The Orange Panthers rolled up a season-high 414 yards total offense in beating Cedar Ridge 43-14 on Friday night. Left guard Dari’us Matkins had a strong game as the Panthers registered 185 rushing yards. Matkins has also played defensive line for Orange this season. Now, Matkins wants to help the Panthers reach the state playoffs. Orange will host Chapel Hill for senior night next Friday at Auman Stadium in Hillsborough. With the win over Cedar Ridge, Orange has surpassed its win total from last year and they retained the victory bell for another year. 

Sophomore Omarion Lewis had a career-high 170 yards on 20 carries as Orange pulled away from Cedar Ridge 43-15 on Friday night. The Red Wolves took a 15-14 lead after quarterback William Berger scored on a quarterback sneak late in the first quarter. After Elliott Woods opened the second quarter with a touchdown, Lewis controlled the second half. Lewis scored on a five-yard touchdown run to complete a 10-play, 82-yard drive on Orange’s first series of the second half. Lewis also had a 59-yard run to conclude the third quarter, and ended the scoring with a two-yard run. Brimmer who has been a varsity player since his sophomore year, will play his final game at Auman Stadium next Friday against Chapel Hill. He’s looking to beat Chapel Hill and potentially put Orange into the state playoffs. 

Lionel Reid-Shaw: The 2016 Orange graduate picked quite a time to score his first career goal for the Division III Dickinson men’s soccer team. In the 65th game of his career, Reid-Shaw scored off a header in the 76th minute for the game-winning goal as the Red Devils defeated Muhlenberg in the final home game of the regular season for Dickinson at Miller Memorial Field in Carlisle, PA on Wednesday night. Reid-Shaw is a senior. The goal secured either a #2 or #3 seed for Dickinson in the upcoming Centennial Conference Tournament. Dickinson will travel to Johns Hopkins on Saturday.

Kayla Hodges: The 2018 Orange High graduate was named 2nd team All-Colonial Athletic Conference in women’s soccer on Thursday. This season, Hodges started all 17 games for Elon. She scored four goals and tallied two assists. Towards the end of the regular season, Hodges scored goals in consecutive games against William & Mary and Drexel. Hodges, a sophomore, helped Elon go from 3-10-4 in 2018 to 12-5-2 in 2019. On Friday night, the Phoenix defeated Northeastern 2-1 in the opening round of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament at Hoftra Soccer Stadium. Hodges started at midfield as Elon advanced to the semifinals of the CAA Tournament for the first time in program history. Elon will face top-seeded Hofstra on Sunday afternoon.

Taylin Jean: The Division II Limestone women’s soccer team dropped a tough 1-0 overtime decision to Catawba on Wednesday at Saints Field in Gaffney, S.C. Hodges, a 2018 Cedar Ridge graduate, started in net for the Saints and made five saves. She is now 8-7 this season. Limestone is 7-2 in Conference Carolinas, two games behind Mount Olive for 1st place. Jean has started every game for the Saints. They return home on Saturday to face Mount Olive.

Jordan Rogers: The Division III William Peace University women’s soccer team ended its season on Wednesday. Methodist defeated the Pacers 1-0 at Monarch SoccerPlex in Fayetteville in the opening round of the USA South Athletic Conference Tournament. Rogers started at wingback for the Pacers, who ended the season 7-11-1. It set a new program record for wins in a season. The team also made the USA South Tournament for the first time in team history. Rogers, a sophomore, started all 19 games this season for Peace and moved from midfielder to wingback. Last season, Rogers played 14 games for Peace.

Brittany Daley: The Greensboro College women’s soccer team didn’t play this week. They earned a bye to the quarterfinals of the USA South Athletic Conference Tournament after the Pride finished as the top-seed from the Eastern Division. Greensboro hosts Huntingdon on Saturday afternoon at Pride Field.

Lili Henry: The Division III Methodist volleyball team lost to Guilford College 3-1 at the Riddle Center in Fayetteville. Henry, who graduated from Cedar Ridge in 2018, led the Monarchs with 23 assists. She also had two aces and six digs. Methodist is 6-17 overall, 5-9 in the USA South Athletic Conference. They will host Greensboro and William Peace in a tri-match on Saturday.

Bailey Lucas: On Friday night, the Meredith volleyball team ended its regular season with a 3-1 win over Salem College at Varsity Gym in Winston-Salem. Lucas had a team-high 28 assists and 18 digs. The Avenging Angels finished the regular season 19-8, 13-3 in the USA South Conference. In a packed Weatherspoon Gym in Raleigh on Wednesday, William Peace defeated Meredith volleyball team 3-1 on scored of 17-25, 25-20, 25-23 and 25-19. Lucas, who graduated from Orange in 2018, played in all four sets for Meredith. She finished with a team-high 23 assists, 12 digs, and two kills. The loss knocked Meredith out of first place in conference play. They will go into the USA South Conference Tournament, which starts Tuesday, as the #2 seed.

The fall sports season is drawing to a close with some playoff intrigue in football and men’s soccer. On Monday night, the Cedar Ridge men’s soccer team dropped a 1-0 decision to Southern Durham on senior night at Red Wolves Stadium. The Spartans scored in the opening minute and largely packed in its defense the rest of the game to hold Cedar Ridge scoreless.

It was a costly loss to Cedar Ridge’s playoff chances. On Tuesday, the Red Wolves’ MaxPreps ranking fell to #68. They’re 7-12-1 overall, 5-9 in the Big 8 Conference. While Southern Durham’s MaxPreps ranking is #67, they can’t make the state playoffs ahead of the Red Wolves because Cedar Ridge finished ahead of them in the Big 8 standings.

Last week, the Orange football team kept its playoff hopes alive with a dramatic 31-30 overtime win over Northwood. Machai Holt scored in overtime for the game-winning score. Sophomore Omarion Lewis scored three touchdowns.

On Saturday, the season ended for the Cedar Ridge and Orange High volleyball teams. Terry Sanford defeated the Red Wolves 3-1 in the opening round of the 3A State Playoffs. Clayton swept Orange. Two nights later the Comets stunned previously undefeated Grey’s Creek 3-0 to advance to the Round of 16.

The Big 8 Conference Cross Country Championships were held at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary last Thursday. We’ll have more details on the results in a post coming up later tonight.

Now, here’s the Magnificent 7 from Week 9 of the Fall Sports Season:

Anne Morrell: Finished 10th in the Big 8 Women’s Cross Country Championships with a time of 19:52.70. Helped Cedar Ridge finish 3rd in the Big 8. The Red Wolves will compete in the 3A Mideast Regionals at Northwood High School in Pittsboro on Saturday.

Allison Musty: This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week, Musty was also named to the All-Big 8 Conference team in women’s cross country (Morrell was, as well). Musty finished 15th overall in the Big 8 Championships, crossing the finish line at 20:34.30.

Reese Weaver: Scored a hat trick in Cedar Ridge’s 9-0 win over Vance County on October 23. Weaver has eleven goals for the Red Wolves this season.

Levi Draughon: A sophomore, Draughon finished 19th in the Big 8 Men’s Cross Country Championships for Cedar Ridge. He was the highest finisher among Cedar Ridge runners. Cedar Ridge finished 4th as a team.

Omarion Lewis: The sophomore Orange running back was named the Orange Panther of the Week after rushing for 95 yards and three touchdowns in the Panthers 31-30 win over Northwood in overtime last Friday night. Lewis leads the team in rushing.

Machai Holt: Made an interception in the fourth quarter of the Northwood game. Two plays later, Holt scored off a 32-yard touchdown pass from Wyatt Jones to tie the game against Northwood. Holt scored on a 10-yard touchdown run in overtime. Holt leads the team with eight touchdowns.

McKenzie Hawks: Hawks competed in the 3A Central Regional Women’s Golf Championships at Greensboro National Golf Club last week. Hawks, a senior, shot 107. Sarah Durham, an Orange sophomore, were the only Hillsborough representatives in the Central Regional Championships.

From the time an injury derailed his playing days at Southern Alamance High School, Bryson Massey understood his lot in life would be coaching.

It was in his family roots.

His uncle, Ron Massey, was a head football coach for over 30 years. At Kannapolis Brown, Massey won nine conference championships in eleven years and led the Wonders to the 2008 3AA State Championship game, where they lost to Greensboro Dudley.

Bryson grew up going to his uncle’s football games and watched him develop young men in Kings Mountain, Kannapolis and Monroe.

In October 2014, Massey died suddenly of a heart attack while he was the head coach at Piedmont. It was at his visitation in Kannapolis that Bryson learned the value of coaching isn’t how much you win, it’s how much you influence others.

At his visitation in Kannapolis, Bryson stood with the rest of his family to welcome a long line of visitors, former players and coaching colleagues for over five hours. They didn’t leave until midnight.

“I always wanted to follow in his footsteps,” Bryson said of his uncle. “Except baseball was my deal. I’ve always loved baseball and that was my path. He and my father always pushed me. They were brothers and they were really close.”

Massey was formally introduced as the new head baseball coach at Cedar Ridge on Tuesday night. He replaces Mitchell Frazier, who resigned in August after one season to become the new head coach at Eastern Randolph.

This is Massey’s first head coaching job. He’s spent the past two years as an assistant at A.L. Brown. He previously served as an assistant at Graham, North Pitt, and Walter Williams. He was also a student manager at East Carolina University, where he worked with Billy Godwin for three years. He also forged a close relationship with current ECU coach Cliff Godwin.

“We talk often,” Massey said. “We’re pretty close.”

Massey also served as an assistant under Jason Knapp at Williams. Now, the two will be paired against each other on opposite ends of the same town. Knapp became the head coach at Orange in 2018, replacing the legendary Dean Dease.

“Me and Coach Knapp are very close,” Massey said. “He’s helped me out a lot with my coaching career. I have a lot of respect for that guy.”

Cedar Ridge finished 18-6 in 2018 and lost to Terry Sanford in the 2nd round of the state playoffs. With six returning starters scheduled to return, the Red Wolves appeared to be set for a deep playoff run in 2019. However, a month after the 2018 season ended, the school announced they wouldn’t field a varsity football team the following August. That took away their entire middle infield as Jake and Dante DeFranco transferred to Orange. Matthew Kahn, the second starter in the rotation who went 7-1 with a 1.55 ERA, left for Jordan. Head coach Jamie Athas, who lives in Burlington, departed for Walter Williams just as his wife was expecting another child.

Phillip Berger remained and became the first Cedar Ridge pitcher to reach 20 career victories, but the Red Wolves were stripped of its depth and finished 8-12.

With Berger now at William Peace University, Massey sees opportunity in a Cedar Ridge team that will be the youngest in recent school history next March.

“I know baseball is good in this area,” Massey said. “They’re striving to do great things. They want to turn that program around. They want to work hard. There’s a lot of hard workers in that program that want to change the culture in that program. We all want it to be. It’s a great school and a great staff. It checked a lot of boxes for me as my first spot as a head coach.”

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is sophomore running back Omarion Lewis. On Friday, Lewis scored three touchdowns as the Panthers came back from a 24-6 deficit to defeat Northwood 31-30 in overtime. On September 6, Lewis played in his first varsity game against South Granville and ran for 113 yards, even though he only played in the second half. He now has 510 rushing yards and nine touchdowns this season through eight games. Lewis was originally slated to play on the junior varsity team this year, but after his performance against South Granville, those plans changed.  Lewis and the rest of the Panthers travel to Cedar Ridge on Friday night in the Battle of Hillsborough. The game can be heard on Hillsboroughsports.com starting at 6:45 with the C&R Ski Outdoor Pregame Show with Tim Hackett and Jason Knapp. 

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is cross country runner Allison Musty.  Last week, Musty finished 15th at the Big 8 Championships at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary. She made the All-Big 8 Conference team. Musty helped Cedar Ridge finished 3rd as a team in the conference. Musty, a senior, helped set the school record in the 4×400 relay team in outdoor track & field for Cedar Ridge in 2017.  Last year, Musty was part of the Cedar Ridge 4×800 relay team that qualified for the 3A State Track & Field Championships in Greensboro. In cross country,  Musty helped the Cedar Ridge women’s cross country team qualify for the state championships as a team when they finished 2nd in the 3A Mideast Regionals in 2018. This weekend, Cedar Ridge has a goal of repeating its success when they compete in the Mideast Regionals again. It will be held Saturday at Northwood High School in Pittsboro.  

On September 13, Orange rallied from a 13-0 deficit to defeat Williams 21-13. It was Orange’s largest come-from-behind victory since stunning Chapel Hill in 2015, when they trailed 20-7 only to win 38-37.

So Friday’s night victory over Northwood set a new standard. Orange trailed 24-6 with 5:13 remaining in the third quarter before Elliott Woods sparked a comeback with an interception of a Jack Thompson pass. After that, the Orange defense went to work as they shut out the Chargers for the rest of regulation.

As the old football cliche goes, 12 plays decide every game. It was no different here. So with help from Thompson Team Films, here’s the Dire Dozen from Orange’s sixth win over Northwood in the last seven years.

1. Northwood, 3rd-and-1 from the Orange 21-yard line, Orange’s Khaleb Smith with an interception.

Looking back at the game notes, it’s amazing how close Northwood came to blowing Orange out. After Aaron Ross scored on an 8-yard touchdown run, the Chargers led 17-0. Orange went backward on the subsequent drive and Auman Stadium seemed lifeless. Northwood had the ball at the end of the red zone and could have gone ahead 24-0 if it wasn’t for Khaleb Smith making his first interception of the year.

2. Orange ball late in the 2nd quarter, 3rd-and-7 from the Northwood 39-yard line, Wyatt Jones throws to Elliott Woods for 26 yards.

Quite a catch by Woods, who caught this ball over the back of Northwood cornerback Jack Vail. Jones had to rush his throw because Northwood defensive tackle Antawn Edwards broke free and had a free path to the QB. If Woods doesn’t make this catch, Orange is probably still at two wins.

3. Orange ball, 2nd-and-9 from the Northwood 12, Omarion Lewis scores his first TD.

Owen Aquino started at left tackle for Orange. He supplied a good block on outside linebacker Pierce Cook to free up Lewis for his 7th touchdown of the season.

4. 3rd quarter, Northwood 2nd & 11 at the 50 yard line. Elliott Woods with an interception.

This was the play of the game. Woods pick led to an Orange touchdown. It was the second of Orange’s three takeaways. Coming into the game, 35% of Orange’s points came off turnovers. In this game, they had 12. This started a string of 24 unanswered Panther points.

5. Orange ball, 2nd & 10 from the Northwood 24. Lewis scores his 2nd touchdown.

Another quality block from pulling guard Dari’us Matkins helped Lewis score his 2nd touchdown of the game. This score gave Orange life after some fans left the stands following a touchdown run by Northwood’s Aaron Ross on the previous drive put the Chargers ahead 24-6.

6. Northwood 3rd-and-4 from its own 26-yard line, Orange’s James McAdoo with a sack of Northwood quarterback Jack Thompson.

As mentioned above, Ross scored a touchdown on Northwood’s first possession of the second half. Then the Chargers went six consecutive possessions without a first down. James McAdoo met Will Torain to the quarterback on this sack that led to a Northwood punt.

7. Orange ball, 3rd-and-4 from the Northwood 24-yard line, Lewis scores his final touchdown.

Believe it or not, this was Orange’s final 3rd down conversion of the game and it happened late in the 3rd quarter. If Matkins didn’t get credit for a pancake block on this run, he should have. Pulling to the left after Lewis sprang outside, Matkins sent a Charger flat up his back, leading Orange to reduce Northwood’s lead to 24-18.

8. Northwood ball, 1st-and-10 from the Northwood 36, Orange linebacker Jackson Wood with a sack of Thompson.

On Thursday night, the Orange junior varsity team defeated Northwood 27-0 in Pittsboro. Several of the players who suited up for Orange on Thursday also played on Friday. Not only that, but some played at key points with Orange trailing 17-0. Jackson Wood was in the game as Orange trailed 24-17. He made this key sack on Thompson on a big play that would get much bigger soon.

9. Northwood ball, 2nd-and-18 from its own 28, Machai Holt with an interception.

Machai Holt has come up big down the stretch in big games before for Orange on the gridiron and on the hardwood. This game may have been his masterpiece. He took over in the final six minutes, starting with this interception.

10. Orange ball, 2nd & 8 at the Northwood 36, Jones to Holt for a 32-yard touchdown.

Jones had a 65-yard pass to Zyon Pettiford called back because of a ineligible man downfield penalty in the third quarter. This time, Jones found the right connection as Holt scored his first receiving touchdown of the year to tie the game.

11. Caulin Falser blocks a would-be game-winning field goal with 12 seconds remaining.

Northwood’s final drive set new standards for gutsy play calling. After Jack Spotz was stopped at the Charger 49-yard line on 3rd down, punter Aidan Laros came out on 4th-and-3 with :53 remaining. Instead of punting, Laros ran a designed fake around right end for a first down by six inches. Thompson completed passes to Jalen McAfee and Ross to move the ball to the Orange 28-yard line. With 12 seconds remaining, Laros came back out to attempt a 40-yard field goal to win the game. He drilled a 42 yarder from nearly the same spot to open the game. This time, Caulin Fansler got his six-foot frame up to deflect the ball and send Auman Stadium into a frenzy.

12. Holt scored the game-winning touchdown in overtime from 10 yards

Holt scored his eighth rushing touchdown of the year in the first possession of overtime. Even more importantly, Nigel Slanker kicked the extra point to sew up a win on Homecoming night and keep Orange’s state playoff chances alive.