For the fourth straight time, the Orange volleyball team defeated the Cedar Ridge Red Wolves on Tuesday night. In a 3-0 sweep, senior Libby Jones finished with seven kills and two digs. The Panthers never trailed in any of the three sets. Just one night removed from a five-set loss to Person in Roxboro, the Panthers improved to 6-2 overall, 2-1 in the Big 8 Conference. Orange travels to Northwood on Thursday night. 

Orange Volleyball Senior Libby Jones Discusses Win over Cedar Ridge

No Description

The Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is senior volleyball outside hitter Colby Rabalais.

In the Red Wolves’ season-opener against Bartlett Yancey, they were only three points away from a loss after dropping the first two sets. Rabalais came up with two big aces as the Red Wolves captured the set, and eventually captured the match on scores of 21-25, 16-25, 25-20, 25-22 and 15-12.

On Thursday, Cedar Ridge defeated Eastern Alamance 3-1. Rabalais came away with seven kills and one block. In Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to Durham School of the Arts, Rabalais had six digs.

“She really rose to the occasion against Eastern Alamance,” said Cedar Ridge Volleyball Coach Anna Seethaler.”She just really got the crowd moving and really took a lead position. “She is a great comeback player. She shows a lot of fire and is ready to play wherever we are. That’s the type of player you want to have on your team.”

Last season as a junior, Rabalais had 78 kills, 18 aces, and 90 blocks. This is her third varsity season. As a sophomore, she started two games.

On Tuesday night, Rabalais and her teammates will attempt to defeat archrival Orange. The first of two meetings between the crosstown rivals takes place at Cedar Ridge. Last season, the Panthers swept the Red Wolves. Orange won the first match on August 31^st 3-1 at OHS. On September 26^th, Orange defeated Cedar Ridge 3-0.

Our 2nd Orange Panther of the Week for 2018 is Orange Soccer midfielder Cam Michalski. Last week, Michalski scored a goal as the Panthers earned its first win of the season over Person 5-1 in Roxboro. On Tuesday night, Michalski scored in a 2-2 tie with Eastern Alamance. On Monday, Orange handily defeated Eastern Alamance in a rematch at Orange Soccer Field 4-2. When he isn’t playing soccer for club teams, Cam likes rooting on Chelsea in England’s Premier League and hopes the Blues won’t have a repeat of the 2017 season. Orange returns to action on Tuesday night to face Person in Hillsborough. 

Orange Panther of the Week: Cam Michalski

No Description

Two Cents from the Franklin Mint

with Jon Franklin

Let me first by stating that I’m not a fan of moral victories.

But if you’re the Cedar Ridge Red Wolves, there were many small victories that took place in Thursday night’s narrow, 10-8 loss to the Eastern Guilford Wildcats.

In last week’s 40-12 home opening loss to Southeast Guilford, the Red Wolves totally took themselves out of the game with five turnovers (three lost fumbles and two interceptions) and a plethora of silly, yet devastating false start and offside penalties. In regards to the turnovers, four out of five scoring plays for Southeast Guilford came directly after a Cedar Ridge miscue.

This wasn’t the case against Eastern Guilford.

The Cedar Ridge defense was the driving force for keeping the game close. The quality quartet of defensive linemen Braxton Mergenthal, Braeden Thompson, Robert Capistran, and Zack Holmes made solid plays in keeping the Eastern offense in check. With the timely blitzing of linebacker Isiah McCambry, Eastern had many runs thwarted.

The second quarter saw this line put together a spectacular goal line stand following a long Eastern drive that brought the ball to the one-yard line. After two penalties that put the ball inside the one, Mergenthal and Thompson tag-teamed to drop an Eastern ball carrier back to the three to turn the ball over on downs.

This was a definite improvement from last week when the Red Wolves just seem to couldn’t get off the field and let their offense put points on the board.

—–

The special teams unit was also on point as the Red Wolves blocked a punt in the first quarter and came within inches of another block in the second.

The charging Red Wolves’ special teams stayed in the mind of the Eastern punter as he bobbled the snap from his own one-yard line, forcing him to scramble. The punter picked up the ball at the last second and was forced out of the back of the end zone, resulting in a safety, giving Cedar Ridge an 8-7 lead.

McCambry, Kiersten Barnes, and Desi Raspberry were solid in the return game averaging well over 20 yards per return. Following Eastern’s go-ahead 22-yard field goal in the fourth quarter, Raspberry returned the ensuing kickoff 40 yards to the Eastern 45-yard line to set up a potential game-winning drive.

—–

The Cedar Ridge offense had flashes of brilliance. While successful against Southeast Guilford, starting quarterback Elijah Whitaker had a tough time in the run game. His abilities on the draw and option plays were stymied by the Eastern defense. Backup Will Berger came out firing in the second quarter, connecting on a huge 50-yard pass to McCambry. He also was brought in last minute of the game trying to recreate what he started before halftime before throwing an interception at the Eastern 15-yard line that sealed the win.

But enter McCambry and Nick Nolan. Both “Thunder & Lightning” were instrumental in Cedar Ridge winning the time of possession battle via the rushing attack. Unlike the Southeast Guilford game where every other play was a pass or penalty, the pace of play was considerably faster. Both McCambry and Nolan

Barnes, McCambry, Raspberry were also helpful in receiving. Despite a couple of dropped passes near the end zone, the receiving corps made improving strides.

———-

The Takeaways:

Penalties and Turnovers continued to plague the Red Wolves.

Despite winning the battle in penalty yardage (Eastern – 68 yards, Cedar Ridge – 35 yards), the Red Wolves were still hit hard by the simplest of penalties, false start & offside. These took place when either Cedar Ridge was driving in Eastern territory, or when the Wildcats faced short yardage at the line to gain. These penalties have got to be irking the lineman coaches, as these penalties you hope to avoid with muscle memory and learning the snap counts.

While Cedar Ridge only committed three turnovers (unlike the five in the Southeast Guilford game), they too happened at times when Cedar Ridge was threatening to score.

———-

All in all, an improvement. But much work is needed to be done should the Red Wolves want to attain a home victory September 6^th against Rocky Mount Prep.

After Wednesday’s 2-0 loss to Graham, the Cedar Ridge Men’s Soccer team is still looking for its first win of the season. Hillsboroughsports.com’s Jon Franklin talked with Red Wolves’ soccer coach Chris Walker after Wednesday’s game.

video000000.3gp

No Description

After coming close in the opening four games of the season, the Orange Men’s Soccer team earned its first win of the season in convincing fashion.

Junior Rohan Kasthuri scored two goals and an assist as the Panthers defeated Person 5-1 on Wednesday night in Roxboro. Cam Michalski, Johannes Sanchez and Drew Jagentenfl also scored for Orange, who are now 1-2-1. Jagentenfl assisted on two of the goals, while Sanchez assisted on another.

On Tuesday night, Orange traveled to Eastern Alamance and played to a 2-2 tie with the Eagles. Francisco McKinley, the new Orange goalkeeper replacing Noah Miller, came up with some important stops to keep the game even. Jo Sanchez scored two goals for the Panthers, while Michalski came up with an assist.

Also on Wednesday night, Graham defeated Cedar Ridge 2-0 at Red Wolves Stadium. The Red Wolves are now 2-1 after its second consecutive win. Cedar Ridge falls to 0-3-1. On Saturday, Cedar Ridge will travel to Wilson Hunt. Next Wednesday, Cedar Ridge will return home to face Southern Alamance.

The momentum from starting 4-0 for the first time since 2010 didn’t carry over for Orange in its Big 8 Conference opener.

East Chapel Hill, under new head coach Rachel Kline, defeated the Lady Panthers 3-0 at Wildcat Gymnasium on Tuesday night. The Wildcats swept the Lady Panthers on scores of 25-19, 25-13 and 25-21 to improve to 4-0. Over the summer, Kline replaced longtime head coach Michelle Wood at East Chapel Hill.

Orange, who suffered its first loss of the season, had eight kills from junior Emma Clements. That pushed Clements to a team-leading 61 kills through the first five games of the season. Senior Libby Jones and Natalie Ruble each had five kills. Senior Liz LaNier finished with two aces. Junior Grace Ducharme had ten assists and senior Meg Gattis finished with 12 digs. Vale Serge led Orange with 15 digs.

Through the first five games, Jones has 42 kills, eleven blocks and 19 digs. LaNier has 38 kills, six aces, and a team-leading 22 blocks. Clements also leads the squad with 97 digs, while Gattis has 85 digs and Serge has 51. Junior Kaitlyn Werden has 80 assists, including a season-high 23 in last Thursday’s 3-1 win at South Granville in Creedmoor.

The Lady Panthers are now 4-1, 0-1 in the Big 8 Conference. They aim to bounce back with a home game on Thursday night against Hillside. After Thursday, Orange will play three consecutive games on the road, including a nonconference match against Person in Roxboro on Monday night. They also travel to Northwood next Thursday.

Also on Tuesday night, Cedar Ridge dropped its first Big 8 Conference game to Northwood 3-0 on scores of 25-11, 25-14 and 25-12. The Red Wolves were only credited with five kills. Senior Sarah McCuiston led the team with three kills. Rachel Tucker had eight digs. Macy Henry finished with all five of the Red Wolves assists.

On Wednesday, Cedar Ridge suffered a disappointing loss to Eastern Alamance 3-2 in Mebane. Last week, the Red Wolves defeated the Eagles 3-1 in Hillsborough.

It won’t get any easier for Cedar Ridge on Thursday night. They travel to Chapel Hill, the two-time defending 3A Eastern Regional Champions. The Tigers are 6-1 under head coach Ross Fields after losing to Marvin Ridge 2-0 last week during the Best of the Best Tournament at Davidson College. The Tigers won its conference opener over Hillside on Tuesday 3-0.

Through the first five games of the season, McCuiston and freshman Lydia Wood lead the Red Wolves with 20 kills each. Sophomore Haylee Cothran has three aces. McCuiston has a team-leading 15 blocks, while Henry has 14 blocks and Emma Downing had 13 blocks, along with 16 kills. Tucker has 50 digs. Marlee Rakouskas, an outside hitter and defensive specialist, has 27 digs.

After playing three road matches this week, Cedar Ridge will return home on Tuesday to host Orange.

Elsewhere around the Big 8 Conference, Northern Durham is 3-0 after winning its Big 8 opener against Southern Durham. The Knights also won at South Granville on Monday 3-1 and opened the season with a 3-0 sweep of the Durham School of the Arts at Poe Gymtorium. Northern will host East Chapel Hill on Thursday night. The Knights finished 17-7 in 2017 and finished in a three-way tie with Northwood and East Chapel Hill for 3rd place.

After winning his big league debut with the Atlanta Braves on Monday night, Bryse Wilson has been optioned back to the Gwinnett Stripers of the International League.

Wilson, who had his contract purchased by the Braves on Monday afternoon, was sent back down as Atlanta recalled outfielder Michael Reed from Gwinnett. The move was expected as Braves manager Brian Snitker inserted Wilson as the starter against the Pirates after veteran infielder Ryan Flaherty was designated for assignment on Monday. Flaherty had only four starts in the previous 91 days.

Wilson threw five shutout innings in earning the victory in his Major League debut against the Pirates at PNC Park, allowing three hits, striking out five with three walks. Wilson became the third 20-year-old pitcher to start a game for the Braves this season, joining Mike Soroka and Kolby Allard. The last Major League team to use three starters before their 21st birthday was the 1965 Kansas City Athletics. As fate would have it, another North Carolina native was one of the A’s in that trio, Hertford-native Catfish Hunter, along with Don Buschhorn and Ron Tompkins.

Wilson’s return to Gwinnett may lead to the North Carolina homecoming he didn’t receive on Tuesday night, when the Stripers faced the Durham Bulls at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Wilson was supposed to pitch in the second game of a doubleheader against Durham before his abrupt callup to Atlanta.

Gwinnett will travel to Charlotte at BB&T Park starting Saturday, which will be a day-night doubleheader. By that point, Wilson will have had five days rest and may throw one of those games. Gwinnett also faces Charlotte at 5PM Sunday afternoon and concludes the series on Monday night at 7 PM. Gwinnett’s season ends on Labor Day.

As mentioned in previous posts, Wilson became the first Orange Panther to reach the Major Leagues on Monday night. Two other Orange players reached AAA before retiring.

Chris Maples, who was drafted in the sixth round of the 2002 Major League Baseball draft by the Detroit Tigers, played 78 games over two seasons with the Toledo Mudhens of the International League. In 2006, he played 13 games in Toledo, hitting .206 with two home runs and five RBIs. After starting the following season with Erie of the AA Eastern League, Maples was promoted to Toledo again. This time, Maples hit .188 with no home runs and 15 RBIs over 65 games. After a season with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs of the Atlantic League, Maples retired.

Josh Horton was selected in the 2nd round of the 2007 MLB Draft by the Oakland A’s. He played seven professional seasons, which included three different stints with the Sacramento River Cats of the AAA Pacific Coast League. In 2013, Horton played 17 games with Sacramento, hitting .224 before he was released. He was signed by the Baltimore Orioles organization, where he finished his career with the Bowie Bay Sox of the AA Eastern League, hitting .303 with one home run and two RBIs in 74 games. In 2012, Horton hit .346 for Midland of the AA Texas League with nine home runs and 54 RBIs.