This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is junior men’s tennis player Fionn Kuo. On Wednesday, Kuo reached the Mideast Regionals in doubles play along with partner Lev Bearman. They were voted the #1 doubles team from the Central Conference during the league’s tennis championships at the Burlington Tennis Center on Wednesday. This is Kuo’s first season at Cedar Ridge. He earned the #1 singles spot that Josh Mayhew left behind. This season, Kuo went 10-2 in singles play for a Red Wolf team that is 11-2. Kuo also teamed with Bearman to go 4-0 in doubles play. On Friday, Cedar Ridge will travel to Western Alamance. With a win, the Red Wolves will tie the Warriors and earn a share of the Central Conference championship. Among Kuo’s highlights for the season was a three-set win over Nathan Bermeo of Eno River Academy on April 4. He defeated Zac Blizzard of Durham School of the Arts 6-0, 6-0 on March 7. In his first match with the Red Wolves, Kuo defeated Yisak Turney of Southern Alamance 6-1, 6-0. Cedar Ridge has earned an automatic trip to the 3A State Dual Team Playoffs. Part of the reason for their continued strong play under new head coach Mike Rodgers is the play of Kuo, who will venture into the regionals at the Burlington Tennis Center next month.

Nate and Jaylan Sorrells were raised together. They attended school together. They played football together. So it was only natural that they signed together to play football at Mars Hill College. Their father, who was raised in Georgia, played football at Mars Hill. Nate Sorrells was a four-year varsity player for the Panthers. He endured the difficult pandemic year, where the Panthers played games during the spring. Nate scored his first touchdown against Cedar Ridge. He went on to score eight touchdowns in his career. This week, Nate secured a conference championship with the Orange lacrosse team, where he is playing his first season. Jaylan barely had a play off for Orange the past two seasons. He played on the offensive and defensive lines. Last year, Jaylan finished with 45 tackles in his senior year. In addition, Jaylan has finished first in several outdoor track and field meets this year. He competes in the shot put and the discuss for the Panthers and is trying to qualify for regionals, which will be held in Pembroke next month. Jaylan and Nate were instrumental in helping Orange football coach DeVante Pettiford get his program established after he took over for Van Smith in 2022. A signing ceremony was held for Jaylan and Nate inside Orange High Gymnasium on April 12.

It was a senior night for the Orange women’s soccer team they will never forget. And Cedar Ridge won’t forget it either. The Red Wolves and the Lady Panthers played to a wild 5-5 tie at Orange Soccer Field on Wednesday night. It appeared that Red Wolf junior Katie Paulakonis would notch the game-winner when she knocked in a corner kick off a feed from freshman Kate Finnegan with 1:32 remaining in the first overtime. But Orange’s Caroline Cathey scored the game’s final goal when she launched a 22-yard shot off a corner kick where Lily Crayton took a short pass and returned it to Cathey. Cedar Ridge’s Fleury Nicholson scored two goals for the Red Wolves, including a beautiful switch to her right foot and fired a ball from 21 yards to give Cedar Ridge a 3-1 lead with 38:29 remaining in regulation. Nicholson also scored off a penalty kick when Paulakonis was fouled with 6:09 remaining in the first half. Kate Finnegan also scored for Cedar Ridge. The Red Wolves will venture to Eastern Alamance on Monday. Last week, the Red Wolves scored a 3-2 win over the Eagles, the defending 3A State Champions. Cathey tied the game for Orange with 1:10 remaining in regulation and finished with two goals. 

The Cedar Ridge men’s tennis team will reach the state playoffs under first-year head coach Mike Rogers. The Red Wolves have gone 11-2, 10-1 in the Central Conference. On Friday, the Red Wolves will face Western Alamance with a chance to tie for the Central Conference championship. This season, the Red Wolves have been led by Fionn Kuo, a junior who is in his first year at Cedar Ridge. Kuo has replaced Josh Mayhew, the first player in the history of Hillsborough to reach the state singles final four times, as the Red Wolves #1 singles player. There have also been singles players like Lev Bearman, Joe Garbee, Griffin Thomas, Jackson Baker and Charles Dean. Bearman, who played for the 2022 Cedar Ridge team that won the Central Conference championship, went 10-1 this year for the Red Wolves in singles play. Garbee went 9-2. On Wednesday at the Central Conference Men’s Tennis championships at the Burlington Tennis Center, Kuo and Bearman qualified for the Mideast Regionals as a doubles team, receiving the #1 seed. Cedar Ridge will end the regular season against Western Alamance in Elon on Friday, then prepare for the 3A State Dual Team Playoffs. The Mideast Regionals and the 3A State Championships will be held at the Burlington Tennis Center. 

Photo by Carly Williams 

The standards around Orange lacrosse have changed. Dramatically.

In 2016, it was a cause for major celebration when the Panthers beat a nearby rival, like Eastern Alamance. Before that, one person close to Orange athletics recently reminisced “Orange may have lost often, but it was a good night when they stayed in a game long enough to avoid a running clock.”

That was before Chandler Zirkle became the Panthers head coach. His father, Franklin, was at the forefront of lacrosse locally from the sport’s beginnings in North Carolina at this level, leading East Chapel Hill to two state championships before the sport was even sanctioned by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association. In the 2000s, when Chandler suited up as a Wildcat, the sport was operated by a group of local coaches.

Like his father, Chandler isn’t coaching a team as much as he’s built a program. It isn’t limited to Orange High School, where Chandler’s father now serves as an assistant. It extends to Orange Middle, where Chandler teaches and creates a breeding ground.

On Tuesday night, Orange lacrosse claimed its fourth consecutive Mid-Piedmont Conference championship in fashion about as dramatic as the Road Runner escaping the Coyote. The Panthers romped past Western Alamance 21-5, improving to 15-0 in conference play.

Orange, 19-1 overall, outscored conference opposition 284-51 this season. It was the third straight game that Orange scored 20 goals in a game and the sixth time overall.

The conference title is the latest achievement for a senior class that helped make Zirkle’s aspirations of turning a team into his program a reality. There’s been Katie Wolter, the goalkeeper who faced the obligatory taunts from opposing fans and players simply for being a female competing against men two-to-three times a week. Last month, she made her 300th career save in a 10-8 win over Jordan in Durham. Her brother Tyson, who played at Orange under former head coach David O’Neil, is now an assistant coach.

And, of course, there’s Connor Kruse, the all-time leading scorer in school history. Last week, Kruse broke several school single-season records. He became the first player in school history to surpass 100 assists in a season when he racked up ten assists in a 25-2 win over Eastern Alamance. He also broke his own single-season record with 156 points. Last year, he had 143.

On Tuesday night, Josh Crabtree scored four goals, pushing his senior total to 27, a new career-high. Josh Cowan has 19 goals this year. On defense, long stick midfielder Alden Cathey and Sascha Van Praag continue to be a force. Van Praag will join Kruse in playing for Lenoir-Rhyne, the reigning Division II national champions. Cathey will play at Arcadia University in Pennsylvania.

Jace and Kale Womble have supplied the Panthers with defensive depth. Newcomers like Nate Sorrells, in his first year playing varsity lacrosse after four years as a running back in football, have provided a valuable presence. Bryce Nelson has scored seven goals.

Of course, there’s another generation ready to carry Orange forward. Sophomore Brett Clark finished with a hat trick against the Warriors, along with junior Grey Crabtree. This season, Crabtree has a career-high 25 goals and 26 assists.

The Panthers will likely be seeded #1 in the East Region when the state playoffs brackets are released on Monday. For the third year in a row, the road to the State Championship game will probably run through Auman Stadium.

The overriding question for Orange is will the third time be the charm? Each of the last two years, the Panthers have hosted the 3A/2A/1A Eastern Regional championship game. In 2022, First Flight put on a defensive clinic to beat the Panthers 13-7. Last year, Orange faced a Northwood team they had beaten twice before in the regular season, but the Chargers came through with a 10-8 win.

Zirkle has kept the focus on playing one game at a time this year. A looming battle in the playoffs against Croatan, who has been ranked #2 in the 3A/2A/1A East rankings all year, has been a possibility that the coaching staff has prepared for since winter.

Regardless, Tuesday night was not another championship for the Orange lacrosse team.

It was a championship for the Orange lacrosse program.

GRAHAM–There’s a difference between hitting and timely hitting.

On Tuesday night, that was the difference between Orange and Southern Alamance. And, hence, it’s the difference in the race for the Central Conference baseball championship right now.

Each team had five hits. The Panthers largely hit for singles. The Patriots hit for power, albeit from unlikely sources.

Southern’s Janden Evans hit the very first pitch delivered by Cross Clayton over the left field fence, aided somewhat by a southwest wind, to put the Patriots ahead in the opening inning. It was Evans first home run of the season.

Southern would go on to beat Orange 3-1 at the Carroll Shoffner Baseball Complex. The Patriots now lead Orange by one game for first place in the Central Conference at 7-2. The Panthers will host the second game of the two-game series in Hillsborough on Friday. With only three league games remaining, it is likely Orange’s last hope to gain a share of the conference title.

The Panthers had plenty of opportunities on Tuesday. The Patriots committed five errors, but the Panthers didn’t make them hurt. Orange’s leadoff batter, Cameron Guentensberger, lined a single to centerfield and advanced to second when the ball was bobbled by Bradley Capps. Southern starter Braxton Cain struck out Kayden Bradsher and Ryan Honeycutt. With two out, Ryan Horton grounded a ball to shortstop to Mark King, whose throw to first baseman Cooper Partin was low. After Horton legged it out, Guentensberger attempted to score from first, but Partin immediately threw to catcher Eli Holland, who tagged out the centerfielder at the plate to close out the inning.

Clayton suffered his first-ever loss to a conference opponent, ironically in one of his best career outings. Of his 72 pitchers, he threw 58 strikes with nine strikeouts. Of the 26 batters he faced, Clayton threw a first-pitch strike to 24 of them. Clayton was going for his 20th career win, the first Orange pitcher to reach that plateau since Bryse Wilson in 2016.

After Evans stomped his foot on home plate to complete his first dinger, Holland sent a hopper that popped off third base into the left field corner for a double. It was the first in a series of failed scoring opportunities by both teams. Holland moved to third after Partin grounded out to Wyatt Hedrick for the first out. Clayton ended the inning striking out Ethan Mann and Noah Madren.

Orange designated hitter Garrett Sawyer was hit by a pitch in the second inning, then raced over to second when Cain’s pickup throw got away from Partin. King caught a soft liner by Clayton to end the frame.

Ryan Honeycutt opened the fourth with a cue shot down the third base line that Evans threw away, sending the senior to second. That’s as far as Honeycutt would go after Horton, Oliver Van Tiem and Wyatt Hedrick were retired in order.

In the sixth, Southern senior Bradley Capps sent a 1-1 fastball over the left field fence, a wall scraper that went out the most shallow part of the park. It was Capps’ first home run of the year, his seventh RBI.

With one out, Evans doubled to the right field gap. After Holland flew out to Elijah Santos in right, Evans moved over to third. Mann lined a single to centerfield to bring in Capps and make it 3-0 Patriots.

Orange’s only run came when Horton sent a diving liner to centerfield. Capps dove for the ball but missed and it rolled all the way to the fence. Horton wound up with a triple. Dominic O’Keefe replaced him as a courtesy runner. With Van Tiem at bat, Cain uncorked a wild pitch to the spacious backstop. O’Keefe scored off the wild pitch.

Cain surpassed 105 pitches when Garrett Sawyer rode out a ten-pitch at-bat that ended with a fly out to Mann in left field. Eli Gilley replaced Cain and earned the save by striking out Clayton and Santos.

ROXBORO–Enduring a strike zone that gradually shrunk to the size of a Dixie Cup and a Person team that wouldn’t say quit, the Orange baseball team emerged from Roxboro exactly where they want to be.

Tied for first in the Central Conference with a showdown two-game series against Southern Alamance that will almost certainly determine the league champion looming this week.

On Friday night, Orange played bread-and-butter baseball to sweep its two-game series against Person. Leadoff batters got on base, put themselves in scoring position and an experienced power hitter knocked them in.

It led to the Panthers charging out to a 5-0 lead, scoring in each of the first four innings and holding on as Cameron Guentensberger came in from centerfield to earn his second save in as many games to send the Panthers back up Highway 57 with a 7-4 win at Rockets Field.

Orange (14-4, 6-2) is now tied with Southern Alamance for first place in the conference. The Panthers will travel to Graham to face the Patriots on Tuesday night. The series will culminate in Hillsborough on Friday.

The Rockets had the Panthers somewhat concerned in the seventh. Trailing 7-2, Person brought across two runs against reliever Garrett Sawyer off of four walks, a hit batter, a balk and a wild pitch. With Ethan Norris at first base representing the tying run off a walk by Guentensberger, Jackson Riggan stepped up with a chance to pull off an improbable comeback. But Guentensberger set down Riggan on strikes to earn his second save in as many games. Guentensberger threw a scoreless seventh in a nonconference win over Voyager Academy in Hillsborough on Wednesday.

Josiah Gibbs threw five innings to improve to 5-0 on the season. Gibbs, who has 15 career wins, struck out six and allowed only two runs off five hits.

Guentensberger, whose versatility has led to him becoming Orange’s leadoff batter, opened with a walk against Person starter Ian Downey, then stole second base. Ryan Honeycutt, who has 14 RBIs in 12 games, stepped up and drilled a line driven to left centerfield, scoring Guentensberger easily.

Orange freshman Oliver Van Tiem lined a single to left field to open the second inning. With two out, Cross Clayton lined a 0-2 curve ball to left field, where Person’s Dylan England struggled to get the ball back to the infield. Van Tiem took advantage and crossed home plate to make it 2-0.

Gibbs didn’t allow a base hit in the opening three innings. The only mild Person threat in the first half of the game came when Carter Hodgin was hit by a pitch and Norris drew a walk in the second. Riggan flew out to Guentensberger in centerfield to end the inning.

Guentensberger stroked a leadoff single up the middle to start the third. After Kayden Bradsher laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Guentensberger to second, Honeycutt lined another RBI single to England. Guentensberger wound up with his second run of the game.

Orange pushed its lead to 5-0 in the fourth when Van Tiem drew a leadoff walk. Wyatt Hedrick followed with a first-pitch liner that dropped in for a single. Clayton lined a 3-2 fastball into right field, which was bobbled by Tyler Blackwell. Van Tiem scored off the hit and Hedrick came in off the error.

Jackson Riggan lined a fastball that nearly kicked up chalk along the right field line to open the fifth against Gibbs. After Gibbs induced a groundout by Brennen Kiser to move Riggan to second, Keegan Holmes struck out. Camden Shaw singled in Riggan with a base hit to centerfield. Third baseman Nick Young dropped in a fly ball in the outfield. England lined an RBI single in front of Guentensberger to score Shaw and cut the Orange lead to 5-2.

The Panthers took advantage of some Person miscues to regain it’s five-run lead. Van Tiem opened with an infield single to Holmes, the shortstop. Hedrick walked. Sawyer laid down a sacrifice bunt to the left of the mound. Kiser, who replaced Downey as pitcher, attempted to throw out Van Tiem but the ball went past Young at third base. Van Tiem scored. Following a walk by Cross Clayton to load the bases, Elijah Santos walked to bring in Hedrick.

Orange has beaten Person in six straight regular season meetings. The Rockets only victory over the Panthers in the past three years came in the 2022 Central Conference Tournament semifinals in Hillsborough. It was the second straight year that Gibbs beat the Rockets in Roxboro.