The Cedar Ridge JV football team defeated Southern Durham on Thursday night at Spartan Stadium. Red Wolves Coach Antonio King is no stranger to a rivalry with Southern. As a former coach at Hillside, the Spartans and the Hornets battled for supremacy in the PAC-6 Conference for years. After another win, the Red Wolves turn its attention to Orange this Thursday night at Cedar Ridge Stadium. Whether its varsity or junior varsity, the Red Wolves have had little success against the Panthers in recent years. They haven’t beaten Orange since 2010 in varsity or JV. The Red Wolves will look to change that on Thursday in a game you can hear live here on HillsboroughSports.com.

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The Cedar Ridge JV football team defeated Southern Durham on Thursday night at Spartan Stadium. Red Wolves Coach Antonio King is no stranger to a rivalry with Southern. As a former coach at Hillside, the Spartans and the Hornets battled for supremacy in the PAC-6 Conference for years.

While most people around Cedar Ridge know Amy Stutzer from playing left field for the Red Wolves softball team, this year she opted to try a new sport: golf. She qualified for the 3A Mideast regionals for the Cedar Ridge women’s golf team earlier this month. Interestingly enough, she took up golf in August so Cedar Ridge women’s golf coach Clay Jones could have enough players to field a team. Stutzer shot a 47 in a nine-hole meet to propel Cedar Ridge to a victory over Person. Now, she’ll spend the winter gearing up for softball season, where the Red Wolves are the defending Big 8 Conference champions.

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While most people around Cedar Ridge know Amy Stutzer from playing left field for the Red Wolves softball team, this year she opted to try a new sport: golf. She qualified for the 3A Mideast regionals for the Cedar Ridge women’s golf team earlier this month.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is men’s soccer midfielder Levi Anderson. On October 8, Anderson scored a goal from 35 yards out as Orange defeated Cedar Ridge 2-0 at Cedar Ridge Stadium to capture the 2nd leg of the Hillsborough Derby. The following night, Anderson scored on a corner kick with :35 remaining in the 2nd overtime as Orange defeated Northwood 3-2 in Pittsboro. Next week, Anderson will start preparing for his final wrestling campaign at Orange. Anderson has won two individual 3A Mideast Regional championships at Orange, including the 145-pound wrestling title last year at Chapel Hill High. He’s also been a member of two Orange squads that have won consecutive 3A Eastern Regional team championships. On Wednesday, Anderson and the rest of the Orange soccer team will face Northwood on Senior night at Orange Soccer Park. In this video, Anderson is alongside goalkeeper and fellow senior Francisco McKinley.

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Uploaded by Hillsborough Sports on 2018-10-22.

In his first season at Orange High, free safety Jake DeFranco has come close to scoring his first touchdown. He nearly crossed the goal line in the season-opener against Northern Nash on August 17, but was tackled at the 5-yard line. DeFranco also had a lengthy punt return against Southern Durham. On Friday, DeFranco scored Orange’s 2nd non-offensive touchdown of the season when he scooped up a fumble against Northwood and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown. DeFranco started a trend as Orange collected four takeaways in the first half, scoring 21 points off turnovers as the Panthers defeated the Chargers 24-7 in Pittsboro. In this interview, DeFranco work a special lime green Superman uniform.

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Uploaded by None on 2018-10-21.

Brittany Daley: As a true freshman, Brittany Daley completed a perfect regular season on Saturday as the Division III Greensboro College women’s soccer team defeated Averett University 5-0 at Pride Field in Greensboro. Daley, who graduated from Cedar Ridge in June, started at centerback. It is the first perfect regular season in school history. The Pride captured the USA South Athletic Conference regular season championship last week after beating Meredith 3-1 on October 17. This season, Daley has played in all 16 of the Pride’s wins, making 13 starts. Greensboro College is 16-0 and starts play in the USA South Athletic Conference Tournament on Wednesday.

Stone Edwards: The 2017 Orange High graduate played his sixth game of the season for Vanderbilt, who lost to #14 Kentucky 14-7 at Kroger Field in Lexington, KY. Edwards, a redshirt freshman, didn’t make a tackle against the Wildcats. Through six games, Edwards has six tackles and one sack.

Lili Henry: The Division III Methodist volleyball team faced off against Meredith, the leaders in the USA South Athletic Conference on Saturday at the Riddle Center in Fayetteville. Meredith defeated the Monarchs 3-2 (19-25, 13-25, 25-18, 25-19 & 15-11). Henry, a Cedar Ridge graduate, finished with 37 assists and 17 digs. It was another tri-match for the Monarchs, who started the day with a 3-0 win over Mary Baldwin (25-5, 25-4 & 25-16). In the win over the Fighting Squirrels, Henry had 24 assists, one kill, and four digs. Methodist is now 14-7 overall, 8-5 in the USA South. On Wednesday, Methodist defeated Pfeiffer 3-0 (25-21, 25-21 & 25-16). Henry finished with 33 assists, two aces, and ten digs. Henry has played in all 21 of Methodist’s matches, starting in 19. She has 644 assists. Methodist is in 5th place in the USA South, one-and-a-half games behind Salem for 4th.

Bailey Lucas: The former Orange High star played for Meredith in its win over Methodist on Saturday, where she faced off against Henry. Lucas played in three sets and had five digs. Against Mary Baldwin, Lucas had two aces and one dig. Meredith is 14-0 in the USA South, 19-3 overall.

Lindsay Thompson & Caroline Compton: On Thursday in Jamestown, the Cape Fear Community College volleyball team swept Guilford Technical Community College 3-0 (25-17, 25-14 & 25-19). Thompson, who graduated from Cedar Ridge in 2017, led the Sea Devils with 12 digs. She also had five aces. Compton finished with one kill, seven digs and 23 assists. On Friday, the Sea Devils were swept in a doubleheader at Louisburg College. Catawba Valley Community College defeated CFCC 3-0. Louisburg College also swept the Sea Devils 3-0. Statistics for those games weren’t released. On Saturday at Laney High School in Wilmington, Cape Fear swept Davidson County Community College 3-0 in a tri-match. The Sea Devils dropped the subsequent game 3-1 to USC Lancaster.

Chandler Compton: The Wofford men’s soccer team defeated Belmont 3-2 at Snyder Field in Spartanburg, S.C. on Saturday. Compton came off the bench and recorded a shot on net as the Terriers improved to 3-10-1 overall, 2-3 in the Southern Conference. Compton, a sophomore who graduated from Orange in 2017, has played in nine games this season for the Terriers, starting three.

Kayla Hodges: The Elon Women’s Soccer team finishes its regular season this weekend. On Thursday, James Madison defeated the Phoenix 3-0 at Sentara Park in Harrisonburg, VA. Hodges, who graduated from Orange in June, came off the bench to fire a shot on net, one of five for Elon against the Dukes. Last Sunday, UNC Wilmington defeated Elon 4-3. Again, Hodges fired a shot after entering the game as a reserve. Elon goes into Sunday’s game against Drexel in Philadelphia with a 3-9-3 overall record, 1-6 in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Lionel Reid-Shaw: The Division III Dickinson College men’s soccer team had a six-game unbeaten streak come to an end on Saturday, losing to Haverford 2-0 in a showdown for 1st place in the Centennial Conference in Haverford, PA. Reid-Shaw, who graduated from Orange, started at centerback for the Red Devils, who are now 10-4-2 overall, 5-2-1 in the Centennial. On Wedensday, Reid-Shaw got another start as the Red Devils defeated Muhlenberg 3-0 in Allentown, PA.

Jordan Rogers: The Division III William Peace women’s soccer team concluded its regular season on Saturday with a 2-0 loss to Salem at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary. Rogers, who graduated from Orange in June, started for the Pacers. On Thursday, Averett defeated William Peace 1-0 in Cary, another match that Rogers started. This season, started all 12 of William Peace’s matches, scoring one goal and two assists.

Story by Curran Campbell

The Cedar Ridge Red Wolves JV football team took a quick trip down I-85 to face the newly named Southern School of Energy and Sustainability Spartans, who were previously the Southern Durham Spartans. Coming off a tough loss against the Chapel Hill Tigers, the Red Wolves bounced back in a big way against the Spartans.

Cedar Ridge received the opening kickoff and got off to a blazing start. On the first play from scrimmage, quarterback Will Berger connected with KJ Barnes on a deep pass for 65 yards to set up a first and goal, the drive would conclude with an Isaiah McCambry 1 yard touchdown scamper on fourth down would make it 6-0 Red Wolves a minute and a half into the game. Southern went 3 and out on the following possession, and the Red Wolves marched right down the field again, this time with Elijah Whitaker executing the read option perfectly and waltzing into the endzone for an easy six points and a 12-0 Cedar Ridge lead.

Still in the first quarter, Southern quarterback Jeremiah Lynch was picked off by Drew Carlson, and Cedar Ridge carved up the Southern defense for a third time already on the day as Alwin Garcia Mendez would punch it in on the ground this time, following the two point conversion, Cedar Ridge had a 20-0 lead.

Southern would bounce back however, as tailback John Brown Jr. took a 60 yard run to the house and cut the Red Wolves lead to 20-7. In the ensuing possession, a Will Berger pass was intercepted by Jewalace Holmes and Southern would turn that pick into points on a touchdown pass from Lynch to John Paulino. The seemingly insurmountable early Red Wolves lead was now only 20-15 after the two point conversion as the clock on the first quarter hit triple zeroes.

With the seemingly endless opening frame behind them, Cedar Ridge would get back on track to start the second quarter of play. Isaiah McCambry had a 60 yard touchdown run to extend the Cedar Ridge lead to 26-15 on the opening drive of the quarter. Later on in the quarter, Cedar Ridge head coach Antonio King was ejected from the game due to use of foul language.

When asked about the ejection, Coach King admitted his fault and said that “The two guys I left in charge did a very good job and the kids kind of responded to it, they knew what was happening, but it’s not fun. I’ve got the kids running wind sprints for acting the same way. They’ve got to be accountable, and I’ve got to be accountable.”

To start the third quarter, the Red Wolves came out with even more energy, the Cedar Ridge defense forced a three and out on the opening possession, and the offense drove down the field to score another rushing touchdown by way of Isaiah McCambry. A fumbled punt and a third McCambry rushing touchdown later, it was 38-15 Cedar Ridge.

The final frame only had one scoring play, a three yard rush on the read option play by Spartan wildcat quarterback and receiver Jewalace Holmes. The 2 point conversion was good to make it 38-23, but the ensuing onside kick failed to go ten yards and the Red Wolves just had to run out the clock en route to their third victory of the season.

Even after the win though, Coach King still says there are still fundamental aspects of the game that need to be worked on. “Tackling, blocking, all the basic, fundamental stuff that still seems to elude us in these types of situations. We’re going to keep working at it and keep getting better everyday.”

The 3-3 Red Wolves will take on their archrival Orange Panthers this Thursday, October 25th at Cedar Ridge Stadium.

Not only did Orange senior safety Eryk Mercado score his second touchdown in five days on Friday night, he also led the Northwood Chargers in receiving. Mercado had a 44-yard interception return during the 1st quarter of Orange’s 24-7 win over Northwood on Friday night in Pittsboro. He finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to put Orange ahead 14-0. Mercado, who was All-Big 8 as a junior, now has three interceptions this season and has scored two touchdowns. As Orange ventures into its final three games of the season, Mercado is focused on trying to get the Panthers back into the state playoffs for the eighth straight season.

Orange Safety Eryk Mercado Discusses INT & TD vs. Northwood

Not only did Orange senior safety Eryk Mercado score his second touchdown in five days on Friday night, he also led the Northwood Chargers in receiving. Mercado had a 44-yard interception return during the 1st quarter of Orange’s 24-7 win over Northwood on Friday night in Pittsboro.