Photo by Genesis Garcia
Rice can now beat Texas in football.
Clemson basketball can win the ACC Tournament.
Vanderbilt can play in the SEC Championship game against Alabama next year. Provided their quarterback is healthy, of course.
That’s because Cedar Ridge wrestling has beaten Orange. And it really wasn’t that close.
It would have been unthinkable to write those words five years ago. Orange wrestling has been the most consistent athletic program at the school, winning 19 conference championships in the last 20 years and five state championships since 2005.
The Red Wolves scored pins in eight of the 14 matches to beat the Panthers 54-21 on Wednesday night at Cedar Ridge High School. Orange, which has won three straight conference titles since falling to Chapel Hill in 2020 just before the COVID-19 pandemic, is 3-6 overall, 1-2 in the Central Conference.
While the win was a historic moment for Cedar Ridge, it wasn’t shocking to anyone paying attention to the middle school scene recently. Two years ago, Stanback defeated Orange Middle School to end the Chargers long winning streak, which spanned well over a decade. The Bulldogs head coach was Grant Gibson, who is now in his first season at Southeast Alamance High in Haw River.
Orange had to replace ten seniors from last year’s team that won the Central Conference title and advanced to the 3A Eastern Regional Final in the state playoffs, where they fell to Union Pines. The Red Wolves return seniors Kaden Tatro and James Este-Wittinger, both of whom qualified for the state championships last year. On top of that, Cedar Ridge won the Central Conference Tournament last year at Orange, after the Panthers had secured the regular season crown.
For Cedar Ridge coach Scott Metcalf, it was bittersweet. From 1999-2002, Metcalf wrestled at Orange under the tutelage of Bobby Shriner, the legendary coach who won over 500 dual matches and five state championships before retiring in 2017. Shriner, who now travels and works with the UNC wrestling program, was in attendance Wednesday night.
“This is huge,” Metcalf said.” They pounded us for years. I think it was something like 82-6 when we faced them the first year I was here. We’ve come a long way. We’ve had some ups and downs over the years. To progress, it takes some parents being committed and kids being committed. Everybody working together, a great athletic director and support from the staff.”
Cedar Ridge junior Pierce Prescod opened the night with a pin over Adrian Sierra in 1:33 at 120 pounds. Orange’s Braden Crawford, who won the 126 pound championship at the Jim King/Orange Invitational last weekend, pinned Nathan Vendura in 1:58 to even the match at 6-6.
Cedar Ridge’s Graylon Collins pinned Jackson Runkle in 1:33 to put the Red Wolves back in the lead, but Orange’s Jared Hutchins scored a pin at 138 pounds over Jordin Blue in 1:10 to square the dual match again.
The Red Wolves notched pins in four straight matches to take control. At 144 pounds, Alejandro Briones defeated Talan Pearly in 1:31. Senior Angus Pritchard pinned pinned Colton Jones in 31 seconds. Junior Ryan Rakouskas, who finished third in the Mideast Region in 2022, pinned Aye Zan in 31 seconds to put the Red Wolves ahead 30-12. Then Cedar Ridge’s Shea Spiller added another pinfall win over Connor Harward in 2:14.
Cedar Ridge senior James Este-Wittinger earned the win that ensured the Red Wolves first-ever victory over Orange. Este-Wittinger defeated Jayden Medley 10-4 to give the Red Wolves an insurmountable 48-12 lead with four matches remaining.
“Pierce, Kaden, James and Ryan have all been our strongest wrestlers this year,” Metcalf said. “They’ve really led by example and worked really hard. I think the guys really feed off their example.”
Cedar Ridge senior Kaden Tatro defeated Orange’s Andre Hill 13-8 at 175 pounds. In Cedar Ridge’s subsequent dual match against Rosewood, Tatro pinned Aldinio Previl in 3:19.
The Red Wolves are now 3-0 in the Central Conference following earlier wins over Person and Southern Alamance. Next week’s trip to Eastern Alamance will play a huge factor in the Red Wolves chances of winning a regular season conference championship for the first time since 2010, when they competed in the 2A Mid-State Conference.
“It would be huge,” Metcalf said. “We’ve always fallen short of making the playoffs. Last year, there were a bunch of teams from other conferences that made the playoffs that we beat. And we were sitting at home. It was kind of painful. It would be something special for us to finally make it.”