Cedar Ridge Wrestling

After two runner-up finishes over the past two seasons, Orange’s Kessel Summers has claimed his first individual varsity wrestling championship.

Summers pinned Havelock’s Nate Lucio to take the 126-pound championship of the Dash Classic at Fuquay-Varina High School on Saturday afternoon. It was the second straight weekend that Summers defeated Lucio. On January 11 at the Havelock Duals, Summers defeated Lucio 14-5, a major decision which led to the Panthers beating the Rams via criteria 36-35.

Orange finished 4th in the team standings, its best tournament showing of the year. In addition to Summers, Orange’s Brendan Worsham finished 2nd at 182 pounds. Senior heavyweight Juan Navarro placed 3rd. At 195 pounds, Jackson Ollis came in fourth, the first-time he’s ever placed in a tournament.

Cedar Ridge finished tied for 20th with 34 points. Among the six Cedar Ridge wrestlers who participated, Alex Christian was the only one that placed. He tied for fifth in 182 pounds after winning via disqualification over Hillside’s James Blankston in the consolation round. Fuquay-Varina’s Melvin Colon defeated Christian 4-1 in the consolation semifinals. Christian also defeated Harnett Central’s Jose Zambrano 13-7.

Summers finished 2nd in the Quentin Crosby Tournament at Dudley High School in Greensboro on January 4. Last season, Summers finished 3rd in the 3A Mideast Regional at Southeast Guilford High School and qualified for the State Championships at 113 pounds.

Summers now leads the team with 29 wins and 18 pins this season.

For the second time this year in an individual tournament, Summers faced an opponent from Leesville Road in the semifinals. Summers defeated Cole Patterson 9-6. The decision was the only time Summers went the distance in the tournament.

After receiving a bye in the opening round, Summers opened the event by pinning Southern Durham’s Tashaun Smith in 1:15. In the quarterfinals, Summers pinned West Johnston’s Chris McHenry in 3:40.

Worsham, who played junior varsity football last fall, had his best-ever individual showing a week after he defeated Havelock’s Tate Cringan 8-0 in a major decision which led to Orange beating Havelock. After he pinned Southern Durham’s Jordan Rogers in 19 seconds, Worsham faced Cringan again. This time, Worsham pinned him in 1:29 to reach the semifinals, where he pinned Colon in 4:48. Wesley Sharpe of Voyager Academy defeated Worsham for the championship in 4:22.

Worsham finished 4th in the Quentin Crosby Tournament.

Navarro edged Ronald Reagan’s Christia Cohen’s 2-1 to win the consolation final. It’s his best finish of the year. He earned a 7-3 decision over C.J. Shepherd of Enloe to advance to the championship semifinals. Hillside’s Rodney Harris, who captured the heavyweight championship, earned a 14-8 decision over Navarro.

In the consolation semifinals, Navarro pinned Cape Fear’s Chason Bryant in 3:40.

Last season, Harris and Navarro squared off in the Mideast Regionals with a trip to the state championships on the line. In a match that stretched to three overtimes, Harris won 4-3.

Ollis lost his opening match in the championship round, but won consecutive bouts in the consolation bracket. He pinned Apex’s Elijah Gagne-Koudak in 23 seconds. then pinned Pinecrest’s Luca Peck in 1:37 to reach the consolation finals. South View’s Kyle Johnston defeated Ollis for 3rd place.

It will be a busy week for both Orange and Cedar Ridge as the season winds down. Orange, still going for its 17th consecutive Big 8 Conference championship, will host Southern Durham on Wednesday night in Hillsborough. On Saturday, the Panthers will travel to Durham for the Riverside Invitational.

On Thursday, Cedar Ridge will host its senior night in a tri-meet against East Chapel Hill and Vance County.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is wrestler James Rosati-Brown. On Saturday, Rosati-Brown won the 152-pound championship at the Buccaneer Cup in Yanceyville. Rosati-Brown won five matches in the round robin tournament to win his first individual title of his high school career. Competing in five matches, Rosati-Brown won all five via pinfall to improve to 24-9 on the season. He has 15 pins. Cedar Ridge won the team championship, the first team from Hillsborough to win a tournament this season. On January 8, Cedar Ridge started the year by beating Northern Durham 63-10 for its first Big 8 Conference victory of the year. Against the Knights, Rosati-Brown defeated Shamari Zachari 7-6. Rosati-Brown finished 5th in the Jim King/Orange Invitational on December 7th at Orange High. Cedar Ridge will host its senior night next Thursday in a tri-meet against East Chapel Hill and Vance County.

A good year for western Hillsborough wrestling continues.

The Cedar Ridge wrestling team claimed the Buccaneer Cup at Bartlett Yancey High School on Saturday, the first team championship claimed by a Hillsborough squad this year. The Red Wolves finished with 38 points in the six-team tournament. Granville Central finished 2nd with 32 points. Burlington Cummings had 30 points.

Durham School of the Arts, Graham and Bartlett Yancey also participated.

In an unusual round robin format, five Cedar Ridge wrestlers won individual championships.

Freshman Fernando Martinez claimed the 106-pound championship by winning all three of his matches. Martinez scored two pins. In the match that decided his weight division, he defeated Granville Central’s Trevor Johnson 13-11 in the first sudden victory round. Martinez, who finished runner-up in the Red Wolves Invitational on November 23, is now 25-6 with 12 pins.

Daina Pritchard won the 138-pound championship after scoring three pins in three matches. He defeated Jakoby Casselman of Bartlett Yancey in 3:00 to claim the title. Pritchard, who finished 3rd in the Jim King/Orange Invitational on December 7, is tied with Martinez for the team-lead with 25 wins. He now has 16 pins.

James Rosati-Brown claimed the 152-pound championship with the largest workload of any of his teammates. He won five matches, all by pitfall. Rosati-Brown pinned Blake Collins of Bartlett-Yancey to finish the tournament with an unblemished record. It was the second time this season that Rosati-Brown has placed in a tournament. He finished 5th in the JKO.

Rosati-Brown is 24-9 with 15 pins.

Ruffin Wyrick took the 170 pound championship to improve to 20-9. He now leads Cedar Ridge with 18 pins. Wyrick pinned Marcos Padron-Diaz of Durham School of the Arts in 20 seconds, leading to the final where he pinned Randy Smith of Bartlett Yancey.

At heavyweight, Louis Tedder won his first individual championship of his career. Competing in two matches, Tedder pinned Adonay Pineda-Sorto of Durham School of the Arts and Jalik McNair of Bartlett Yancey.

Alex Christian was on the verge of taking the 182-pound championship. Christian finished 3-1 with pinfall wins over Ashton Applewhite of Granville Central, Dalton Roberson of Cummings and Alexander Salinas of Durham School of the Arts. Dylan Wall of Bartlett Yancey pinned Christian in the championship match.

Cedar Ridge entered the season after the graduation of Darius McLeod, who amassed 97 wins in his career. McLeod is now at Western Carolina University, but checked in on his former team during the Tiger Holiday Classic last month at Chapel Hill High School.

In other results, Cedar Ridge’s Kady Watkins won her seventh match of the season. As she prepares for the NCHSAA Girls State Tournament on February 8 in Winston-Salem, Watkins pinned Wasim Alsaidi of Barlett Yancey at 120 pounds.

Last week, Cedar Ridge earned its first Big 8 Conference win of the season by beating Northern Durham 63-10 at Poe Gymtorium. Wyrick, Alex Christian, Gio Poma, and Louis Tedder all earn pinfall victories. Rosati-Brown defeated Shamari Zachary 7-6. Poma’s victory sewed up the win for Cedar Ridge.

Cedar Ridge returns to action on Friday in the Dash Classic in Willow Springs. It will be a two-day tournament.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is 170-pound senior wrestler Ruffin Wyrick. So far this season, Wyrick has 14 victories, including 12 pins. On December 18, Wyrick won three matches in one night during a tri-meet at Red Wolves Gymnasium. He pinned Northwood’s Montgomery Allgoood in 3:48. During Cedar Ridge’s 72-12 victory over Bartlett Yancey, Wyrick pinned Michael English in 41 seconds. He also claimed a victory against Jordan Matthews. During the Tiger Holiday Classic at Chapel Hill High School on December 20, Wyrick opened the tournament by pinning Pinecrest’s Dane Mathews in 2:27. The following day, Wyrick pinned Middle Creek’s Willie Harris in 1:38. Ruffin takes several AP courses at Cedar Ridge. The Red Wolves return to action against on Thursday in another tri-meet at Uwharrie Charter, the defending 1A State Champions. The matches will take place at Uwharrie Carter in Asheboro.

On the shortest day of the year, Orange’s had its briefest run in the Tiger Holiday Classic in a long time.

No Panther placed in the top five in any of the 14 weight classes at the end of the two-day event on Saturday. As was the case in the Jim King/Orange Invitational two weeks ago, inexperience in a deep tournament field was apparent. Of Orange’s 14 wrestlers, eight made their Tiger Holiday Classic debut this weekend.

Orange finished 19th among 41 teams with 76 points. It was the lowest total by any team fielding a wrestler in every weight class (Laney, Pinecrest and William Hough were the other three). Laney captured the team championship with 202 points, while William Hough finished with 186.5. New Bern and Pinecrest tied for third with 153.

The closest any Hillsborough product came to placing was Orange senior heavyweight Juan Navarro, the starting right guard for the Panther football team. After advancing to the quarterfinals on Friday night, Navarro lost to Person’s Marcus Vincent 9-1. In the consolation round, Navarro pinned Isaiah Verspoor of Havelock in 3:10. It improved his record to 15-2 and was his tenth pin of the season.

In the consolation quarterfinals, Laney’s Emmanuel Bell pinned Navarro in 2:26.

Cedar Ridge came in 29th with 24 points. In his first Tiger appearance, Red Wolf freshman Fernando Martinez advanced to the quarterfinals of 106 pounds. He lost to New Bern’s Paul DeNola in the championship round. Southern Durham’s Ashton O’Neal eliminated Martinez in the consolation round. Martinez is now 20-5 on the season.

Orange junior Henry Joubert-Stanzel reached the quarterfinals at 138 pounds. Dawson Allen of Greyson County, Virginia pinned Joubert-Stanzel in the championship round. Joubert-Stanzel pinned Croatan’s Cody Raymond in 4:12 to improve to 13-4. New Bern’s Jackson Bird eliminated Joubert-Stanzel in the consolation quarterfinals.

At 132 pounds, junior Matthew Smith-Breeden advanced to the quarterfinals. Southeast Guilford’s Josh Wilson pinned Smith-Breeden on the way to the tournament championship in a dominant showing. In four victories, Wilson scored two pins and two major decisions, winning the championship 21-9 over Lake Price of Northwest Guilford.

Cedar Ridge junior Daina Pritchard was eliminated by Greyson County’s Trey Allen in the 138 pound consolation round.

Orange and Cedar Ridge will be busy after Christmas. Next Saturday, the Panthers will compete in the West Stanly Duals at West Stanly High School. It will be their final event of 2019. In 2020, the Panthers will go for its 17th consecutive Big 8 Conference championship. Chapel Hill and Northwood figure to be the biggest challengers to the Panthers’ throne. The Tigers are tied in the loss column with Orange for first place. CHHS defeated Northwood 48-36 on December 11, and won 56-12 over Cedar Ridge.

Orange will travel to Northwood on January 8, then host Chapel Hill at a time to be determined. The Panthers are 13-1, 3-0 in the Big 8.

Cedar Ridge will take the rest of 2019 off. The Red Wolves will return to action on January 2 against Southern Alamance and Fuquay-Varina in a quad meet. The Red Wolves will travel to Northern Durham on January 8 in its first Big 8 dual meet of 2019.

The Red Wolves are 7-6, 0-3 in the Big 8 Conference.

The phrase “Play without looking at the scoreboard” has become a common refrain for coaches looking to motivate their players in tight circumstances.

In his first match at the Tiger Holiday Wrestling Classic, Cedar Ridge freshman Fernando Martinez took it to another level.

Facing fellow freshman Gunnar Hillis of Pinecrest, Martinez was fresher in the final four minutes to score eight consecutive points and earn an 8-6 victory into the quarterfinals of Friday night.

When asked afterwards what he was thinking while trailing 6-0, Martinez replied “I was down 6-0?”

Yes, he was. But after winning his 20th match of his freshman season, Martinez won’t worry about it now. On Saturday morning, he faces New Bern’s Paul DeNola in the quarterfinals at Chapel Hill High School.

“I wasn’t aware of how far down I was,” Martinez said. “I was wrestling as hard as I could. I think the coaches at my school condition us better than other coaches do.”

After Hillis scored the opening takedown midway through the first period, he escaped out of Martinez’s clutch and scored two points on a reversal and an additional back point to take a 6-0 lead. Martinez started his comeback with an escape point, then got a go behind. He nearly pinned Hillis at the end of the second period, squaring the match 6-6 after a near fall.

Martinez scored the only takedown of the final period 35 seconds in and held Hillis down the rest of the way.

Orange had three wrestlers reach the championship quarterfinals on Friday. At heavyweight, Juan Navarro pinned Pasquotank County’s Hunter Mayo in 1:02. Navarro eluded Mayo’s first takedown attempt and fell on top of him to improve to 14-1. It was Navarro’s ninth pin this year. He will face Person’s Marcus Vincent in the quarterfinals. Vincent defeated Navarro last month at Orange’s Thanksgiving Duals.

For the third time in 13 days, Orange’s Matthew Smith-Breeden and Cedar Ridge’s Daina Pritchard locked horns. This time, it was in the 2nd round of the 132-pound weight class. Smith-Breeden grinded out a 6-1 victory. Earlier this month, Pritchard defeated Smith-Breeden 9-1 in the 3rd place match at the Jim King/Orange Invitational. Five days later, Smith-Breeden evened the score with an 8-1 victory in a Big 8 Conference dual match at Cedar Ridge.

Smith-Breeden, who lost both of his matches in the Tiger last year, will face Southeast Guilford’s Josh Wilson Saturday morning.

Pritchard rebounded to defeat Chapel Hill’s Bao Dinh in the consolation round.

At 138 pounds, Orange’s Henry Joubert-Stanzel reached the quarterfinals of the Tiger for the first time. He opened by pinning Southern Durham’s Zion McRae in 3:02. In the second round, Joubert-Stanzel defeated Person’s Jailin Smith 5-3. Joubert-Stanzel, now 12-3, faces Dawson Allen of Grayson County, Virginia in the quarterfinals.

41 teams from four states are participating in the two-day event, recognized as one of the most prestigious in the southeast. Wilmington Laney leads the team point standings with 68.5 points going into Saturday. West Carteret is second with 66.5. Orange finished the day tied for 10th with New Bern at 56 points.

Cedar Ridge, with eight wrestlers participating in 14 weight classes, is 24th with 23 points, one ahead of Carrboro.

Orange still has five wrestlers alive in the consolation round. Freshman Dillon Heffernan lost in the second round, but came back to defeat D.J. Barely of Fairfax in the consolation.

Campbell Bourlon, participating in his first Tiger Classic, is alive at 113 pounds.

Kessel Summers pinned Elijah Ybarra in the consolation round late Friday. Summers opened his day at 126 pounds by pinning Noah Thomas of Laney in 5:50. Leesville Road’s Richie Rizzuto, who defeated Summers at the JKO, pinned him again in the 2nd round.

Orange’s Noah Davis and Nathan Hecht are also still in contention in the consolation rounds.

In addition to Pritchard, Cedar Ridge’s James Rosati-Brown is also still going in the consolation bracket. At 152 pounds, Rosati-Brown staved off elimination by pinning Gage Tomlin of First Flight.

In his first appearance in the Tiger Holiday Wrestling Classic at Chapel Hill High School, freshman Fernando Martinez is in the quarterfinals at 106 pounds. Martinez defeated Gunnar Hillis of Pinecrest 8-6 on Friday night. Midway through the second period, Hillis led Martinez 6-0, but Fernando got an escape point, then scored a reversal to spark a comeback. Martinez earned a takedown in the third period, then got three points for a near fall and held on for the win. Martinez, who wrestled at Stanback, is now 20-2 this season. He will brace Paul NeNola of New Bern in the quarterfinals on Saturday morning. Earlier this month, Martinez finished fourth in the Jim King/Orange Invitational. Earlier this year, he came in 2nd in the Red Wolves Invitational.

The Cedar Ridge wrestling team is now 7-6 after winning two matches in a quad match at Red Wolves Gymnasium on Wednesday night. The Red Wolves defeated Jordan Matthews 60-22, and also polished off Bartlett Yancheng 72-12. In a Big 8 Conference meeting, Northwood held off the Red Wolves 45-36. This season, 138-pound wrestler Alex Davis is 11-2 with eight pins. Against the Buccaneers, Davis pinned Jakoby Casselman in 44 seconds. Davis pinned Jordan Matthews Dallas Richardson in 1:23. Last week in the 3rd annual Franklinton Rampage Duals at Franklinton High, Davis claimed five wins. He pinned Dezzie Rhodes of East Wake in 1:47. Against Franklinton, Davis pinned Javares White in only 40 seconds. What makes Davis’ strong start unique is he didn’t even wrestle last season. On Friday afternoon, Davis will compete in his first Tiger Holiday Classic at Chapel Hill High School. 57 teams from four states will compete in the two-day event, which will conclude with the championship rounds on Saturday.

Orange and Cedar Ridge will have momentum going into the Tiger Holiday Wrestling Classic next weekend.

The Panthers came away 5-0 in the Wayne Warrior Classic held at Eastern Wayne High School in Goldsboro on Saturday. Meanwhile in Franklin County, Cedar Ridge freshman Fernando Martinez and senior Daina Pritchard each had a solid weekend, going 5-0 as the Red Wolves competed in the Franklinton Rampage Duals at Franklinton High.

Cedar Ridge finished the day 3-2, but its match against Franklinton ended tied 42-42. The Rams won on criteria one, which was most first points scored–a category they edged the Red Wolves in by one point.

Orange improved to 13-1 overall after beating Southern Wayne 81-0, Smithfield-Selma 78-6, Cary 52-18, North Brunswick 54-26 and Northern Nash 76-10.

Orange senior heavyweight Juan Navarro finished 5-0 on the day with three pins to improve to 12-1 on the season. His pin of Northern Nash heavyweight Major Phillips in 46 seconds was the 56th win of his career.

At 106 pounds, Panther freshman Dillion Heffernan also went undefeated in five matches. Along with three forfeits, Heffernan pinned Cary’s Johny Ramos in 5:56 and North Brunswick’s Chase Phillips in 34 seconds. Heffernan, who won two Orange-Person Athletic Conference individual championships at Stanford Middle School, is 14-4 with seven pins thus far in his varsity career.

Overall, 24 wrestlers competed for Orange on the day. At 160 pounds, junior Korbin Nevius went 4-0, including a pin of Devin Bready of Northern Nash in 50 seconds. At 113 pounds, Joshua Dunn went 4-1 with two pins, while Kessel Summers finished 4-1, including pins of Dylan Ravine of North Brunswick in 3:03 and Julissa Rodriguez of Smithfield-Selma in seven seconds, the quickest pin of the day.

For Cedar Ridge, they defeated East Wake 72-12, polished off Louisburg 66-15, and handled Southeast Raleigh 66-18. In addition to the tight match against Franklinton, Dunn held off the Red Wolves 45-36.

Alex Davis of the Red Wolves also finished 5-0 on the day, in addition to Martinez and Pritchard. Davis won three matches via forfeit. Against East Wake, he pinned Dezzie Rhodes in 1:47. He also pinned Donovan Estes of Franklinton in 3:18 to give Cedar Ridge a 42-36 lead going into the final match.

Franklinton’s Joseph Murray claimed a pin at 145 to even the match and the Rams won on criteria.

Martinez pinned Jermaine Johnson of Southeast Raleigh in 3:45; pinned Shemar Davis of Louisburg in 3:44 and pinned Franklinton’s Nathan Hamrick in 1:22. He also had two forfeit victories.

Pritchard pinned Franklinton’s Javares White in 40 seconds. He pinned Fredy Gomez of Southeast Raleigh in 2:41, along with three forfeit wins.

At 160 pounds, Wyatt Robinson went 4-1, including a pinfall victory over East Wake’s Jesse Chase in 1:03. Robinson pinned Justin Williams of Southeast Raleigh in 2:10 and finished off Luis Reyes of Bunn in 29 seconds.

Cedar Ridge’s James Rosati-Brown, coming off a 5th place finish in the Jim King/Orange Invitational last weekend, went 4-1 with two pins, including a victory over Trent Wheeler of Franklinton in 1:42. Rosati-Brown also pinned Jaylin Robinson-Davis of Southeast Raleigh in 1:32.

The Tiger Holiday Classic, featuring teams from across the southeast, will start on Friday morning at Chapel Hill High School. Last season, Orange finished 8th, with Levi Anderson coming in 4th at 152 pounds. Anderson would go on to finish 2nd at 145 pounds in the 3A State Championships at the Greensboro Coliseum.

The numbers of dynasties can stick in the heads of sports fans.

The Boston Celtics have won 17 World Championships. UCLA men’s basketball captured nine national championships in ten years from 1964-1973. Locally, the Northern Durham football team won 17 straight PAC-6 titles from 1984-2001.

On Wednesday night, to fanfare so meek its doubtful the Panther wrestling team itself knew about it, Orange added another incredible figure to its own dynasty.

Orange finished the decade with an undefeated record in conference action of 62-0, starting in Conference 6 in 2010 and continuing through the formation of the Big 8 Conference in 2013.

Orange defeated Cedar Ridge 57-12 at Red Wolves Gymnasium to improve to 3-0 in the Big 8 Conference. The Panthers, searching for its 17th consecutive conference championship dating back to its days in the 2A Mid State Conference, are now 3-0 in the Big 8, 8-1 overall.

It appears once again the chase for the Big 8 Championship will boil down to Orange and Chapel Hill. The Tigers defeated Northwood 48-36 on Wednesday at Tiger Gymnasium to remain tied with Orange atop the Big 8.

Despite the loss, Cedar Ridge did have one of its youngest stars come up with another strong performance. Freshman Fernando Martinez, who just started wrestling two years ago, pinned Orange’s Dillion Heffernan at 106 pounds in 3:12. Martinez, who finished 4th in the Jim King/Orange Invitational last week, is now 11-3.

Cedar Ridge’s Alex Davis improved to 3-1 by pinning Tayton Alvis in 3:12.

Orange won the other 12 matches, eight of which ended in pins or technical falls. The night opened with a rematch from last week’s JKO, when Daina Pritchard defeated Matthew Smith-Breeden in the 3rd place match at 132 pounds. On Wednesday night, Smith-Breeden was the one who got a win over Pritchard 8-1.

Henry Joubert-Stanzel pinned Charles Jackson in 5:34 to put Orange ahead 9-0. After Davis’ victory, Gasian Drewery made his Orange debut and scored an 5-3 decision over James Rosati-Brown. At 160 pounds, Orange’s Korbin Nevius defeated Wyatt Robinson 12-0.

Nathan Hecht, who finished 4th for Orange in the JKO, held off Ruffin Wyrick 3-1 at 170 pounds. At 182, Brendan Worsham got a 13-1 major decision over Alex Christian.

Xavier Tinne, coming off a 3rd place finish at 195 pounds, scored a pin in 23 seconds. Tyler Larkin (220 pounds) and Juan Navarro (285) also secured pins for Orange to secure the match

Joshua Dunn scored a pin at 113 pounds in 1:10. John-Michael Bourlon got a 16-1 technical fall at 120 pounds, while Kessel Summers earned another win with a 15-0 technical fall.

In middle school wrestling last week, the Stanback Bulldogs opened the Orange-Person Athletic Conference season with a 72-33 win over Smith Middle School in Hillsborough.

At 98 pounds, returning OPAC Champion Pierce Prescod started off with a pin in the 2nd period.

8th grader Zoey Moreno earned a pin in 14 seconds.

At 145 pounds, 8th grader Kaden Tatro, another returning OPAC Champion, notched a pin in the second period.

Heavyweight Kellan McMullen, who won the OPAC Championship as a 7th grader last year, started his season off with a pin.

“We have a good mixture of returning wrestlers and new wrestlers that have picked things up quickly,” said Stanback wrestling coach Trevor Davis. “The other 8 wins on the night were by 1st year wrestlers. We had some 6th graders lose their match but showed some bright spots throughout the match”