Frank Orellana’s name wasn’t in the box score for Cedar Ridge’s win on Tuesday night, but it should have been.

Orellana was fouled three times in the penalty box in the first half for the Red Wolves. Each time, Gavin Hughes scored on a penalty kick. Hughes wound up with a hat trick in the first half and Cedar Ridge defeated Southern Alamance 3-1 at Red Wolves Stadium.

It was Cedar Ridge’s third consecutive win. The Red Wolves defeated Wilson Hunt 3-1 on Saturday at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary. On Tuesday night, Cedar Ridge scored six goals in the second half to defeat Bartlett Yancey 6-1 in Yanceyville.

“Frankie had great balls play to him from the midfield,” said Cedar Ridge Coach Chris Walker, whose team is now 3-3-1. “Frank did a great job controlling the ball and made a couple of plays coming in.”

Hughes opened the scoring goal on a penalty in the sixth minute after Orellana was tripped by Southern Alamance’s goalkeeper.

“The guys got focused,” said Cedar Ridge Coach Chris Walker. “They came in early today and was focused. For several games during the three losses, we had sporadic play. Last night, it carried over into tonight. That’s what we need.”

Southern Alamance’s Lucas Khorosov nearly evened the match in the 14th minute after taking a pass across the box from Dylan Myers, but Cedar Ridge goalkeeper Peter Molmar dived on the ball from the near post. Two minutes later, South Alamance’s Jose Martinez ran back on a quick counter following a Cedar Ridge corner, but his blast from 25 yards went wide.

In the 17th minute, Martinez even the match after he chipped in a cross in from Braden Mackey inside the near post.

Cedar Ridge had a free kick from 23 yards with 17:15 remaining in the first half, but Brandon Garcia’s placed the shot high.

The Red Wolves broke through for the go-ahead goal when Eduardo Garcia fed an entry pass to Orellana. It led to Orellana sending A pretty through ball to Reese Weaver, who was tripped in the box by Southern Alamance’s Cam Honeycutt. Hughes tucked the penalty kick into the left corner with 16:24 remaining in the first half to put the Red Wolves back in front.

On the subsequent kickoff, Weaver stole a pass between the centerbacks and charged in on a breakaway, but his shot from 15 yards rattled off the bottom of the crossbar. The Red Wolves nearly added when Eh Tah played a gorgeous through ball to Hughes, whose shot was stopped at the box by Southern Alamance’s Edwin Lopez, who dove on the ball before it could leave Hughes’ right foot.

Cedar Ridge’s Noel Garcia drew another penalty in the box off a throw in from Eduardo Garcia-Sanchez. Hughes notched the hat trick with another goal from the spot with 3:49 remaining to put CRHS ahead 3- 1.

Southern Alamance opened the second half with a free kick from 20 yards, but Loyola’s shot was stopped by a sliding Molmar. With 32:43 remaining, Myers earned a penalty after being brought down in the box, but Molmar stopped the shot diving to his left.

Khorosov blasted a free kick with. 26:34 remaining from 23 yards, but Molmar made another diving save.

With 13:05 remaining, Erickson Thole’s header off a cross from Garcia Sanchez sailed over the net.

The Cedar Ridge’s girls tennis team best performance of the young season couldn’t have come at a better time. On Wednesday, the Red Wolves swept archrival Orange 9-0 at Red Wolves Tennis Courts. It was Cedar Ridge’s first win of the season. Olivia Ward captured her match at #1 singles, while Alana Lutz won at #2 singles. Nora Sauers and Bri Cellini also won in singles action for the Red Wolves, who improve to 1-5. Cedar Ridge has defeated Orange in seven consecutive matches. 

Olivia Ward, Alana Lutz, Nora Sauers & Bri Cellini Discuss Cedar Ridge’s 9-0 Win Over Orange

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When Kelly Young took over the Orange volleyball program in June, she first noticed how versatile her new team was.

While she didn’t have the biggest team in the Big 8 Conference, Young was impressed in workouts with how her squad could play multiple positions. In no other game this season was that best exemplified than on Tuesday night.

Orange swept Cedar Ridge 3-0 at Red Wolves Gymnasium to improve to 5-2 overall. It was Orange’s fourth straight win over the Red Wolves.

Emma Clements and Libby Jones had seven kills each, while senior Liz LaNier had six kills, two assists and a block. Freshman Lydia Wood and senior Sarah McCuiston paced the Red Wolves with six kills each. Junior Celeste Pasley had four kills.

Orange never trailed in any of the three sets, earning the win on scores of 25-13, 25-14 and 25-16.

“Anyone I put in, they did their job,” said Young. “They wanted to win. They want conference wins. We’ve set some high goals for this team and they’re working for them.”

Cedar Ridge dropped its fourth straight and fell to 2-5, 0-3 in the BIg 8 Conference. The Red Wolves were coming off a three-game road trip that ended with a match last Thursday against Chapel Hill, the two-time defending 3A Eastern Regional Champions.

Orange was coming off a five-set loss against Person in Roxboro on Monday night, an effort that Young was proud of.

“They worked their tails off (against Person),” said Young. “They wanted to win.”

The same can’t be said about Orange’s opening Big 8 match last week, a 3-0 loss to East Chapel Hill.

“We played awful,” said Young. “It wasn’t like one or two people wasn’t on. The majority of us weren’t on. I don’t think we outpsyched ourselves. We just couldn’t get any momentum going. We definitely were not playing our normal play.”

With Clements serving, Orange jumped out to a 6-1 lead to start the second set. During the run, Clements had a kill and an ace. Cedar Ridge narrowed the deficit to 7-6 following an ace from Pasley. Orange pushed their advantage back to 16-12 following a block from LaNier and an Celements kill assisted by Kaitlyn Werden who finished with a team-high 14 assists. Jones wrapped up the set on a kill assisted by Werden.

The third set was the most competitive with Cedar Ridge tying it three times, including at 8-8  after Colby Rabelais scored a kill off an assist from Macy Henry. Orange went on a 6-1 run to take control of the set, which included two kills from Natalia Ruble. The Lady Panthers closed with the final six points to close out the win.

Cedar Ridge’s last win over Orange in volleyball came on September 1, 2016 at Red Wolves’ Gymnasium. It’s a long way from the 2013-2015 under former head coach Charlie Oakley, Cedar Ridge defeated Orange five consecutive times.

Orange will travel to Northwood on Thursday night. Cedar Ridge will journey to Poe Gymtorium to face Northern Durham on Thursday. Northwood and Northern Durham will enter their respective matches in a three-way tie for third place in the Big 8 with 2-1 records.

For the fourth straight time, the Orange volleyball team defeated the Cedar Ridge Red Wolves on Tuesday night. In a 3-0 sweep, senior Libby Jones finished with seven kills and two digs. The Panthers never trailed in any of the three sets. Just one night removed from a five-set loss to Person in Roxboro, the Panthers improved to 6-2 overall, 2-1 in the Big 8 Conference. Orange travels to Northwood on Thursday night. 

Orange Volleyball Senior Libby Jones Discusses Win over Cedar Ridge

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The Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is senior volleyball outside hitter Colby Rabalais.

In the Red Wolves’ season-opener against Bartlett Yancey, they were only three points away from a loss after dropping the first two sets. Rabalais came up with two big aces as the Red Wolves captured the set, and eventually captured the match on scores of 21-25, 16-25, 25-20, 25-22 and 15-12.

On Thursday, Cedar Ridge defeated Eastern Alamance 3-1. Rabalais came away with seven kills and one block. In Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to Durham School of the Arts, Rabalais had six digs.

“She really rose to the occasion against Eastern Alamance,” said Cedar Ridge Volleyball Coach Anna Seethaler.”She just really got the crowd moving and really took a lead position. “She is a great comeback player. She shows a lot of fire and is ready to play wherever we are. That’s the type of player you want to have on your team.”

Last season as a junior, Rabalais had 78 kills, 18 aces, and 90 blocks. This is her third varsity season. As a sophomore, she started two games.

On Tuesday night, Rabalais and her teammates will attempt to defeat archrival Orange. The first of two meetings between the crosstown rivals takes place at Cedar Ridge. Last season, the Panthers swept the Red Wolves. Orange won the first match on August 31^st 3-1 at OHS. On September 26^th, Orange defeated Cedar Ridge 3-0.

Our 2nd Orange Panther of the Week for 2018 is Orange Soccer midfielder Cam Michalski. Last week, Michalski scored a goal as the Panthers earned its first win of the season over Person 5-1 in Roxboro. On Tuesday night, Michalski scored in a 2-2 tie with Eastern Alamance. On Monday, Orange handily defeated Eastern Alamance in a rematch at Orange Soccer Field 4-2. When he isn’t playing soccer for club teams, Cam likes rooting on Chelsea in England’s Premier League and hopes the Blues won’t have a repeat of the 2017 season. Orange returns to action on Tuesday night to face Person in Hillsborough. 

Orange Panther of the Week: Cam Michalski

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Two Cents from the Franklin Mint

with Jon Franklin

Let me first by stating that I’m not a fan of moral victories.

But if you’re the Cedar Ridge Red Wolves, there were many small victories that took place in Thursday night’s narrow, 10-8 loss to the Eastern Guilford Wildcats.

In last week’s 40-12 home opening loss to Southeast Guilford, the Red Wolves totally took themselves out of the game with five turnovers (three lost fumbles and two interceptions) and a plethora of silly, yet devastating false start and offside penalties. In regards to the turnovers, four out of five scoring plays for Southeast Guilford came directly after a Cedar Ridge miscue.

This wasn’t the case against Eastern Guilford.

The Cedar Ridge defense was the driving force for keeping the game close. The quality quartet of defensive linemen Braxton Mergenthal, Braeden Thompson, Robert Capistran, and Zack Holmes made solid plays in keeping the Eastern offense in check. With the timely blitzing of linebacker Isiah McCambry, Eastern had many runs thwarted.

The second quarter saw this line put together a spectacular goal line stand following a long Eastern drive that brought the ball to the one-yard line. After two penalties that put the ball inside the one, Mergenthal and Thompson tag-teamed to drop an Eastern ball carrier back to the three to turn the ball over on downs.

This was a definite improvement from last week when the Red Wolves just seem to couldn’t get off the field and let their offense put points on the board.

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The special teams unit was also on point as the Red Wolves blocked a punt in the first quarter and came within inches of another block in the second.

The charging Red Wolves’ special teams stayed in the mind of the Eastern punter as he bobbled the snap from his own one-yard line, forcing him to scramble. The punter picked up the ball at the last second and was forced out of the back of the end zone, resulting in a safety, giving Cedar Ridge an 8-7 lead.

McCambry, Kiersten Barnes, and Desi Raspberry were solid in the return game averaging well over 20 yards per return. Following Eastern’s go-ahead 22-yard field goal in the fourth quarter, Raspberry returned the ensuing kickoff 40 yards to the Eastern 45-yard line to set up a potential game-winning drive.

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The Cedar Ridge offense had flashes of brilliance. While successful against Southeast Guilford, starting quarterback Elijah Whitaker had a tough time in the run game. His abilities on the draw and option plays were stymied by the Eastern defense. Backup Will Berger came out firing in the second quarter, connecting on a huge 50-yard pass to McCambry. He also was brought in last minute of the game trying to recreate what he started before halftime before throwing an interception at the Eastern 15-yard line that sealed the win.

But enter McCambry and Nick Nolan. Both “Thunder & Lightning” were instrumental in Cedar Ridge winning the time of possession battle via the rushing attack. Unlike the Southeast Guilford game where every other play was a pass or penalty, the pace of play was considerably faster. Both McCambry and Nolan

Barnes, McCambry, Raspberry were also helpful in receiving. Despite a couple of dropped passes near the end zone, the receiving corps made improving strides.

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The Takeaways:

Penalties and Turnovers continued to plague the Red Wolves.

Despite winning the battle in penalty yardage (Eastern – 68 yards, Cedar Ridge – 35 yards), the Red Wolves were still hit hard by the simplest of penalties, false start & offside. These took place when either Cedar Ridge was driving in Eastern territory, or when the Wildcats faced short yardage at the line to gain. These penalties have got to be irking the lineman coaches, as these penalties you hope to avoid with muscle memory and learning the snap counts.

While Cedar Ridge only committed three turnovers (unlike the five in the Southeast Guilford game), they too happened at times when Cedar Ridge was threatening to score.

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All in all, an improvement. But much work is needed to be done should the Red Wolves want to attain a home victory September 6^th against Rocky Mount Prep.

After Wednesday’s 2-0 loss to Graham, the Cedar Ridge Men’s Soccer team is still looking for its first win of the season. Hillsboroughsports.com’s Jon Franklin talked with Red Wolves’ soccer coach Chris Walker after Wednesday’s game.

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