Photo by Jacques Morin
For much of a sultry Friday night, it felt like the glory days of 2017 inside Auman Stadium in Hillsbrough
That was the time of Orange football’s last conference championship team. It’s last winning season.
And the last time they defeated the Hillside Hornets.
It was October 13, 2017 when the Panthers defeated Hillside 31-20 at Russel Blount Stadium in Durham, ending the Hornets 48-game conference winning streak. Hillside had gone eight years without losing to a league foe.
Fast forward nine years and the Panthers were inches away on Friday night from probably its biggest win since that October night nearly a decade ago. The fans were on their feet for a rare home game that went down to the wire. There was noise sensing the home team’s biggest win in nearly a decade. Alas, the triumph that will serve as the turning point for second-year Orange head coach Fritz Hessenthaler will have to wait.
Senior running back Eric Mayo scored from ten yards on Hillside’s first play in overtime for the game-winning touchdown in the Hornets 28-22 win over Orange. It was the Panthers first overtime game since October 25, 2019, when Orange edged Northwood 31-30.
Mayo was all over the field for Hillside. He finished with 133 yards rushing on 14 carries while also starting as a defensive back.
On Orange’s opening possession of overtime, Mayo helped hold Panther running back Markus Thomas out of the end zone on 4th-and-goal from the 3-yard line. Thomas’ forward progress was stopped less than a foot from pay dirt on the left side of the end zone as the Hornets scrum pushed him back.
It was a far cry from the 42-0 rout that Hillside engineered on Orange last year. The Panthers went from recording just 72 total offense in 2025 to 280 on Friday night.
Orange nearly had consecutive nonconference wins for the first time in nine years, but Hessenthaler didn’t build a successful coaching resume with a mindset of “Hold your head up! We almost won.”
“Obviously, it’s a very big disappointment,” Hessenthaler said. “These kids put in the work and you certainly want to put them in a position to win. I’ve got to do a little bit better job at that.”
Orange forced overtime after a wild sequence to conclude regulation. Faced with 1st-and-10 at its own 14-yard line with 1:37 remaining and game timed at 22-22, the Panthers ball control offense looked to run the clock out to force overtime. On 3rd-and-6, Hillside linebacker Ansar Footman recovered a fumble at the Panther 27-yard line. Hillside quarterback Xavier Stevenson found Kameron Mason for a 13-yard gain to the Orange 3-yard line with 14 seconds left. On the final play of regulation, Orange linebacker Jakai Torain blindsided Stevenson for a sack that led to the clock running out with the score tied 22-22.
Thomas recorded 158 rushing yards on 38 carries for Orange (1-2), his third 100-yard game this year.
Hillside (3-1) won in its second game in five days. On Monday, Dudley defeated the Hornets 38-0 in Greensboro.
The irony of it all was Orange’s wing-T offense proved to be better vertically than Hillside. Quarterback Jackson Moody tied his career high with two touchdown passes. On the opening Orange possession, Thomas converted two 3rd-down conversions on runs. Senior Preston Utley caught his first touchdown pass on a 15-yard out pattern. Thomas added the 2-point conversion with 3:15 remaining in the opening quarter.
Torain sacked Stevenson to end the second Hillside drive. Orange opened the second quarter with a 9-play, 83-yard drive. Thomas had a 31-yard run cross midfield to the Hillside 26-yard line. Moody found fullback Mason Stubbs for a 26-yard touchdown to put Orange ahead 14-0.
It took the Hornets 5:54 to erase Orange’s lead. Stevenson fooled Orange’s defense on several read-option plays, gaining 26 yards to invade the Panthers red zone for the first time. After Mayo gained 15 yards to the shadow of Orange’s goalposts, Stevenson pushed the ball in for the Hornets’ opening touchdown.
Following Orange’s only 3-and-out of the game, Hillside tied it up. Stevenson gained 18 yards on another zone read, which led to Mayo’s first touchdown from three yards out with 1:32 remaining in the first half. Stevenson tied the game on a 2-point run, just extending the ball over the goal line before Torain could hold him back.
Orange had one more scoring threat in the final minute of the first half. Moody found Utley in a breakaway. Utley dove for the goal line but fell two yards shy with time running out. After Moody was held up at the 1-yard line, it appeared that Thomas scored a touchdown. But it was called back to a holding penalty. Orange settled for a 23-yard field goal attempt, which didn’t clear the line of scrimmage as time expired.
Orange took the lead with 11:24 remaining in regulation. Thomas ended a 15-play, 58-yard drive that took 7:11 off the clock. Moody threw to Kayden Bradsher for a 13-yard gain to convert a 3-and-13. Thomas fought over the blocks of Caden Hoplins and Cayden Baker to scored Orange’s final touchdown. Moody took a rollout and stepped inside the right pylon of the end zone for the 2-point conversion.
Hillside quickly responded. Mayo streaked ahead for 26 yards before he was tackled by Elijah Starnes to push the ball ahead to the Orange 40-yard line. Ke’Man Marable rushed for five yards on 3rd-and-3 from the Orange 11-yard line. Stevenson pulled them ball away from Marable and galloped up the middle for his second touchdown. Stevenson found Mayo on the 2-point conversion to tie the game with 7:54 remaining in regulation.
Orange will travel to Eastern Guilford on Friday.
HILLSIDE 28, ORANGE 22 OT
HIL 0 14 0 8 6-28
ORA 14 0 0 6 0-22
ORA–Preston Utley 15 pass from Jackson Moody (Markus Thomas run)
ORA-Mason Stubbs 26 pass from Moody (run failed)
HIL-Xavier Stevenson 2 run (run failed)
HIL–Eric Mayo 3 run (Stevenson run)
ORA–Thomas 2 run (Moody run)
HIL–Stevenson 11 run (Stevenson to Mayo)
HIL-Mayo 10 run
RUSHING–HILLSIDE: 32-196 (Mayo 13-133 2TD, Stevenson 12-39 2 TD, Ke’Man Marable 6-29, team 1-(-5))
ORANGE: 55- 182 (Thomas 38-158 TD, Kayden Bradsher 6-22, Mason Stubbs 4-8, Owen Phillips 1-1, Moody 6-(-7).
PASSING–HILLSIDE (Stevenson 3-6 47 yds)
ORANGE (Moody 4-6 99 yards 2 TD)
RECEIVING: HILLSIDE (Nasir Langlois 2-34, Kameron Mason 1-13)
ORANGE (Utley 2-65 TD, Stubbs 1-21 TD, Bradsher 1-13)
