The snow arrived, to some extent, across northern Orange County on Monday.
Yet Cedar Ridge wrestling may have already put the Big 7 Conference championship on ice.
The Red Wolves scored eights pins to defeat Seaforth 54-24 in the first conference dual match between the two teams last Wednesday night. Seaforth, the defending 2A Eastern Regional champions, suffered just its third loss ever against a conference opponent.
Seaforth had won 36 consecutive conference dual matches dating back to the 2021-2022 season, its first year as a school in the 2A/1A Mid-Carolina Conference. They had gone three full seasons undefeated against conference opponents and had won four straight league titles, tying with Bartlett-Yancey for the 2022 championship.
Both of Seaforth’s previous losses happened in its first year, when they fell to Bartlett-Yancey twice, the final time in the opening round of the NCHSAA 2A State Dual Team Playoffs on January 31, 2022.
It’s last regular season conference loss was on December 15, 2021, a 48-33 defeat to the Buccaneers.
In addition to the win over Seaforth, the Red Wolves defeated Wakefield 51-28 in the tri-match at Red Wolves Gymnasium.
The common bond in both Red Wolf wins was youth. Five of Cedar Ridge’s individual victories against the Hawks came from freshmen and sophomores.
After Seaforth’s Jordan Miller opened with a forfeit win at 120 pounds, Red Wolf senior Favio Jaramillo defeated Luke Ayers 15-10 at 126 pounds. From there, Cedar Ridge earned three straight pins, all from freshmen. David Angel, who won an Orange Person Athletic Conference championship last winter at Stanback Middle School, finished off Ian Winger in 2:00. Dimas Jimenez pinned Joseph Hinchman in 3:48. Landon Kemp defeated Damien Davis in 54 seconds to put the Red Wolves ahead 21-6.
Seaforth’s Jacob Winger pinned Evan Bower in 3:43, but the Cedar Ridge veterans were up next. Junior Alejandro Briones, who won the 150-pound championship at the Atkins Invitational in Winston-Salem on November 15, needed just 58 seconds to pin Maxwell Hinchman. Senior Mikey O’Melia pinned Mattox Lloyd in 4:49. Junior Jose Rios officially sewed up the Red Wolf win, with five matches to spare, by pinning Nolan Greiner in 2:12.
Sophomore Christian Medrano earned a fourth consecutive Red Wolf pin when he defeated Tyler Truesdale in 3:08. Another Cedar Ridge sophomore Juan Jaramillo, who won the Red Wolf Classic 106-pound championship on November 22, defeated Gerson Gutierrez 10-3. Junior Colton Poole earned the eighth Red Wolf pin against Benjamin Miller in 1:40.
Harrison Compton and Palmer Moad earned pins at 215 and heavyweight, respectively, for Seaforth.
Later in the night, Cedar Ridge improved to 8-1 on the season with the victory over Wakefield (5-5). The Red Wolves started with four straight individual wins, including pins from Angel and Kemp. Jimenez grinded out a 6-4 decision over Keaven Russel. Evan Bower pinned Hunter Tenney in 2:38. Rios also scored his second pin of the night against Melvyn Stewart in 1:53.
Cedar Ridge has already established itself as the team to beat in the Big 7 Conference. On November 25, the Red Wolves easily defeated crosstown rival Orange 60-21 at the Bobby Shriner Duals inside Panther Gymnasium. After losing to Orange annually for over 20 years, Cedar Ridge has now defeated the Panthers three straight times.
Cedar Ridge scored five straight pins against Orange. Favio Jaramillo and Angel opened with pins.
Orange’s Renn Van Hoose earned a pinfall win at 132 pounds. Afterwards, Kemp, Briones, Isaiah Craig, O’Melia and Jimenez all scored pins.
Bobby Shriner was honored before the event that bears his name. Shriner, who won over 500 duals matches and five state championships at Orange, always scheduled a series of dual matches on the week of Thanksgiving during his 37 years as head coach. The competition also included Southern Durham, where Greg Motley now coaches basketball. Motley coached at Orange from 1997-2018 and won more games than any other coach in Panther history. Motley, a close friend of Shriner, attended the duals with longtime assistant Brian Poole.
Cedar Ridge head coach Scott Metcalf wrestled at Orange for Shriner from 1999-to-2002.
