The youth of the Cedar Ridge wrestling team was on display during the Red Wolves Invitational this weekend.

Though the Red Wolves didn’t have any individual champions in the 15-team event on Saturday at Cedar Ridge Gymnasium, freshman Fernando Martinez made an instant impression. Competing at 106 pounds, Martinez won two matches to advance to the championship final.

On Saturday morning, Martinez defeated Derrick Laycock of Person 18-10. In the semifinals, Martinez pinned Trinity’s Chris Grubb in 5:41 to advance to the championship. Joey Bruscino of Southeast Guilford claimed the 106-pound title via pinfall.

Red Wolf junior Cutter Tate also reached the championship final, this time at 195 pounds. In the semifinals, Tate pinned Nisaiah Childers of Salisbury in 49 seconds. Ayden Privette of Trinity coined the championship over Tate.

Five Cedar Ridge wrestlers placed. At 170 pounds, senior Wuffin Ryrick finished 3rd. Rick opened with a quarterfinal pin of East Forsyth’s Ian Sawyer in 46 seconds. After Trinity’s Sebastian Talent prevailed in the semifinals, Ryrick pinned Barltett Yancey’s in 1:00 to reach the consolation final. Ryrick defeated Southeast Guilford’s Ethan Cox to sew up a third place finish.

Senior Alex Christian came in fourth at 182 pounds. Christian pinned Chastin Hawkins to open in 1:06. After falling in the semifinals, Christian pinned Alston Jackson of Carrboro in 4:06 to move on to the consolation final. Trinity’s Tristian Brewer won the 3rd place match.

Junior Daina Pritchard also advanced to the consolation final at 132 pounds. In the opening round, Pritchard pinned Carrboro’s Ezra Sartor in 1:20. Will Lewis of Western Harnett defeated Pritchard in the quarterfinals. Pritchard bounced back to win consecutive matches in the consolation bracket. He pinned Ayden Flanagan in 1:12, then finished off West Johnston’s Chris McHenry in an 11-0 major decision. A North Carolina High School Athletic Association rule prohibits wrestlers from competing five times in one day, so Pritchard’s third place match against Will Lewis of Western Harnett was declared a double forfeit.

Trinity won the Red Wolves Invitational team event with 217 points. Southeast Guilford came in 2nd with 171.5 points. Cedar Ridge finished 5th at 137 points.

Last year, four Red Wolves placed in the top five. Only Darius McLeod reached an individual final.

Across Hillsborough, the Orange wrestling team started its season with the Orange duals, an event where the Panthers compete in four dual matches against non conference opponents. Orange went 4-0.

The Panthers defeated North Davidson 64-12. In round 2, Orange won over Raleigh Sanderson 69-21. The tightest match of the day came in round 3 when the Panthers held off South Stokes 50-24. In the finale, Orange cruised past Chatham Central 75-6.

As with Martinez, a freshman was the star of the day at 106 pounds. In his varsity debut, Dillion Heffernan went 4-0 on the day. Heffernan, who wrestled at 90 pounds last year at Stanford Middle School to help the Chargers to the OPAC Championship, earned a forfeit win in his first varsity match against North Davidson. Heffernan put Sanderson’s Fletcher Kays on his back for his first varsity pin. He also pinned South Stokes’ Kendell Caudill and Chatham Central’s Michael Downing.

Heavyweight Juan Navarro started his senior year with four wins, two via pinfall. 220-pounder Tyler Larkin earned three victories, including a pin of Chatham Central’s Jarrett Marsburn.

Junior Kessell Summers, who qualified for the 3A State Championships in February after a 3rd place finish in the Mideast Regionals, started the campaign with two pins in his only matches on the day.

Orange will face East Chapel Hill, Person and Cardinal Gibbons in the Thanksgiving Quads on Tuesday night at Panther Gymnasium.

Payton Wilson: After he missed the Louisville game on November 16 with an injured shoulder, Wilson returned to the lineup for the N.C. State football team on Thursday night in Atlanta. Georgia Tech defeated the Wolfpack 28-26 in Bobby Dodd Stadium. Wilson finished with seven tackles, including a half-tackle for loss. The loss ended any chance of the Wolfpack making a bowl game. Wilson is second on the Wolfpack with 55 tackles. Only sophomore safety Tanner Ingle has more. He also has five tackles for loss and three pass breakups. N.C. State will face North Carolina next Saturday in Raleigh to end the year.

Trenton Gill: The former Cedar Ridge kicker had three punts against the Yellow Jackets. He averaged 40 yards per punt with one downed inside the 20-yard line. Gill also had six kickoff for with two touchbacks.

Keshawn Thompson: The FCS Campbell Camels ended the season with a 41-31 loss to Charleston Southern at Buccaneer Field in Charleston, S.C. Thompson had two tackles against the Buccaneers. Thompson concludes the campaign with 24 tackles with one for a loss. After a 6-1 start, the Camels end the year on a four-game losing streak. They went 3-3 in the Big South Conference.

Adam Chnupa: The FCS Elon Phoenix concluded the season in thrilling fashion on Saturday. Skyler Davis kicked a 35-yard field goal with 41 seconds remaining as Elon defeated Towson 25-23 at Unitas Stadium in Towson, MD. Chnupa was credited with a tackle on special teams, the first tackle of his college career. Elon ended the year 5-6, 4-4 in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Icez Barnett: The 2019 Orange High graduate scored her first college points on Saturday. Division II Chowan edged North Greenville 76-75 at the Helms Center in Murfreesboro. It was Chowan’s Conference Carolinas opener. Barnett played nine minutes off the bench, scored four points and grabbed five rebounds, four of them offensive. She also had two steals. The Hawks are 1-3 and will host Mount Olive on Tuesday.

Kaylen Campbell: The Division III Trinity women’s basketball team won two games in the Gordon College Classic at Bennett College in Wenham, MA this weekend. On Friday, the Bantams defeated New England College 68-56. Campbell played seven minutes as a reserve and didn’t score. On Saturday, Trinity defeated Gordon 68-57. Campbell didn’t play in the game. Trinity has won five in a row and will play its seventh game in ten days against Sarah Lawrence College on Saturday.

Lauren Cates: As mentioned in Wednesday’s update, the Wake Technical Community College women’s basketball team defeated Lenoir Community College 88-51 on Wednesday in Kinston. Cates, who graduated in June, finished with 12 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the field. She was 2-of-5 from 3-point range and one of four Eagles in double figures. Cates also had five rebounds, four assists and two assists. Through seven games, Cates has started every contest for the Eagles. She’s averaging 11 points per contest and shooting 42.5% from 3-point range. Wake Tech returns to action against Spartanburg Methodist on December 2.

Madison Wardlow: After she played in some of the opening game of the season for Guilford Technical Community College, Wardlow is out right now with a leg injury.

by John Franklin

THERE’S GOT TO BE A BETTER WAY

Back in June, I wrote about the change coming to North Carolina high school athletics with the addition of a 5A class. As the fall state playoff brackets have just been released by the NCHSAA, they are still a bloated mess. Hopefully in the fall of 2022, the engorged state tournaments will be a thing of the past. But until then, every team has to make do. As a matter of curiosity, why can’t we combine the way things used to be but update the process? I’m curious of what the various playoffs would look like without the split-level song and dance in football, and return to the old-school, 48-team tournament in all sports (32 in football).

In this edition of The Franklin Mint, I will make hypothetical playoff brackets for volleyball & football based upon the explanation below. In the winter, I will return to this issue and hypothesize the brackets for men’s and women’s basketball. Come spring, I will do the same for baseball and softball.

I. The Selection of Teams

1. Current Way: Conferences are guaranteed a number of playoff berths due to the size of a conference. Conferences with one to four teams receive one automatic qualifier, conferences with five to eight teams receive two, and conferences with nine or more teams are given three. Conference champions and the highest placed team from a split conference (per classification), automatically qualify.

UPDATE: Teams winning their respective conferences, whether by regular-season (without a tournament) or by tournament All teams not winning their conference championship will be designated as at-large teams. However, that team must be the #1 team in the conference, either outright, by tie-breaker, or by winning the conference tournament (if applicable). If you’re a team in a split-class conference, you have to be the #1 team of the entire conference to claim its’ championship status and automatic bid.

Just like the NCAA, the NCHSAA needs to allow for the only automatic qualifiers from the conference champions, and everyone else grouped from non-champions.

A team’s complete body of work goes far beyond what is accomplished in conference play alone. If a team has a great non-conference slate, and relents in conference play by a game or two, they could be tremendously punished by the Association all because of one segment of their season. At the inverse, those who have a strong conference showing, but struggled in non-conference play, their season can be improved and rewarded. Teams would stand a much more fair opportunity should they be evaluated by the entire season.

In 2017, South Caldwell – a 4A member of the Northwestern Conference along with McDowell, was the top 4A team in their conference due to their head-to head win over McDowell. As a result, South Caldwell automatically qualified for the state playoffs. The only problem with South Caldwell’s win, it was their only win of the season (1-10). Never mind the fact that South Caldwell and McDowell were the two worst teams in the entire Northwestern Conference in 2017.

Not only did they qualify for the playoffs, but they also somehow acquired the #2 seed in the 4A West Playoffs. As per seeding rules, all conference champions or top teams in a split class conference for a particular classification, were tiered above all other at-large teams for the top seeds. South Caldwell received a bye in the first round, and a home game in the second round. Subsequently, their 1-10 record showed how bad they were as they were trounced in the next round.

If you’re the conference champion, the best in your conference, you should definitely qualify. But if you’re not the top team, you should only get in as an at-large team.

—-

2. Current Way: There are no pre-set number of wins that would qualify you as a playoff participant. Over the past twenty years, teams with abysmal, sub-500 records were qualifying as a result of how they finished in a conference.

UPDATE: Qualifying teams must have a record that is above .500. Any team with a .500 record or worse will be disqualified, unless that team is the conference champion.

For years, I have argued that every college football team playing in a bowl game should have a record of .500 or better. This would mean a team with a 7-5 record or better would qualify, while the 6-6 teams should go home and focus on basketball. This is no different for high school football. With one less game than their college counterparts, all teams should be striving for the minimum of a 6-5 record if they play an endowment game, a 6-4 record without one. This will also be true of other sports. To qualify for an at-larger berth, a team must be above .500, unless that team were to win their conference’s championship.

Last season, as a result of Hurricane Florence, football teams faced cancelation of games. This was also true during snow events in the winter. Should teams have games canceled due to no fault of their own, teams still must maintain an above .500 record in order to qualify. Teams with a .500 record will provisionally qualify, provided there are vacancies in the brackets.

The NCHSAA needs to stop rewarding teams with mediocre and inferior records. As I’ve mentioned before with the bifurcated football playoff system and the 64-team tournaments, the Association is needing as many teams possible to fill all of its playoff spots. More teams equals more games, and more games equals more money.

II. The Designation of Teams per Region

Current Way: All playoffs are divided by east and west regions – per each tournament. Schools are then pre-assigned to a specific region. Instead, the NCHSAA determines which schools will go to which regions after the qualifiers are determined.

The NCHSAA uses the actual longitude for a school to determine regions. Based on the longitudinal location of all schools that qualify for the state playoffs in a given classification (and / or subdivision in football), the western-most half will go to the West region, while the eastern-most half will go the East region.

Both regions will have an equal number of teams assigned to them.

UPDATE: The NCHSAA will go back to a pre-determined list of schools for each region, for the year, and not by each set of playoffs. Over the last 20 years, teams have flip-flopped between the regions causing undue amount of travel to extremely far locations. With a pre-set list of the regions, schools can plan for travel within their region and budget the necessary funds to pay for travel costs.

For the sake of time, I am only organizing the 3A classification as it relates to Orange and Cedar Ridge. As of this year, there are 109 schools in 3A. The boundaries for this year lies between Northeast Guilford and Eastern Guilford. Northeast Guilford is the eastern most West Region team, while Eastern Guilford is the western most East Region team. Despite an uneven number of teams, I flipped a coin to see who would get the extra team, which was won by the West.

III. The Seeding of Teams

Once the qualifiers are determined and the regions are assigned, the NCHSAA will seed the state playoff brackets. Unlike the NCAA Tournament, seeding for NCHSAA playoffs is not done by a subjective committee. Instead, the Association uses a strict and simple formula to determine the seeds.

Current Way: All regular season conference champions (and top teams from split conferences) are seeded first. All second-place automatic qualifiers are seeded next, and then any third-place automatic qualifiers. Once all automatic qualifiers have been seeded, the at-large teams are seeded behind them. All tiers are seeded by their Adjusted MaxPreps Ranking or AMPR.

UPDATE: Instead of having a tiered system that seems to punish schools who might have a decent season, but lost a game or two in conference play, seed the teams by a point system. This will allow of playoff teams to be seeded by their entire season of work instead of by conference finish. The final AMPR (prior to the start of the playoffs) would be utilized as an aid to seeding. No preference is given to conference champions as the champions might have had an inferior record than others. This will equate the playing field. Ties will be broken utilizing the AMPR.

The playoffs are seeded by a point system. Three points are given for a regulation win, two points are given for an overtime win, one point for an overtime loss, and zero points for a regulation loss. This system would give additional benefit for teams who go into overtime (likewise of a 5^th set in volleyball or criteria in wrestling), but fall short of a win. The point system is designed to seed teams on the basis of the most points accrued for the highest seeding.

One caveat to the point system is if a team plays more games, but under modified rules. For example – volleyball. If a team plays in a tournament where games are a best of three instead of the best of five, the games played under the best of three rules will be not be included in their overall record for seeding purposes. If the NCHSAA allows a game in any sport to be played under modified rules, those games will not be included in the season record.

As I previously mentioned of South Caldwell, the tiered seeding system benefited them. Because of their win over McDowell, they struck the gold mine. Under my modifications, South Caldwell would have not even come close to playoff qualification as they were the second-to-last team in the Northwestern Conference with an atrocious, 1-10 record.

IV. The Layout of the Brackets

Current Way: All dual team sports with the exception of football, lacrosse, and wrestling will field a 48-team tournament in 1A and 4A, and a 64-team tournament in 2A and 3A. Football is subdivided into A and AA based on average daily membership, and each subdivision has a 24-team tournament in 1A & 4A, a 32-team tournament for 2A & 3A. Women’s lacrosse is a 40-team, open class tournament; while the men have a 32-team tournament for a combined 1A/2A/3A class, and a 32-team tournament for 4A. Dual Team Wrestling is also a 32-team tournament in all classes.

UPDATE: The 64-team tournaments in 2A and 3A will be scaled down to 48-team tournaments. This is performed to allow the best teams in each region to be rewarded with a bye in the first round of the sectionals. All other tournaments will remain the same.

Again, no subdivision will take place in football, while all football tournaments will be a 32-team tournament in all classes.

IV. Local Results

In football, Cedar Ridge (1-10) & Orange (5-6) did not have winning records, and therefore, did not qualify. 

In volleyball, Cedar Ridge would have received the #10 seed and a home game to face the #23 seed, Southern Lee, in the first round. This was an improvement from their actual #20 seed and first round road game. A win would have advanced the Red Wolves into the second round at #7 Cleveland. Orange improved four spots to #15 (actually seeded #19), and would have had a home game against #18 seed, C.B. Aycock. A win would have set up a second round date at #2 Union Pines.

V. Conclusion

Sometimes, the present can be simplified by the past while modernizing the operation. It feels that as time progressed, the entire process of the playoffs has been complicated. With the changes coming in a few years, perhaps the simplification of high school athletics will return. As of now, it’s a mess and there has to be a better way to determine the state’s playoff system.

Following her team’s most successful season since 2015, Cedar Ridge volleyball coach Anna Seethaler has been named the Big 8 Conference Coach of the Year.

In addition, Cedar Ridge junior Marlee Rakouskas and freshman Cameron Lloyd were named to the All-Big 8 Conference team this week.

Orange, who finished 16-8, had seniors Kaitlyn Werden and Brooke Fryar named to the All-Big 8 team.

Seethaler took a Cedar Ridge team that posted a 7-15 record in 2018 and led them to an 18-6 season, despite losing promising middle hitter Lydia Wood during the summer after she transferred. Cedar Ridge stormed out to a 6-0 start. After they suffered their first setback at Jordan on September 9, the Red Wolves stunned Chapel Hill the following night in Hillsborough. It was the Tigers’ first and only loss of the season.

Chapel Hill won the 3A State Championship over West Henderson in Raleigh two weeks ago.

As if that wasn’t enough, Cedar Ridge defeated Orange in five sets at Panther Gymnasium 48 hours later. It was the first time Cedar Ridge win at Orange since 2015.

“Ours was a team that showed up for each other. We worked as a unit, as a team, as a family,” Seethaler said after the season-ending loss to Gray’s Creek in the 3A State Playoffs. “Throughout the season the parents, grandparents, friends, administrators and players all showed up and worked together to make some really incredible things happen. There were challenges and upsets and annoyances, like any other family. But everyone just kept showing up through all of it.”

From the time the season unofficially started with a scrimmage at Burlington’s (non-air conditioned) Fairchild Community Center in early August, Seethaler was set to play three freshmen in her regular rotation. Indeed, Lloyd, Julie Altieri and Cameron Lanier started right away and immediately posted impressive numbers.

“For me, actions speak louder than words,” Seethaler said. “Even though I was hopeful and open gyms were looking good AND I kept hearing ‘we’d have a great team this year’, I didn’t really know what we were capable of until we actually competed throughout  the season. About half way through the season I looked back at where we came from, even from last year and thought ‘Well dang. We’ve won more games halfway through this season than we won the entire season last year, I’d say we are doing pretty good.’”

Lloyd was the only freshman in the Big 8 Conference who finished in the top five in kills, aces and digs. She registered 342 kills, 68 aces and 237 digs. On September 17 against Northern Durham, Lloyd had a triple-double with 17 kills, 12 aces and ten digs.

During Cedar Ridge’s team banquet last week, Lloyd was named the Team MVP.

Rakouskas, a junior libero, had 224 digs and 472 service receptions. She had a season-high 20 digs and 37 service receptions in a 3-2 win over Northwood on October 1.

The Orange volleyball team won more games than any other Lady Panther squad this decade. Fryar, who signed with Gardner-Webb last week, was a senior libero who led the team with 276 digs and 338 service receptions. She was third on the team with 52 assists.

“I owe (Orange) Coach (Kelly) Young a lot,” Fryar said. “She’s coached me since I was a freshman. Now I’m a senior. She just really helped out my game.”

Werden led Orange with 36 aces and 290 assists. She was second on the squad with 121 digs. In a victory over Northern Durham on September 26, Werden had 18 assists and 13 digs.

Cedar Ridge’s Altieri and Emma Downing were named honorable mention All-Big 8.

Orange sophomore Lottie Scully and senior Elizabeth Vosburg were also named honorable mention.

Within college and high school circles, this time of year is known as “crossover season.”

It’s when the end of football season bleeds into the start of basketball season. It’s often a grueling period for staff and players.

The games start to bunch together, leading to crowded weeks, work overload for gameday personnel and, inevitably, schedule changes for a variety of reasons.

Crossover season tinkered with the Orange basketball programs this week.

Thanks to some last minute planning from Orange men’s basketball coach Derryl Britt, the Panthers will open the year against Research Triangle High, a charter school based out of RTP. Tipoff will be Monday night at 6 PM inside Orange High Gymnasium.

This will be the only basketball game Monday night. The opener for the Orange women’s basketball team is still scheduled against Granville Central December 3 in Hillsborough.

The men’s game, which was finalized Friday afternoon after Britt and Raptors’ head coach Level Wallace were able to organize referees, wasn’t originally supposed to be Orange’s opener. The Panthers were slated to face Northern Guilford in Greensboro on November 22, which was also scheduled to be the Orange women’s basketball team’s season-opener.

Nighthawks officials canceled the doubleheader on Monday. The Northern Guilford football team hosted a 3AA State Football playoff game against Northwest Cabarrus on Friday night. Citing a conflict, Northern Guilford didn’t have enough personnel to handle a large crowd that would converge inside Nighthawk Stadium for a football playoff game and a basketball doubleheader at the adjacent gymnasium on the same night.

Northwest Cabarrus defeated Northern Guilford 56-35 on Friday night to advance to the 3AA State Quarterfinals.

The Nighthawks and the Panthers have played every year in men’s and women’s basketball since the Nighthawks men’s team defeated the Panthers in the 3A State Quarterfinals in 2016.

Aside from the transfer of starting point guard Mekai Collins, who returned to Cedar Ridge over the summer, the Panthers are slated to bring back everyone from last year’s 10-15 season.

That includes senior Joey Mcmullin, a starter since his freshman year who played alongside Connor Crabtree and Logan Vosburg in 2016-2017. Mcmullin saw action in 27 games for a team that finished 23-7 and won the Big 8 Regular Season Championship.

Last season, Mcmullin averaged 13.4 points per game and led the team with 49 3-pointers.

Collins was Orange’s leading scorer at 15.6 points per game. Senior Machai Holt, who just finished football season, was second on the team averaging 15 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.

There will also be an infusion of youth from last year’s junior varsity team, coached by Santina Ford. Several players, including 3-point ace Jerec Thompson, were called up to the varsity at midseason in time for the Eastern Guilford Holiday Tournament. Earlier this month, Thompson won the 3-point shootout during Orange’s 1st annul Season Tip-Off event on November 8.

Last season, Orange played three games before Thanksgiving, including victories over Union Pines and Granville Central. As of right now, Monday’s game against Research Triangle is slated to be the only game pre-Thanksgiving.

Like many charter schools that don’t offer football, Research Triangle started its season in mid-November. (Schools that play football weren’t allowed to start men’s basketball season until this past Monday). The Raptors are 3-0 after beating Cornerstone Charter Academy 71-35 in Greensboro on Friday.

The Raptors have won 23 games each of the past two seasons. Playing out of the 1A Central Tar Heel Conference, Research Triangle won the league championship last year. They suffered an overtime loss to Roxboro Community School in the opening round of the state playoffs.

Looking back at the night of August 28, there wasn’t much of a reason to think that Orange volleyball would fare well against Person.

Just the week before, the Rockets disposed of the Lady Panthers with ease in three sets on scores of 25-11, 25-21 and 25-15. In fact, opening week was forgettable for Orange.

During a one-day event at Apex Friendship High School, Orange had several players out because they had to take the LSAT. Apex Friendship and Jordan each disposed of the Lady Panthers in three sets.

However, Orange showed a spark of what it could become in the final game in Apex when they defeated Jack Britt in straight sets.

As disappointing as the first week of the season had been, the second week would be much better.

It started with a sweep of South Granville in Creedmoor, the Lady Panthers third straight win over the Vikings dating back to last season. It turned out to be the first of several strong nonconference victories for Orange in 2019. South Granville would eventually go undefeated in the 2A/1A Northern Carolina Conference and reach the 2nd round of the 2A State Playoffs.

Two nights later, Orange came out with tenacity in the Person rematch in Hillsborough. A week after Person stomped Orange in the first set, the Panthers responded by winning the opening frame 25-15. The Lady Panthers fed senior attacker Kaitlyn Werden, who finished with ten kills, two aces, two blocks, ten digs and 21 assists, essentially a volleyball triple-double.

To their credit, Person controlled the second set 25-12 behind junior Karoline Cox, who had six kills in the set. After that, it was all Orange.

The Panthers took the third frame 25-18. This was the first time that the Lady Panthers showed off its depth in terms of finishers, many of them underclassmen. Sophomore Emma Van Tiem had seven kills. Van Tiem’s classmate, Avery Miller, also had seven kills. Senior Emma Vosburg, the younger sister of former Orange basketball center Logan Vosburg, came away with seven kills. Senior Vale Serge also had seven kills, a season-high.

Orange wrapped up its most impressive win of the season when they captured the fourth set 25-16. Miller and Van Tiem would have several big blocks in the final set. Each finished with five, as did freshman Erin Jordan-Cornell.

There was hardly any time for Orange to enjoy its win. The very next night, South Granville came calling again, but the Panthers put the Vikings away in straight sets. It continued a six-game winning streak, the longest of the season.

Person’s losses this season were few and far between. The Rockets finished 23-3 and won the Mid-State Conference championship with a 13-1 record. They would fall to Chapel Hill in the third round of the state playoffs.

Orange played in the Big 8, which would send five teams to the state playoffs. The Lady Panthers would win ten matches against teams that made the state playoffs, including a four-set victory over East Chapel Hill, who would capture the second-seed in the Big 8 Conference. It would also start a memorable fall on volleyball courts across Hillsborough.

The post-Darius McLeod era of Cedar Ridge wrestling is off to a good start.

On Wednesday night, Cedar Ridge defeated Walter Williams 45-36 in Burlington. It was the first dual match of the season for the Red Wolves.

It also served as a steady tune-up for the Red Wolves Invitational, an all-day individual tournament at Cedar Ridge High School on Saturday.

It was the first dual match for Cedar Ridge head coach Scott Metcalf since the graduation of McLeod, who qualified for the 3A State Championships last February. McLeod ended his career with 98 victories and is now studying music at Western Carolina University.

Last season, McLeod finished 35-14 at 132 pounds. In the Mideast Regionals at Southeast Guilford High School, McLeod received ten stitches to his bottom lip after he was head-butted by Westover’s Lydell Canady. Despite that, McLeod finished the match and won it 8-6.

“I miss him,” Cedar Ridge Wrestling Coach Scott Metcalf said. “He was awesome. No one had a bad word to say about Darius. He was two wins shy of 100 for his career. We can’t replace him.”

Nonetheless, Metcalf will try to, starting with tri-Captains Ruffin Wyrick, Cutter Tate and James Rosati-Brown.

“We’re looking for leadership from all of them,” Metcalf said. “Cutter brings toughness and confidence. His demeanor isn’t over the top. I think the guys really respond to him. He’s like a big brother because he helps the younger guys.”

Against Williams, it was Alex Christian who came up with a critical pin at 182 pounds that led the way to the Red Wolves first dual match win of the year. Christian pinned Jordan McDowell in 1:14.

Daina Pritchard opened his season with a 14-7 major decision over Sam Sturgill. At 138, Alex Davis pinned Joshua Silva in 1:58. Rosati-Brown pinned Nick Wolfe in 42 seconds at 152 pounds.

Fernando Martinez (106), Wyatt Robinson (160) and Donaldo Aguilar (220) earned forfeit wins for the Red Wolves.

Cedar Ridge also returns Kady Watkins, who made history last year as the first female wrestler from Hillsborough to compete for a individual state championship.

In fact, Watkins’ participation with Cedar Ridge has carried over across school. Now, there are four female wrestlers on the Red Wolves team.

“I think she just wanted to stay competitive in something,” Metcalf said.
“She had a gymnastics background. She just fell in love with wrestling.”

Watkins competed at 126 pounds in the Women’s Invitational State Championships in Winston-Salem last February. While she has competed in tennis and ran track at Cedar Ridge, she considers wrestling her top sport.

“I think it’s just growing throughout the state,” Metcalf said. “Some of the other states are starting to sanction women’s divisions. With MMA (mixed martial arts) becoming popular, that’s getting women involved in wrestling. I love to see the sport grow.”

Cedar Ridge will host 15 other teams at the Red Wolves Invitational on Saturday morning. The field includes Person, Carrboro, Bartlett Yancey, East Forsyth, Enloe, East Wake, Leesville Road, Trinity and Chatham Charter.

Last season, McLeod finished second in the Red Wolves Invitational at 132 pounds, losing in the final.

Over the next week, we’ll hear from Orange and Cedar Ridge athletes about what they’re thankful for. Everyone is thankful for family and friends, so we went searching for other things that they’re giving thanks for this November. Here’s part 1, featuring Tori Dalehite, Brooke Fryar, Tionna Carter and Michael Nicholson.

Orange’s Ava Zinn was the highest finisher for the Panther’s women’s cross country team at the Big 8 Conference championships. She crossed the finish line at 21:56.70. Zinn also was the top finisher for the Orange women in the 3A Mideast Regionals at Northwood High School in Pitttsboro. She crossed the finish line at 22:43.13. On September 21, Zinn was Orange’s top finisher in the adidas XC Challenge, also at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, which is a grueling course that includes an uphill run in the final quarter-mile. Zinn ran for Coach Heath Wrenn and looks forward to indoor track & field season. 

Photo courtesy of WYMT

Scott Satterfield: After finishing winless in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2018, the Louisville Cardinals are bowl-eligible in Scott Satterfield’s first year as head coach. The Cardinals defeated N.C. State at Carter-Finley Stadium for its sixth win of the season on Saturday night. On Wednesday, Satterfield was named one of 22 semifinalists for the George Munger National Coach of the Year Award, announced by the Maxwell Football Club. The winner will be announced December 29. Satterfield, a 1991 Orange High graduate, took over a Louisville team that was picked to finish last in the ACC’s Atlantic Division. He arrived to Louisville after leading his alma mater, Appalachian State, to three consecutive Sun Belt Conference Championships. Satterfield took over for his mentor, Jerry Moore, in 2013 as the head coach of the Mountaineers at they transitioned into the Football Bowl Subdivision. After winning four straight bowl games, Satterfield was named the Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year in 2018. Satterfield, nephew, Jett, was the leading tackler for the 2018 Orange football team.

Braden Homsey: The 2018 3A Mideast Regional Wrestling Champion at 195 pounds, Homsey started his sophomore season at Division III Ferrum College earlier this month. On November 6, the Panthers defeated Greensboro College 30-9 at the GC Student Center. Homsey, competing at 197 pounds, scored a technical fall over Vince Wilson 18-2 in 5:12. In the Cougar Open at Averett University in Danville, VA, Homsey finished third. Hunter Tobassion of Queen University upset Homsey 4-3 in the opening round. Homsey responded with victories in his final three matches. He pinned Kowan Lee of Averett University in 3:55. Homsey finished out with three consecutive technical fall wins, starting against teammate Ethan Fragoso (15-0), then over Loic Tueguo of Garrett College (17-2) and Jonathan Bishop of Averett (15-2) in the consolation final.

On November 16, Ferrum split two dual matches in the VBR Sports Southeast Duals at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, VA. Ferrum defeated Otterbein, ranked #15 in Division III, 24-12. Homsey defeated Braden Neuberger 9-6. To open the day, Milikin topped Ferrum 34-12. Logan Hagerbaumer defeated Homsey via technical fall 18-1 in 5:00.

On Sunday, Homsey finished third at 197 pounds in the Estes Environmental Star City Classic in Salem, VA. Homsey ended the day 3-1. He won his opening match via technical fall (18-2) over Sean Gillespie of Liberty University. In the quarterfinals, Homsey edged Tyler Phenegar of Elizabethtown 13-11. Ross Sealby of Mount Olive beat pinned Homsey in 2:05 of the semifinals.

In the third place match, Homsey again defeated Ethan Fragoso 6-3.

Kalyen Campbell: The Division III Trinity women’s basketball team defeated Coast Guard 72-62 in New London, CT on Wednesday. Campbell, a member of the 2016-17 Orange team, came off the bench to score 12 points for the Bantams. Campbell shot 5-of-11 from the field, including 2-of-4 from three-point range. She also grabbed six rebounds in 24 minutes. Campbell’s career-high came on November 17, 2018, when she scored 16 points against Eastern Connecticut State.

Lauren Cates: It was supposed to be a matchup of former Hillsborough high school products when Wake Technical Community College faced Guilford Technical Community College on Monday in Jamestown. Madison Wardlow, who graduated from Cedar Ridge in June, is on the Guilford roster. But she didn’t play on Monday. Instead, Cates suited up for Wake Tech and dropped 15 points as the Eagles won 73-53. Cates was 5-of-15 from the field, including 3-of-9 from three-point range. On Wednesday night, Wake Tech defeated Lenoir Community College 88-51 in Kinston. Wake Tech is 5-2, 3-2 in Region X of the National Junior College Athletic Association.