Cedar Ridge outside hitter Hannah Weaks played all three sets of the Red Wolves 3-0 win over Southern Durham on Thursday night. It was Senior Night for the Red Wolves. Weaks finished with four kills and three digs as the Red Wolves improved to 7-14 overall. Once Weeks graduates in June, she’s planning on attending East Carolina. She’s such a diehard Pirate fan, she weather the lightning delay during Labor Day weekend in East Carolina game against North Carolina A&T at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville.

Cedar Ridge Senior Hannah Weeks Discusses Senior Night Win

Cedar Ridge outside hitter Hannah Weeks played all three sets of the Red Wolves 3-0 win over Southern Durham on Thursday night. It was Senior Night for the Red Wolves. Weeks finished with four kills and three digs as the Red Wolves improved to 7-14 overall.

Cedar Ridge senior outside hitter Colby Rabalais played her final match at Red Wolves Gymnasium on Thursday night. The Red Wolves defeated Southern Durham 3-0 on scores of 25-7, 25-9 & 25-4. Rabalais finished with four kills and a season-high nine aces. She also registered five digs. Rabalais even had a paper mask made for her, as did all the other seniors for the Red Wolves. Cedar Ridge will start play in the Big 8 Tournament on Wednesday night with a first-round match at Northwood in the quarterfinals. Rabalais discussed what she learned during her three years playing varsity and playing for first year head coach Anna Seethaler.

Cedar Ridge Senior Colby Rabalais Talks Winning on Senior Night

Cedar Ridge senior outside hitter Colby Rabalais played her final match at Red Wolves Gymnasium on Thursday night. The Red Wolves defeated Southern Durham 3-0 on scores of 25-7, 25-9 & 25-4. Rabalais finished with four kills and a season-high nine aces. She also registered five digs.

Bryse WIlson: As the Atlanta Braves start their first postseason appearance since 2013 on Thursday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Divisional Series, 2017 Orange graduate Bryse Wilson is back at home. After being called up to Atlanta on September 1, Wilson isn’t on Atlanta’s postseson roster. He can be called back in case of an emergency. Wilson showed up at Orange’s football practice on Tuesday at Stanford Middle School Baseball Field.

Chandler Compton: On Tuesday night, Chandler Compton entered the game in the 85th minute for Wofford in the Terriers’ 4-2 loss to #23 Duke at Koskinen Stadium in Durham. Compton is believe to be the first Orange men’s soccer player to play against a Top 25 team. Compton has played five games this season for Wofford, starting twice and compiling 217 minutes. Wofford, 1-7-1 overall, hosts East Tennessee State at Snyder Field in Spartanburg, S.C. in its Southern Conference opener on Saturday.

Rachel Shinnick: Shinnick, a 2015 Orange graduate, started as a centerback for the Wofford women’s soccer team on Sunday, when Samford defeated the Terriers 2-0. Shinnick was credited with a shot. Wofford is now 2-9-1, 0-4 in the Southern Conference. They travel to face VMI in Lexington, VA on Friday night.

Kayla Hodges: On Sunday, Elon defeated Towson 2-0 on Senior Day at Rudd Field. Hodges, who graduated from Orange in June, entered the game as a reserve. Elon improved to 3-5-3, 1-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association. Hodges has played in three games this season for the Phoenix. Elon travels to Northeastern in Brookline, MA on Sunday.

Brittany Daley: On Wednesday night, Division III Greensboro College maintained its undefeated record by beating Pfeiffer 2-1 at Pride Field. Daley started at centerback. She has started eight of Greensboro’s ten matches, registering 485 minutes. Greensboro is 10-0, 2-0 in the USA South Athletic Conference. On Saturday, Greensboro faces Methodist in Fayetteville.

Jordan Rogers: Methodist defeated Division III William Peace 4-0 at WakeMed Soccer Park on Tuesday night. Jordan Rogers, a freshman at Peace, started her eighth game of the season. She was credited with one of the two shots the Pacers fired in the match. Peace is now 2-5-1 overall. On Saturday, Peace travels to Misenheimer to face Pfeiffer University.

Lionel Reid-Shaw: For the second straight match, Division III Dickinson College scored five goals on Tuesday night. The Red Devils defeated Misericordia 5-1 in Carlisle, PA. Reid-Shaw, who graduated from Orange in 2016, made his 11th start at wingback for Dickinson. The Red Devils are 7-3-1 overall, 3-1 in the Centennial Conference. They travel to Washington College in Chestertown, MD on Saturday night.

Lili Henry: The 2017 Cedar Ridge graduate started her tenth match of the season on Monday night for Division III Methodist, as the Monarchs fell to Salem College 3-0 (25-13, 25-23 & 25-22). Methodist is 8-4 overall, 2-2 in the USA South Athletic Conference. Henry had 22 assists. On Thursday night, Methodist travels to face North Carolina Wesleyan in Rocky Mount.

Jordan Lloyd: Agnes Scott defeated Division III Brevard College 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-18) on Tuesday afternoon in Macon, GA. Lloyd, a 2017 Orange graduate, had eight kills for the Tornadoes, which tied for the team lead. Lloyd also had seven digs. Brevard is now 0-15, 0-6 in the USA South Athletic Conference. The Tornadoes host the Covenant Scots on Saturday afternoon at Boshamer Gymnasium.

The Cedar Ridge Women’s Cross Country team continued a successful season on Tuesday afternoon. The Red Wolves captured the Big 8 Conference meet at Orange High, which also featured Orange, Northwood and Eno River. Anne Morrell was the highest finisher for Cedar Ridge, coming in 2nd. The Red Wolves finished 2nd-7th to claim the top spot in the meet. Over the weekend in Greensboro, the Cedar Ridge women’s squad finished 2nd among 16 teams in the Greensboro Cross Country Invitational in Pleasant Garden. Morrell is joined by Allegra Hart, Allison Musty, Zoe Wade, Jill Myler & Ruby Lapham in this interview.

Cedar RIdge’s Anne Morrell & the Women’s Cross Country Team Discuss Victory at Orange

The Cedar Ridge Women’s Cross Country team continued a successful season on Tuesday afternoon. The Red Wolves captured the Big 8 Conference meet at Orange High, which also featured Orange, Northwood and Eno River. Anne Morrell was the highest finisher for Cedar Ridge, coming in 2nd.

On Tuesday, Orange held its only cross country event of the season at Auman Stadium. The Panthers welcomed Northwood, Cedar Ridge and Eno River. Northwood captured the boys race. It was senior day for Kyle Van Tubbergh, Sam Rasinske and Alberto Daniel. Last weekend, Van Tubbergh finished 38th at the Greensboro Cross Country Invitational. Rasisnke came in 66th. On September 25 at Chapel Hill High, Van Tubbergh had his best finish of the season, coming in 5th place in a meet that included Chapel Hill, Northern Durham and Southern Durham. Rasinske finished tenth. Van Tubbergh and Rasisnke discussed their goals for the rest of this season.

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On Friday night, Northern Durham and Orange will square off at Durham County Stadium, each with undefeated records in the Big 8 Conference.

It will be the first time they’ve faced off with unblemished league marks since 1991.

For the current generation, it’s hard to explain what Northern Durham football once was.  The incredible statistics that measure Northern’s dominance over the span of several generations can be reeled off to a mind-numbing degree. They won every PAC-6 Conference Championship from 1984-2001. From 1976-2000, they didn’t lose to another team from Durham County. From 1991-1996, didn’t lose a regular season game.

The numbers only tell a portion of the story. The first time I attended a Northern home game, I expected to pull up to a high school. Instead, I arrived to 10,000 seat Durham County Stadium, which was around 30 years old in the mid-80s. By current standards, a facility that grand might seem oversized for high school football, but it wasn’t back then. Especially during the early-90s, when Northern competed for state championships at a time when the North Carolina High School Athletic Association only awarded four state titles in football. For a player, competing under the lights in front 6,000 fans instantly created a big game atmosphere. And every year, Northern played in several big games, be it against teams from the PAC-6 Conference or in the 4A state playoffs.

In the 90s, when Duke football struggled just to win a game and North Carolina Central was Division II, Northern didn’t just feel like a high school team. They felt like Durham’s team.

Even when Northern wasn’t at home, they traveled like a successful college program. The teams that welcomed the Knights, regardless of whether they were in Henderson or Oxford or Chapel Hill, would see its biggest crowd of the year against the Knights. Part of that was home fans curious to see if their squad could slay the invincible giant. Part of that was Northern supporters.

The parents, coaches and staff carried themselves like it was a college program. In the press box, each member of Northern’s coaching staff, film crew, and radio crew work a Navy blue shirt. Northern’s gold and navy blue were just as synonymous in local circles as the garnet-and-gold of Florida State, which is an apt comparison.

When Florida State joined the ACC in 1991, they turned aside one challenge after another in winning nine consecutive ACC Championships. When Northern won every PAC-6 crown in the 90s, the dirty little secret is they weren’t the most talented team in the league each of those years. Sure, in 1993 when they won the 4A state championship, they lapped the field with players like quarterback Jason Peace, who would go on to play at UNC. Or Steve Carson, who played at Appalachian State or Charles Berry, who played under Mike O’Cain at N.C. State.

In the early 90s, a difficult set of challengers squared off against Northern. Arguably, some of them had more talent than Northern.

In 1990, Orange had quarterback Scott Satterfield, tailback Damon Scott and a solid defense. Hillside had an excellent signal caller named Antonio King, now the coach at Cedar Ridge. Chapel Hill had Bernardo Harris, who would go on to play at UNC and win a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens in 2000.

Each year, the challengers lined up like villains waiting to challenge Batman and Robin in the 1960s. And, just like the Riddler or Catwoman or the Joker, they would all be vanquished.

That’s because Northern didn’t just have talent. They also had head coach Ken Browning, who was so highly respected within coaching circles, he joined Mack Brown’s staff at UNC after winning the state title in 1993. Browning was an assistant for four different UNC coaches and was with the program at its zenith in 1997, when they started 9-0 before losing to eventual national champion Florida State.

In 1994, Gary Merrill replaced Browning and captured nine PAC-6 Championships, but times were changing. Riverside opened on the other end of northern Durham County in 1990, quickly taking some of Northern’s would-be talent.

In 2004, Merrill walked away from coaching after his wife Janet, who was an athletic trainer at Northern, was killed after being struck by a tractor-trailer while jogging in Hurdle Mills. Each of Merrill’s successors learned the hard way that trying to replace a legend was a thankless task.

Eventually, the talent level fell off as Durham County become more balanced. In 2010, while Hillside celebrated a 4A state championship under King, Northern had a winless season. They even lost at East Chapel Hill on a last-second field goal in front of then-UNC coach Butch Davis.

It’s been a long climb back to prosperity for the Knights. In 2013, Orange got its elusive victory over Northern in decisive fashion, 42-15. It was the Panthers first win over the Knights since 1968.

Ironically, the man who has led Northern back to prominence is John Hammett, who was on the staff of J.F. Webb in 1997 under former East Carolina offensive coordinator Don Murray. The Warriors ended Northern 69-game regular season winning streak in 1997 after a remarkable performance by future Duke star Ronnie Hamilton.

Last year, Orange and Northern tied for the Big 8 Championship, but the Panthers won decisively in a head-to-head matchup at Auman Stadium. Orange has beaten Northern four straight times, but now the Knights are undefeated.

In short, Northern has plenty to play for. They haven’t won an outright conference championship since 2003. Northern wants to bring the glory days back, and on Friday night, they could find it.

The Cedar Ridge JV team has now won two in a row after rolling past Northwood 60-0 on Monday night in Pittsboro. Freshman William Berger had another strong game behind center for the Red Wolves. Cedar Ridge now prepares for Homecoming night against Chapel Hill this Friday night at Cedar Ridge Stadium.

Cedar Ridge QB William Berger Talks Northwood Win

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