of 63. Funeral services will be held today at Hillsborough United Methodist Church at 3PM.

Donald Lou Geary graduated from Fairmont State University, where he was enshrined in the school’s Hall of Fame in 2020 for football and wrestling. He was a four-year letterman in football with the Falcons, along with a two-year letterman for wrestling. After graduation, he journeyed to Hillsborough with his wife and was hired by Stanford Principal Leonard Mayo as an industrial arts teacher. Geary was the football, wrestling and track & field coach at Stanford from 1987 until 2000. The Chargers became a dominant Wednesday afternoon institution in northern Orange County, often playing games at Auman Stadium and collecting one Orange-Person Athletic Conference championship after another. Geary’s two oldest sons, Mack and Sam, played at Stanford for their father.

“He wanted people to love the game just as much as he did,” said Jake Geary, his youngest son. “He shared that passion with anybody who even had the smallest interest in it. His high school coach, Bud Billiard, was a tremendous influence on him. He was just as passionate as many father was. That’s where my father got his drive from.”

Stanford’s wrestling program was even more dominant. They went years without losing a dual match. Stanford was Orange High’s feeder school, which was part of the reason why Orange won 16 consecutive conference championships and five state championships under head coach Bobby Shriner.

“He loved Stanford,” said Jake, who played at Stanback. “He had a dynasty there. He was with his buddies at Stanford. He didn’t want to leave that until Mack, Sam and I got older and went on to high school.”

After one season as an assistant under former Orange football coach Bill Hynus in 2001, Geary was chosen by Cedar Ridge Athletic Director, Jim Pappas, to become the first head football coach at Cedar Ridge High School. Naturally, he would also be the Red Wolves’ first wrestling coach. In the midst of the summer of 2002, as officials prepared for the opening of Cedar Ridge, Geary and baseball coach Andy Simmons would pick up rocks off the field that would eventually become Cedar Ridge Stadium.

“It was a huge change of pace being at a higher level,” Jake said of his father’s transition to Cedar Ridge. “They started the program from scratch. Over that summer, I was right out there picking up rocks with my dad. One of his former players texted me the other day to remind me about that. He literally had to build that program from scratch.”

Geary took over the Cedar Ridge program in 2002 without any seniors. Within three years, they captured its first football conference championship.

At Cedar Ridge, Geary coached the greatest running back in school history, Devon Moore, who would go on to be a featured back for Appalachian State’s 2006 Division I National Championship team. Moore rushed for 86 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries as Appalachian defeated Massachusetts 28-17 in Chattanooga, TN to win the national championship. Moore rushed for nearly 6,000 yards and 42 touchdowns in his Cedar Ridge career, though Appalachian State and Wofford were the only schools to offer him a Division I scholarship.

In 2006, Cedar Ridge went 10-4 and reached the third round of the 2-AA State Playoffs. After playoff wins over Swansboro and Northwood, the Red Wolves lost to Bunn in the regional semifinals.

“That was one of the highlights of his career,” Jake said. “All those kids that stuck together and reaching the third round of the playoffs was high on his list.”

“He meant so much to this school,” said Simmons, now Cedar Ridge’s Athletic Director. “I came over with him from Orange. Just as incredible person. He touched so many lives in Hillsborough and surrounding places. Sometimes, there are just no words to describe what a person meant to so many. I think Coach Geary is one of those people.”

Jake was the 2010 2A North Carolina High School Athletic Association Shot Put champion at Cedar Ridge. He played football at East Carolina under head coach Ruffin McNeill after being recruited by Skip Holtz, now the head coach at Louisiana Tech. Jake Geary currently teaches at North Carolina Virtual Public Schools after four years at Broad Creek Middle School in Newport.

“He coached me just like he would anyone else on the team,” Jake said. “I always told people that I had to have it tougher because if I didn’t, people would say I was getting playing time just because I was the coach’s son. It was hard but I enjoyed having him as my coach. I didn’t just get it at practice, I got it at home, too.”

Geary left Cedar Ridge in 2010 to coach at Person High School, partly to get closer to a lake house that the family owned near Roxboro. They held annual Super Bowl parties there every winter, including Super Bowl XLIII, where Geary’s Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals 27-23.

Even after all the championships he won in Hillsborough, Geary never forgot that the greatest place on earth is home. In 2015, he returned to West Virginia as an assistant coach for East Fairmont High School’s football team, serving with his brother, John, the head coach. The following year, Lou became the head coach for the 2016 season before resigning and returning to North Carolina.

“He wasn’t even looking for a job,” Jake said. “His brother wound up calling him and asked if he wanted to do with him. He jumped all over that and they worked together. It was a young team and they were trying to build something together.”

In recent years, Geary had kept up with Cedar Ridge athletics. Jake says it was a topic of one of their final conversations at a memory care facility in New Bern, where Geary stayed since July.

“Over the last few weeks, I’ve heard from people from West Virginia to North Carolina to Virginia,” Jake said. “Old coaches and teammates that I’ve never met before. All of them said the same thing. He loved the game and he took everybody under their wing and treated them exactly the same. He always had a smile on his face. It was amazing reading how many people he impacted.”

Cedar Ridge’s wrestling season couldn’t have started better on Wednesday night. The Red Wolves hosted Person, Jordan and Panther Creek in the Cedar Ridge quad at Red Wolves Arena. Cedar Ridge started its Central Carolina Conference schedule with a 42-33 win over Person. Sophomore Joe O’Melia clinched the win for Cedar Ridge with a pin over Victor Rodriguez at 220 pounds in 5:44. It was the first of three wins for O’Melia on the night. Freshman Leo Oguntoyinbo earned a forfeit win over the Rockets. Cedar Ridge defeated Jordan 60-24. Oguntoyinbo earned his first pin at the high school level with a victory over Josh Zacharias in 1:43. O’Melia pinned Daniel Maxwell in 1:38. To end the long night, Cedar Ridge defeated Panther Creek 52-24. Oguntoyinbo pinned Nasir Henderson in 3:18. O’Melia earned his third pin of the night with a victory over John Dude in 59 seconds. After starting 3-0, Cedar Ridge will host many teams from across the area for the Red Wolves Invitational at Red Wolves Arena on Saturday.