Orange High School

Women’s Tennis: Orange 9, Eastern Alamance 0: Sophomore Molly Kruse won two matches for the Orange women’s tennis team in a successful return to Central Carolina Conference action on Monday in Hillsborough.

Kruse defeated Madison Drewery 6-0, 6-0 at #2 singles. Later, Kruse teamed with senior Makayla Davis to defeat Drewery and Camila Rosa 8-1 at #1 doubles. It was Kruse’s first appearance at #1 doubles.

Erinn Sollars captured her match at #1 singles against Rosa 6-1, 6-0. Sophomore Kyla Mehl defeated Ryan Tanner 6-4, 6-3. Orange sophomore Linsday Woodell defeated Jayci White 6-0, 6-0. Another sophomore, Casey Robinson, won over Areli Silva-Flores 6-0, 6-0.

Adeline Alvis and Ellie Wilson defeated Tanner and White 8-1. Orange is 8-3 overall, 4-2 in the CCC. The Lady Panthers will host Western Alamance on Thursday.

Orange 9, Southern Alamance 0: Last Thursday, Orange won its first conference trip to Graham.

Erinn and Shannon Sollars won both of their singles matches, then teamed to win at #1 doubles. Erin defeated Paicey Cameron 6-1, 6-0. At #2 singles, Shannon defeated Madalyn Corbett 6-0, 6-0. The Sollars sisters defeated Faith Moore and Cameron 8-0.

Senior Makayla Davis, sophomore Molly Kruse and Kyla Mehl each won two matches against the Patriots. Davis defeated Morgan Isley 6-3, 6-0. At #5 singles, Kruse defeated Dayves Waggle 6-0, 6-0. Mehl defeated Ava Lynch 6-3, 6-1.

In the longest match of the day, Orange freshman Ellie Wilson defeated Morgan Edmunds 4-6, 6-4 13-11 (10-point tiebreaker) at #4 singles.

Davis and Kruse won at #2 doubles over Isley and Edmunds 6-4. Mehl teamed with senior Violet Shaw to defeat Corbett and Waggle 8-3.

Men’s Cross Country, Orange 15, Cedar Ridge 58, Southern Alamance 63: Orange hosted its annual cross country meet at Auman Stadium on September 12. Orange senior Gabriel Schmid, the defending 3A State individual champion running on his home course, earned his third win of the season finishing first at 17:25. Orange had the top six runners en route to a team victory.

Sophomore Myles Jerman (18:56) finished second, followed by Nolan Hufner (19:10), Alden Cathey (19:46), Peter Musser (20:04), Aiden Viola (20:21). Cedar Ridge’s top finisher was sophomore Ryan Matthews, who came in seventh at 20:55. Cedar Ridge sophomore Henry Alexander was 7th (20:56). Brian Dehart was the leading runner for Southern Alamance at 20:58.

Orange sophomore Lucas Van Mater came in 11th (20:33). Cedar Ridge senior Grayson Weisnfeld was 13th (21:48), while the Red Wolves Elie Nadiriwe was 14th (21:58).

The Orange men’s cross country team, which won the Mideast Regional Championship in 2021, has finished first in all of its Central Carolina Conference meets thus far in 2023.

Women’s Cross Country, Cedar Ridge 21, Orange 35: For the second time in two weeks, Cedar Ridge’s Naomi Dyreng finished first to help the Cedar Ridge women’s cross country team to a win inside Auman Stadium.

Dyreng, who won three regional championships at the Mideast Regional Track & Field Championship last year, finished first at 21:54. It was her second first place finish of the year. Abigail Klaitman of the Red Wolves came in second at 22:28. Caroline Cathey was the highest placer for Orange at 25:32.

Kate Finnegan of Cedar Ridge finished fourth (25:42) as the Red Wolves had six of the top ten finishers. Among the other Cedar Ridge runners to finish in the top ten: Cia Biddix finished sixth (25:47), Serena Summers came in eighth (26:02) and Anna Peterson finished 10th (27:04).

Orange’s Kassi Scarantino finished fifth at 25:45. Channing Mahaney came in seventh at 25:48. Orange’s Grace Pell crossed the finish line in 9th place (26:50).

Cedar Ridge had runners place 12th-through-15th. In 12th place was Rebecca Fullwood (27:21), while Gracie Whitaker finished 13th (27:28), Kaitlyn Horn was 14th (28:18) and Safiyya Frej was 15th (28:42).

The Central Carolina Conference cross country championships will be held in Burlington in Burlington on October 18. The 3A Mideast Regional Championships will take place at Louisburg High School on October 28. It’s a shift for the regional championships, which were held at Northwood High for years. Northwood moved down to 2A during the summer.

The 3A State Championships will take place at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville, it’s traditional home. The State Championships will take place on November 4.

The Orange volleyball team is halfway to its first regular season championship in volleyball since 2005. On Tuesday night, Orange swept Eastern Alamance for its tenth straight win at Panther Gymnasium on scores of 25-14, 25-12 and 25-13. The Lady Panthers have now won 32 consecutive sets dating back to August 21, when they dropped the 2nd set to Seaforth in Pittsboro. Sophomore middle blocker Ava Wilkerson had seven kills, three aces and a block to win set point in the 2nd. Freshman Sawyer White made her first career start and finished with a career-high 14 assists. She also had three digs. Orange is now 5-0 in the Central Carolina Conference and are in sole possession of first place. The Lady Panthers are currently ranked #1 in the 3A East RPI rankings, ahead of defending 3A Eastern Regional Champion J.H. Rose. Sophomore Aubrey Jordan had 12 kills for the Lady Panthers. The match against Eastern Alamance kicked off a three-game homestead for Orange. They will face Falls Lake, the #1 ranked team in the 1A East RPI rankings, on Wednesday night in Hillsborough. On Thursday, Orange will host Western Alamance in a rematch from last month. Orange swept the Warriors in Elon on August 29.

After a frustrating month, the Orange men’s soccer team returned to the win column on Monday night. The Panthers defeated Person 4-1 at Orange Soccer Park. Sophomore Dallas Johnson scored his first varsity goal on a penalty kick in the first half. Another sophomore Daniel Romero, notched the game-winning goal for the Panthers, who earned its second win of the season. Junior Angel Chavez also scored in the first half, while senior Emmanuel Mil Cruz added a goal off a header on a gorgeous cross in the second half. Mil Cruz’s goal came off an assist from sophomore Yore Tapia Mendez. Mil Cruz leads Orange with three goals, including the game-winner in the Panthers’ season-opening victory over Durham School of the Arts. Orange lost plenty of players from last year’s team that reached the 3A State playoffs for the first time since 2017. Senior goalkeeper Finn Kelly made two saves to earn his second win of the season. Orange will return to action on Wednesday night when they face Southern Alamance at Redmond Stadium in Graham.

It was time that the Orange men’s soccer team found its scoring punch after a frustrating month. The Panthers struck early on Monday night for its first Central Carolina Conference win of the season against Person.

Daniel Romero scored his first goal of the season in the fifth minute, which turned out to be the game-winner, as Orange defeated the Rockets 4-1 at Orange Soccer Park. Sophomore Dallas Johnson added his first tally of the season on a penalty kick in the 11th minute for insurance.

Orange won for the first time since its season opener at Durham School of the Arts on August 17 in the Bull City. Romero lead the Panthers with five shots. The Panthers (2-5-1, 1-2 in the Central Carolina Conference), fired 17 shots against Person goalkeeper Jared Viveros, who was under constant siege in the second half. Orange had eleven corner kicks.

“I think we were watching each other a little bit more,” said Orange coach Palmer Bowman. “I think we needed to follow up things a little bit more and put in a little more effort to make sure that effort was rewarded.”

After Person netted a goal to reduce Orange’s lead to 2-1, the Panthers’ Angel Chavez knotted an equalizer in the 34th minute. In the second half, the Panthers had a litany of crosses that yielded plenty of chances but not enough scoring. Finally, Emmanuel Mil Cruz scored on the closing goal on a header in the 55th minute. Mil Cruz now leads Orange with three goals this season.

Angel Arroyo-Cruz, Yore Tapia-Mendez and Romero also had assists for the Panthers.

“I think Dallas Johnson, Yurem Tapia-Mendez played pretty well,” Bowman said. “Those are some younger guys who are really stepping up and taking leadership roles.”

Finn Kelly earned the win as Orange goalkeeper. Backup Eben Petrifies replaced Kelly in net late in the game. Kelly earned his second win of the season.

Orange will travel to Hanford Stadium to face Southern Alamance in Graham on Wednesday.

“I want to be more focused and consistent,” Bowman said about the rest of the regular season. “I want to be more focused going into everything and maintain that focus throughout. If we do that, I think we’ll be OK. But we haven’t done that and here we are.”

Cedar Ridge 3, Eastern Alamance 1: The Cedar Ridge men’s soccer team not only grabbed a road win on Monday night. They set up potentially the biggest soccer match at Red Wolves Stadium in years this Wednesday night.

For the second straight game, junior co-Captain Dominic McNerney scored the game-winning goal as the Red Wolves defeated Eastern Alamance at the John Kirby Sports Complex in Mebane. Senior co-Captain Illah Babchenko assisted on two goals as the Red Wolves improved to 7-1-2, 3-0-1 in the CCC.

Cedar Ridge is now in sole possession of second place in the conference. The only team ahead of them is Western Alamance. On Wednesday night, the Warriors will visit Red Wolves Stadium with first place on the line.

Jonam Juarez scored his second goal in as many games, assisted by Gael Arturo Nunez. Solomon Hernandez finished the scoring with an insurance tally in the second half.

Cedar Ridge goalkeeper Eric Galunas finished with six saves to earn his seventh win of the season.

Cedar Ridge has won in its last three trips to Eastern Alamance.

The Red Wolves last winning season came in 2016, when they finished 10-6-4. Since then, they haven’t had more than eight wins in a regular season.

After the matchup against Western Alamance on Wednesday, the Red Wolves will travel to Burlington to face Walter Williams next Monday.

Cedar Ridge is 4-1-2 on the road this year. Its only road loss came against East Chapel Hill two weeks ago.

ELON–In 2000, when Florida State was at the peak of its powers winning nine straight ACC Championships, Bobby Bowden said “We already play in the toughest conference. The Florida Conference.”

He was referring to annual nonconference battles against Miami and Florida, who was still coached by Steve Spurrier.

While Orange High won six conference championships across the fall, winter and spring last academic year, and Cedar Ridge had numerous individual athletes make strong runs towards state crowns, football has been it’s own entity since the formation of the Central Carolina Conference in 2022.

It has been the Alamance Conference and it won’t be any different this year.

Though Western Alamance handed Orange a 27-9 loss at Primm Stadium on Friday night, the Panthers asked no quarter and gave none. They held Western Alamance quarterback Evan Kuehnel to a season-low 132 yards passing. Kuehnel started the season throwing for 491 yards in a loss to perennial power Reidsville.

Behind a strong pass rush, the Panthers defense forced six three-and-outs against a normally potent Warriors offense. However, Western’s defense directly generated points. Senior safety Josh Long had two interception returns for touchdowns. The Warriors (4-1, 1-0 in the CCC) also forced an Orange fumble for a safety late in the first half. All told, Western Alamance’s defense scored 16 points.

“That score says 27-9, but anybody watching knows our defense gave up two touchdowns tonight,” said Orange coach DeVante Pettiford. “This is an Alamance County powerhouse, a big, strong team. Bigger and faster than us and that’s a testament of this defense. But there’s three phases to football: offense, defense and special teams. I think we’re doing good on the defensive end, but we’ve got to pick up the others.”

It was a frustrating offensive night on both sidelines. Orange (2-2, 0-1 in the CCC) was held to three first downs and 91 yards. Late in the second quarter, punter, placekicker and safety Tyler Narold added “quarterback” to his resume, replacing starter Hank Nunnery after Orange failed to generate a first down in the opening 20 minutes.

Kuehnel, in his third year as starting quarterback, found top receiver James Newton twice on the Warriors first scoring drive. After a 23-yard pickup on the initial play of the Warriors second series, Kuehnel hit Newton again on 3rd-and-10 from the Orange 28-yard line. Senior running back Cam Cottn rushed up the middle for a 4-yard touchdown with 8:31 remaining in the first quarter.

With 5:20 remaining in the frame, Narold pinned the Warriors to the 14-yard line following a 36-yard punt. Kuehnel, also the Western punter, had one go off the side of his foot from the back of the end zone that wound out of bounds at his own 15-yard line. Orange was unable to move forward, but Narold kicked a season-long 34-yard field goal to reduce the Warriors lead to 6-3. The “scoring drive” was negative two yards.

Late in the first quarter, Long picked off a pass by Nunnery and returned it 34 yards for a touchdown. Camden Oliveria’s extra point put the Warriors ahead 13-3.

Orange’s defense put up another stand after Cotton reeled off a 45-yard run, his longest of the night. Oliveria’s 37-yard field goal banged off the bottom of the crossbar with 4:12 remaining in the first half. On the subsequent drive, the Panthers went backwards. An errant snap to Nunnery wound up in the end zone, where running back Nate Sorrells covered it up before Western linebacker Nick McGhee could get to it, leading to a Western safety.

The ensuing free kick led to the best Western drive of the night. Cotton reeled off runs of 15, 7 and nine yards before junior Marquele Harvey scored on a 16-yard juke around right end with 1:41 remaining in the first half.

After Sorrells picked up Orange’s initial first down of the game with a 12-yard carry to open the third quarter, the Panthers’ drive fizzled after two penalties. With 4:28 remaining, Narold’s pass slipped through Crawford Farmer’s hands and was picked off by Long, who streaked up the left sideline 45 yards for his second touchdown.

Nunnery returned at quarterback in the third quarter and generated the Panthers only touchdown. He hit Ja’Ki McDaniels for a 44-yard pass to the Warriors 13-yard line. After the Warriors were called for a defensive holding penalty, DeAndre Brown bolted forward for a four-yard touchdown run, his first of the season.

“I’m beyond proud of those guys,” Pettiford said. “It shows progress. We’re getting better. Last year, (Western Alamance) won 38-3. Tonight’s we got it down to 27 points. It’s just making progress.”

WESTERN ALAMANCE 27, ORANGE 9

WA–13     8       6   0-27

OR–3       0       0    6-9

WA–Cam Cotton 3 run (kick blocked)

OR–Tyler Narold 34 FG

WA–Josh Long 32 interception return (Camden Oliveria kick)

WA–Safety, Nate Sorrells tackled in end zone

WA–Marquelle Harvey 16 run (pass failed)

WA–Long 45 interception return (kick failed)

OR–DeAndre Brown 4 run (kick failed)

RUSHING: ORANGE (Sorrells 22-33, Brown 2-5 TD, Jaylen Starks 2-(-2), Kayden Bradsher 1-(-6), team 1-(-14).

WESTERN ALAMANCE (Cam Cotton 13-94 TD, Marquelle Harvey 2-28 TD, Collin Moylan 2-6, Kuehnel 3(-4), Ethan Oakley 1-(-6) James Newton 1-(-6),

PASSING: ORANGE 5-26 73 yards 2 INT (Hank Narold 5-19 73 yards INT, Narold 0-7 INT).

WESTERN ALAMANCE 10-31 132 (Kuehnel 10-29 132, Oakley 0-2)

RECEIVING: ORANGE (Ja’Ki McDaniels 1-44, Brandon Cummings 1-16, Kayden Bradsher 1-7, Crawford Farmer 1-4, Sorrells 1-2)

WESTERN ALAMANCE: (Newton 5-61, Jacob Miles 2-49, Long 2-8, William Clinkscales 1-14)

Just like that, we’re a month into high school sports season.

Why does one month of summer feel like three months? Maybe it’s the inactivity.

One thing that isn’t inactive is the Orange volleyball team. The Lady Panthers are currently #2 in the 3A East RPI rankings. Stop me if this sounds familiar, but the only team ahead of Orange in the RPI rankings is J.H. Rose, the defending regional champions who defeated Cedar Ridge last year for a trip to Raleigh and the 3A State Championship match. Orange is not only winning, but they’re dominant. On Wednesday night, the Lady Panthers swept Roxboro Community School for their 23rd consecutive set victory. Orange is alone atop the Central Carolina Conference.

The Cedar Ridge women’s tennis team could wind up making this a memorable final season for head coach Steve Mayhew. While the Red Wolves lost to Walter Williams on Wednesday night in a match that determined first place in the CCC, Cedar Ridge is still in second place. They haven’t reached the 3A State Dual Team playoff since 2016, when they won the Big 8 Conference championship. Cedar Ridge certainly has the depth to make a run at Williams in the rematch next month in Hillsborough.

The Cedar Ridge men’s soccer team is also trying to reach the 3A State Playoffs for the first time in seven years. The Red Wolves took another step on Wednesday night with a victory over Orange in the opening leg of the Hillsborough Derby. Cedar Ridge has already surpassed its win total from last season. Next week, the Red Wolves will travel to Eastern Alamance, then host Western Alamance at Red Wolves Stadium.

Let’s look at the Magnificent Seven for the week of September 3-9th. The seven best performances by Cedar Ridge and Orange in no particular order.

1. Kayden Bradsher, Orange, Fres: Scored three touchdowns in the Orange football team’s 22-0 win over Montgomery Central on Friday night. Bradsher had a career-high six receptions for 58 yards. He scored the first touchdown of his varsity career on a 12-yard run to conclude the Panthers first possession of the night against the Timberwolves.
2. Ella Caltabiano, Cedar Ridge, Sr.: Won three matches in a big week for Red Wolves women’s tennis. Cedar Ridge defeated Orange for the first time since 2019. Caltabiano teamed with Catherine Ballenger to clinch the match against Orange at #2 doubles. Against Eno River Academy on September 7, Caltabiano defeated Rebecca Kelly at #2 singles 8-2. Later, she teamed with Ballenger to defeat Rebecca Kirby and Chiara Menolascino 8-1.
3. Katie Silcott, Orange, Soph.: The Orange volleyball team is off to its best start ever as a 3A team. Silcott, a setter, had 46 assists in a win over Cedar Ridge that ended the Red Wolves 42-game conference winning streak. Two night later, Silcott had 35 assists and eight digs in a sweep of Person. The next night, Silcott had 41 assists, nine digs and three aces in a sweep of Roxboro Community School.
4. Alejandro Macero-Ramos, Cedar Ridge, Jr.: Scored two goals for the Cedar Ridge men’s soccer team in a 5-0 win over Person. Macero-Ramos helped Cedar Ridge tie its win total from all of last season with their fifth victory of 2023.
5. Makayla Davis, Orange, Sr.: Davis won her singles match for the Orange women’s tennis against Cedar Ridge against Adeline Cummings 10-7. She also captured her doubles match against the Red Wolves, teaming with Kyla Mehl to win 9-8, taking the tiebreaker 7-6. Two days later, Davis won her singles match against Person 10-0.
6. Rachel Alverson, Cedar Ridge, Sr: Recorded 28 assists, six digs and three aces for the Cedar Ridge volleyball team in a win over Eastern Alamance on September 7. Against Orange, Alverson had 25 assists, two aces and four digs. Alverson leads the team in assists.
7. Jayden Medley, Orange, Sr.: Racked up seven tackles for Orange against Montgomery Central. Medley also had a fumble recovery against the Timberwolves on their second series of the game. Medley finished with a sack as Orange notched its first shutout of the season.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior runner Gabriel Schmid. The most accomplished cross country competitor at  Orange High since the turn of the century, Schmid was honored at halftime of Orange’s football game against Montgomery Central on Friday night. Last November, Schmid won the 3A Cross Country State Championship at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville. He finished with a time of 15:44.28, more then 15 seconds ahead of the nearest competitor. He became just the second Orange individual state champion in men’s cross country, and the first to win at 3A. Two weeks ago, Schmid started his senior season with a win in Orange’s first Central Carolina Conference meet of the year at Person High School in Roxboro. Schmid finished at 18:39, some 46 seconds ahead of the nearest finisher. Orange won the meet. Last week, the Orange men’s cross country team won a meet at Lake Macintosh in Burlington. Once again, Schmid finished first at 18:34.0. The Panthers had eight of the top ten finishers to win the meet. As a sophomore, Schmid was a top runner for the Orange team that won the Mideast Regional championship for the first time in school history. Schmid is aiming to become just the 27th multi-time state men’s cross country champion in state history this November. While he isn’t busy running, Schmid has been a volunteer for the Efland Fire Department. Regardless of where Schmid goes from here, he will go down as one of the greatest athletes in school history.

There’s no football at Roxboro Community School. Their Friday night lights are inside a gymnasium.

When the Orange volleyball team’s bus rolled down Highway 157 on Friday night, they were greeted by a group of students who packed the opposite end zone bleachers facing them. It makes for an intimidating sight to hit towards, but Orange once again proved they were up for the task.

Sophomore Ava Wilkerson finished with 13 kills and seven digs while Aubrey Jordan added 15 kills as Orange swept Roxboro Community School on scores of 25-22, 25-20 and 25-19. Senior Ella Wimsatt added eleven kills and seven digs, while sophomore setter Katie Silcott had 35 assists, three aces and five kills as Orange won its ninth straight match.

The victory completed a span of two wins over Person County teams in two nights for Orange (10-3). On Thursday, the Lady Panthers swept Person in Hillsborough.

RCS opened with leads in the first and second sets. RCS (7-4) jumped ahead 7-3 lead following a kill from Peyton Hogan and an ace from Vivi Carcamo. Orange evened the set after a kill from Wimsatt set up by Josie Crawford. There were eleven ties in the opening set, the final one coming when Wilkerson smashed a point off an assist from Silcott. Orange finished the fame with the final four points, ending with a kill by Jordan, an ace by Silcott and a return by the Bulldogs that went wide on set point.

After conceding the opening two points in the second set, Orange reeled off six in a row, ending with a Wimsatt ace. Jordan and Wilkerson each had two kills in the run. Wilkerson had seven kills overall in the second as the Lady Panthers opened up a 14-10 lead following another Wimsatt ace. The Bulldogs’ Baylee Long scored a point to reduce Orange’s lead to 15-13. An ace by Abby Silinski concluded an 7-3 Orange run to put the Lady Panthers ahead 21-16, but the Bulldogs responded with four in a row, capped by a kill from sophomore Peyton Hogan. Wilkerson ended the run with a kill, then followed with an ace to make it 24-20. RCS sent a return out on set point to put Orange ahead 2-sets-to-nothing.

The third set was the only one that Orange led wire-to-wire. Blessiny Deronette had a block for Orange, followed by an ace from Silcott to make it 5-1. RCS’ Hogan, Long and Jenna Hogan each had kills in succession to reduce the Orange lead to 10-9. Five Orange players had kills in the final set for Orange, led by Jordan with five. Orange had a 7-1 run to take a 24-17 lead, which included two kills each from Jordan and Silcott. Jordan ended the night with a kill on match point assisted by Silcott.

Orange has had ten of its last eleven matches on the road. They will play away from Hillsborough again on Tuesday night (tonight) when they face Southern Alamance in Graham. Orange returns home to face Roxboro Community School in a rematch Wednesday night.

Women’s Tennis: Orange 9, Person 0: Ten different players saw action for Orange in a sweep of Person on Thursday at Panther Tennis Courts.

Sophomores Molly Kruse and Kyla Mehl each won two matches on the night, where singles matches consisted of one set to ten games. Kruse defeated Amaya Hargrove 10-0. Mehl shutout Hailey Martin 10-0. Kruse and Mehl teamed at #1 doubles to defeat Annie Adcock and Danni Brown 8-1.

Erinn Sollars won at #1 singles over Adcock 10-0. Shannon Sollars defeated Brown 10-0 at #2 singles. Makayla Davis rolled past Maria Scott-Dubbusco 10-0. At #6 singles, sophomore Casey Robinson won over Jordan O’Grady 10-1.

At #2 doubles, Adelyn Alvis and Evelyn Over defeated Dubbusco and Hargrove 8-0. In the most competitive match of the day, at #3 doubles, Madeline Dutton and Isabella Panek teamed to defeat Martin & O’Grady 7-6, winning a seven-point tiebreaker 7-0.

Orange is 5-3, 2-2 in the Central Carolina Conference. They will step out of CCC action to host Roxboro Community School in Hillsborough on Tuesday night.