By Alexandria Hopkins
Last Tuesday not only saw the start towards the five-day long weekend for Thanksgiving at Orange, but another victory for their sports team.
Orange played and later won between three competing teams from out of Orange County – Southern Alamance from Graham, Walter Williams from Burlington, and Northern Durham from Durham – on Tuesday night before students were off for Thanksgiving break.
The team first went against Northern Durham. Orange treated this Durham team the toughest of the night, with an abundance of takedowns and pins, though leading to some caution points, even if very few. Northern, however, were able to take a stand in some of the matches, earning takedowns, reversals and pinning down some of Orange’s wrestlers. However, this was no match for the Durham wrestling team, eventually winning with 48 – 24.
Next was Orange against Walter Williams High School from near-by Burlington. This was partially due to more members in Orange’s team than the smaller amount of Williams, though the matches played were fair, with some near falls and takedowns filling out the tense atmosphere of the game. Williams also were able to score a few takedowns, though very few as the rest was filled with penalty points and eventual defeat from Orange’s rougher players. However, Orange yet again won, and winning in an absolute landslide with 73 – 6.
Finally rounding out the night was Southern Alamance. Alamance played against some members of the wrestling teams who had not previously played against Durham or Williams; however, the match was cluttered, with these members playing Alamance while other wrestlers from Orange also matched against Walter Williams players. Still, when collected, both sides were tough to beat, with Orange having the most takedowns of the night and very few certified pin downs. Both sides, however, also had many near falls and escapes between each side. Although both sides played strong, Orange again came out strong with the closest scoring of the night at 46 – 35.
As far as any impressive wrestlers roughing up the competitors on Tuesday’s match, there were some few that should be mentioned for their standout performance. From Northern Durham’s match, notable players include Joey Petrucelli, who went for the fastest pin down of the match at just 1:25 in; Bailey Hawkins was also a extraordinary player who pinned down his opponent at with 1:05. However, the most impressive match was Williams: not only because half of the match was filled with defeats due to few wrestlers to fight, Orange should great times of pin downs and lots of takedowns that showed the overwhelming power of the Panthers wrestling match. Southern Alamance, as aforementioned, were also very rigid in tackling down the competition, including Josiah Ramirez and Charlie Wilechase.
The next game for Orange Wrestling is a Jim King/Orange Invitational, next Friday and Saturday on December 2nd and 3rd, with 21 team invited to play against Orange.