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Colin Davis is one win away from making the 3-A State Wrestling Tournament for the second year in a row. On Friday night at the Mideast Regionals at Chapel Hill High, Davis defeated Hsernay Day of Northern Durham in :25. in the quarterfinals, he pinned Collin Va Cleave in :39. On Saturday afternoon, Davis faces Matt Ceparano of Southern Alamance in the semifinals.

Cedar Ridge Senior Colin Davis Talks Advancing to Regional Semifinals

Colin Davis is one win away from making the 3-A State Wrestling Tournament for the second year in a row. On Friday night at the Mideast Regionals at Chapel Hill High, Davis defeated Hsernay Day of Northern Durham in :25. in the quarterfinals, he pinned Collin Va Cleave in :39.

Braden Homsey is the only Orange wrestler to win every individual tournament he’s competed in this year. On Friday night at the Mideast Regionals, he got off to a strong start with consecutive pins in his opening two matches to advance to the semifinals. Homsey pinned Walker Stewart of Burlington Williams in 1:34. In the quarterfinals, Homsey pinned E.J. Hagwood of Western Harnett in 1:43. On Saturday afternoon, Homsey faces Chapel Hill’s Bradley Kenyon in the semfinals. The winner advances to the state tournament in Greensboro next weekend.

Orange Senior Braden Homsey Discusses Improving to 33-0 at the Mideast Regionals

Braden Homsey is the only Orange wrestler to win every individual tournament he’s competed in this year. On Friday night at the Mideast Regionals, he got off to a strong start with consecutive pins in his opening two matches to advance to the semifinals. Homsey pinned Walker Stewart of Burlington Williams in 1:34.

Orange 132-pound senior Bailey Hawkins is one win away from making the 3-A State Wrestling Tournament for the second consecutive year. On Friday night at the Mideast Regionals at Chapel Hill High, Hawkins started the night with a technical fall win over Jose Chahuiz of Burlington Williams 15-0. In the second round, Hawkins defeated Zach West of Southern Guilford 14-3. On Saturday afternoon at approximately 4, Hawkins will take on Matthew Bivens of Eastern Guilford in the semifinals. Hawkins is now 32-4 on the season.

Orange Senior Bailey Hawkins Talks His Two Victories at the Mideast Regionals

Orange 132-pound senior Bailey Hawkins is one win away from making the 3-A State Wrestling Tournament for the second consecutive year. On Friday night at the Mideast Regionals at Chapel Hill High, Hawkins started the night with a technical fall win over Jose Chahuiz of Burlington Williams 15-0.

Cedar Ridge’s Darius McLeod opened the 3-A Mideast Regionals on Friday night with a goal of advancing to the state championship meet next weekend in Greensboro at 126 pounds. He started by defeating Marcus De La Rosa of Northern Durham 8-4. In the 2nd round, Fred Lewis of Western Harnett added another win to his undefeated season, defeating McLeod 5-0. McLeod can still reach the state tournament with a 3rd place finish. On Saturday morning, McLeod faces Zachary Gierson of Gray’s Creek at Chapel Hill High.

Cedar Ridge Junior Wrestler Darius McLeod Discusses Performance in Mideast Regionals

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There will be other wrestling matches for the 12 Orange High seniors who came up short against Piedmont for the 3A State Championship on Saturday.

In fact, almost all of them will be back on the mat on Monday morning at Orange High, preparing for the Mideast Regionals that start on Friday. Josiah Ramirez and Braden Homsey are favorites to reach the state tournament.

But after 52 dual match victories over the past two years, they will never wrestle as a team again. That’s why the tears flowed at the Greensboro Coliseum Fieldhouse a little more on Saturday afternoon.

If anything, Saturday’s loss to Piedmont may have been more disappointing than last year, when Orange led 29-17 with four matches remaining and was one takedown away from beating Piedmont to take its fifth state championship. Instead, Piedmont rallied for wins in the last three matches to win 29-27 in Monroe.

That memory stayed in the minds of Orange wrestlers for the rest of the year, even after Orange captured the 3A Individual Team Championship at the State Tournament two weeks later. The buzzword throughout the week around the Orange wrestling room was “redemption.” Plus, there was a sense of finality. The 12 seniors, who came up together after a disappointing loss to Eden Morehead two years ago in the 2nd round of the state playoffs, were competing for each other for the final time.

Orange couldn’t have asked for a better start. Josiah Ramirez pinned Travis Murphy in 1:31, and the large Orange contingent exploded. At 220, Braden Homsey remained undefeated with a major decision over James Price 17-9.

Then things quickly fell apart. Piedmont won seven straight matches, starting at heavyweight when Luis Oropesa defeated Daylen Alston 9-6. Just as they did last year, Piedmont controlled the lighter weighs to take the state title. Tripp Collins started things at 106 by pinning Kessell Summers in 3:59.

At 113, Bailey Wicker edged Mitchell Askew 6-3 to give Piedmont a 12-10 lead it would not relinquish. At 120, Nathan Huntley, who earned a huge victory last year against Orange when he defeated Askew, shut out Justin Hutchins 4-0.

Angelo Gilvary knocked off Gavin Wiggins 8-1 to put Piedmont ahead 18-10. Colby Funderburk, the hero of last year’s state championship match when he defeated Noah Davis 18-2 to seal the title, decisioned Bailey Hawkins 7-3 at 132. Mason Fisher pinned Malcolm Phillips in 1:34. Kylan Thomas pinned Orange’s Marion Manduiano at 4:22 to earn Piedmont its third Dual Team State Championship and second consecutive title.

Levi Anderson won a match at 145 for Orange.

It was a cruel ending that the same team that handed Bobby Shriner his last dual match loss also gave Spenser Poteat his first. But even harder for Orange is how it ends for 12 seniors who have earned four conference championships, two regional titles and an individual state championship.

However many victories Orange wrestling has gathered over the past 27 years, the quality of the young men involved have proven to be the program’s legacy, which will continue to get passed down. When it does, that will make the sweet times sweeter.

A grinding stretch for the Cedar Ridge Boys Basketball team ended on Saturday with a 55-38 loss to Northwood. On Friday, East Chapel Hill defeated the Red Wolves 62-52, the Wildcats’ first Big 8 win of the season. The Red Wolves head into the final week of the regular season with a 4-15 record, 2-8 in the Big 8. Senior Khalil Barnett, who scored ten points against the Wildcats, talked about the grind of playing three times in 72 hours.

Cedar Ridge Senior Guard Khalil Barnett Discusses Loss to East Chapel Hill

A grinding stretch for the Cedar Ridge Boys Basketball team ended on Saturday with a 55-38 loss to Northwood. On Friday, East Chapel Hill defeated the Red Wolves 62-52, the Wildcats’ first Big 8 win of the season. The Red Wolves head into the final week of the regular season with a 4-15 record, 2-8 in the Big 8.

A month after blowing a 14-point lead to Chapel Hill, Orange gained a measure of revenge on Friday night by beating the Tigers 53-40. Orange started the game on a 17-4 run to lead wire-to-wire. Playing on three consecutive nights, the Lady Panthers captured two wins to improve to 8-13, 4-7 in the Big 8 Conference. Orange is currently tied with Chapel Hill for 5th place in the Big 8, three games behind Cedar Ridge. Orange wraps up the regular season next week with games against Southern Durham, East Chapel Hill and Northern Durham.

Orange G Lauren Cates on Playing Three Games in Three Days and a Win over Chapel Hill

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There was an old story about George Steinbrenner when he ran the New York Yankees. He said it wasn’t the winning that made the Yankees the envy of Major League Baseball. It was the collecting.

Orange Wrestling knows what it’s like to collect. They also know what redemption is, and they want to feel it on Saturday.

For one day at least, the Panthers will savor its tenth Eastern Regional championship, the first under new head coach Spenser Poteat.

For the second year in a row, the Panthers ventured into an opponents home gym in Cumberland County and came away regional champions. Last year, it was Gray’s Creek. On Thursday night, the challenger was stiffer.

Cape Fear was 15-0 and ranked #2 in by NCmat.com, only behind Orange. They had six wrestlers ranked in the state. Orange arrived shorthanded, losing 170-pounder Trey Jones to a knee injury in Tuesday’s 2nd round victory over Eden Morehead.

That forced Poteat to have several of his grapplers “go heavier,” or wrestle a weight class higher. Josiah Ramirez, normally a 182-pounder, competed at 195. Undefeated senior Brandon Homsey wrestled at 220.

And the Panthers hardly missed a beat.

Orange won four consecutive matches at the heavier weights, including a crucial pin by Caleb Brimmer at 182 pounds over Tyone Tillman at 1:28 of the 3rd period, and went on to defeat the Colts 32-30. Orange led 30-15 before forfeiting the final three matches.

Levi Anderson started the night with a major decision at 145 over Devan Reynolds 15-3. Without Jones, Orange forfeiting 160, falling behind 12-4, but senior Avery Jenkins started to make up that deficit with a critical 4-3 victory against Joey Saldana where Jenkins got the margin of victory with a 3rd period takedown.

After Briimmer’s pin, Ramirez defeated Nick Minacapelli 9-2 to increase the Panther lead to 16-12. Homsey notched his own major decision, 12-2, against Chris Matthews. At 106, Kessel Summers defeated Dylan Bryant 8-3. At 113, senior Mitchell Askew pinned Hudson McFadyen at 4:30. Another senior, Justin Hutchins, scored the most thrilling win of the night when he got a takedown against Jack Culberth with :15 remaining in the third period, sewing up the win for Orange.

In the regional championship match, Orange defeated West Brunswick 43-31, scoring six pins in the process. Mario Manduiano started the night with a 11-6 victory over Jeremiah Daily at 152.

Trailing 10-3 in the fourth match, Ramirez pinned DeVontae Frank in :58 at 182. Homsey followed by pinning Sae’vyon McVray in 2:14. At heavyweight, Daylan Alston put the shoulders of Emery Resendez to the mat at 1:23, giving Orange a 21-13 lead.

Orange won the final four matches to take the regional championship. It started with Mitchell Askew earning a major decision over Matthew Smith 13-4. At 120, Hutchins won his second match of the night by pinning Wyatt Gentile in 2:44. At 120, Gavin Wiggins pinned Julian LeGrande in 2:43. Senior Bailey Hawkins, in his only match of the night, completed the win with a pin of Gavin Bipes in 1:00.

On Saturday in the 3A State Championship match, Orange will get a rematch against Piedmont, the team that defeated Orange 34-32 last February in Monroe for the state title in what turned out to be Bobby Shriner’s final match as Orange coach.

The Panthers will face Piedmont on Saturday at noon at the Greensboro Coliseum Fieldhouse.