In a battle of first-year head coaches, Joe Kilby’s bruising running game triumphed over Bill Renner’s pass-first offense. Cedar Ridge defeated East Chapel Hill 38-35 Friday night, holding off a frenzied comeback by the Wildcats.
East outgained Cedar Ridge by 235 yards in the air while Cedar Ridge outgained East by 183 on the ground, but the Red Wolves got the most important mark on the stat sheet—a W.
“I told the guys if we played a physical football game and we ran the football on them, we’d come out on top,” said Cedar Ridge coach Joe Kilby.
As reliant as the Red Wolves were on the ground game, it was a 66-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Cam Pappas to Fred Blanks, early in the third quarter, that broke the game open.
With a field goal, a safety and a 10-yard touchdown scamper by Pappas, the Cedar Ridge lead swelled to 38-21 with 10 minutes remaining.
When Arnez McDaniel intercepted East quarterback Drew Davis with 8:03 to go, the game seemed entirely out of reach.
Two touchdowns in the final two minutes, though, by Jackson Boyer and Alex Moore, made for a tense finish, but the Wolves managed to run out the clock and escape with the victory.
A scary injury stalled the game in the third quarter, as Cedar Ridge linebacker Ben Gregory was tended to on the field for more than 15 minutes. Gregory was concussed and is expected to be OK.
