Photo by Davis Golden
Every mile of Brent Bailey’s daily trips to Hillsborough from Johnston County have been worth it.
It was a long wait for Bailey to get his first win as Cedar Ridge football coach, but the Gatorade bath he received from his growing team washed away over two years of frustration on Friday night.
Cedar Ridge didn’t just end a 29-game losing streak. They shut it down convincingly behind a career night from running back Brian Tedder and a strong defense.
On a whopping 38 carries, Tedder rushed for 248 yards and two touchdowns, helping Cedar Ridge score the final four touchdowns in a 28-6 win over Graham at Red Wolves Stadium on Friday night. It was the Red Wolves first win since August 26, 2022, when they edged East Chapel Hill 8-6.
Three years ago, Cedar Ridge needed a late safety from Joel Gravitte with 3:53 remaining in regulation to pull out the win over the Wildcats.
On Friday, the Red Wolves steadily pulled away behind a consistent performance from its defense, which held the Red Devils to zero yards total offense, including minus-3 yards rushing.
Perhaps most gratifying for Bailey, his team remained focused after some early plays didn’t go their way.
“The kids never stopped believing,” Bailey, soaking wet after being dosed with Gatorade by his team, said afterwards. “They never stopped believing in me. I kept telling them they just have to keep climbing the mountain. You’re going to fall. You’re going to fall. And finally, we were able to get over the hump and it’s an amazing feeling.”
It appeared another long night was ahead when Graham’s Kam Mason returned the opening kickoff 71 yards before Zy’On Nicholson made a touchdown saving tackle at the 11-yard line. Pressed against its own goal line early, Cedar Ridge didn’t allow another yard on the drive, with Jayden Harvey and Nicholson pressuring Red Devils’ quarterback Ja’den Hamlet into three straight incompletions.
Graham (0-2) scored its only touchdown when freshman Jakobe Richmond sacked Cedar Ridge quarterback Matthew Asay, sending the ball to the ground. Dytavious Spencer scooped up a fumble and ran it in eleven yards for the opening touchdown.
From that point forward, Cedar Ridge dominated.
Early in the second quarter, Asay found Mason Hughes for a 29-yard gain. Graham’s Mason recovered a Red Wolf fumble deep in Devil territory, but Cedar Ridge responded with Nicholson recovered a Red Devil fumble at the Graham 18-yard line. From there, Tedder did the rest with four straight runs, ending with a six-yard scamper for a touchdown to tie the game at 6-6.
The Red Wolves defense didn’t allow another first down the rest of the game, aside from one facemask penalty in the third quarter. They forced seven turnovers.
“Last week (in a loss to East Chapel Hill), I told them that we hurt ourselves,” Bailey said. “It was a 6-o game with four minutes remaining in the second quarter. When we had issues tonight, we were able to overcome it with a next play mentality. Last week, I didn’t think we had that mentality.”
Cedar Ridge’s Caden Thompson intercepted a pass on the next Graham drive. Asay hit Tedder on a swing pass for 44 yards. Sophomore Ethan McCall ran for 12 yards, then put the Red Wolves ahead for good on a 3-yard touchdown.
Leading 12-6 in the second half, Cedar Ridge started to win a battle of field position in the second half. They started with a 38-yard drive to the Red Devil 20-yard line before Asay was sacked on 4th-and-5. Later, Graham was hit with an intentional grounding penalty. The subsequent punt snap went out of the end zone for a safety, increasing the Red Wolves’ lead to 14-6.
Following the free kick, Tedder carried the ball six straight times inside the Graham 30-yard line. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Tedder broke free for a ten-yard touchdown. The extra point by Asay increased Cedar Ridge’s lead to 21-6.
Cedar Ridge’s Jude Young recovered the subsequent onside kick.
Later in the fourth quarter, Cedar Ridge sophomore linebacker Austin Brown intercepted a pass. It led to Tedder’s third touchdown run, an 18-yard score that sent the Red Wolf sidelines into a frenzy.
Thompson made another interception, his third of the night, to cap a victorious evening.
It took a long time for Cedar Ridge football to get a victory. Now that their cup is full, they’re aiming to fill it up again.
“That group of seniors is the best class I’ve ever coached,” Bailey said. “They’ve been with me from day one. When I got here, they were sophomores and we connected immediately. It’s the biggest senior class we’ve had at Cedar Ridge in 14 or 15 years. That senior class kept grinding and grinding and grinding. They deserve a lot of the credit for tonight.”
