In a scathing review of the 2009 film “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” legendary film critic Roger Ebert derided the movie as “an unbearable experience of interminable length.”
For Orange football fans, the length of Friday night’s loss to Seaforth was tolerable, if only because the second half was played with a running clock.
The experience itself couldn’t have been any worse.
The hopes of Orange faithful of starting the Big 7 Conference campaign with a big win quickly turned into a reminder that a rebuilding campaign isn’t complete after 18 months.
Seaforth quarterback Duncan Parker threw for five touchdowns and ran for another as the Hawks dominated the Panthers 48-0 at Auman Stadium in Hillsborough.
The Hawks (5-1, 1-0 in the Big 7 Conference), which shared the Big 7 Conference title with J.F. Webb last year, immediately served notice to the rest of the league they aren’t interested in co-holding any championship this year.
Orange was a first down away from beating the same Seaforth team last year in Pittsboro. On Friday night, they suffered its most lopsided home loss since a 45-0 loss to Person in 2023.
“Obviously, I didn’t have them ready to play,” said Orange coach Fritz Hessenthaler. “This should have been a good game and it wasn’t. I didn’t have the kids in the right mindset, evidently, to come out and compete. That’s on me.”
Even worse, Orange lost its top two quarterbacks due to injury. Starter Jackson Moody suffered a left arm injury chasing after Seaforth’s Jude ONneill after an interception. His backup, Kayden Bradsher, was also injured in the second quarter. Freshman Beckett Kinlaw, who directed the Orange offense in the junior varsity’s win at Seaforth on Thursday night, played the entire second half.
The only thing positive for Orange (2-4, 0-1) was junior running back Markus Thomas surpassed 1,000 yards for the season. Thomas rushed for 134 yards, becoming the first Panther since Marvante Beasley in 2017 to run for 1,000 yards in a season.
Thomas practically was Orange’s offense. The Panthers were held to a season-low 152 yards.
Coming into the game, Orange had outscored opponents 48-12 in the first quarter. The Panthers won the opening kickoff and tried to establish momentum. After Thomas gained 29 yards on 3rd-and-5, which was Orange’s longest play from scrimmage, Bradsher was stopped for four yards on 4th-and-5.
From that point forward, everything went Seaforth’s way.
After Oneill burned Orange for a 31-yard run, Parker hit Max Hinchman for a 35-yard touchdown pass to conclude a two-play, 64-yard drive that took only 21 seconds.
Seaforth’s defense forced a three-and-out. Parker found Henchman for a 35-yard gain into the Orange red zone. Following a holding penalty, Parker hit a wide open Mason Pooley for a 23-yard touchdown with 3:20 remaining in the firs quarter. Pooley added the extra point, as well.
Tyler Truesdale picked off a pass by Moody with 2:30 remaining to add to Orange’s woes. Parker threw his third touchdown pass of the quarter when he hit Oneill on a screen pass for a 24-yard touchdown to make it 20-0.
The closest thing Orange had to a defensive stop all night came on the first Seaforth drive of the second quarter when Parker threw an incompletion on 3rd-and-8, but the Panthers were called for pass interference. Oneill caught another pass from Parker and streaked into the end zone from 32 yards with 7:42 remaining in the first half.
Orange’s deepest penetration of the game came after Thomas got a series of carries and advanced the ball to the Hawks 29-yard line. This time, Hinchman came away with an interception of Moody.
Parker hit Ben Taylor for a 51-yard touchdown pass with 1:29 remaining.
Parker started the second half with a 19-yard touchdown run. Brayden Moran scored the final touchdown in the fourth quarter with Damien Davis adding the 2-point conversion.
SEAFORTH 46, ORANGE 0
SEA–Max Hinchman 35 pass from Duncan Parker (Mason Pooley kick)
SEA–Pooley 23 pass from Parker (Pooley kick)
SEA–Jude Oneill 24 pass from Parker (kick blocked)
SEA–Oneill 32 pass from Parker (run failed)
SEA-Ben Taylor 53 pass from Parker (run failed)
SEA–Parker 19 run (Brayden Moran run)
SEA–Moran 4 run (Damien Davis run)
RUSHING–SEAFORTH 11-68 (Oneill 3-33, Parker 1-19 TD, Moran 2-8 TD, #12 3-7, #4 2-1)
ORANGE 40-151 (Markus Thomas 29-134, Kayden Bradsher 5-6, Mason Stubbs 1-5, Jackson Moody, 1-8, team 2-(-5), Amare Bost 2-3)
PASSING–SEAFORTH (Parker 14-20 288 yds 5TD, #4 1-1 25 yds)
ORANGE (Moody 0-3 2 INT)
RECEIVING–SEAFORTH (Pooley 4-48 TD, Henchman 3-79 TD, Neil 2-56 2 TD, Noah Fuller 2-36, Ben Taylor 1-51 TD, Moran 1-11, #10 1-25, Connor Daley 1-10,
