In each sport across North Carolina, there are brand name programs.
In football, there’s Reidsville and Tarboro, both of which secured state championships last weekend. In baseball, there’s J.H. Rose and D.H. Conley. In softball, there’s Alexander Center.
In wrestling, there’s Orange, Eden Morehead and Cary.
The Imps have won nine state championships, second only to Parkland in state history.
In the midst of the greatest start in program history, it was paramount for Cedar Ridge wrestling to earn a signature win over a brand name program.
On Wednesday night, they got it.
Freshman Landon Kemp pinned Mark Koren in 4:58 to secure the Red Wolves win over Cary to complete a quad match at Red Wolves Gymnasium.
The Red Wolves also defeated J.F. Webb 60-24 to remain atop the Big 7 Conference at 3-0. Cedar Ridge will have conference matches against Durham School of the Arts, Carrboro and South Granville after the holiday break.
In addition, Cedar Ridge also defeated Louisburg 68-9 in the quad match to improve to 18-1 overall.
After Cedar Ridge’s Mikey O’Melia started the match with a tech fall win over Leo Valenti 18-2, Cary’s Denys Tsap, Xavier Borge, Donald Haley and Maximus Fritsche all earned pins to put the Imps ahead 24-5. The Red Wolves Jacob Erickson earned a forfeit win at heavyweight, which started a string of five straight Red Wolves wins.
At 106 pounds, sophomore Juan Jaramillo remained undefeated with a pin of Kymani Byrd in 1:25. Colton Poole pinned Jahir Carter in 58 seconds. Favio Jaramillo, now 25-3, pinned Faris Cohan in 41 seconds to put the Red Wolves ahead 29-24 at 120 pounds. Freshman David Angel pinned Donovan Cassase in 3;52.
Cary responded with consecutive pins. Noah Herbert defeated Caleb Copeland in 1:10 at 132 pounds. At 138 pounds, Sidd Atri defeated Cedar Ridge’s Joseph Rodriguez at 138 pounds to push Cary ahead 36-35 with two matches remaining.
Kemp, wrestling at 144 pounds, got an early takedown and defeated Koren to put the Red Wolves ahead, which led to a loud roar from the Red Wolves bench. Junior Alejandro Briones, who finished the night with a 25-2 record, pinned Elijah Oneal in just 28 seconds to complete the night.
Briones also pinned Louisburg’s Matthew Ausley of Louisburg and claimed a forfeit over Webb.
Juan Jaramillo earned forfeit wins over Louisburg and Webb to improve to 20-0. Favio Jaramillo pinned Chace Crabb of Webb and Kaden Hartsfield of Louisburg.
O’Melia earned pins over Valle Ramirez of Louisburg.
In the women’s matches, Cedar Ridge’s Thalia Paterno won all three of her individual matches, including pinning Cary’s Dabrielle Crocker in 25 seconds. Eva Dockery of Cedar Ridge pinned Cary’s MaKenzie Harden in 4:29. The Cedar Ridge women defeated Webb 42-6; defeated Louisburg 42-6. The Cary women knocked off the Red Wolves 48-24.
Orange 60, South Granville 14:
Senior Logan Scarantino moved closer to 100 career wins as the Panthers won its second conference match against the Vikings. The Panthers improved to 7-5 overall.
Scarantino, competing at 113 pounds, earned a forfeit victory. Also taking forfeit wins for Orange were Brady McAdams (113) and Mason Horne (126). At 132 pounds, Renn Van Hoose finished off Brian Pringle. Austin Sixtos defeated Lailah Shawbazz at 138.
With Orange leading 30-0, South Granville earned pins from Max Loera (150) and Alexander Harrell (144). The Panthers secured the match with three straight pins, starting with Sebastian Guardia over Bradley Graham at 157. Sophomore Markus Thomas defeated Evan Zollo at 165. Junior Connor Harward pinned Alton Graham at 175.
Sophomore Jordan Barbee defeated Moises Mojarra. At 215 pounds, Orange’s Jose Torres Bautista earned a forfeit victory.
Orange also claimed the women’s dual match over South Granville 36-12. There was only one match actually contested. Orange’s Mackenzie Doly pinned Chloe Wright at 130 pounds.
Orange’s Elyse Wilscam, Julie Wah, Rose Brady, Claire Fernandes and Pretty Say all earned forfeit wins. The Orange women improved to 3-2 on the season.
