Seniors left without a football team receive good news

Left without a football team to play for this fall, five seniors at Cedar Ridge High were given some good news on Monday by the Orange County Schools Board of Education.

The board unanimously voted to suspend a rule that would have forbidden the seniors from transferring to rival Orange High, the only other high school in the Orange County Schools system, for athletics reasons.

Cedar Ridge announced last week that it would not play a varsity football schedule this year, citing safety concerns. While there are 51 Red Wolves players signed up to play next season, only five were seniors and nine were juniors.

Cedar Ridge will play a JV-only schedule in 2018, which left the seniors without a team. N.C. High School Athletic Association rules state that seniors cannot play on junior varsity for any reason.

The same exemption was granted to East Chapel Hill's seniors last year by Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. The Wildcats had just nine returning players in the program, and two were rising seniors. They were allowed to transfer to rival Chapel Hill, but only one did. The East Chapel Hill and Cedar Ridge attendance zones border one another.

Cedar Ridge went 1-10 last year.

Matt Goad contributed.

This story was originally published June 27, 2018 at 9:36 AM with the headline "Seniors left without a football team receive good news."