Cedar Ridge High School

Just one week after being named Cedar Ridge’s Male Athlete of the Year, Senior Trent Gill was among three Red Wolves who earned All-Big 8 honors in Boys Tennis on Wednesday night.

Joining Gill from Cear Ridge were fellow senior Bryce Phares and freshman Ivo Gardner. Gill, who will be a placekicker for N.C. State next season, finished 11-1 this season playing #4 singles. Gill, who also played soccer during the fall, had an overall record of 14-5.

Phares was the top singles player for the Red Wolves. He and Gardner also comprised the top double squad. Cedar Ridge finished 10-3 overall, 7-3 in the Big 8 Conference, good enough for 2nd place behind only Chapel Hill. The Red Wolves made the 3A state playoffs, where they lost to West Carteret in the opening round 6-3.

Orange’s Justin Webb was named Big 8 Coach of the Year. In addition, Ewan McCallum and Noah Miller were named to the All-Big 8 team.

Chapel Hill captured the Big 8 conference championship. David Mirzoyan was named Big 8 Player of the Year. Chapel Hill also won the sportsmanship award.

Cedar Ridge senior Sean Tobin finished his career with a hat trick in the 3A/2A/1A State Championship game on Friday, a 21-6 loss to Weddington at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary. It was Tobin’s eleventh hat trick of the season, and his seventh in the last eight games. Tobin finsihed the year with 45 goals and 63 points. He ends his Cedar Ridge career with 146 goals and 375 points, a member of the first team from Hillsborough to play for a state lacrosse championship.

Cedar Ridge Attacker Sean Tobin Reflects on Red Wolves Career, State Title Game

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When it’s all said and done, the Cedar Ridge Boys Lacrosse team will go down as the first lacrosse team from Hillsborough to win a regional championship and play for the state championship. On Friday night, the Red Wolves jumped out to a 3-0 lead against Weddington, but the Warriors’ firepower overwhelmed CRHS in the second quarter. Weddington went on a 12-1 run in the 2nd quarter to defeat the Red Wolves 21-6 in the 3A/2A/1A State Championship game at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary. Cedar Ridge Coach Patrick Kavanaugh, who took over the team when it didn’t even have a JV squad, led the squad to the Big 8 Conference Championship.

Cedar RIdge Lacrosse Coach Patrick Kavanaugh discusses State Championship Game vs. Weddington

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The sophomore right hander earned a win in his sixth straight start on Tuesday night in the Red Wolves’ 4-1 victory over Nash Central. It was Cedar Ridge’s first playoff win in 10 years.

Cedar Ridge Pitcher Phil Berger Talks Beating Nash Central

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Cedar Ridge DH Adam Chnupa Talks Red Wolves 1st Playoff Win in 10 Years

The junior DH went 2-for-2 in Cedar Ridge’s 4-1 Win Over Nash Central on Tuesday night. Chnupa is on a five-game hitting streak going into Friday’s 2nd round game vs. Eastern Alamance.

The Cedar Ridge Red Wolves boys lacrosse team has advanced to the 3A/2A/1A State Quarterfinals after beating Eastern Alamance 19-10 on Tuesday night at Red Wolves Stadium. Senior midfielder Jack Widman continue an All-State-caliber season with six goals and two assists, putting him at 81 points on the season.

Friday’s game against Carrboro in the state quarterfinals will likely be personal for Widman. Last season, Cedar Ridge faced the Jaguars in the state quarterfinals and built an 8-2 lead behind Sean Tobin’s hat trick in the first quarter. Widman won the first seven faceoffs.

Then came the second phase of the game, which started when Widman was ejected along with Carrboro’s Chase Bolesky. Without Widman’s ball-controlling presence, Carrboro went from 13 shots in the first half to 27 in the second. The Jaguars won three faceoffs in the first half. In the second, they won eight.

Cedar Ridge scored one goal in the second half.

On Friday night, the Red Wolves will get Carrboro again. Same place, same playoff situation.

Cedar Ridge Midfielder Jack Widman Prepares for State Quarterfinals vs. Carrboro

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Cedar Ridge Left Fielder Sailor Ramos went 2-for-2 against Orange on Wednesday night, scoring twice. This video became photo bomb overload as the rest of the Red Wolves couldn’t resist taking over the scene.

Cedar Ridge LF Sailor Ramos and a Cast of Thousands

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Now this was a 16th birthday celebration.

Beating Orange for the first time since 2012 would have been enough for Phil Berger on his birthday. The fact that he threw a one-hit shutout and held the Panthers to only three baserunners just made the birthday cake waiting for him at home taste a little sweeter.

Perhaps it was fate or karma, but Cedar Ridge’s 6-0 win over Orange was also its 16th win this season, the most by the school this decade. They finish the regular season 16-6, 7-5 in the Big 8 Conference.

Berger has won his last five starts, improving to 7-2 with a 1.83 ERA. Even the lone hit he yielded was debatable, a two-out high chopper by Orange’s Dalton Brown to 2nd baseman Jake DeFranco, who knocked it down with his glove hand and had no chance to make a throw to first.

Aside from that, all Orange could muster offensively was Caige Clayton and Jason Slaughter reaching after getting hit by pitches. The Panthers, who had scored 28 runs in its last four games, didn’t have two runners on base all day.

The six Red Wolves players who commemorated senior night waited their whole careers to beat Orange, and their time finally came on Wednesday. It came one night after Orange pounded the Red Wolves 9-1 to end Cedar Ridge’s nine-game winning streak.

In the 2nd inning, Senior Brandon Andrews started the scoring with a single over second base that scored Sailor Ramos, who finished 2-for-2 with 2 runs scored and an RBI.

Cedar Ridge added two more in the fourth, again getting production from the bottom of the order. Freshman Jake DiFranco, who finished 2-for-2 with an RBI, singled. After Andrews walked, designated hitter Adam Chnupa lined a fastball off the glove of Orange shortstop Joey Berini into centerfield, scoring Andrew and DiFranco to increase the Cedar Ridge lead to 3-0.

Ramos, who led off the fourth with a walk, scored off a sacrifice fly from Jake DiFranco.

More insurance arrived for the Red Wolves in the 6th when Dante DiFranco, a sophomore who leads the team in hits, scored on a squeeze play following a perfect bunt by Berger. Two batters later, Ramos laced a single to the gap in right field, bringing in Chris Cox.

Orange finished the regular season 12-12, 8-4 in the Big 8. The Panthers will likely make the playoffs and may finish in sole possession of 2nd place in the Big 8 if Chapel Hill loses to Northwood on Thursday.