You can do a lot in a lifetime
If you don’t burn out too fast
You can make the most of the distance
First you need endurance
First you’ve got to last

–Neal Peart

Ironically, despite winning back-to-back Big 8 Cross Country Individual Championships, Ian Elliott doesn’t think he’s a marathon runner.

“I’m bigger than most runners,” said Elliott. “I figure I’m more of a track runner. Cross country is pushing it.”

The mental hurdles that may keep Elliott from running further didn’t factor into his final cross country season at Cedar Ridge, even when it should have. The Big 8 Confernece Championship meet at Chapel Hill High School was run in 89-degree temperatures on October 19.

Despite the unseasonably warm weather, Elliott finished with a time of 16:42.08, eight seconds better than Chapel Hill’s Ryan Combs to win his 2nd consecutive Big 8 Championship. In fact, Elliott was the only non-Chapel Hill runner in the top 10.

“It was a lot grittier this year,” said Elliott. “Mainly because of the weather. But I also feel I’m good in heat. I put in fairly hard miles in heat during the summer. Although I knew it feel awful. But that’s running.”

The heat is something Elliott relished during his stint at Cedar Ridge. He went on to finish 7th at the MidEast Regionals at Northwood High a week later. He finished 26th in the state meet, when the traditional fall weather had finally settled in.

“I think some people are just better in the heat and some aren’t,” said Elliott. “I’m not as good in the cold, even though I practice a lot in the cold and the rain. I never perform well in the rain.”

“You just have to be gritty. It doesn’t have to be a pretty race as long as I do well.”

Elliott has already started his indoor track season, recently finishing 15th in the 1500 meters in the NC Runners Holiday Invitatational at JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem.

After Elliott finishes the upcoming spring outdoor track season, he plans to hang up his sneakers, leaving as the most accomplished cross country runner in Cedar Ridge history.

“I’m not looking to run competitively in college,” said Elliott. “I’d love to stay in shape and run for a club. Maybe run a Fun Run 5K. Maybe take one hard every now and then. But after this track season, I think I’ll be done with competitive running.”

Rescheduling basketball games because of winter weather around North Carolina is almost as much of a tradition as the games themselves.

For starters, Orange and Cedar Ridge boys and girls had their respective games on Tuesday postponed. Cedar Ridge was supposed to host Webb. Instead, they will face Webb next Thursday in a tripleheader.

The Orange Boys were supposed to host Northwood on Tuesday, while the Orange girls were supposed to be on the road. Those games will be made up next Saturday (Orange boys at home, girls at Northwood). Both games will start at 3:30.

For those with long memories, Orange and Cedar Ridge had games postponed on December 16th. Orange was supposed to host a tripleheader against Northern Vance. Cedar Ridge was matched up against Southern Durham (boys at home, girls at Southern).

All of those games will be made up on February 1st. The Orange tripleheader vs. Northern Vance will start at 4:30 with the JV Boys game. The Cedar Ridge boys host Southern at 7, while the Girls team go to Spartans Gymnasium.

On top of all that, the Orange boys and girls had a doubleheader slated for Monday at Durham School of the Arts for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. That has been cancelled.

In its place, Orange will host Jordan in a doubleheader on January 25th, starting with the girls game at 6.

Not many high school players surpass 1,000 points for their careers, but Connor Crabtree has done it. In fact, he has over 1,100 points now. After going over 1,000 points against Southern Durham, he had games of 37, 14 and 27 in earning MVP honors in the Eastern Guilford Holiday Classic. For good measure, he added a career-high 38 points against Chapel Hill on January 4th in an Orange victory.

Orange’s Connor Crabtree Talks 1,000 points and Scoring 38 vs. Chapel Hill

December was quite a month for Connor Crabtree. Before Christmas, he scored his 1,000th point against Southern Durham. He led Orange to the Eastern Guilford Holiday Classic Championship. To start 2017, he scored 38 points in a win over Chapel Hill.

For the 2nd time this season, Mitch Portman scored 15 points in a game. He did it last Thursday in Orange’s victory over Chapel Hill. He also scored 15 on December 28 in the Panthers’ 72-70 victory over Piedmont Classical in the first round of the Eastern Guilford Holiday Classic in Gibsonville.

Orange Guard Mitch Portman Talks the Win over Chapel Hill

Portman finished with 15 points against the Tigers, his fifth game in double figures this season.

The Orange Boys Basketball Team is the only undefeated squad remaining in Big 8 Conference play after last Thursday’s victory over Chapel Hill. Orange won 73-64 behind a season-high 38 points from Connor Crabtree. The Panthers lead the Big 8 with a 3-0 record, while Chapel Hill falls to 3-1. Southern Durham is 2-1, while Northern Vance is 1-1. Webb and Northwood are 1-3. Orange is slated to travel to Webb on Friday night, followed by a Saturday afternoon home game against Cedar Ridge.

Orange Coach Greg Motley Talks the Win Over Chapel Hill

Orange is the last undefeated team in Big 8 Conference play after beating CHHS 73-64 on Thursday night.

All in all, the 2016 fall sports season has to be considered a solid one in Hillsborough.

Cedar Ridge and Orange each had one of its athletic teams win a Big 8 conference championship. There were four teams from each school (Cedar Ridge boys soccer, Orange volleyball, Cedar Ridge boys cross country and Orange girls cross country) that finished runner-up to Chapel Hill in the Big 8. Each of those Chapel Hill teams either won a state championship or played for one.

If there was one thing lacking, it was the amount of upsets. Perhaps because Orange and Cedar Ridge were evenly matched against each other or their league rivals in most sports.

In retrospect, there’s one match that stands out in bright, neon letters as the biggest upset of autumn: Cedar Ridge volleyball beating Chapel Hill on October 6.

The peculiar part of the Red Wolves’ upset is that Cedar Ridge had swept CHHS in 2015, each time in four games.

But Cedar Ridge didn’t merely undergo changes after the 2015 season, where they went 24-4, had a perfect Big 8 record and advanced to the fourth round of the 3A state playoffs.

They had a total extreme makeover.

On paper, it didn’t seem that Cedar Ridge’s losses would be massive after 2015. There were only two seniors: outside hitters Asha Barnes and Courtney Eckmann. Both valuable players who would be tough to replace, but there seemed to be enough players returning to make CRHS a factor in the Big 8 again.

Then Coach Charlie Oakley resigned in the winter to focus on starting a family. Rising senior Lily Henry suffered a torn ACL in the offseason. After playing in all 28 games in 2015, she was limited to 12 in 2016. Three rising seniors opted not to play volleyball to focus on other duties that come with being a senior in high school.

Just like that, the Red Wolves were without four starters and the head coach who took them to their greatest heights.

That’s only part of what made the win over CHHS so surprising.

Going into the match, Cedar Ridge had lost six of its last eight matches (not counting a forfeit victory over Bartlett Yancey on September 21). They had stumbled to a 4-6 start in Big 8 play, while the Tigers were riding an 11-game winning streak.

However, there were signs that Cedar Ridge was capability of pulling the upset in the first meeting with CHHS on September 13. The Red Wolves extending the match to five games, forcing the decisive fifth game with a 25-23 victory in the fourth set. The Tigers took the fifth 15-13 to improve to 9-3.

A month later, Cedar Ridge didn’t need a fifth set. Or a fourth one.

The Red Wolves rolled 25-20, 25-20 and 25-23. Meg Anderson and Alexis Dumain each had nine kills, while Kayla Robinette registered seven. Dumain, Anderson and Henry each had three aces. Linsday Thompson had a team-leading 18 digs, while Henry finished with 19 assists.

Cedar Ridge missed the playoffs and finished 8-14. Chapel Hill would play for the 3A state championship three weeks later against Concord Cox Mill in Reynolds Coliseum.

It wasn’t the year the Red Wolves wanted, but they can always lay claim to the biggest upset of 2016 in Hillsborough.

It has been quite sometime since the Orange Girls Basketball team has earned a tournament trophy.

That changed on New Year’s Eve when the Panthers defeted Bartlett Yancey 51-38 for the tournament championship. It was the culmination of three games in three days which started with Orange continuing its best-of-73 series against Southern Alamance (it was the third time they’ve played in five weeks) with a 43-26 win. The following night, the Panthers defeated former Big 8 rival Cardinal Gibbons 55-43, its first victory over the Crusaders since 2008.

In their season-opening eleven-game winning streak, Orange’s victory over BY was certainly the most difficult. They trailed 17-6 early in the second quarter, their largest deficit of the season. Veteran Lady Bucs coach Lindsey Page flustered Orange’s offense by throwing a mixture of 2-3 zones, 1-3-1 zones, midcourt traps and regular man-to-man defenses.

While Kaylen Campbell justifiably won tournament MVP honors after scoring 18 points against Gibbons and 17 against BY, it’s likely Orange wouldn’t have won the championship without the contributions of Icez Barnett and Jazlyn Watson.

Barnett came off the bench to score 15 points and grab a season-high 15 rebounds. Watson scored ten points and registered eleven rebounds.

After wins over Northern Durham and Chapel Hill this week, Orange is now 13-0 heading into the most difficult week of the season (weather permitting). The Panthers, 13-0 overall and 3-0 in the Big 8, are supposed to play Northwood in Pittsboro on Tuesday, Webb on Friday and Cedar Ridge on Saturday. Of course, Mother Nature will have the final word.

Here’s Icez talking about winning the Holiday Hoopla championship and what’s ahead for the undefeated Lady Panthers.

Orange’s Icez Barnett on Winning the Eastern Alamance Holiday Hoopla Tournament

Kaylen Campbell deservedly earned the Holiday Hoopla MVP, but one could argue Orange wouldn’t have the tournament without the play of Icez Barnett. In the championship game against Bartlett Yancey, Barnett scored 15 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as Orange won 51-38.

The only thing that eluded Trent Gill over the fall was a day off.

From August 1st until November 5th, there was usually some duty to tend to. Twice a week, there were soccer games. When he wasn’t playing on the pitch, he was practicing on it. Either that or he was practicing with the football team, since he was the Red Wolves placekicker.

There was little time to rest on Saturdays, since he brand quickly grew inside scouting circles. He took recruiting trips to Duke University, N.C. State, Wofford and North Carolina Central, where he received a scholarship offer.

Cedar Ridge scored 21 touchdowns in its first three games against Carrboro, Jordan-Matthew and East Chapel Hill. During that span, Gill converted 20-of-21 extra points and four field goals, the longest 42 yards against the Jaguars.

In the opening two weeks of the season, Gill led the country in extra points. He finished 64-fo-71 on extra points and 12-of-15 on field goals. Plus, he averaged 36 yards per punt.

And football may not even be his best sport.

In his final season on the Cedar Ridge boys soccer team, he led the squad in goals (16), assists (10), and points (42). He had two hat tricks in 2016, including four goals in an 8-1 victory over Durham School of the Arts.

That game, however, couldn’t touch the satisfaction of the Red Wolves’ result on October 3rd.

Gill scored a hat trick as the Red Wolves edged the Panthers 4-3 at Panther Soccer Field. Jake Brown added insurance for the Red Wolves, while Rene Castellanos added an assist on Gill’s opener.

Gill also scored Cedar Ridge’s only goal in a 1-1 draw against Orange on September 7th. The Red Wolves’ goalkeeper, Justin Callemyn, notched five saves to complete the draw.

The Red Wolves have gone 4-0-1 in its last five games against the Panthers. While the Orange program has progressed in recent years, its last win over Cedar Ridge came on September 30, 2014.

Gill’s leadership put Cedar Ridge on the brink of a Big 8 Confernece Championship. They finished second behind Chapel Hill, who went all the way to the 3A State Championship game, where they lost to Marvin Ridge at N.C. State’s Dail Soccer Complex.

Cedar Ridge would make the playoffs for the 2nd straight season, thanks in part to a young man who lost about as often as he had a day off.

Quick: What was the only football game that Orange trailed at the half in 2016?

Southern Durham? Nope. Havelock? Scoreless tie in the first half. Riverside? Close. Northern Vance? Not quite.

It was Northwood, almost a forgotten game for a variety of reasons. First of all, it was played on a Monday night, just a week after Orange’s demolishment of Southern Durham. A rainstorm that was expected to be heavy delayed the game to Monday, though other neighboring schools played that Friday night.

Perhaps all of those factors led to Orange’s offense being lethargic in the first half. The Panthers committed turnovers on its first two drives and were stopped on fourth-and-short situations twice in the second quarter.

While Northwood only had two first downs in the first half, they did get a 31-yard field goal from Arthur Gonclaves with 3:29 remaining in the first quarter. It came after linebacker Michael Hayes recovered a fumble at the Orange 38-yard line.

As Orange did so often in the second halves of games, they rode their powerful running attack to victory against the Chargers. But this was no ordinary ball control game. This was an offense so conservative, it would make Ted Nugent blush.

In the second half, Orange ran 37 plays and picked up 13 first downs. Northwood ran eights plays with zero first downs.

Payton Wilson, a wingback who really was utilized more as a wide receiver in the final month of the season, rushed for 82 yards in the second half alone. He finished with 155 rushing yards, and another 33 yards receiving.

It led to Orange winning 19-3 behind another strong defensive performance, which would be the Panthers trademark in 2016. In the regular season, Orange’s defense yielded just three touchdowns and mounted a 24-quarter streak without giving up a touchdown.

To put that in perspective, that’s six whole regulation games without giving up an offensive touchdown (Northern Durham did score a defensive TD  off a fumble return for a touchdown on August 26).

As the season unfolded, it was hardly the final highlight for Wilson or the Orange defense in a year that will forever live in Panther lore.

Last Friday, Orange trailed Eastern Guilford 18-2 before they stormed back to win 74-60. It was another game where Connor Crabtree and Logan Vosburg were huge, scoring 27 and 24 points, respectively. But there were other factors. Like junior Mitch Portman, who scored eight points. Freshman Joey McMullin added seven.

Instead of just letting Connor and Logan do the talking, they insisted the whole team participate after Orange concluded 2016 with a tournament championship, just as they started the calendar year by winning the Big 8 Tournament Championship in February.

A victorious Orange boys basketball team asks after winning the Eastern Guilford Holiday Tournament

After trailing 18-2 to Eastern Alamance at EAHS, the Panthers stormed back to beat the Wildcats 74-60. Rather than just focus on one player for the post game video, we made it a team effort.