Everything that Cedar Ridge wrestling has ever accomplished, they’ve done the hard way.
After two decades competing in the long shadow of Orange High, one of the most established programs in North Carolina, the Red Wolves broke through this winter. They won the Central Conference regular season championship, its’ first league title as a 3A team.
However, their first trip to the 3A State Dual Team Tournament wouldn’t be a short drive up the road. Instead, Currituck County, the champions of the Northeastern Coastal Conference, finished the regular season 23-0, ranked #10 in the final dual team rankings.
Which meant the Red Wolves, which earned the #6 seed for the tournament, would drive four hours by bus on Saturday afternoon to the upper northeast corner of the state. Joining them would be Central Conference rival Person and Carrboro.
It was a long way to go, but by the end of the day, an exhausted Red Wolves team returned home late on Saturday night as the first Cedar Ridge wrestling team to ever reach the 3A State Dual Team quarterfinals.
Cedar Ridge started the day with a 70-7 win over Carrboro. On the adjacent mat inside Knights Gymnasium, the Red Wolves watched on as Person stunned Currituck 40-37. The Rockets’ Gavin Jones pinned Kurtis Spruill to vault the Rockets ahead in the final match and hand the Knights its first loss of the year. The match had five ties and four lead changes.
At the end of the day, Cedar Ridge drove a total of 448 miles to face a conference opponent that’s ordinarily about a 35-minute drive away from Hillsborough. But it would be worth it.
The Red Wolves blended youth with experience to defeat the Rockets 45-33 and advance to the state quarterfinals.
On Wednesday night, Cedar Ridge will face Jacksonville in the round of eight at Jacksonville High School. On the opposite mat, defending 3A Eastern Regional Champion Union Pines faces Croatan. The regional championship match will immediately follow.
While Cedar Ridge had already defeated Person 45-30 on November 21 in Hillsborough, that was a lifetime ago in wrestling circles.
On Saturday, the lead changed four times in the opening seven matches. it was freshman Alejandro Briones who put the Red Wolves ahead for good with a pin over Gabe Cameron in a dual match that had 12 pins and only two decisions. Briones, coming off his championship at 144 pounds in the Central Conference tournament, defeated Cameron to improve to 23-11 with his eleventh pin of the season.
It was the first of four consecutive pinfall victories for the Red Wolves.
Another conference champion, senior Angus Pritchard, pinned Ryan Dollar to give the Red Wolves some breathing room with a 27-18 overall lead. Pritchard, who won the 150 pound championship in the conference tournament, improved to 23-9 with his 12th pin of the season.
Junior Ryan Rakouskas pinned Addison Carey to improve the Red Wolves lead to 33-18. Kaden Tatro, who is now 2nd all-time in school history in wins, pinned Thai Meeler to improve to 47-4 with his 22nd pin this year.
Person’s James Rose (175) and Malakai Newman (190) each scored pins to pull the Rockets within 12 points at 39-27 with two matches remaining. The last of those matches was at heavyweight featuring Person’s Trevquan Gary, the conference champion and a potential All-State candidate.
Fortunately for Cedar Ridge, Joe O’Melia made the heavyweight match moot when he pinned Jones to ensure the win. Gary won by forfeit at heavyweight as Cedar Ridge exited Barco with a 45-33 victory.
The last time Cedar Ridge won a match in the state dual tournament, they defeated North Johnston 51-27 in the opening round of the 2A State Tournament in 2010. Later that night at Red Wolves Gymnasium, Topsail defeated the Red Wolves 53-25.
In the opening match against Carrboro, Cedar Ridge scored seven pins to cruise to victory. Heavyweight Aaron Olivares started with a pin over Milo Thornton. Olivares improved to 25-17 with his 20th pin. Olivares has pinfall victories in nine of his last ten matches. At 113 pounds, Cedar Ridge’s Trevor Long scored his fourth pin of the year against Penelope Tovar. At 132 pounds, Graylon Collins earned a major decision over Ajax Hopler 8-0 to put the Red Wolves ahead 22-7. At 144 pound, Briones pinned Ajax Hopler.
That pin officially put Cedar Ridge into the second round.
Pritchard pinned Zach Westrick at 150 pounds. Rakouskas pinned Shiloh Smith at 157. Rakouskas, who now has 93 career wins, is 31-11 this season.
Pierce Prescod, Jordin Blue, Shea Spiller and James Este-Wittinger all earned forfeit wins. Tatro pinned Spencer Crawley.