When training camp started in August for Cedar Ridge’s football team, they had something that was missing in 2015.

Stability.

Entering 2015, the Red Wolves thought that former Burlington Cummings Coach Steve Johnson would be their new head coach. It certainly appeared to be a quality fit. Johnson led the Cavaliers to two state championships and was an assistant on three others.

Yet a month after his hiring was announced, Johnson suffered a thoracic aortic aneurysm in late August. He never coached a game at Cedar Ridge.

Of course, the Cedar Ridge players didn’t know that at the time. They came and went from practice day in and day out, running drills, preparing for games and wondering if Johnson would ever return. Offensive coordinator Scott Loosemoore coached the team in 2015 on an interim basis.

This year, there was no wonderin who the head coach was. Loosemoore was named the permanent coach early in 2016, but there were plenty of holes to fill. Quarterback Payton Pappas had graduated.

So Loosemoore remolded the team in a design that fit the parts he had. The spread offense was scrapped, a bold move in modern high school football. Instead, Loosemoore installed a wishbone setup led by running back London Saunders, Shemar Miles and Lucas Baldwin.

Sophomore Phillip Berger took over at quarterback.

Cedar Ridge opened 3-0 for the first time in school history, beating Carrboro, Jordan-Matthews and East Chapel Hill by a combined score of 162-12.

Unfortunately, the Red Wolves hopes of making the playoffs were dashed on the final play of the 4th game of the year against Riverside. As the Pirates ran out the clock of a 20-3 win, a toss sweep spilled over to the Riverside sideline and led to a fight. Each team had three players ejected from the game, which led both teams to be barred from the state playoffs.

Cedar Ridge immediately appealed, but didn’t have video footage to turn over to the North Carolina High School Athletic Association. The best evidence they could produce was still photographs, which wasn’t enough.

Cedar Ridge would spin the final half the season playing for nothing more than pride, which was crushing for a team that hadn’t produced a winning record since 2010. In the wake of the NCHSAA ban, several players quit the team to begin preparing for winter sports.

Those who remained and fought can look back and said they were members of Cedar Ridge’s first winning football season in six years.

The Red Wolves went into its final game of the season 5-5 with a road trip to Northern Vance, who had also been barred from the postseason after a fight against Warren County.

The Vikings had proven to be a tough opponent in Henderson. They held Orange to two touchdown in a 14-0 loss only three weeks before the season finale. But the Red Wolves served notice against the Vikings they wouldn’t wait a day longer without a winning season.

The Red Wolves stromed out to a 27-0 lead and defeated the Red Wolves 41-21.

In his final game, Saunders scored two touchdowns. Senior running back Montae Kee rushed for 105 yards, a career-high in his swan song.

Listen to the Orange girls try to remain undefeated against Northern Durham LIVE RIGHT HERE!

It’s always special to beat your crosstown rival. It’s even sweeter when you haven’t defeated them in four years.

Those were the circumstances that the Orange volleyball team found itself in on September 27th against Cedar Ridge. In the first match between the two teams on September 1st, the Red Wolves easily disposed of the Panthers 3-1, its seventh consecutive victory over Orange.

It wasn’t so much that Cedar Ridge had enjoyed an advantage over Orange. It was that they had become dominant. During its seven-game winning streak, the Red Wolves had won 21 out of 25 games against OHS. Four of the seven wins were sweeps.

The 2015 Red Wolves captured the Big 8 Championship in dominant fashion, finishing unbeaten in conference play. They even defeated Carrboro, who would go on to win the 2-A State Championhip a year later.

On September 27, Orange wasn’t just victorious against Cedar Ridge. They were due.

After dropping the first game 25-22, the Panthers won the final three sets 25-21, 26-24 and 25-18 to send the students inside Jim King Gymnasium into a frenzy, rushing the floor and gathering for a photo with the team.

Bailey Lucas had 13 kills with a kill percentage of 52%, a,one with 22 assists. Jordan Lloyd, who would sign with Division 3 Brevard College in December, finished with eight kills, 25 digs and an ace.

Unanimously, Lloyd, Macy Hughes, Mileah Shriner, Julia Lovingood and Eva Porter would call the win the highlight of their Orange careers.

The Panthers would go on to finish second in the Big 8, finishing only behind Chapel Hill. The Tigers, under first-year head coach Ross Fields, would claim the 3-A Eastern Regional Championship and face Concord Cox Mill for the state championship at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh.

Orange made the state playoffs, falling in the first round against Cleveland. They finished 11-10, 8-4 in the Big 8.

The only thing standing between Cedar Ridge’s Elizabeth Zarzar and more individual championships during the 2016 fall season were the very best runners in the state.

Zarzar finished 3rd in the Big 8 Girls Cross County Conference championship on a sultry fall day at Chapel Hill High School. The only runners who crossed the finish line ahead of her were two from Chapel Hill, a squad that captured the 3-A state championship claimed its second straight state championship.

However, nothing held Zarzar back on October 11 at Orange High. Competing against runners from Orange, J.F. Webb and Southern Durham, Zarzar completed the course in 21:05, beating the closest competitor by over one minute.

“I was proud of my run,” said Zarzar. “Especially because of the heat. My time was a lot better than I thought. I didn’t get my personal record, but I really wasn’t expecting to because of the heat. I was really happy with how I placed.”

Zarzar also finished 3rd in the 3-A Mideast Regionals at Northwood High School in Pittsboro, earning at spot in the state championships. In the 3-A state meet, she finished 11th overall at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville.

Chapel Hill junior Katherine Dokholyan captured the conference, regional and state championships.

Zarzar, a senior, was still proud of her season, often running in temperatures far warmer than previous years.

“I thought I started this year really strong,” said Zarzar. “We start training in June, so once conference and regionals come around we have to make sure we don’t get sore.”

Elizabeth is ranked 6th in her class at Cedar Ridge and holds all of the school’s long distance records. She earned WRAL’s Extra Effort Award in October.

Orange Coach Greg Motley Discusses Winning the Eastern Guilford Holiday Classic

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Like lists? You’ll love the start of 2017 on HillsboroughSports.com.

Over the next ten days, we’ll count down the top ten moments from the fall sports season.

To start the list, we journey all the way back to August. The Orange boys soccer team got off to a 4-1-1 start, thanks in part to junior striker Jamar Davis.

To start his junior season, Davis scored nine goals in five games.

He began the year with a hat trick against Northern Durham in a 5-2 victory on August 15. A week later, he notched another goal in a 9-1 win over Graham.

But his best performance came in the Panthers’ third game of the season against Bartlett Yancey in Hillsborough. Davis scored four goals against the Buccaneers in an 8-1 win. Alfredo Rodriguez assisted on two of the goals.

Davis, who has placed four times this year for Orange’s wrestling team at 190 pounds, finished the year with a team-high 20 goals and six assists. He also led the team with 46 points.

Orange finished the year 8-11-1 and was eliminated from playoff contention following a 6-4 loss to Southern Durham on October 25. It was a disappointing finish after a 2015 campaign where Orange went 10-10-2 with a playoff appearance against Cleveland.

Next fall, Davis, Ewan McCallum (five goals), Bryan Torres (7 goals and 1 assist) and goalkeeper Noah Miller are all slated to return to the Panthers in a brand-new conference, which will include the addition of 4-A power East Chapel Hill, along with Northern Durham and Hillside.