As the 2018-2019 fades further into the rear view mirror, two recent Orange High graduates are set to continue their athletic careers at the college level.
Orange women’s basketball guard Lauren Cates is set to attend Wake Technical Community College starting this August. Also, former Orange football running back Morgan Paschal will attend Louisburg Junior College in the fall.
Cates scored 1,043 points in her Orange career. On February 6, she scored 19 points in a 56-16 win over Northern Durham, when she reached the 1,000 point plateau. She became the first Orange player to score 1,000 points since Bria Berry Holly in 2011.
After being held to seven points against Granville Central on November 30, Cates went on a run of eleven consecutive games with double figures scoring last season. She had a season-high 26 points against Vance County in the opening round of the Granville Central Holiday Tournament in Stem on December 27. She scored 21 points in a 59-43 victory over Lee County in Hillsborough on December 14.
Orange finished 19-7 last season and hosted Eastern Alamance in the opening round of the 3A State Playoffs.
Cates will be the second Orange player in as many years to play at Wake Tech. Bethlyn Early, a 2017 Orange graduate who was a member of the Lady Panthers’ 2016-17 Big 8 Championship team, completed a two-year stay at Wake Tech last month. She’s set to transfer to William Peace University in August.
Cates is the second Orange player to commit to play college basketball. Icez Barnett, who graduated with Cates on June 14 at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill, signed with Division II Chowan in March.
Orange’s senior class of Cates, Barnett, Grave Dively, Kate Burgess and Nam Chapman graduated with a record of 58-24 since 2016.
Paschal was a running back for the Orange football team for two seasons from 2016-2017. Each year, he was the backup to Marvante Beasley. After Beasley suffered a career-ending injury against Hillside in 2017, Paschal and Hunter Pettiford stepped in as replacements to help the Panthers win the 2017 Big 8 Conference Championship with victories over Cedar Ridge and Chapel Hill.
Against Chapel Hill on November 3, Pachal had a career-high 136 yards and two touchdowns. In a 21-20 loss to Northwood, Paschal had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Paschal’s first 100-yard game came on October 7, 2017 in a 14-0 win at Northern Vance in Henderson, the last-ever game between the two teams (the new Vance County High is a separate entity from Northern Vance). He scored the opening touchdown for the Panthers. The 2017 Orange team finished with a perfect regular season. They lost to Havelock 14-7 in the state playoffs.
Paschal was also a linebacker for then-Defensive Coordinator Van Smith, who is now the Orange head coach.
In his sophomore season, Paschal rushed for 464 yards and four touchdowns while playing regularly in Pat Moser’s Double Wing offense. In his junior year, Orange changed to a spread offense after Moser’s retirement.
Paschal was also a sprinter for the Orange men’s track & field team in 2017 and 2018.
Last season, Paschal transferred to Southern Durham, but returned to Orange before the fall semester ended. He graduated with the 2019 Orange senior class last week.