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When the 3A/2A/1A playoff brackets are announced for state lacrosse on Monday morning, the road to the Eastern Regional Championship will run through Red Wolves Stadium.

For Cedar Ridge, it’s a chance to resolve unfinished business. On Friday night, they took a big first step.

The Red Wolves captured the Big 8 Championship by beating Chapel Hill 16-14 at Culton-Peerman Stadium. Senior Carter Danku set the tone early, scoring a hat trick in the first quarter. He finished with seven points.

Senior Jack Widman also tallied three goals and six goals for the Red Wolves (9-4, 8-0 in the Big 8). Attacker Sean Tobin led CRHS with four goals.

Danku scored three goals in a span of 7:28 of the first quarter to spur the Red Wolves ahead 6-3. He also assisted on a marker from Nick Bachelder with :16 remaining in the frame.

Danku assisted on second quarter goals from Tobin and Noah Upchurch.

Kelsey Acome scored twice for Cedar Ridge, while long-stick midfielder Cole Bullard added a goal.

CRHS goalkeeper Noah Berry made ten saves for the victory.

The 24-team field will be announced on Monday. It’s expected that Cedar Ridge will get a bye through to the 2nd round, which means they will play Friday. We’ll have broadcast coverage of Orange and Cedar Ridge throughout the playoffs here on HillsboroughSports.com.

The Orange girls soccer team is now in 2nd place in the Big 8 Conference after a rugged 1-0 win at Cedar Ridge on Friday night. Becca Shinnick’s penalty was the game’s only goal, which improved Orange to 9-6-1 on the season, 6-2-1 in the Big 8. The Panthers were 24 hours removed from a loss to Chapel Hill. It was the 7th clean sheet of the year for Orange goalkeeper Arianna DeBona, who made a vital save with 3:53 remaining.

Going into Friday’s doubleheader against Webb, the Orange baseball team found itself in an unusual position. Their playoff fate was, and remains, uncertain.

However, after its best offensive performance since early March, the Panthers’ chances of making the field of 64 has improved.

Orange swept the doubleheader against the Warriors, winning the opener 6-0 and the nightcap 9-1, improving to 10-11 overall, 6-3 in the Big 8.

Junior centerfielder Jaydin Poteat made six plate appearances in the doubleheader and scored runs in five of them. He finished 4-for-5 with an RBI, bringing his team-leading average up to .397.

In the nightcap, Poteat scored on a wild pitch in the first inning.  Freshman shortstop Joey Berini scored on an RBI groundout by Caige Clayton to give Orange a 2-0 lead.

In the 2nd, Orange added five more runs. Rodney Brooks sliced a single to right, scoring freshman Cooper Porter. Poteat singled in Cody Evans, running for Dylan Hall, who reached on a walk. Brooks scored off a single by Berini, and Jason Slaughter hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Poteat.

Hall added his first varsity home run with a towering two-run shot to left in the third.

The Panthers head into the final week of the regular season in third place in the Big 8, one-half game behind Chapel Hill. They travel to Northern Vance on Monday to complete a game that was suspended on March 24. It will resume with the score 3-3 in the top of the 14th.

Jaydin Poteat went a combined 4-for-5 with five runs scored and an RBI in a doubleheader against Webb on Friday night. Right fielder Rodney Brooks had an RBI single in the nightcap, a 9-1 Orange win.

Hall, a junior, slammed a solo homer in the 3rd inning on Friday night, his first varsity dinger. It came in the nightcap of Orange’s doubleheader with J.F. Webb. The Panthers swept the doubleheader, 6-0 and 9-1.

It’s been six years since Cedar Ridge hosted a baseball game in the state playoffs.

After winning its eighth straight game, that drought may end soon.

Adam Chnupa had four hits, including a double and a triple, as the Red Wolves (14-5, 6-4) completed a season sweep by routing Carrboro 14-6 at Jaguars Field Friday afternoon.

Chnupa went 4-for-5 with six RBIs and four runs scored, pushing his average up to .422. Chnupa, a junior, leads the team with 28 runs.

Cedar Ridge belted 13 hits to increase its team average to .356. Sophomore Dante DeFranco and junior Chris Cox each had three hits. Cox also drove in four runs and now lead the club with 19 RBIs.

DeFranco, a sophomore, has 27 hits this season.

Senior Brandon Andrews reached base in all four of his plate appearances, scoring each time and stealing three bases.

Sophomore Phillip Berger earned his sixth win by going four-and-two-thirds innings, striking out four, yielding six hits and five runs.

CRHS jumped out to a 3-0 lead the top of the 3rd and never trailed against the Jaguars (7-13). The Red Wolves pushed across three more in the 4th and five in the sixth.

Now, Cedar Ridge prepares for rivalry week against Orange, the crosstown rival they haven’t defeated since 2012. But first, they host Oxford Preparatory on Monday night. The Red Wolves travel to Orange on Tuesday, then host the Panthers for senior night on Friday. We’ll have coverage of the Tuesday and Friday night games here on HillsboroughSports.com.

Discretely, Cedar Ridge baseball accomplished more than just a requisite 12-2 blowout of Southern Durham on Wednesday night.

They guaranteed themselves its first winning season since 2012, when they finished 13-11 under then-coach Jackson Lowe.

More importantly, the Red Wolves (13-5) are 6-4 in the Big 8, percentage points ahead of Orange for third place. Cedar Ridge will play Orange twice next week. The top three teams in the Big 8 qualify for the state playoffs, which has a 64-team field. Cedar Ridge’s sweep of J.F. Webb last week greatly helped its chances of making the playoffs as a wildcard.

As for Wednesday night, CRHS scored six runs in the first inning and never looked back, securing its second 5-inning victory over the Spartans in seven days.

First baseman Chris Cox went 1-for-1 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI.

Junior left fielder Sailor Ramos drove in three runs on two singles. Sophomore Dante DeFranco increased his hitting streak to 12 games by going 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs. DeFranco leads the team with a .381 batting average.

Senior Brandon Andrews earned the win despite pitching only two innings. He struck out five of the seven batters he faced. Andrews is now 5-1 on the season.

Before the critical series against Orange, Cedar Ridge plays two non-conference games. They travel to Carrboro on Friday. On Monday, they host Oxford Prep in a game rescheduled from Tuesday.

On Wednesday morning, it was unclear whether the Big 8 Boys Golf Championships would even take place at Occoneechee Golf Club.

Over five inches of rain had fallen in Hillsborough since Sunday night. The coaches of the five participating schools weren’t even sure if the event would go on until Orange’s Pat Moser received confirmation from Occnoeechee Course Director Scott Ray.

Cedar Ridge, under head coach Chris Casey, finished third overall for the season. Matthew Durham and Devin Kehoe qualified for Sunday’s 3A Mideast Regionals. Durham finished 4th, shooting a 77. Kehoe carded an 84.

Northwood finished conference champion. The Chargers’ Ben Ramos captured the individual championship after shooting a 72, one stroke ahead of Cooper Patterson. Ramos also earned Big 8 Player of the Year honors.

Orange’s Toby Ivey shot 89 for the Panthers, also qualifying for Sunday’s regionals.

Durham, Kehoe, Ramos and Patterson made the all-conference team. Joining them were J.F. Webb’s Noah Williams, Scott Loftis and Caleb Marin, Chapel Hill’s Ryan Rosamond (who finished 3rd on Wednesday) and Jackson Paul; and Northwood’s Gordon Braun and Alex Snively.

Very quietly, Wednesday marked the final event in the career of Orange Golf Coach Pat Moser, who will retire next month. Moser coached Orange to its first undefeated season in football last fall, winning the Big 8 Conference Championship outright for the 2nd straight year.