Cedar Ridge Wrestling

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is senior wrestler Chloe Pankratz. On Saturday, Pankratz won the 138-pound championship at the Jim King/Orange Invitational at Orange High School. It was her third individual championship of the year. Last month, Pankratz won the Atkins Invitational in Winston-Salem. She has also won the Red Wolf Invitational, pinning all three of her opponents in a round-robin tournament. Pankratz is part of the emergence of women in wrestling locally. She just started competing last year because her friend, Zoey Moreno, was a team Captain who encouraged Pankratz to give the sport a try. She has quickly developed a love of wrestling and wants to continue her pursuit of excellence after she graduates in June. Pankratz constantly studies video of her matches, win or lose, and is now part of a Cedar Ridge team that is competing in dual matches for females only. Last month, Pankratz was seeded #3 in the Watkins Invitational, but pinned the two higher seeds to win the championship. In the semifinals, Pankratz defeated Amelia Martino of East Mecklenburg in 18 seconds. In the final, she pinned the #1  seed, Jadyn Magallanes of West Forsyth in 56 seconds. On Saturday, Pankratz pinned Katie Lloyd of Southeast Alamance in the championship match at 138 pounds. Pankratz pinned all three of her opponents on Saturday, including Anneliese Garcia-Rodriguez of Midde Creek in the semifinals. Pankratz pinned all three of her opponents in less than a minute on Saturday.

Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week: Chloe Pankratz

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is senior wrestler Chloe Pankratz. On Saturday, Pankratz won the 138-pound championship at the Jim King/Orange Invitational at Orange High School. It was her third individual championship of the year. Last month, Pankratz won the Atkins Invitational in Winston-Salem.

Not even three weeks into the winter sports season, it’s already been a landmark year for Cedar Ridge senior Ryan Rakouskas.

At the Atkins Invitational, the opening tournament of the year, Rakouskas defeated Brice Baker of Oak Grove High in sudden victory to win the 157-pound championship. He also became the eighth Cedar Ridge wrestler to win 100 career matches.

On November 23, Rakouskas won his second consecutive Red Wolf Invitational championship and defeated the top-seed at 157 pounds to do it. Rakouskas pinned Andrew Taylor of West Rowan in 56 to successfully defend his championship. Last year, Rakouskas defeated Thomas Gingerich of Green Level 9-3 to take the tournament title.

Despite being the defending champions, Rakouskas entered the tournament as the #2 seed. But he pinned four opponents in four matches to repeat as champion.

Rakouskas finished off Bilial Benzenmour of Southeast Raleigh in the semifinals just as the first period ended. Rakouskas led 6-1 when he scored the pin as the official hit the mat just before the buzzer sounded. In the quarterfinals, Rakouskas pinned T’mari Mcclelland of McMichael in 29 seconds. After receiving a bye into the second round, Rakouskas pinned his own teammate, Isaiah Craig, in 1:17 in a rare instance of two competitors from the same team facing each other.

Rakouskas stood above the rest in a crowded field to repeat as champion. Cedar Ridge finished 4th in the team standings with 139 points. Seaforth took the team championship with 179 points. West Rowan finished 2nd. Person, led by defending 3A State Heavyweight champions Trevquan Gary, finished 3rd.

Orange finished 11th. The top Panther finisher was senior Jayden Medley who finished 3rd at 215 pounds. Medley, who was named All-Conference in football this week, defeated Quentez Butler of Asheboro in the consolation final 8-3. Medley pinned Gavin Jones of Person in the consolation semifinals.

Orange’s Braden Crawford finished 4th at 138 pounds. Crawford reached the semifinals after he pinned Graylon Collins of Cedar Ridge in 1:29. Jackson Young of Panther Creek defeated Crawford 6-2 in the semifinals. In the consolation semifinals, Crawford advanced when Person’s Jameer Farmer couldn’t continue due to injury. Stetson Collins of West Rowan, the top-seed, won the consolation final 9-2.

Cedar Ridge senior Pierce Prescod finished 3rd at 126 pounds. Prescod, the defending 120 pound champion, reached the quarterfinals before he was edged by Carter Furman of Northwest Guilford 5-4. Furman got an escape with 46 seconds remaining in the third period after Prescod earned a takedown to even the match at 4-4.

In the consolation round, Prescod earned technical fall win over Noah Vo of Panther Creek and Julian Combs of Person. In the consolation semifinals, Prescod’s match against Western Alamance’s Omar Rushing went to overtime. Prescod scored a rare pin in sudden victory to advance to the 3rd place match, where he faced Furman in a rematch. This time, Prescod led 11-8 before the match was stopped in the third period. Prescod was named the winner by disqualification.

At 150 pounds, Cedar Ridge’s Alejandro Briones finished 3rd at 150 pounds. Briones defeated Alexander Patino of Asheboro 19-11 in the 3rd place match. Briones, who won the 144 pound championship in the Central Conference Tournament last year, opened with a pinfall win over Gabriel Mumma of Panther Creek. Top-seeded Kevin O’Brien of West Rowan, the eventual champion, defeated Briones in the quarterfinals.

At 113 pounds, Cedar Ridge’s Favio Jaramillo Espar finished 4th. He opened by pinning Orange’s Mason Horne in 45 seconds. Jesse Farnsworth of Panther Creek edged Jaramillo 8-7 on a takedown coming with 18 seconds remaining. Farnsworth would upset the top-seed, Alex Raymundo of Randleman en route to the championship match.

Jaramillo scored a technical fall over Mason Browne of Apex Friendship to start his stint in the consolation round. He pinned David Matus of Athens Drive in 49 seconds. In the consolation semifinals, Jaramillo held off Damonte Bradley of Carrboro 3-0.

Raymundo won the 3rd place match 16-5.

Last year, Jaramillo finished 3rd at 106 pounds.

For the second year in a row, the Cedar Ridge women’s wrestling team crowned a champion at the Red Wolf Invitational.

In fact, they crowned two.

Chloe Pankratz claimed her first individual championship at 138 pounds, pinning all three of her opponents in a round-robin tournament that featured four other competitors.

At 100 pounds, Thalia Paterno defeated top-seeded Eva Serrano of Panther Creek in the semifinals and went on to claim the championship. She scored pins in both of her matches as the Red Wolves finished 4th in the women’s team standings with 54 points. Panther Creek captured the women’s team championship with 141 points.

Pankratz, who didn’t play in the 132-pound tournament last year, pinned Aaliyah McNeill of South Garner in 15 seconds in her opening match. Pankratz defeated Cece Maldonado of Southeast Alamance in 31 seconds. With the championship at stakge, Pankratz pinned Caroline Cook of Seaforth to clinch her first individual championship.

Last year, Cedar Ridge’s Zoey Moreno won the 120-pound title at the Red Wolf Invitational. Moreno pinned Adriana Gruner of Northern Durham in 15 seconds to take the 2023 championship.

The 100 pound championship turned into an all-Hillsborough matchup. After Paterno pinned Serrano, Orange’s Elyse Wilscam pinned Alexus Pementhal of West Rowan in 14 seconds to reach the final. Paterno pinned Wilscam in 1:03 to earn her first individual championship.

Orange’s Ava Lytle finished 3rd at 126 pounds. After Gianna Susser of Garner, the eventual champion, won in the opening round, Lytle Andrea Thornton of Asheboro via pinfall in 1:32. In the consolation final, Lytle pinned Aaliyah Pearson of Southeast Raleigh in 18 seconds.

Pankratz started the season with a runner-up finish in the Atkins Invitational at Atkins Academic and Technology High School in Winston-Salem on November 14. Pankratz scored three pins on her way to the final. She defeated Leora Hein of Oak Hill Academy in 36 seconds. She pinned Ashley Hernandez of Oak Grove in 1:12, then pinned 2nd-seeded Amelia Martino of East Mecklenburg in the semifinals in 5:13. Top-seeded Jadyn Magallanes of West Forsyth claimed the championship.

Paterno also reached the finals of the Atkins Invitational at 100 pounds. In a five-competitor field, Paterno pinned Naria Selomith of West Forsyth in 14 seconds. Victoria Pioquinto of West Forsyth pinned Paterno in 3:36 in the final, though Paterno did have a 5-1 lead with 1:00 remaining in the second period.

Also at the Atkins, Cedar Ridge’s Melissa Avendano won her opening round match at 165 pounds. In the quarterfinals, Avendano defeated Aaliyah Page of East Mecklenburg. Isabelle Clemmons of Atkins Academic won the championship over Janiyah Quidachay of Southeast Alamance in the final.

The Cedar Ridge women’s team has grown to the point that they’re now holding standard dual meets against Central Conference opponents. Last week, the Red Wolves women’s team won its first dual match when they defeated Person 24-12, though all of the matches were forfeits because Cedar Ridge had four wrestlers who were unrivaled in their respective weight classes. Caroline Donjuan, Pankratz, Paterno and Mariana Duqum all claimed victories.

Also in the tri-meet against Person, Cary defeated Cedar Ridge 42-18. Of the three matches that didn’t end in forfeit, Cedar Ridge won two of them. Pankratz defeated Treasure Harvest at 138 pounds via pinfall. At 100 pounds, Paterno pinned Angela Chen.

The Orange women’s team started the season at the Wolverine Challenge at Wakefield High School in Raleigh on November 16. At 100 pounds, Wiscam finished in third place after she pinned Alena McNaughton of Panther Creek in 2:56. In the opening round, Wiscam advanced to the semifinals with a pinfall victory over McNaughton in 3:30.

Orange’s Ava Lytle was the top seed in the 126 pound tournament and finished fourth. Lytle pinned Miracle Lester of Hoke County in the consolation round. In the consolation semifinals, Lytle pinned Vanity Martinez of Currituck County.

Despite losing seven starters from last year’s Central Conference championship team, Cedar Ridge wrestling is still a force to be reckoned with.

Red Wolf senior Ryan Rakouskas won his 100th career match en route to the 157-pounds championship as Cedar Ridge won the Atkins Invitational at Atkins Academic and Technology High School in Greensboro on Saturday. Rakouskas defeated Brice Baker of Oak Grove High in overtime 14-11 in the championship final.

Rakouskas becomes the eighth Cedar Ridge wrestler to win 100 career matches. He is the fourth grappler in the last three years to win 100 matches. Fernando Martinez, who graduated in 2023 and now wrestles at UNC Pembroke, won 100 matches during his senior year. Last year, Kaden Tatro also joined the 100-win club. Senior Pierce Prescod surpassed 100 wins last winter.

Rakouskas finished 35-13 with 29 pins last season. He opened his first tournament of the 2024-2025 season with a pin over Braxton Bragg of East Mecklenburg. In the quarterfinals, Rakouskas pinned Adam Curry of Asheboro in 1:02. He secured a spot in the championship match with a 10-4 victory over Jack Martin of Mount Airy.

Cedar Ridge finished with 159 points, tops in the 25-team field. Atkins Academic and Technology finished second with 137 points.

“I thought we had a shot to crack the top five,” said Cedar Ridge coach Scott Metcalf. “I’m shocked that we won, honestly. We lost seven starters from last year’s team so it’s hardly imaginable that we could be better this year. But this is a really good group of kids who get along great and work really hard. So it’s entirely feasible if things keep coming together.”

The surprise of the weekend was Will Meyer, who captured the 190-pound championship. Meyer has spent the past three years on junior varsity and appeared in three matches at the varsity level last year. He pinned all four of his opponents in the tournament, including a victory over Matthew Oliver of R.J. Reynolds in the semifinals at 2:41. In the championship match, Meyer pinned Glenn Huskey of Rockingham County in 1:58.

Meyer faced a higher-seeded competitor in each of his four matches. He opened by pinning 7th-seeded Michael King of Reagan High in 3:10.

The Red Wolves had three others reach the finals in their respective weight classes. Jordin Blue won three matches in the 165-pound tournament, pinning Jack Steele of Southeast Guilford in the semifinals. Cooper Ranson of Atkins Academic on the championship over Blue. In the quarterfinals, Blue scored a technical fall over Kolvin Walker of Alexander Central.

At 126 pounds, Prescod reached the championship match. Prescod, the top-seed, defeated Braylen George of Mt. Airy 18-2 to advance via technical fall. In the championship match, Omar Rushing of Mt. Airy held off Prescod 4-3. Prescod took a 1-0 lead into the third period, but Rushing scored the only takedown of the match with 37 seconds remaining in the third period. Prescod got an escape in the final seconds, but couldn’t gain the final point.

Alejandro Briones, the defending Central Conference champion at 144-pounds, reached the final at 150 pounds. Briones, who won both of his matches in the season-opening tri-meet at Uwharrie Charter Academy last Thursday, pinned Daniel Runion of R.J. Reynolds in 1:57 in the semifinals. Briones scored two pins and a tech fall leading up to the championship match. Cole Kenerley of East Mecklenburg pinned Briones in 3:09 to win the title. Briones led 6-1 in the opening minute of the match, but Kenerley scored four near fall points in the final 30 seconds of the opening period.

Favio Jaramillo Esparza finished third at 113-pounds. In the consolation final, he pinned Gavin Cranford of Montgomery Central in 3:49.

In the women’s tournaments, Cedar Ridge’s Thalia Paterno reached the final at 100-pounds. Paterno pinned Naria Selomith of West Forsyth in 14 seconds. Victoria Pioquinto of West Forsyth won the championship via pinfall in 3:36.

At 138 pounds, Cedar Ridge’s Chloe Pankratz reached the final, finishing runner-up. In the semifinals, Pankratz pinned the 2nd seed, Amelia Martino of East Mecklenburg in 5:13. Jadyn Magallanes of West Forsyth won the championship.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is junior wrestler Pierce Prescod. This season, Prescod finished 47-11 and had 36 pins. He won the 120-pound Central Conference championship at Walter Williams High School. He pinned Pedro Manuel Ramon of Walter Williams and Adrian Sierra of Orange to win the tournament. It was a season full of individual accolades in tournaments for Prescod. He captured the Red Wolf Invitational in November, when he pinned Bearik Bigelow of Green Hope in the championship match. This year, Cedar Ridge won the Central Conference championship, its first-ever team championship as a 3A team and only its second in wrestling. They defeated crosstown rival Orange for the first time in history. He also finished third in the prestigious Tiger Holiday Invitational at Chapel Hill High School. Prescod went undefeated in league matches, going 10-0 including the Central Conference Tournament and state dual tournament. Cedar Ridge reached the state quarterfinals of the 3A State Dual Team Tournament at Currituck County, winning in the opening round over Carrboro and then pinning Person’s Julian Combs. It was Cedar Ridge’s best-ever showing in the 3A State Dual Team Tournament. Presocd finished 4th in the Gate City Grapple. Prescod will be relied upon to be one of the leaders for next year’s Cedar Ridge wrestling team as he enters his senior year.

Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week: Pierce Prescod

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This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is senior wrestler Kaden Tatro. This season, Tatro won the Central Conference Championship at 165 pounds at Walter Williams High School in Burlington. Tatro ended the year 49-5. He completed his career with 159 wins, the second-most in school history. This season, Tatro helped Cedar Ridge win the Central Conference regular season championship, their first team title at the 3A level and just their second regular season championship ever. He also helped Cedar Ridge beat crosstown rival Orange for the first time. Tatro won two conference championships in his career. He finished third in the Mideast Regional championships at 165 pounds. As a junior, Tatro helped Cedar Ridge win the Central Conference Tournament at Orange High School in February 2023. In his junior season, Tatro finished 54-8 and finished second at the Mideast Regional championships. He wound up finishing sixth in the 3A State Championships at the Greensboro Coliseum. Tatro’s name will forever be etched in Cedar Ridge wrestling history when his name on the all-time wins list is adorned inside the team’s wrestling room on a banner. Tatro also played lacrosse during the pandemic in 2021 when the Red Wolves made the state playoffs under the direction of former head coach Patrick Cavanaugh.

Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week: Kaden Tatro

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As the dual season ends for the Cedar Ridge Red Wolves wrestling team, they can take pride in the fact they are the first of its kind.

They were the first team in school history to reach the state quarterfinals in the 3A State Dual Team Playoffs. They were the first Red Wolf team since 2010 to win a match in the state dual playoffs. They were the first Cedar Ridge team to ever beat Orange in a dual meet and just the second team in school history to win a regular season conference championship.

The Jacksonville Cardinals defeated the Red Wolves 49-27 in the 3A State Dual Quarterfinals on Wednesday night in Jacksonville. Later that night, Union Pines would claim its third consecutive 3A Eastern Regional championship when they defeated the Cardinals 47-18.

Union Pines will face Eastern Guilford for the 3A State Championship at Novant Fieldhouse in Greensboro on Saturday.

Cedar Ridge ends the dual team season 18-9.

Red Wolf senior James Este-Wittinger opened the night with a 6-4 decision over Alexander Perry to give Cedar Ridge a 3-0 lead. Este-Wittinger will go into the 3A Mideast Regionals with a 31-11 record. At heavyweight, Jacksonville’s Eteuati Taula pinned Aaron Olivares in 3:04. It was only the third loss in the last 12 matches for Olivares.

At 106 pounds, Cedar Ridge’s Favio Jaramillo Esparza pinned James Wernimont in 3:53 to give the Red Wolves a 9-6 lead. Cole Hunt of Jacksonville pinned Trevor Long at 113 pounds, but Cedar Ridge’s Pierce Prescod pinned Maxwell David in 2:18. Prescod leads the team with 33 pins this year with an overall record of 44-9.

Jacksonville dominated the middleweight classes with five straight wins. Gavin Nipper claimed a 9-3 decision over Nathan Vendura at 126 pounds to even the match at 15-15. The Cardinals’ Gavin Costillo (132), Mason McMullen (138) and Joseph Gabriel (144) all claimed pins. At 150 pounds, Brock Smith earned a major decision over Angus Pritchard 13-5, vaulting the Cardinals ahead 38-15 with four matches remaining.

Cedar Ridge junior Ryan Rakouskas pinned Anthony Campbell in 1:20. Rakouskas is now 32-11 after his 94th career win.

At 165 pounds, Kaden Tatro pinned Ethan McWaters in 51 seconds. Jacksonville’s Jonathan Moses pinned Shea Spiller to clinch the match for the Cardinals.

Next up for Cedar Ridge will be the Women’s Mideast Regionals on Friday and Saturday at Jack Britt High School in Fayetteville. The Red Wolves’ Zoey Moreno will try to reach the 3A State Women’s Individual Championships after barely missing out last year.

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.

The Cedar Ridge wrestling team crowned four champions during the Central Conference Tournament at Walter Williams High in Burlington last Saturday. Freshman Alejandro Briones won the 144-pound championship when he defeated Eastern Alamance’s Mason Tanner 10-9. After losing to Tanner 22-7 via technical fall in November, Briones jumped out to a 9-1 lead last Saturday. In the final 20 seconds of the mach, Tanner evened things up at 9-9 when he earned a near fall, but Briones bridged out and scored an escape point with one second remaining to earn the victory. Briones took his first tournament championship of his Cedar Ridge career and improved to 22-11 on the season. Senior Angus Pritchard won the 150-pound championship with a 15-7 win over Andrew Dudley of Southern Alamance. Pritchard jumped out to a 4-1 lead and never trailed. After Dudley got an escape to cut Pritchard’s lead to 8-6, Prichard got a late takedown and scored the final five points of the match. Pritchard is 21-9 this season with ten pins. Cedar Ridge won the Central Conference regular season championship and will compete in the 3A State Dual Team Wrestling Championships this Saturday. The Red Wolves will face Carrboro in the opening round at Curritcuk County High School. If the Red Wolves win, they will face either Currituck County or Person in the round of 16. 

Cedar Ridge wrestling Alejandro Briones & Angus Pritchard talk winning titles at Central Tournament

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BURLINGTON–There were expected winners for Cedar Ridge in the 2nd Central Conference Wrestling Tournament.

And then there was freshman Alejandro Briones.

In November, Eastern Alamance’s Mason Farmer defeated Briones by technical fall 22-7 during the Red Wolf Invitational at Cedar Ridge in the 150-pound tournament.

On Saturday at Williams High School, Briones and Farmer met again, this time in the 144-pound championship match. Briones immediately let it be known that there would be no technical fall on this day, scoring two takedowns in the opening period to take a 4-1 lead.

Briones would increase his advantage to 9-1 after he opened the second period with a takedown and scored three back points. Farmer fought back and took Briones’ back, eventually earning two back points to cut his deficit down to 9-5.

The third period may have been the most thrilling finish of the day. Tanner got a double leg takedown. In the final ten seconds, Tanner got a near fall as Briones struggled to keep his shoulders off the mat. Tanner evened the match at 9-9, but Briones escaped off the mat in the final second and earned a 10-9 upset in a thrilling finish.

Briones earned his first tournament win of the season as he improved to 22-11. Earlier in the day, Briones defeated Gabe Cameron of Person 6-3.

After clinching the Central Conference regular season championship two weeks ago, the Red Wolves appeared set to repeat as tournament champions. But Person scored three pins in the heavier weight classes to close out the day with 187 points. Cedar Ridge, with four first-place finishes, came in second at 179.5 points. Southern Alamance finished third at 148 points.

Two Red Wolves defended their individual conference titles from 2023, while a senior came through with his first conference title.

Senior Kaden Tatro continued his march towards the all-time school wins record by easily taking the 165-pound championship. Tatro, who now has 154 career wins, defeated James Rose of Person by tech fall 18-1 in four minutes. In the semifinals, Tatro pinned Chris Solomon of Eastern Alamance in 1:58.

Tatro is 45-4 this season with 21 pins and 16 technical falls. He how has 154 career wins. The all-time record is held by Chandler Collins at 166 wins.

Tatro won the 182-pound conference championship last year, beating Northwood’s Ethan Kuball 8-3 in the championship match.

At 120 pounds, junior Pierce Prescod pinned Orange’s Adrian Sierra in 1:30 in the championship match. Prescod pinned Pedro Manuel Ramos of Walter Williams in 3:04 in the semifinals. This season, Prescod has a 41-9 record with 31 pins, which leads the team. Last week, during senior night at Cedar Ridge, Prescod won his 100th career match as a junior. He now has 104 career wins. He is now three wins behind Ethan Knapp for sixth place on the all-time school career wins list.

At 150 pounds, senior Angus Pritchard captured the championship. A year after not placing in the 170-pound conference tournament, Pritchard scored a major decision over Southern Alamance’s Andrew Dudley 15-7 to take his first conference title.

Pritchard, 21-9 this season with ten pins, pinned Orange’s Evan Parker in the semifinals.

In addition to Cedar Ridge’s four conference champions, they had four others place in the top three in their weight divisions.

Junior Ryan Rakouskas reached the championship match at 157-pound tournament. Rakouskas, who reached the state championships last year, pinned Addison Carey of Person in the semifinals. Jace Rich of Southern Alamance pinned Rakouskas in the title match. Rakouskas is 29-11 with 23 pins this year.

At heavyweight, Aaron Olivares extended his streak with his eighth straight pinfall win in the semifinals by beating Luke White of Southern Alamance. Person’s Trevquan Gary defeated Olivares for the championship. At one point this year, Olivares was 8-9. Now, he goes into this weekend’s State Dual Team Tournament playoff match with a mark of 24-17 with 19 pins.

At 132 pounds, Graylon Collins pinned Hamden Wagner of Southern Alamance in 2:43 of the third place match. Collins is 23-14 with eleven pins in his first year at the varsity level.

Favio Jaramillo Esparza finished third at 106 pounds. He wrestled Person’s Ayden Dymes of Person twice, including in the third-place match. Esparza scratched out a 5-3 decision to improve his record to 31-10 with ten pins.

At 138 pounds, Jordin Blue pinned Dylan Maloney of Southern Alamance to win third place. Blue scored two pins in the tournament and has 13 wins this year.

Cedar Ridge is now waiting for the bracketing for the 32-team 3A State Dual Team Tournament. It will be their seventh appearance in the state tournament. The first and second rounds will be held on Saturday at a location to be determined.