Photo from Will Okin
The storybook ending for the eight Cedar Ridge seniors that embodied patience and courageousness will come eventually.
It just didn’t come on Friday night.
Not at this point in time when Orange is too talented, too deep and too experienced.
After a one-year interruption in the rivalry when Cedar Ridge didn’t field a varsity team in 2018, the series continued Friday night as Orange scored four unanswered touchdowns to defeat the Red Wolves 43-14 on Senior Night at Red Wolves Stadium. Panthers’ sophomore running back Omarion Lewis rushed for a career-high 170 yards and two touchdowns as Orange (4-6, 3-3 in the Big 8) beat its crosstown rival for the seventh straight time.
In the absence of starting wingback Machai Holt, who missed the game, Lewis now leads Orange with 682 rushing yards and eleven touchdowns.
Cedar Ridge played without leading rusher Isaiah McCambry, who injured his right shoulder against Southern Durham last week. Despite that, the Red Wolves scored touchdowns on its first two possessions. Sophomore quarterback William Berger hit Desi Raspberry for a 55-yard touchdown pass. Berger found Zachary Holmes on a crossing pattern on the two-point conversion to give Cedar Ridge an 8-7 lead.
On its second drive, Berger led Cedar Ridge down the field on a 7-play, 77-yard drive, its only sustained drive of the game. Berger connected with Raspberry on a 29-yard pass to five midfield. After Baxter Mergenthal reached the edge of the goal line for a first down, Berger scored on a quarterback sneak with :56 remaining in the first quarter.
After that, the Red Wolves were held to two yards total offense and zero first downs during the middle two quarters.
“I was real proud of my team for how we handled the storm,” said Orange coach Van Smith. “They (Cedar Ridge) came out excited and fired up because it was a crosstown rivalry and their senior night. They had a good game plan for how to attack us. But we answered and settled in and started playing better defense.”
The Red Wolves (1-9, 1-5) will conclude its season next week at Vance County.
“I think we came out energized,” said Cedar Ridge coach Torrean Hinton. “My hat is off to Orange. They came out here and played hard. Our guys came out and tried things a little different and it was working. Usually when you get down into the trenches of the game, bodies start to fall, fatigue plays a factor. And the better team won today.”
Orange started the game with a 57-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Wyatt Jones to senior wide receiver Zyon Pettiford. it was the longest touchdown catch of the year for Pettiford.
Following Raspberry’s touchdown, the Panthers responded with a 10-play, 80-yard drive. Elliott Woods scored on a four-yard run up the middle. Senior wide receiver Joe Kiger hooked up with Jones on the ensuing two-point conversion to boost Orange’s lead to 15-8.
Orange rolled up a season-best 414 yards total offense to snap a five-game road losing streak. They defeated Northwood in Pittsboro on October 17, 2018.
“Joe made some big plays in the second half,” Smith said. “That one touchdown was a fantastic catch. I thought that first half was as good of a half as he’s played all season.”
Oranges wingback Elliott Woods, who also had a season-high with 87 rushing yards, scored on a 10-yard touchdown run to open the second quarter.
Caulin Fansler blocked a punt on the following Cedar Ridge drive, which led to Kiger’s second touchdown catch of the night from Jones on a 19-yard fade. Orange led 29-14 at the half.
Lewis crossed the goal line on Orange’s first series of the second half. On a 10-play, 82-yard drive, orange kept the ball exclusively on the ground. After Jones ran for 19 yards on a read option to jump start the drive, Lewis ended it with a 12-yard touchdown.
Lewis scored on a two-yard run early in the fourth quarter for his eleventh touchdown of the year.
It wasn’t the ending that Mergenthal, Braden Thompson, Zachary Holmes, Matthew Hinton, Brandon Poteat, or K.J. Barnes wanted. But just as no football dynasty lasts forever, no struggling program stays lean on wins forever, either.
Whenever Cedar Ridge football gets back to where it once was, the unsung heroes will be the ones for played its final home game at Red Wolves Stadium on Friday night.
“We had that conversation earlier this week,” Hinton said. “I told them that whatever happens after this year, when we start to pull this thing together, these guys will be the cornerstones of that. They’re the guys we build around. All of them are going to be great kids moving forward. I just hate it that the outcome of this game was what it was. But those guys are our strength and they exemplify what it means to be a Cedar Ridge football player.”
ORANGE 43, CEDAR RIDGE 14
ORA-15 14 7 7-43
CR—14 0 0 0-14
ORA-Zyon Pettiford 57 pass from Wyatt Jones (Nigel Slinkier kick)
CR–Desi Raspberry 55 pass from William Berger (Berger to Zachary Holmes)
ORA–Elliott Woods 4 run (Jones to Joe Kiger)
CR–Berger 1 run (run failed)
ORA—Woods 10 run (Slanker kick)
ORA-Kiger 19 pass from Jones (Slanker kick)
ORA—Omarion Lewis 19 run (Slanker kick)
ORA—Lewis 2 run (Slanker kick)
RUSHING: ORANGE 40-295 4 TD (Lewis 19-170 2 TD, Woods 15-87 2 TD, Jones 3-22, Kiger 3-11, Courtney Edwards 1-5, Connor Ray 2-4)
CEDAR RIDGE: 24-8 (Aidan Seagroves 15-34, Brandon Poteat 1-6, Braxton Mergenthal 1-1, Elijah Whitaker 2-(minus 9), K.J. Barnes 2-(minus 11), Berger 3-(minus 16) TD)
PASSING: ORANGE: Jones 6-11 119 TD
CEDAR RIDGE: BERGER 6-15 115 TD
RECEIVING: ORANGE: (Kiger 5-62 TD, Pettiford 1-57 TD)
CEDAR RIDGE: (Raspberry 3-69 TD, Barnes 3-46)