The Cedar Ridge men’s lacrosse team actually got to play on Monday night, which is news in and of itself. Amid the rainiest North Carolina winter in 37 years, the Red Wolves have played only five games in six weeks. At Durham County Stadium on Monday, Cedar Ridge made quick work of Northern Durham 14-0. Junior Roman Oguntoyinbo finished with a goal and three assists. Oguntoyinbo is the leading scorer for Cedar Ridge and has a history of the game that goes back to his adolescence. Last Wednesday, Oguntoyinbo factored in on all six goals in Cedar Ridge’s game against Orange, scoring three goals and three assists. In the opening minutes against Northern, Oguntoyinbo assisted on goals by James Clayton, Ty Corbin and Harrison Neal. The Red Wolves now have won three of its last four. Barring any more rain, they will be back in action on Thursday at Roxboro Community School.

Phillip Berger: Berger, who won 21 games in his Cedar Ridge pitching career, captured the victory in relief as Division III William Peace defeated the University of Lynchburg 4-3 at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary on Saturday. Berger threw two-and-a-half innings of perfect baseball with three strikeouts. It was his first win of the season. It helped the Pacers sweep the doubleheader from the Hornets.

On February 21, Berger made his season debut against Roanoke College. Berger started and threw five innings in a no decision. He struck out three while conceding six hits, two runs and four walks. The Maroons defeated the Pacers 6-5. Peace is 5-1 and travels to Averett University on Tuesday.

Landon Riley: #10 TCU swept the Liberty Flames baseball team at Lupton Stadium in Fort Worth, TX over the weekend. On Sunday, Riley finished the game on the hill for the Flames. Riley threw one shutout inning with two strikeouts and one walk. Liberty, 2-5, returns home to host Radford in Lynchburg, VA on Tuesday.

Mia Davidson: The Mississippi State softball team competed in the Lone Star State Invitational across three different cities over the weekend. On Friday, the Bulldogs split a doubleheader against Texas State at Bobcat Stadium in San Marcos, TX. They dropped the opener to the Bobcats 4-3, but captured the nightcap 6-2. Mia Davidson, a 2016 Orange High graduate, combined to go 3-for-6 in the doubleheader. In the second game, she hit a three-run homer to left center in the 4th inning. In the opener, she singled for the first hit of the game and scored off a double from Fa Leilua. On Saturday at the University of Texas in Austin, TX, Mississippi State defeated Houston 3-0, but lost to Texas 8-7. Against the Longhorns, Davidson went 3-for-4 with a double and a home run, scoring twice. At that point in the Invitational, Davidson was 7-for-13. In the win over the Cougars, Davidson went 1-for-3 with a double.

On Sunday, Baylor defeated Mississippi State 10-6. Davidson hit her 57th career home run, extending her hitting streak to seven games. She recorded a hit in all of the Bulldogs’ games last week and hit .471 in the Invitational, including three home runs.

Montana Davidson: In her senior season, Montana Davidson leads Mississippi State with a .421 batting average through 12 games. Montana went 2-for-4 against Texas, her fifth multi-hit game of the year. She also went 2-for-4 against Baylor. Mississippi State is 8-4. They will start Southeastern Conference action against Alabama on Wednesday in Tuscaloosa.

Tori Dalehite: The 2018 Big 8 Conference Hitter of the Year at Cedar Ridge made her college debut for UNC Greensboro over the weekend. Dalehite entered the game as a pinch runner as the Spartans defeated North Carolina A&T 11-2 in the second game of a doubleheader. Dalehite scored off a home run hit by Jordan Gontram. UNCG swept the three games against the Aggies to improve to 4-4.

Grace Andrews: Another series, another home run for the 2020 Orange High graduate. On Thursday against the Montreat JV team, Catawba Valley Community College swept a doubleheader on scores of 3-0 and 6-2 at the Highland Park Community Center in Hickory. In the opener, Andrews went 1-for-3. In the nightcap, Andrews hit a solo homer in the 3rd inning, her second of the season. Andrews finished 2-for-2 with 3 RBIs. She added a double in the bottom of the fifth inning. Catawba Valley had doubleheaders scheduled against Camp Community College and Bryant & Stratton College in Virginia over the weekend, but they were all rained out.

Catawba Valley is 7-3. Andrews has played in all ten games. She’s the top hitter on the team with a .533 batting average and a team-high 16 hits. Andrews is tied for the team lead with ten runs scored. She also has nine RBIs.

Adam Chnupa: The #24 Elon football team fell to Gardner-Webb 42-20 at Spangler Stadium in Boiling Springs on Saturday. Chnupa played linebacker and recorded two tackles for the Phoenix, including one-half tackle for loss. Elon opens its Colonial Athletic Association schedule against James Madison next Saturday at Rhodes Stadium.

Dylan Boyer: The former Orange High men’s lacrosse star assisted on a goal as Queens University of Charlotte defeated Newberry 12-10 at Setzler Field in Newberry, S.C. on Saturday. Boyer assisted on the Royals’ final goal of the first half, scored by Tyler Ewen that put Queens ahead 6-3 with 4:00 remaining in the second quarter. Boyer also had two shots, one of which was on net. It was the first win of the year for Queen’s.

Josh Mauer: Mauer, who took the drive-thru graduated from Orange last June, is now a midfielder for the Division II Mount Olive men’s lacrosse team, which is ranked #9 in the country. On February 16, Mauer made his college debut for the Trojans in a 10-8 victory over Coker. Mauer had two ground balls against the Cobras. He also played in a 12-3 win over Catawba on February 16.

Jaylin Jones: Southern Virginia defeated the Division III Pfeiffer men’s lacrosse team 22-19 at Knight Stadium in Buena Vista, VA on Wednesday. Jalin Jones, a former Orange High star, scooper up two ground balls for the Falcons in the loss. Pfeiffer (1-1) travels to Ferrum on Sunday.

Whenever the Orange lacrosse team holds team reunions years from now, there will always be a certain amount of mystery surrounding the 2020 team.

On paper, it was the most talented team in Orange history with plenty of firepower. In practice, it sure looked that way, too.

The Panthers had senior midfielder Wyatt Jones, the first Orange player in school history to end up playing lacrosse at a Division I school at Mercer. There was also senior attacker Dylan Boyer, now at Division II Queen’s University.

Orange started 2020 with a 6-0 record with wins over 4A teams J.H. Rose and Heritage. Of course, the ending to this story is all too familiar by now. Last March, the pandemic hit, ending the spring sports season two weeks after it started. On March 13, the Orange lacrosse team defeated Roxboro Community School 15-0, but there was a sense of finality apparent when the players dosed Coach Chandler Zirkle with a Gatorade bath after a anticlimactic win at Bulldog Stadium.

It was the last time that Orange team took the field. They never got the chance to see if they were the squad that could beat one of the Chapel Hill superpowers. Or see if a deep run in the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs was possible.

It was also the last high school sports event for any Hillsborough high school team for eight months.

Jones, Boyer and the rest of the 2020 Orange seniors now hang their hats elsewhere, leaving behind a group of younger Panthers learning on the job.

But Orange’s Ryan Merrill isn’t letting the past get in the way of his senior year.

In likely his final game against crosstown rival Cedar Ridge, Merrill scored six goals as the Panthers defeated Cedar Ridge 10-6 at Auman Stadium on Wednesday night. Merrill opened the game with three goals as he completed the hat trick off an assist from Connor Kruse with 1:14 remaining in the first quarter.

Cedar Ridge junior Roman Oguntoyinbo turned in a six-point night, factoring in on every Red Wolf goal. Oguntoyinbo finished with three goals and three assists to keep Cedar Ridge competitive until Orange ran out the clock in the final minutes.

It was the Panthers (2-1, 1-0 in Conference 9) fourth straight win over the Red Wolves. Cedar Ridge (2-2, 2-1) had its two-game winning streak snapped.

While some players may have spent the interminable hours after the pandemic wondering what might have been in 2020, Zirkle has chosen to let the mystery be.

“Actually, I didn’t think about it at all,” Zirkle said. “It would have been really cool to finish the season, but the thing I really appreciated about the team last year was we did everything we wanted to do the way we wanted to do it. Obviously, I wished we could have finished the season, but I feel proud of what that team did.”

After Merrill’s three goals, Oguntoyinbo broke free in front of the net to score Cedar Ridge’s first goal just 56 seconds into the second quarter. Orange freshman Connor Kruse scored off an assist from sophomore Joe Cady to extend the Panther lead to 4-1, but Cedar Ridge held the Panthers scoreless in the final eight minutes of the first half. Oguntoyinbo scored his second goal with 3:04 remaining in the first half, then assisted on a Holden Neal’s only goal to cut Orange’s lead to 4-3 going to halftime.

Merrill started the second half with two unassisted goals in the opening minute. Kruse added another tally to increase Orange’s lead to 7-3. After Oguntoyinbo completed his hat trick with 8:24 remaining in the third quarter, Merrill registered his sixth goal on a feed from Kruse. Orange’s Duncan Grant widened the Panther advantage to 9-4 off an assist from senior Leif Mahaney.

With regular goalkeeper Ethan Fortner working out for the Panther football team, Malachi Bolton started in net for Orange. Katie Wolter, the younger sister of former Orange goalkeeper Tyson Wolter, played between the pipes in the second and third quarters.

Cedar Ridge’s Alex Castro notched the Red Wolves final goal of the third period. Neal provided the final Cedar Ridge tally in the fourth quarter, his second goal of the night.

The Red Wolves started senior Aiden Kehoe at goalkeeper, but also used junior Joshua Taylor intermittently in the second half.

Orange will travel to Northern Durham on Thursday. Cedar Ridge will travel to Northern Durham on Monday.

The Orange men’s lacrosse team defeated Cedar Ridge 10-6 at Auman Stadium on Wednesday night. Senior Ryan Merrill finished with six goals, including three in the opening period. Caleb Davis added two goals and an assist as the Panthers defeated the Red Wolves for the fourth straight time. it was Orange’s first game in two weeks. The Panthers were supposed to face Roxboro Community School last week twice, but both games were rained out. In 2020, Orange started 6-0 with possibly its most talented team in school history before the pandemic ended the season after a convincing victory against Roxboro Community. Now, with college prospects Wyatt Jones and Caleb Davis now playing at Mercer and Queen’s University, respectively, the Panthers are building again behind younger players like Connor Kruse and Jace Womble. Orange will travel to Northern Durham on Thursday night, then travel to Vance Charter on Saturday.

Like most other football teams across North Carolina, Cedar Ridge is starting football season in the spring. Now, they will start a night earlier than anticipated. The Red Wolves season-opener against Northwood has been moved to Thursday night because of rain anticipated on Friday. For new Cedar Ridge Coach Corey Lea, it will give his new staff a chance to learn about his new team. The Red Wolves were supposed to face Granville Central in a scrimmage last week, but it was rained out. The Red Wolves will have to find a replacement for Isaiah McCambrey, who transferred to Williams last summer. Aiden Seagrvoes is expected to be the starting quarterback for Friday’s opener against the Chargers. Jake Mergenthal, the younger brother of former Cedar Ridge All-Conference offensive lineman Braxton Mergenthal, will be a prominent player on defense for the Red Wolves. You can hear live coverage of the Red Wolves vs. the Chargers on Friday night at 6:15 on Hillsboroughsports.com.

Grace Andrews: For the first time in her college career, the former Orange High second baseman hit a home run as #20 Catawba Valley Community College hosted a doubleheader against #19 Pitt Community College on Saturday. Andrews launched a solo blast in the bottom of the second inning. In the sixth, Andrews hit a double and went on to score off a home run by Cali Hinnant. Pitt County won the game 13-9, then completed the sweep with a 9-1 decision in the nightcap. Through eight games, Andrews leads Catawba Valley with a .520 batting average, 13 hits and four doubles. She’s tied for the team lead with eight runs scored. Catawba Valley is 5-3 and will travel to face Camp Community College in Franklin, VA on Friday. The following day, the Red Hawks travel to Virginia Beach for a doubleheader against Bryant & Stratton College.

Montana Davidson: The #22 Mississippi State softball team completed the Alex Wilcox Memorial (dubbed “The Snowman”) with wins over Missouri State and Mississippi Valley State on Monday. In a 5-0 win over the Bears, Montana Davidson went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Davidson, who started at third base, singled in the game’s final run in the fifth inning. In the nightcap, MSU defeated Mississippi Valley State 10-1 in five innings. Davidson went 2-for-2 with an RBI and two runs scored. After reaching on a single, Montana scored in the 2nd inning off an error. In the 3rd, Montana singled to left field to plate Anna Kate Segars. She would go on to score off a hit by Brylie St. Clair. Davidson is on a four-game hitting streak. Through the four games of the Snowman, Davidson went 7-for-11 with four RBIs. Against Southern Illinois, Davidson homered in the sixth inning to even the game at 4-4. The Salukis went on to win 6-5 in eight innings.

Mia Davidson: Mia Davidson hit her first home run of the season against MVSU. It was a two-run blast to dead center. Mia went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored. In the third inning, Davidson singled to left field to score Jackie McKenna. Against Missouri State, Davidson scored the game’s opening run after she was hit by a pitch. Mississippi State is 4-1.

Adam Chnupa: The Elon football team opened its spring football season with a 26-23 victory over Davidson at Rhodes Stadium on Saturday. Chnupa, a redshirt sophomore, played on special teams for the Phoenix. Elon will travel to Gardner-Webb on Saturday.

Landon Riley: The Liberty baseball team started its season with a series against Campbell at Jim Perry Stadium in Buies Creek over the weekend. Riley, a junior, pitched two shutout innings for the Flames on Sunday. Riley surrendered two hits and struck out three batters. The Camels edged the Flames 3-2 to take the rubber game in the series. Liberty will play its home opener against North Carolina A&T on Wednesday in Lynchburg, VA.

Brandon Andrews: The former Cedar Ridge centerfielder and pitcher entered the NCAA Transfer Portal after two seasons at Nicholls State. After being redshirted by the Colonels in 2020, Andrews is now at Jacksonville State. He didn’t play in the Gamecocks’ opening series over the weekend, which included a win over Alabama State and loses to Tennessee Tech and Southern Illinois.

Cooper Porter: Porter, who played six different positions with the Orange baseball team over three seasons, originally committed to play at N.C. State. He is now at Pensacola State, a junior college, after a scholarship crunch with the Wolfpack forced by the pandemic. Porter has appeared in three games for the Pirates. In an 8-2 win over Enterprise State Community College on February 7, Porter had his first college start at second base and finish with an RBI groundout. Pensacola State is 7-8 and will host Bishop State Community College on Friday.

Dylan Boyer: In his first college game, the former Orange High attacker scored a goal for Division II Queen College. Boyer scored the Royals’ final goal in a 9-4 loss to #15 Mount Olive at Ray McDonald Stadium on Saturday. Previously, Boyer was honored by the team with the Practice Player of the Week for week five of the season. Queens, which is picked to finish fourth in the South Atlantic Conference, will travel to Newberry College on Saturday.