Olivia Ward became the first Cedar Ridge women’s tennis player to qualify for the 3A State Singles Tournament, the 3A State Doubles Tournament and win a Big 8 team Conference Championship in her career on Friday. Though she lost in the opening round, Ward concludes her Cedar Ridge career as the most accomplished tennis player in school history. Here are some photos of Olivia’s match against Rose Kenny of Charlotte Catholic.

Not that it was in question for the past month, but the Cedar Ridge volleyball team is officially headed back to the state playoffs for the first time since 2015.

Meanwhile, Orange will journey across the Triangle for its opening round game.

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association released the 3A State Volleyball brackets on Thursday afternoon.

Orange received a 19-seed and will face Clayton on Saturday at 1 o’clock Saturday afternoon. Clayton (15-10) finished 2nd in the Greater Neuse Conference with a 8-2 record. The Comets lost three matches to the Rams, including in Wednesday’s Greater Neuse Tournament Championship game in three sets.

The winner of Clayton-Orange will face 3rd-seeded Gray’s Creek or 30th-seeded Southeastern Guilford in the 2nd round.

Cedar Ridge earned a 20-seed. The Red Wolves will travel to Fayetteville to face Terry Sanford of the 4A/3A Patriot Athletic Conference on Saturday at 2 o’clock. The Bulldogs finished 19-4, 12-4 in the PAC. Three of its four losses came against PAC Champion Grey’s Creek, who is 24-0.

The winner of Cedar Ridge-Terry Sanford will face 4th-seeded Cleveland or 29th-seeded Northwood next week.

The final MaxPreps ranking of the season was released Wednesday morning. It was the first poll of the year that had Orange ahead of Cedar Ridge, who jumped out to a 6-0 start and virtually guaranteed itself of its first winning season in four years by mid-September.

Orange and Cedar Ridge split the regular season series with two five-set battles. What may have pushed Orange ahead of the Red Wolves at the last minute was consecutive wins over teams that made the state playoffs. Last Friday, the Lady Panthers defeated Roxboro Community School in five sets. RCS wound up making the 1A playoffs as a #20 seed. In its regular season finale on Tuesday, Orange rallied from two sets down to defeat Northern Durham at Poe Gymtorium. The Knights earned a 26-seed in the 3A playoff and will travel to Union Pines on Saturday.

Cedar Ridge, on the other hand, were swept by East Chapel Hill on Senior Night. They concluded the regular season with wins over Vance County and Southern Durham, the only two teams from the Big 8 to miss the state playoffs.

The unveiling of the bracket proved what had been obvious to anyone who paid attention to the local volleyball scene this year: the Big 8 is really deep.

Six of the league’s eight teams made the playoffs. Big 8 Champion Chapel Hill received the top seed and will host Triton in the opening round. The Tigers have reached the final eight in each of the last three seasons, and claimed the Eastern Regional Championship in 2016 and 2017.

Big 8 runner-up East Chapel Hill received a 10-seed and will host South Johnston on Saturday at Wildcat Gymnasium.

Orange’s 16 wins are the most for the team this decade. The Lady Panthers will go for its first state playoff win since 2015, when they reached the Round of 16 with victories over Eden Morehead and Northern Guilford.

In the three years since then, Orange has been eliminated in the opening round each time. Franklinton took out the Panthers last year. Chapel Hill eliminated Orange in 2017 and Cleveland swept them in 2016.

In its penultimate game of the season, the Orange junior varsity football team defeated Northwood 27-0 in Pittsboro on Thursday night. The Panthers’ defense didn’t allow a first down in the second half and forced two turnovers in the third quarter. Winston Brown had an interception that led to a 39-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ty Walker to Jared Weaver. Dominique Minnifield scored on a five-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Orange had a strong pass rush from linemen Cameron Harshaw and Amari Morgan. Connor Ray also had a strong game on both sides of the ball. Joining us for this interview was center Ethan Fortner, Ray, Brown, Morgan, Harshaw, Minnfield and Jake Wimsatt. Orange will have next week off.  They will conclude its season against Chapel Hill in Culton-Peerman Stadium on November 7. 

The Cedar Ridge women’s cross country team had another strong showing at the Big 8 Cross Country Championships at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary on Thursday. The Red Wolves finished third behind Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill. In a sprint to the finish line, Cedar Ridge Anne Morrell edged out East Chapel Hill’s Sara Oren for 10th place, meaning Morrell was named to the All-Big 8 Conference team for the second year in a row. Allison Musty, Zoe Wade, Ariana Solis, Jill Myler, Ruby Lapham and Sarah Tucker also ran for the Cedar Ridge women. Next week, Cedar Ridge will compete in the 3A Mideast Regionals at Northwood High School in Pittsboro. Last year, the Cedar Ridge women finished 2nd in regionals and qualified for the state championships as a team. 

Photo by Heather Walker

The Stanford Chargers are headed back to the Orange-Person Athletic Conference Championship game.

On Wednesday afternoon, Stanford clinched the OPAC Northern Division Championship with a 28-6 victory over the Stanback Bulldogs at Auman Stadium. The Chargers will face Southern Roxboro for the OPAC Championship next week. Smith/Phillips defeated Stanford in the season opener on September 11 in Chapel Hill.

Stanford received strong games from several players. Nahour Kenion started the scoring with a strong touchdown run. Brayden Benfield followed with a 2-point conversion to put the Chargers ahead 8-0.

Cameron Guentensberger, the younger brother of former Orange linebacker Colin Guentensberger, scored on a 75-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown on a errant lateral. Guentensberger also had a receiving touchdown.

Quarterback Josh Cowan threw for one touchdown and had a 40-yard touchdown run.

The time and location of the OPAC Championship game is to be determined.

Boys Soccer: The Gravelly Hill Grizzles boys soccer team have a date in the OPAC Championship game next week.

On Monday, Gravelly Hill defeated Northern Middle School 9-0 on Monday in Efland to officially sew up the OPAC Northern Division Championship. It’s the third straight division championship for the Grizzlies. Hayden Kirk, Nathan Sorrells, Gabriel Contreas, Erick Morales, A.J. Roberts, Micah Morrow, and Lucas Gauldin all scored for the Grizzlies to win the division title.

On top of that, Gravelly Hill had to play again on Tuesday in a make-up game against Phillips Middle School in Chapel Hill. The Grizzles prevailed 5-1. Nathan Sorrells had a hat trick for Gravelly. Konner Johnson and Carson Condon scored the other Gravelly goals.

Gravelly Hill had strong defensive performances from Hayden Kirk and Don Wheless. Ben Miller earned the victory as goalkeeper.

Gravelly Hill will face Smith Middle School in Chapel Hill for the OPAC Championship on October 29.

If you have any results from any other middle school sports in Hillsborough, please send them to hamlin37@hotmail.com. This includes cross country, volleyball, etc.

The Orange coaching staff did little to mask its frustration as they prepared to leave Henderson on Friday night.

After losing to power running teams in Southern Durham and Northern Durham the previous two weeks, the Panthers faced the high school equivalent of a Big 12 passing attack in Vance County. Vipers quarterback Samein Burwell torched the Panthers defense for 445 yards and five touchdowns as Vance County won 40-30 after they jumped out to a 40-30 lead on Friday night.

The cumulative effect of dropping three straight conference games was clearly on Orange Coach Van Smith’s mind. He also has rarely had a defense give up so much yardage. Even more painful was Orange has now lost nine of its last eleven games and the chances for a winning season are virtually nil.

“We’re better than a five-win football team,” Smith said afterward with more than a touch of anger in his voice.

Fortunately, with three games remaining in the season, Orange still has something to play for. Highschool.ot.com released its latest projections for the state football playoffs, which will be released three weeks from this Saturday. Currently, Orange has a #70 Maxpreps ranking. Where things get interesting is Northwood is listed as one of the last five teams in, according to writer Nick Stevens.

Of course, Orange hosts Northwood this Friday night for Homecoming at Auman Stadium. Last year, the Panthers largely had its way with the Chargers in Pittsboro. Eryk Mercado and Jake DeFranco each had interceptions, and Mercado added a rushing touchdown in a 24-7 Orange win.

On top of that, Orange finishes with a road trip to Cedar Ridge and senior night against Chapel Hill, two teams that the Panthers have dominated over the past six years. A 5-6 mark could get the Panthers into the playoffs. After missing the postseason last year, it would be a nice way to end the season.

It’s not like Orange is a young tea. Four of the five starters along the offensive line are seniors, with right tackle Robert Bray the only exception. Quarterback Wyatt Jones, running back Machai Holt and starting wide receivers Zyon Pettiford and Cameron White have never played in a postseason game.

Plus, there’s starting center Brody Andrews, who has played three years of varsity football. His sophomore year at Cedar Ridge, the Red Wolves went 1-10. And that one win was stopped in the 2nd quarter because of rain.

On top of that, Orange has a bit of revenge to consider. In 2017, Northwood very nearly wrecked Orange’s hopes of winning the Big 8 Championship when they rallied from a 14-0 deficit to win 21-20 in overtime. Plenty has changed around Northwood since then. Former head coach Brian Harrington left at the end of last season. The only players who were on the field in 2017 for Northwood that will play on Friday night are starting wide receivers Aaron Ross and Jalen McAfee.

At the end of the day, the questions about whether Orange is a conference championship team have been answered. But the question of whether Orange is a state playoff team is very much open, and the Panthers will have no one to blame but themselves if they can’t answer in the affirmative Friday night.

Payton Wilson: On Wednesday, the Football Writers Association of America named Wilson to its Freshman All-American watch list. As mentioned in Sunday’s edition, Wilson is third on N.C. State’s football team with 36 tackles this season. He has three-and-a-half tackles for loss through six games. He’s also tied for second the team with three special teams tackles. Wilson is a 2018 Orange graduate who won the 2017 3A state championship in wrestling at 220 pounds. He was also a midfielder in lacrosse before leaving Orange in January 2018 to enroll early in Raleigh.

Chandler Compton: The 2016 Orange graduate played on senior night for the Wofford men’s soccer team in Spartanburg, SC on Wednesday night. Compton played eight minutes as the Terriers defeated VMI 3-0 at Snyder Field. It was Compton’s first game of the season for the Terriers. Wofford named John Tyson, a former assistant with Charlotte Independence of the United Soccer League, as its new head coach last December. The Terriers are 4-9-1 overall, 2-1-1 in the Southern Conference.

Lionel Reid-Shaw: Division III Gettysburg defeated Dickinson 4-2 at Clark Field in Gettysburg, PA on Sunday night. Reid-Shaw started for Dickinson at center back. The Red Devils are now 8-6, 4-2 in the Centennial Conference. Reid-Shaw has played in 13 games for Dickinson this year and started nine.

Kayla Hodges: Another goal for Hodges as Elon defeated James Madison 3-2 at Rudd Field in Elon on Sunday. Hodges tallied her fourth goal of the season in the 40th minute off a corner kick sent in by Hannah Doherty. Hodges has scored goals in three consecutive games. After a three-win season in 2018, the Phoenix is in the hunt for the Colonial Athletic Association Championship. Elon is tied with UNC Wilmington for second. Hofstra leads the CAA with a 5-0-2 mark with two games remaining in the regular season. Elon travels to Delaware Thursday night.

Taylin Jean: On Sunday, Jean claimed her seventh win of the season in net for the Division II Limestone women’s soccer team. The Saints defeated Emmanuel 3-1 in Stephen Athletic Complex in Franklin Spring, GA. Jean made eight saves for the win. On Wednesday night, Carson-Newman defeated Limestone 2-1, the Saints’ first home loss of the season. Jean started at goalkeeper for Limestone and made three saves. Limestone is 7-6 overall, 6-2 in Conference Carolinas. They fall one game behind Carson-Newman for 1st place in the league.

Brittany Daley: Pfeiffer defeated the Division III Greensboro College women’s soccer team 1-0 on Wednesday night at Pride Field in Greensboro in a battle for first place in the USA South Athletic Conference. Daley started her 16th game of the season for the Pride. Greensboro’s seven-game undefeated streak came to an end. The Pride are 11-4-1 overall, 5-1-1 in the USA South. They are tied with Pfeiffer in the loss column for first place. The Falcons are 7-1. However, Pfeiffer is ineligible for the USA South Tournament because they have reclassified as a Division III program (they were previously Division II).

Jordan Rogers: Division III Meredith defeated the William Peace women’s soccer team 2-1 at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary on Tuesday. Rogers started her 16th game of the year for the Pacers. Peace is 6-10, 2-5 in the USA South.

Lili Henry: Division III Methodist volleyball team swept Pfeiffer in Merner Gym in Misenheimer on Wednesday night. The Monarchs never trailed in winning 25-20, 25-19, and 25-15. Henry popped up 20 assists for the Monarchs. Methodist improves to 5-15, 4-8 in the USA South.

Bailey Lucas: The Division III Meredith volleyball team swept North Carolina Wesleyan at Weatherspoon Gymnasium in Raleigh on Tuesday night. Lucas played in all three sets, finishing with 12 assists, six digs and two aces. Meredith is 16-7 overall, 10-2 in the USA South.

Olivia Ward has been through a lot in her four years at Cedar Ridge. Last week, she accomplished qualifying for the 3A State Singles Championship for the firs time and how she did it was remarkable. After winning over a player from Terry Sanford in the opening round, Ward faced Orange’s Jera Hargrove with a spot in the state championship on the line. Ward won a grueling match 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 in a dual that lasted over two-and-a-half hours. Last October, Ward qualified for the 3A State Championships in doubles with Alana Lutz as her teammate. In 2016, Ward was a part of Cedar Ridge’s Big 8 Conference Championship team. Along the way, Ward underwent major thoracic surgery at Duke Hospital. She still has to go through rehabilitation drills to this day. Now, Ward is set to compete for the state championship. She has also committed to Methodist University in Fayetteville to continue her tennis career. 

Yet another Hillsborough baseball product is set to take his talent to the college level.

Last week, former Orange and Cedar Ridge shortstop/2nd baseman Dante DeFranco committed to Charlotte. The 49ers were the only school to offer DeFranco a scholarship. UNC Asheville, UNC Greensboro, and Old Dominion also recruited DeFranco.

“I’ve been wanting to go to Charlotte for about two years now,” DeFranco said. “The coaching staff is great. The atmosphere is great. The campus is beautiful and it’s not too far from home. It’s Division I baseball.”

DeFranco joins former teammates Cooper Porter, Joey Berini, and Phillip Berger as players who have committed to playing in college. Porter, a senior left fielder, committed to N.C. State after his freshman year. Berini agreed to attend East Carolina in June. Berger, the winningest pitcher in Cedar Ridge history, started classes at William Peace University in Raleigh last August.

DeFranco spent his first three years at Cedar Ridge, where he played shortstop for two teams that won state playoff games. He shared the middle infield with his younger brother, Jake. As a sophomore in 2017, DeFranco helped Cedar Ridge to a 17-7 record, including a 4-1 win over Nash Central in the opening round of the 3A State Playoffs. It was Cedar Ridge’s first postseason win in eleven years.

DeFranco led the Red Wolves with 30 hits. He hit .375 with 17 RBIs.

In his junior season, DeFranco hit .348 with 19 runs, 24 hits and 20 RBIs. The DeFrancos, Berger Adam Chnupa, Sailor Ramos and Matthew Kahn helped the Red Wolves to an 18-6 season, its best record of the decade. Cedar Ridge defeated Southern Alamance in the 3A State Playoffs before falling to Terry Sanford in Fayetteville.

In his senior season, Cedar Ridge didn’t field a varsity football team. DeFranco, who started for Scott Loosemore’s final Cedar Ridge football team as a junior, and four other Red Wolves received permission from the Orange County School Board to transfer to Orange to continue their gridiron careers. DeFranco started at wide receiver and was third on the team with 20 receptions for 200 yards.

Last spring, DeFranco started at 2nd base for Orange. He kicked off his senior year by lining the very first pitch of the season off the left field wall for a stand-up double against Ragsdale in Jamestown in an 18-0 win. DeFranco alternated between the top two batting slots for first-year head coach Jason Knapp. He was 2nd on the team with a .425 batting average. He also had 31 hits (tied for 2nd on the team) and a team-high 29 RBIs. DeFranco also tied for the team lead with three home runs.

In Charlotte, DeFranco will play under Robert Woodard, who was named the new 49ers head coach in June. Woodard has been the pitching coach at UNC the past three years.

“The whole coaching staff is awesome,” DeFranco said. “The hitting coach is Bo Robinson and he’s been in Charlotte for awhile now. When I was a sophomore and junior, I used to go to a bunch of camps at Charlotte. He was one of the coaches I talked to the most.”

While he spends the next year in the Triangle, DeFranco is staying in shape for baseball by playing for the Pro5 Baseball Academy out of Raleigh. This month, the Pro5 team has trips scheduled for Barton College in Wilson, Lenior Community College, South Carolina-Lancaster, Brunswick Community College and even a journey to Puerto Rico for Halloween.

DeFranco is currently taking courses at Wake Technical Community College. He plans to enroll in Charlotte next August.

The list of former Hillsborough products who are currently playing college baseball include Brad Debo (N.C. State), Landon Riley (Liberty), DeFranco’s former teammate Brandon Andrews (Nicholls), Will White (Greensboro College), Jason Slaughter (Belmont Abbey), Caige Clayton (Brevard College).