This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is sophomore men’s basketball guard Jordan Jacobson. The Red Wolves have already surpassed its win total from all of last season. In its season-opener, the Red Wolves defeated Carrboro 54-52 at Red Wolf Gymnasium. Jacobson led Cedar Ridge with 20 points and finished 5-of-7 from 3-point range. Last season, Jacobson played regularly as a freshman. On Wednesday night, Jacobson hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter as Cedar Ridge pulled away from Eno River Academy 73-53. He scored 16 points, including a dozen in the fourth quarter as the Red Wolves improved to 4-2. In a win over Durham School of the Arts on December 6, Jacobson scored 18 points as the Red Wolves defeated the Bulldogs 80-66. It was the first time since the 2017-2018 season that Cedar Ridge won consecutive road games. On November 26, the Red Wolves defeated Seaforth 80-66 to end a 16-game road losing streak. In the spring, Jacobson plays lacrosse. Last season, Cedar Ridge hosted a state playoff game against West Carteret. Jacobson scored 45 goals in his freshman year for the Red Wolves. He was second on the team with 75 points. During his freshman basketball season, Jacobson averaged 6.9 points per game. Jacobson has already been a vital contributor to a Cedar Ridge team that is looking to return to the state playoffs for the first time since 2016.

Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week: Jordan Jacobson

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is sophomore men’s basketball guard Jordan Jacobson. The Red Wolves have already surpassed its win total from all of last season. In its season-opener, the Red Wolves defeated Carrboro 54-52 at Red Wolf Gymnasium. Jacobson led Cedar Ridge with 20 points and finished 5-of-7 from 3-point range.

Orange and Chapel Hill remains a deep rivalry in men’s basketball. On Tuesday night, the Panthers defeated the Tigers 65-58 at Chapel Hill Gymnasium. It was the Panthers first win over Chapel Hill since 2019. Xandrell Pennix finished with 19 points, the fourth time in six games he’s led the Panthers in scoring. Junior Kai Wade, who played all 32 minutes, finished with 12 points. Wade sank from huge free throws in the final three minutes after the Tigers whittled a 15-point lead down to five points in the fourth quarter. Wade’s uniform was drenched with sweat at the end of an intense, draining game against a longtime rival. Sophomore Hector Garrido had a career-high 14 points, including 3-of-4 shooting from 3-point range. Garrido drained two early shots in the third quarter to push the Panthers out to a 15-point lead which the Tigers couldn’t erase. It was a huge rivalry win for the Panthers, who had lost five straight games to Chapel Hill. Even more impressively, the Panthers won without starting forward Michael Clark, who was sick. Wade led Orange with 32 points in its season-opening win over Voyager Academy. The Panthers will start Central Conference play with a trip to Mebane on Friday night. They will face Eastern Alamance at Tal Jobe Gymnasium in a game you can hear on Hillsboroughsports.com.

Orange basketball’s Xandrell Pennix, Kai Wade & Hector Garrido discusses win at Chapel Hill

Orange and Chapel Hill remains a deep rivalry in men’s basketball. On Tuesday night, the Panthers defeated the Tigers 65-58 at Chapel Hill Gymnasium. It was the Panthers first win over Chapel Hill since 2019. Xandrell Pennix finished with 19 points, the fourth time in six games he’s led the Panthers in scoring.

The Cedar Ridge women’s swimming team had a big start to the season in its season-opening meet at the Orange County Sportsplex on Monday night. Quinn McCrimmon, Margaret Payton, Natalie Kunz and Sophia Stinnett won the 400 yard freestyle relay and automatically qualified for regionals in the final women’s event of the night. Stinnett won two Central Regional championships in 2023 individually in the 500 yard freestyle and the 100 yard backstroke. She finished third in the state in the backstroke. On Monday night, Stinnett qualified for regionals by winning the 100 yard backstroke at 1:05.47. McCrimmon won the 100 yard butterfly, also earning a spot in regionals, at 1:02.41. Kunz, in her first high school meet, finished third in the 200 yard freestyle at 2:17.25. The Cedar Ridge women won all five of its dual meets to open the season, including beating the defending Central Conference champions Orange 88-79. The Red Wolves also defeated Southern Alamance, Walter Williams and Western Alamance to finish the night with four wins. McCrimmon, Stinnett, Payton and Hala Zafar also qualified for regionals in the 200 yard freestyle relay, where they finished second behind Orange’s team. The Cedar Ridge women’s team won the 2023 Central Conference championship under head coach Amanda Jones and is off to a promising start for the 2024-2025 season. Their next meet is slated for Friday against Southern Alamance and Eastern Alamance at New Millennium Fitness in Burlington.

Cedar Ridge’s Sophia Stinnett, Quinn McCrimmon, Margaret Payton & Natalie Kunz talk start to season

The Cedar Ridge women’s swimming team had a big start to the season in its season-opening meet at the Orange County Sportsplex on Monday night. Quinn McCrimmon, Margaret Payton, Natalie Kunz and Sophia Stinnett won the 400 yard freestyle relay and automatically qualified for regionals in the final women’s event of the night.

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CHAPEL HILL–Before the Orange men’s basketball team could start on its mission to repeat as the best team in the Central Conference, they had to prove they were the best team in all of Orange County.

That meant beating Chapel Hill, something they haven’t done since February 8, 2019.

On Tuesday night, a determined, gritty group of Panthers didn’t trail in the second half and handed the Tigers its first loss of the season.

Sophomore Hector Garrido came up with a career-high 14 points to power a 7-0 run to open the second half, building a 15-point deficit the Tigers couldn’t erase as Orange won 65-58. It ended the Panthers five-game losing streak to its longest in-county rival.

Senior Xandrell Pennix added 19 points, including some pressure-packed free throws down the stretch. Chapel Hill coach Rodney Carter, who apparently attended the Dean Smith College of Extending Games Down the Stretch, masterfully cut into the Panthers deficit behind 15 points from senior forward Jason Krieg.

Chapel Hill entered the game 5-0, winning all of its games by double-figures. Their tightest contest had come against Walter Williams last week, a 65-50 win where they led 36-27 at halftime.

“We wanted this one,” said Orange coach Derryl Britt. “To be honest with you, I knew we hadn’t beaten these guys in years. But that really wasn’t a motivating factor. History is exactly what it is–history. Where we are, currently, and where they are. That’s why we needed this win. We need to stack wins against good teams.”

In years past, Chapel Hill would utilize its size to intimidate Orange teams, some of them even more talented that the current squad. In the early minutes on Tuesday night, Garrido and center Jalen Crayton blocked shots against the Tigers’ starting five, sending a loud and clear message that it was game on.

Nonetheless, the Tigers knocked the Panthers back with an early run from Juice McIlwaine, who scored seven points as Chapel Hill built a 17-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. As Orange was mired in some early shooting woes, Garrido carried the way offensively with six points.

Following the first half quarter breaks, Orange’s backcourt of Kai Wade, Freddy Sneed and Pennix took control of the game defensively. None of Chapel Hill’s starters scored in the second quarter, while Wade and Pennix drained 3-pointers. Ethan Ellis’ drained a trey with 3:37 remaining in the first half to give Orange a 21-20 advantage, remarkably one they wouldn’t surrender for the rest of the game. After Sneed knocked down two free throws in the final minute, Wade banked in a three-pointer at the halftime buzzer to give the Panthers a 32-24 lead going to the locker room.

While Chapel Hill appeared motivated coming out of the locker room, it was Orange who made the shots. Sneed stole the ball on the Tigers’ opening possession, leading to Pennix driving into the paint and dished it off to sophomore center Jalen Crayton who scored a lay-in. Pennix stole the ball on the next Chapel Hill trip, Garrido rebounded a miss and laid it in against a taller Tiger team, leading to an immediate time out.

Crayton finished with nine blocks, a career-high

Wade stripped Chapel Hill guard Niko Davis of the ball following the timeout. Then Wade sent a drive-and-kick pass to Garrido, who buried a 3-pointer from the wing to put the Panthers ahead 39-24.

Krieg almost single-handily kept the Tigers in the game, scoring seven of their nine points in the third quarter. The Tigers narrowed its deficit down to five points behind three-pointers from McIlwaine and Makhai Manning, but Pennix and Wade drained enough free throws down the stretch to keep the Panthers ahead.

Orange will start its Central Conference campaign with a trip to Eastern Alamance on Friday night.

ORANGE 65, CHAPEL HILL 58

ORANGE: Kai Wade 14, Xandrell Pennix 19, Freddy Sneed 9, Jalen Crayton 4, Hector Garrido 14, Robert Smith 2, Ethan Ellis 3

CHAPEL HILL: Niko Davis 7, Wesley Krieg 2, Max Upchurch 7, Juice McIlwaine 12, Jason Krieg 15, Mahkai Manning 10, Sam Zimmerman 5

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The first female wrestling champions from Hillsborough in the Jim King/Orange Invitational provided a study in contrasts.

Thalia Paterno is a freshman at Cedar Ridge who has wrestled since her sixth grade year at Stanback Middle School.

Chloe Pankratz is a senior at Cedar Ridge who started wrestling last year mainly because one of her best friends was the Captain of the women’s team who successfully talked her into joining the squad.

In terms of experience, Pankratz and Paterno are different. In terms of success so far this season, they’re similar.

On Saturday, Paterno won her second individual championship at the JKO, which hosted a women’s tournament for the second time ever at Orange High School. In a four-competitor, round robin format, Paterno pinned all three of her opponents in less than one minute. She defeated Kailey Cabrera of Bartlett Yancey in 19 seconds, then finished off Angela Chen of Cary in 38 seconds. In the de facto championship match, Paterno pinned Sophia Gould of Millbrook in 33 seconds.

Paterno is 13-1 with nine pins in her freshman season. Her only loss came in the championship match of the season-opening Atkins Invitational in Winston-Salem.

“I think I was pretty good,” Paterno said. “My first match wasn’t great, but I think my other two were pretty good.”

Paterno started her career in middle school when her parents lobbied her to play a winter sport in middle school. She would have selected Ultimate frisbee, but Stanback didn’t have a team. So she chose wrestling.

She’s also on the Cedar Ridge women’s junior varsity cross country team.

“Wrestling is fun,” Paterno said. “I get to make friends and I get to stay in good shape.”

Shortly after Paterno became the first female wrestler from Hillsborough to win a JKO Championship, Pankratz became the second. She pinned all three of her opponents in the 132 pound tournament , none of the matches exceeding one minute. Pankratz, the top-seed, pinned Leilani Valai of Terry Sanford in 51 seconds. In the semifinals, she finished Anneliese Garcia-Rodriguez of Middle Creek in 36 seconds. In the championship match, Katie Lloyd of Seaforth scored an early takedown, but Paterno quickly reserved it and scored a pin in 59 seconds.

This season, she is 16-1. In each of her non-forfeit victories, she has pinned her opponents, 12 times overall.

Pankratz joined Cedar Ridge’s wrestling team last year at the urging of Zoey Moreno, who won the Red Wolf Invitational at 120 pounds last year. In one year’s time, Pankratz went from failing to place at the Red Wolf Invitational in 2023 to winning the championship last month at 132 pounds.

Though Moreno graduated in June and is now wrestles at Division III Greensboro College, Pankratz hasn’t forgotten her. She ties her hair up in pigtails for each of her matches, just as Moreno did, as a standing tribute.

“It takes maybe five minutes,” Pankratz said.

What started as a hobby has turned into a borderline obsession for Pankratz. After every match, she scours video to find strengths, weaknesses and what to work on for the future.

With four wrestlers, Cedar Ridge still finished 4th in the women’s team standings with 51 points. Millbrook, with 12 competitors, won the women’s team championship with 153.5 points. Cary, fielding nine wrestlers, came in second with 65 points.

Orange’s Ava Lytle finished runner-up at 126 pounds. Lytle pinned Rebecca Parker of East Chapel Hill in the semifinals. Ellyaunnie Jacuinde Ramirez of Western Harnett took the championship.

Orange’s Rose Brady finished second in the 235-pound division. Brady pinned Ava Briel of Millbrook in 5:00 in the opening match of the round robin tournament. Cary’s Ella Taylor won the championship with a pin over Brady in the final.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is senior wrestler Chloe Pankratz. On Saturday, Pankratz won the 138-pound championship at the Jim King/Orange Invitational at Orange High School. It was her third individual championship of the year. Last month, Pankratz won the Atkins Invitational in Winston-Salem. She has also won the Red Wolf Invitational, pinning all three of her opponents in a round-robin tournament. Pankratz is part of the emergence of women in wrestling locally. She just started competing last year because her friend, Zoey Moreno, was a team Captain who encouraged Pankratz to give the sport a try. She has quickly developed a love of wrestling and wants to continue her pursuit of excellence after she graduates in June. Pankratz constantly studies video of her matches, win or lose, and is now part of a Cedar Ridge team that is competing in dual matches for females only. Last month, Pankratz was seeded #3 in the Watkins Invitational, but pinned the two higher seeds to win the championship. In the semifinals, Pankratz defeated Amelia Martino of East Mecklenburg in 18 seconds. In the final, she pinned the #1  seed, Jadyn Magallanes of West Forsyth in 56 seconds. On Saturday, Pankratz pinned Katie Lloyd of Southeast Alamance in the championship match at 138 pounds. Pankratz pinned all three of her opponents on Saturday, including Anneliese Garcia-Rodriguez of Midde Creek in the semifinals. Pankratz pinned all three of her opponents in less than a minute on Saturday.

Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week: Chloe Pankratz

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is senior wrestler Chloe Pankratz. On Saturday, Pankratz won the 138-pound championship at the Jim King/Orange Invitational at Orange High School. It was her third individual championship of the year. Last month, Pankratz won the Atkins Invitational in Winston-Salem.