The fall sports season will officially end in Hillsborough on Saturday—unless Orange football can make the state playoffs.

The possibility of that appears remote, at best, as of Wednesday night. Orange’s current MaxPreps ranking is #69. Assuming that Orange beats Chapel Hill on Friday night, three of Orange’s five wins will have come against teams ranked in the bottom ten of 3A football, according to MaxPreps.

The Cedar Ridge men’s soccer team narrowly missed the state playoffs. The field of 64 was announced on Monday morning. Cedar Ridge was on the bubble, but missed out after losing to Southern Durham in the season finale.

Cedar Ridge ended the season 7-12-1, 5-9 in the Big 8 Conference.

The Cedar Ridge women’s cross country team has a good showing in the 3A Mideast Regionals at Northwood High School in Pittsboro. While Cedar Ridge didn’t qualify for the state championships as a team, like last year, there are several individual Red Wolves who will participate in the states on Saturday at Ivey Redmon Park in Kernersville.

Here is this week’s Magnificent 7, which will be the next-to-last edition for the fall sports season. We’ll begin focusing on winter sports next week.

Anne Morrell: Finished 12th at the 3A Mideast Regional Cross Country Championships at Northwood High. Morrell, a junior, qualified for the state championships for the third year in a row with a time of 20:16.4.

Zoe Wade: Finished 24th at the Mideast Regional Championships. Crossed the finish line at 21:05.84. Wade also qualified for the 3A State Championships. A sophomore, Wade will have participated in the state championships each of her first two years at Cedar Ridge.

Desi Raspberry: Cedar Ridge junior wide receiver had three receptions for 69 yards, including a 55-yard touchdown pass from William Berger against crosstown rival Orange on Friday night. Raspberry had the most yards from scrimmage for the Red Wolves.

Elliott Woods: Had 87 rushing yards and two touchdowns for Orange in a victory over Cedar Ridge at Red Wolves Stadium. Woods also had two tackles. Coming into the game, Woods led Orange in receptions and tackles. He was named this week’s Orange Panther of the Week.

Omarion Lewis: A sophomore, Lewis had a career-high 173 yards rushing against Cedar Ridge. Lewis added two touchdowns. He now leads the team in rushing yards and touchdowns this season, even though he missed the season-opener against R.J. Reynolds because it appeared he would spend this season on the junior varsity team.

Joseph Kiger: Led Orange in receiving with a career-high five receptions for 62 yards and a touchdown. On defense, Kiger led the team with six tackles. He also had ten rushing yards. Kiger also was the long snapper on extra points for kicker Nigel Slanker. He will play his final game in Hillsborough against Chapel Hill on Friday.

Bennett Fleming: The top finisher for the Orange men’s cross country team last week at the Mideast Regionals. Fleming came in 32nd with a time of 18:08.88. At the Big 8 Cross Country Championships at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, Fleming was also the top finisher for Orange.

Trenton Gill: In his first year playing for the N.C. State football team, 2018 Cedar Ridge graduate Trent Gill has been put on the watch list for the Ray Guy Award, presented to the college punter of the year. This season, as a sophomore, Gill has averaged 47.1 yards per punt. Of his 40 punts, eleven have been downed inside the 20-yard line. He’s had eighteen punts of over 50 yards, along with five touchbacks. Gill also handles kickoffs for the Wolfpack. At Cedar Ridge, Gill was an All-Big 8 Conference performer in football and men’s soccer. The Wolfpack will host #4 Clemson this Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh.

Kayla Hodges: The Elon women’s soccer team had its season come to an end on Sunday in the semifinals of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament. Top-seeded Hofstra defeated the Phoenix 3-1 on Sunday at Hofstra Soccer Stadium. Hodges started at midfield at fired one shot. After winning only three games in 2018, Elon went 12-6-2 this year. Hodges was named second-team All-CAA. She finished the year with four goals, two assists and ten points. Hodges, a sophomore, started all 18 games that she appeared in for Elon.

Taylin Jean: The Division II Limestone women’s soccer team ended the regular season with a 2-0 victory over King University at Parks Field in Bristol, TN on Sunday. Jean started as goalkeeper for the Saints and earned the win by making one save. She played 77 minutes. Limestone finished the regular season 9-8, 8-3 in Conference Carolinas. Limestone is the #4 seed in the Conference Carolinas Tournament, which starts on Friday. In the opening round, Limestone will host North Greenville University. In the regular season, Jean started all 17 games for the Saints in net. She went 9-8 with a 1.37 goals against average. She had six shutouts.

Lionel Reid-Shaw: The Division III Dickinson men’s soccer team finished its regular season on Saturday. Johns Hopkins defeated the Red Devils 4-1 at Homewood Field in Baltimore. Reid-Shaw, who scored the first goal of his four-year career last week, started for the Red Devils at centerback. Dickinson ended the regular season 10-7 overall, 6-3 in the Centennial Conference. The Red Devils earned a #3 seed for the Centennial Conference tournament, which starts Saturday at Franklin & Marshall University in Lancaster, PA. Dickinson will face Johns Hopkins, once again, in the opening round.

Madison Wardlow: Now playing for the Guilford Technical Community College women’s basketball team, Wardlow scored 28 points for the Titans in an exhibition game in Apex. Interestingly enough, one of the officials for the game was Felton Page, who was Wardlow’s high school coach. Page resigned as Cedar Ridge women’s coach in March. On a totally and completely unrelated note, Wardlow finished the game with one foul. Wardlow will officially start her career on Wednesday night at Methodist College in the Riddle Center in Fayetteville.

Lauren Cates: The 2019 Orange High graduate started her college career with the Wake Technical Community College Eagles on Monday night. Cates started and scored nine points as the Eagles defeated Caldwell Community College 57-47 in Raleigh. Cates was 3-of-11 from the field. All of her field goals were 3-pointers. Wake Tech continues its season at Fayetteville Technical Community College on Wednesday night.

by Curran Campbell

In this week’s edition of the ramble, I think I finally have an idea of what the true pecking order in the coastal is. Let’s find out together next week when it turns out I actually have it all wrong again! Also, we will have basketball power rankings and predictions but only for conference games. There will also be no basketball analysis until football season is over.

Note: Since neither Clemson nor Virginia Tech played conference games this past weekend, I will not have analysis on them.

Wake Forest

Pure dominance over an inferior opponent is what the Demon Deacons displayed last Saturday against the Wolfpack in a 44-10 victory. The Wake defense took advantage of a freshman QB in Leary much like they did with Sam Howell earlier this season, and Wake continues their quest towards an Orange Bowl bid.

Boston College

AJ Dillon is the best tailback in the conference, and his performance led the Eagles to a 58-27 annihilation of Syracuse. 691 total yards of offense, with 496 of those coming on the ground from the likes of Dillon and David Bailey is generally a good formula for success.

Miami

The Miami defense was dominant in a 27-10 rivalry victory over Florida State, and I think Miami finally has the QB situation ironed out with Jarren Williams cementing his role as the starter. His play has been huge in Miami’s resurgence and will be critical for the Canes success down the stretch.

Pittsburgh

Not much to say here, Pitt did enough to beat a god awful Georgia Tech team 20-10, and they will go into the bye week looking to improve before playing a solid North Carolina team next Thursday night.

Virginia

Bryce. Perkins. I think that says enough about UVa’s performance in a 38-31 win over in Chapel Hill. UVa is now the clear favorite to win the coastal division. Assuming they win out going into the final week of the season, it’ll be a Commonwealth Clash for the ages that would theoretically decide the coastal.

NC State

State has played 3 quarterbacks so far this season, and they have all been bad with all 3, the most recent dumpster fire performance coming from Devin Leary. Leary went 17-45 for 149 yards to go along with a touchdown and two picks. That kind of play is unacceptable and with all the talent on that NC State roster, you have to think if they just had a QB they could be competing at the same level as Wake. Alas, they don’t have a QB.

Syracuse

Syracuse’s most recent performance was enough to get defensive coordinator Brian Ward fired a year after he was nominated for the Broyles Award. Simply put, when you lose 57-28 and give up nearly 700 total yards to Boston College, some sort of change has to be made, and Ward was the sacrificial lamb.

Florida State

After the 27-10 loss to Miami, FSU pulled the plug on the Willie Taggart era. I never thought that Taggart was the right hire for Florida State in the first place, that being said, Florida State never gave him enough of a chance. Let’s see how the Seminoles ruin their next coach!

North Carolina

The 38-31 loss to UVa killed the Tar Heels chances at a coastal crown, but the Heels still have a ton left to play for. With 3 games left in the season, the Heels need 2 more wins to go to a bowl game. They have 1 pretty much guaranteed with the Mercer game, but how will the Heels steal one on the road at Pitt, or win what is always a tough game at Carter-Finley stadium. Logic would indicate that the Heels shouldn’t have a problem against this NC State team in a few weeks, but we all know that logic doesn’t exist in that football game outside of 2015 when that dominant Carolina team just took care of business easily. Every other time, it’s a grinder of a football game, so it will be a tough, but very much doable climb for the Heels to go bowling for the first time since 2016.

Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech is bad, their players on offense still don’t suit the system that Geoff Collins is trying to run. A 20-10 loss to Pitt is a pretty solid result for GT as they continue a massive overhaul in Atlanta.

Football Power Rankings

1. Clemson

2. Wake Forest

3. Virginia

4. Virginia Tech

5. Louisville

6. North Carolina

7. Pitt

8. Miami

9. Duke

10. Florida State

11. Boston College

12. NC State

13. Georgia Tech

14. Syracuse

Football Predictions

Florida State at Boston College (-1.5): Boston College, 38-28

Georgia Tech at Virginia (-15): Virginia, 48-20

Wake Forest (-2.5) at Virginia Tech: Wake Forest, 31-27

Louisville at Miami (-6.5): Louisville, 35-24

Clemson (-31.5) at NC State: Clemson, 52-10

Notre Dame (-8) at Duke: Notre Dame, 21-17

Last week’s predictions: 3-3

Season Total: 16-12

Basketball Power Rankings

1. North Carolina

2. Duke

3. Virginia

4. Louisville

5. NC State

6. Florida State

7. Syracuse

8. Miami

9. Notre Dame

10. Pitt

11. Clemson

12. Georgia Tech

13. Virginia Tech

14. Boston College

15. Wake Forest

Basketball Predictions

Louisville at Miami: Louisville, 73-69

Virginia Tech at Clemson: Clemson, 64-58

Georgia Tech at NC State: NC State, 83-70

Notre Dame at North Carolina: North Carolina, 87-72

Wake Forest at Boston College: Boston College, 61-55

Florida State at Pitt: Pitt, 81-75

Virginia at Syracuse: Syracuse, 65-62

Win or lose on Friday night’s season-finale at Auman Stadium, Chapel Hill’s players will probably walk off the field in a double-file formation.

That’s Issac Marsh’s way. He doesn’t stop coaching his players once the game ends. As a special needs teacher at CHHS, he knows proper tutelage is needed throughout a young person’s life.

When Chapel Hill didn’t field a varsity football team in 2018, it was heartbreaking for many longtime high school football fans. Just four years prior, Chapel Hill had played in the 3-AA Eastern Regional Championship game, losing to Northern Guilford.

Then again, perhaps the cancellation of a season was the only logical extension for Marsh. He’s has seen just about everything else in his 15 years at Chapel Hill. He’s the most successful football coach in school history. In 2007, he led the Tigers to its first state playoff win since the mid-1960s, when the school was still on Franklin Street.

He even led Chapel Hill to a 2008 PAC-6 Championship in the Tigers final season as a 4A school.

When the National Football League commemorated the 50th Super Bowl in 2015, they sent gold footballs to all high schools that had a player participate in any of the previous 49 NFL Championship games.

Chapel Hill received one. Orange didn’t, but they should have.

In the early 1990s, when high school football received more coverage because newspapers were still a primary influence (the Durham Herald-Sun doesn’t even print a Saturday edition anymore), Chapel Hill-Orange was the biggest rivalry in Orange County by default. It was the only rivalry in Orange County since they were the only two high schools.

Nonetheless, the vast majority of coverage was focused on Northern Durham since the Knights had several state championship contenders at that time. What slipped through the cracks was that Orange and Chapel Hill often played excellent games featuring players who would go on to long, distinguished careers.

In 1990, Orange defeated Chapel Hill at Auman Stadium in Jermaine Lattie returned a fumble for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. On the field that night for Chapel Hill was Bernardo Harris, who would go on to play at UNC in the glory years of Mack Brown. Despite going undrafted, Harris would spend nine seasons in the NFL and play in Super Bowl 31 for the Green Bay Packers, who defeated New England 35-21 for Brett Farve’s only world championship.

On top of that, no less than three players who would go on to become instrumental parts of Appalachian State’s 1995 Southern Conference Championship team were on the field. At safety for Chapel Hill was Matt Stevens, a native of Michigan. After graduating from Boone, Stevens went on to eight-year NFL career that included a stop in New England in 2001. That year ended with a quarterback named Tom Brady leading the Patriots to its first World Championship over St. Louis.

Of course, for Orange there was quarterback/safety Scott Satterfield, who would start a long association with Appalachian the following year as the quarterback on head coach Jerry Moore’s scout team. 22 years later, he would become the Mountaineers’ head coach.

Tailback Damon Scott shared the backfield with Satterfield, both in Hillsborough and in Boone. Scott would become an FCS (then it was I-AA) All-American at Appalachian and graduate in 1997.

Two years later, Orange’s Alvis Whitted would have a memorable moment of his own against Chapel Hill–no matter how hard he tries to forget. On a rainy Monday night where the field was a quagmire of mud, Chapel Hill kicked off after a touchdown. Whitted, with his cleats digging in the mud, took the ball on a reverse and had the entire side of the field to himself. But the mud stopped him and Whitted slipped and fell at the Chapel Hill 1-yard line. On the next snap, quarterback Mark Pounds fumbled and Chapel Hill recovered, won the game and went on to the state playoffs in Bill Hodgin’s final year.

Whitted went on to play for the Oakland Raiders and played special teams in Super Bowl 37 against Tampa Bay. Yet Orange never got its gold football from Roger Goodell’s office four years ago. Perhaps the commissioner is a reader of the website and can correct this wrong.

On Friday night, the Orange Panthers defeated Cedar Ridge in a spirited contest between the two rivals. Elliott Woods had two rushing touchdowns. Zyon Pettiford scored on a 57-yard touchdown reception, his longest gain of the year. Desi Raspberry had an early touchdown for the Red Wolves, while William Berger added a rushing touchdown in the first quarter. Enjoy highlights from the game from Thompson Team Films.com. Shayne Thompson can help your athlete get recruited by spreading videos across college circles. Go to Thompsonteamfilms.com to learn more!

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is junior wingback/linebacker Elliott Woods. On Friday night, the Orange football team defeated crosstown rival Cedar Ridge. Entering the game, Woods led Orange with 15 receptions for 280 yards. Against the Red Wolves, Woods had two rushing touchdowns and a season high 87 rushing yards. Woods also leads Orange with 83 tackles, including eight for a loss. Woods had a key interception against Northwood that triggered the Panthers to a come-from-behind victory after trailing 24-6 midway through the third quarter. Woods has only played football for four years, but has learned quickly to have a solid season. He will conclude the 2019 season against Chapel Hill on Friday night. You can hear that game on Hillsboroughsports.com starting at 6:45 with the C&R Ski Outdoor pregame show. 

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is men’s cross country runner Levi Draughon. At the Big 8 Cross Country Championships at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, Draughon was the highest placer among Cedar Ridge male runners with a time of 17:47.30. He finished 17th overall to qualify for the Mideast Regionals. On Saturday at the Regionals at Northwood High School in Pittsboro, Draughon finished 34th among 134 runners, again the highest among Cedar Ridge runners.  Cedar Ridge finished eighth among 20 teams at the Mideast Regionals. Draughon is only a sophomore and still has plenty of years left to compete as he prepares for indoor track & field season for Cedar Ridge. 

It isn’t really news that Cedar Ridge High has the lowest enrollment in the Big 8 Conference, according to the latest Average Daily Membership figures released by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association on Monday afternoon.

However, enrollment is up at Cedar Ridge compared to last year, while Orange High’s ADM had a minor drop.

Cedar Ridge’s ADM is 1076 for the 2019-2020 academic year. Last year, it was 1025. Both figures were easily the lowest in the Big 8 Conference.

On the other side of Hillsborough, Orange’s ADM was 1,306. That’s down slightly from last academic year, when it was 1,326.

In the 2017-18 academic year, Cedar Ridge’s ADM was 1,145. Orange was at 1,324.

Of the 109 3A schools in the state of North Carolina, only eleven have a lower ADM total than Cedar Ridge. Those schools are Eastern Wayne (891), Hunter Huss (1,046), Monroe (1,006), White Oak (1,057), Montgomery Central (a new school that is the only 3A member of the 3A/2A Rocky River Conference with 1,060), South Brunswick (1,033), Havelock (1,036), East Rowan (939), Tuscola (948), Southwest Randolph (1,026), and Stuart Cramer (1,032).

Among Big 8 Conference schools, Northern Durham has the highest ADM (1,707). Southern Durham was second with 1,575. Chapel Hill finished with 1,536, followed closely by crosstown rival East Chapel Hill (1528), and Northwood (1,306). Vance County, which consolidated Northern and Southern Vance in 2018, had 1,245.

The ADM numbers are released just in time for the state football playoffs. The brackets will be released on Saturday.

The Orange football team finishes its season against Chapel Hill on Friday night. The Panthers currently have a MaxPreps ranking of #69, placing them on the bubble to make the state playoffs. Chances are, if the Panthers do make the postseason, it will be in the 3A State Tournament, as opposed to the 3AA.

These figures will also be used by the NCHSAA Board of Directors when discussions continue regarding realignment this winter.

In May, NCHSAA President Que Tucker announced that the association would delay the realignment process by one year to pursue a fifth class. A proposal to allow the NCHSAA to add a 5A class is expected sometime next spring. Tucker was quoted as saying that if a fifth class is added, it would end the practice of awarding eight state champions in football. Instead, the NCHSAA would crown five state champions.

The new realignment plan would take effect in August 2021.

The subdivision of the four classifications started in 2002 in North Carolina.

Some Cedar Ridge parents and graduates want the Red Wolves to return to the 2A classification. The Red Wolves were members of the 2A/1A Carolina 10 Conference until the end of the 2012-13 academic year. In 2010, the Cedar Ridge football team reached the 2AA Eastern Regional Championship game, where they lost to traditional power Elizabeth City Northeastern.

For comparison’s sake, there are other neighboring schools that have an ADM in the same ballpark as Cedar Ridge. That includes Orange’s former PAC-6 Conference rival Person, which had 1,095. Rockingham County, who competes against Cedar Ridge in several sports, had an ADM of 1082. Southern Guilford, West Rowan, West Carteret (who Cedar Ridge has defeated each of the last two years in the state softball playoffs), Forestview, North Gaston and North Henderson all had ADMs of under 1,100.

The largest 3A school was Clayton with 1,951. Eastern Wayne was the smallest.

The largest 2A school was Atkins at 1,138. The smallest 4A school was West Mecklenburg at 1,262. Myers Park has the largest public school enrollment in the state at 3,688.

Payton Wilson: It was another long day for the N.C. State football team on Saturday. #23 Wake Forest handled the Wolfpack 44-10 at BB&T Field in Winston-Salem. For the first time in his college career, Wilson led the Wolfpack with eleven tackles, including one for a loss. Wilson also had a pass breakup. A redshirt freshman, Wilson is now third on the team with 46 tackles. He’s also tied for third with 4.5 tackles for loss. N.C. State will face #4 Clemson next Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh.

Trenton Gill: The 2018 Cedar Ridge graduate was busy for N.C. State on Saturday. Gill had eight punts averaging 46 yards per boot. Three of the punts went over 50 yards and two were downed inside the 20-yard line. His longest punt was 61 yards. Gill also had three kickoffs, two of which were touchbacks.

Adam Chnupa: Many people know Virginia Tech and UNC played the first college football game ever that ended with dueling two-point conversions in the fifth and sixth overtimes two weeks ago. On Saturday, Adam Chnupa played in the second for the FCS Elon Phoenix. William & Mary defeated Elon 31-29 in five overtimes at Rhode Stadium on the Phoenix’s Homecoming. Chnupa played special teams for Elon. The Phoenix are now 4-5, 3-3 in the Colonial Athletic Association. They host Maine next week.

Keshawn Thompson: The FCS Campbell Camels loss in heartbreaking fashion at North Alabama 25-24 at Braly Stadium in Florence, AL on Saturday. The Lions’ Joe Gurley kicked a 20-yard field goal as time expired. Thompson played the game on special teams for the Camels, whose six-game winning streak was snapped. Campbell is still undefeated in the Big South Conference (North Alabama will officially join the Big South in 2020. They’re a provisional FCS program this season after jumping up from Division II). Campbell hosts Kennesaw State next Saturday.

Rodney Brooks: Division II Fayetteville State defeated Livingstone 32-0 at Alumni Memorial Stadium in Salisbury on Saturday. Brooks made three tackles for the Blue Bears, including one for a loss. Livingston falls to 4-5, 1-5 in the CIAA. They end the season next week against Johnston C. Smith for Senior Day.

Kevin Wright: Division III North Carolina Wesleyan defeated Methodist 48-24 at Monarch Stadium in Fayetteville. Wright, a 2018 Cedar Ridge graduate, had two tackles for the Battling Bishops. Wesleyan is 4-4, 3-2 in the USA South Athletic Conference. They travel to Huntingdon next Saturday.

Taylin Jean: Mount Olive defeated Division II Limestone 2-1 at Saints Field in Gaffney, S.C. on Saturday in a showdown for first place in Conference Carolinas. Jean started as goalkeeper for the Saints once again and made two saves. Limestone is 8-8, 7-3 in Conference Carolinas . The Trojans wrapped up the Centennial Conference regular season championship with the victory.

Brittany Daley: The Division III Greensboro College women’s soccer team advanced to the USA South Conference Tournament semifinals on Saturday. The Pride defeated Huntingdon 2-0 at Pride Field in Greensboro. Daley started her 18th game of the season at center back. Greensboro will face Covenant in the semifinals at Maryville College in Tennessee on Friday.

Lili Henry: The Division III Methodist volleyball team ended its regular season on Saturday in a tri-match at the Riddle Center in Fayetteville. William Peace defeated the Monarchs 3-0 on scores of 25-20, 25-20, and 25-15. Henry had 13 assists, five digs and one ace against the Pacers. Earlier in the day, Greensboro College edged the Monarchs 3-2 on scores of 16-25, 25-22, 11-25, 25-16 and 12-15. Henry led the team with 29 assists, eleven digs and one ace. Methodist concludes the regular season 6-19, 5-11 in the USA South Conference. The Monarchs still play in the USA South Conference tournament with a road trip to William Peace on Tuesday.

Photo from Will Okin

The storybook ending for the eight Cedar Ridge seniors that embodied patience and courageousness will come eventually.

It just didn’t come on Friday night.

Not at this point in time when Orange is too talented, too deep and too experienced.

After a one-year interruption in the rivalry when Cedar Ridge didn’t field a varsity team in 2018, the series continued Friday night as Orange scored four unanswered touchdowns to defeat the Red Wolves 43-14 on Senior Night at Red Wolves Stadium. Panthers’ sophomore running back Omarion Lewis rushed for a career-high 170 yards and two touchdowns as Orange (4-6, 3-3 in the Big 8) beat its crosstown rival for the seventh straight time.

In the absence of starting wingback Machai Holt, who missed the game, Lewis now leads Orange with 682 rushing yards and eleven touchdowns.

Cedar Ridge played without leading rusher Isaiah McCambry, who injured his right shoulder against Southern Durham last week. Despite that, the Red Wolves scored touchdowns on its first two possessions. Sophomore quarterback William Berger hit Desi Raspberry for a 55-yard touchdown pass. Berger found Zachary Holmes on a crossing pattern on the two-point conversion to give Cedar Ridge an 8-7 lead.

On its second drive, Berger led Cedar Ridge down the field on a 7-play, 77-yard drive, its only sustained drive of the game. Berger connected with Raspberry on a 29-yard pass to five midfield. After Baxter Mergenthal reached the edge of the goal line for a first down, Berger scored on a quarterback sneak with :56 remaining in the first quarter.

After that, the Red Wolves were held to two yards total offense and zero first downs during the middle two quarters.

“I was real proud of my team for how we handled the storm,” said Orange coach Van Smith. “They (Cedar Ridge) came out excited and fired up because it was a crosstown rivalry and their senior night. They had a good game plan for how to attack us. But we answered and settled in and started playing better defense.”

The Red Wolves (1-9, 1-5) will conclude its season next week at Vance County.

“I think we came out energized,” said Cedar Ridge coach Torrean Hinton. “My hat is off to Orange. They came out here and played hard. Our guys came out and tried things a little different and it was working. Usually when you get down into the trenches of the game, bodies start to fall, fatigue plays a factor. And the better team won today.”

Orange started the game with a 57-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Wyatt Jones to senior wide receiver Zyon Pettiford. it was the longest touchdown catch of the year for Pettiford.

Following Raspberry’s touchdown, the Panthers responded with a 10-play, 80-yard drive. Elliott Woods scored on a four-yard run up the middle. Senior wide receiver Joe Kiger hooked up with Jones on the ensuing two-point conversion to boost Orange’s lead to 15-8.

Orange rolled up a season-best 414 yards total offense to snap a five-game road losing streak. They defeated Northwood in Pittsboro on October 17, 2018.

“Joe made some big plays in the second half,” Smith said. “That one touchdown was a fantastic catch. I thought that first half was as good of a half as he’s played all season.”

Oranges wingback Elliott Woods, who also had a season-high with 87 rushing yards, scored on a 10-yard touchdown run to open the second quarter.

Caulin Fansler blocked a punt on the following Cedar Ridge drive, which led to Kiger’s second touchdown catch of the night from Jones on a 19-yard fade. Orange led 29-14 at the half.

Lewis crossed the goal line on Orange’s first series of the second half. On a 10-play, 82-yard drive, orange kept the ball exclusively on the ground. After Jones ran for 19 yards on a read option to jump start the drive, Lewis ended it with a 12-yard touchdown.

Lewis scored on a two-yard run early in the fourth quarter for his eleventh touchdown of the year.

It wasn’t the ending that Mergenthal, Braden Thompson, Zachary Holmes, Matthew Hinton, Brandon Poteat, or K.J. Barnes wanted. But just as no football dynasty lasts forever, no struggling program stays lean on wins forever, either.

Whenever Cedar Ridge football gets back to where it once was, the unsung heroes will be the ones for played its final home game at Red Wolves Stadium on Friday night.

“We had that conversation earlier this week,” Hinton said. “I told them that whatever happens after this year, when we start to pull this thing together, these guys will be the cornerstones of that. They’re the guys we build around. All of them are going to be great kids moving forward. I just hate it that the outcome of this game was what it was. But those guys are our strength and they exemplify what it means to be a Cedar Ridge football player.”

ORANGE 43, CEDAR RIDGE 14

ORA-15 14 7 7-43

CR—14 0 0 0-14

ORA-Zyon Pettiford 57 pass from Wyatt Jones (Nigel Slinkier kick)

CR–Desi Raspberry 55 pass from William Berger (Berger to Zachary Holmes)

ORA–Elliott Woods 4 run (Jones to Joe Kiger)

CR–Berger 1 run (run failed)

ORA—Woods 10 run (Slanker kick)

ORA-Kiger 19 pass from Jones (Slanker kick)

ORA—Omarion Lewis 19 run (Slanker kick)

ORA—Lewis 2 run (Slanker kick)

RUSHING: ORANGE 40-295 4 TD (Lewis 19-170 2 TD, Woods 15-87 2 TD, Jones 3-22, Kiger 3-11, Courtney Edwards 1-5, Connor Ray 2-4)

CEDAR RIDGE: 24-8 (Aidan Seagroves 15-34, Brandon Poteat 1-6, Braxton Mergenthal 1-1, Elijah Whitaker 2-(minus 9), K.J. Barnes 2-(minus 11), Berger 3-(minus 16) TD)

PASSING: ORANGE: Jones 6-11 119 TD

CEDAR RIDGE: BERGER 6-15 115 TD

RECEIVING: ORANGE: (Kiger 5-62 TD, Pettiford 1-57 TD)

CEDAR RIDGE: (Raspberry 3-69 TD, Barnes 3-46)