Month: February 2022

There’s an old legend in rock n’roll lore than Jerry Lee Lewis was once so mad about not closing a concert that Chuck Berry was headlining, he played “Great Balls of Fire” to finish his set, dosed his piano with gasoline contained inside a Coke bottle, lit it on fire, stormed offstage and told Berry “Top that, Chuck.”

In his final game at Orange High, Jerec Thompson wasn’t as confronational, but he did set the nets on fire.

On the day he turned 18 years old, Thompson scored 40 points, one shy of his career-high. It was enough for Orange to defeat Eastern Alamance 77-68 on Friday night in Hillsborough.

Thompson, who scored 20 points in each half, had his eighth game this year with at least 30 points.

Orange (6-16, 2-9 in the Central Carolina Conference) has won back-to-back games for the first time this year. They will conclude the regular season against Cedar Ridge on Saturday afternoon at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

It was the final game inside Orange Gymnasium for Thompson, J.J. Thompson, Joshua Jackson and Hunter Burch. Jerec, J.J. and Jackson grew up playing together at Orange Middle School as well as the Mid-State Magic AAU team.

“We knew we needed a win,” Jerec Thompson said. “We came out and did it tonight. It hasn’t really hit me yet (that this was his last game at Orange) but I’m sure sometime soon it will.”

Last week, the Eagles flattened Orange 80-57 in Mebane after the Eagles bolted ahead to a 9-0 lead and never trailed. Senior guard Caleb Gerlach scored 15 points, but was held to eight points on Friday.

The Eagles had another quick start on Friday night, opening with a 15-6 lead. But Orange went on an 10-1 run in the final 2:18 of the first quarter. Thompson had five points during the spree, including a 3-pointer that rolled in after a lap around the rim. Junior Thomas Loch sank a seven-footer from the baseline with :02 remaining in the quarter.

Thompson got a birthday bounce on the opening jumper of the second quarter, which triggered the Panthers to take a 22-16 lead. The Eagles marched right back with a 8-2 run with A.J. Weaver tying the game with a stickback bucket. McCawely gave the Eagles the lead with a free throw, then sank a 3-pointer to put the Eagles ahead 28-24.

Orange ended the half by scoring the final 13 points of the half, starting with a 3-pointer from Xandrell Pennix, followed by another trey by Thompson. J.J. Thompson made two free throws, while Thompson scored on a lay-in off a strip and steal. Thompson added two more free throws to finish with 20 at the half.

Orange increased its advantage to 48-34 after a tip-in by Isaiah Seymour, but Eastern’s Maurice Hooper shot the Eagles right back into the game. Hooper, who barely played in the first half, hit three consecutive 3-pointers to in a two-minute span to slash the Panther lead to 48-43. Pinnix drained a crucial three-pointer to alleviate the damage.

Seymour finished with ten points, his second straight game in double figures.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: EASTERN ALAMANCE 43, ORANGE 42 OT

The Orange women’s basketball team played its closest game of the season against Eastern Alamance, and it nearly led to a storybook finish for one of its most accomplished players.

Trailing 41-39 in overtime, senior Aaliyah Harris came down the lane and scored on a lay-in while fouled by Kyra Helton to send the crowd into a frenzy. Harris made the free throw to put Orange ahead 42-41 with :26.3 remaining.

Eastern Alamance’s Amiyah Evans was fouled at the other end of the floor by Evelyn George. Evans sank two free throws for the margin of victory.

Harris got a final shot with three seconds remaining, but the attempted back shot was a tad too hard as the buzzer sounded. Orange senior Samantha George scored 16 points, while Harris added eleven.

Hali Watkins, who scored the final field goal of the first half for the Eagles to surpass 1,000 points in her career, led the Eagles with 16 points. Evans finished with eleven points.

Orange (13-7, 5-6 in the Central Carolina Conference) will finish in 4th place in the CCC. The Lady Panthers will host Western Alamance on Monday in Hillsborough for the opening round of the Central Carolina Conference Tournament.

MEN’S BASKETBALL: ORANGE 77, Eastern Alamance 68

EASTERN ALAMANCE: Kasen McCawley 10, Michael Reaves 12, Caleb Gerlach 8, Antonio Pugh 14, Maurice Hooper 12, A.J. Weaver 6, K.J. Cleary 2, Adrian Sykes 4.

ORANGE: Jerec Thompson 40, J.J. Thompson 2, Isaiah Seymour 10, Thomas Loch 4, Amare Morgan 2, Joshua Jackson 2, Darius Corbett 3, Hunter Burch 4, Freedy Sneed 2, Xandrell Pennix 8.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: EASTERN ALAMANCE 43, ORANGE 42 OT

EASTERN ALAMANCE: Kyra Helton 7, Amiyah Evans 11, Hali Watkins 16, Makayla Thompson 7, Nicole Hester 2

ORANGE: Samantha George 16, Katelyn Van Mater 2, Jarmil Wingate 8, Aaliyah Harris 11, Evelyn George 5.

The last time the 3A State Wrestling Championships were held at the Greensboro Coliseum, it was February 2020, just a few weeks before the new normal set in around the world.

Only three Hillsborough-area wrestlers reached the state championships.

Based on the opening day of the 3A Mideast Regionals on Friday, it appears there will be considerably more this year.

Eight Orange wrestlers reached the semifinals at Union Pines High School in Cameron on Friday. Also, Cedar Ridge’s Fernando Martinez won his opening matches at 113 pounds, including a pinfall victory over Southern Lee’s Nate Moss for his 90th career win. Martinez, a junior, reached the regional semifinals for the second time. As a freshman in 2020, Martinez won his first two matches at 106 pounds.

Orange had two grapplers receive #1 seeds. At 126 pounds, junior Dillon Heffernan received a bye into the second round. In his only match on Friday, Heffernan scored a 16-3 major decision over Justin Richardson of Douglas Byrd 16-3. On Saturday morning, Heffernan will face Luc Young of Terry Sanford in the semifinals. Heffernan is 29-6 this season.

At 220 pounds, junior Elijah Acosta earned a top seed after recording a 28-4 mark in his first season as a full-time starter. Acosta pinned Northern Nash’s Sammy Huddleston in 5:40 in his only match of the day. He will face Jake Dunning of Northwood in the semifinals. It will be the fourth time this year that Acosta has opposed Dunning. On December 2, Acosta defeated Dunning 12-5 in the championship match of the Jim King/Orange Invitational. Acosta also defeated Dunning in two separate dual matches in 2022, including last week in the opening round of the 3A State Team Tournament.

Orange senior Brendon Worsham is one win away from reaching the 182-pound regional championship match for the third straight year. Worsham received a #3 seed and pinned Richard Middlemiss of Southern Lee in 2:33, then pinned Aidan Murphy of Franklinton in 2:42 in the quarterfinals. Worsham will face second-seeded Demontrious Ratliff of Fayetteville 71st on Saturday.

At heavyweight, Orange’s Hugo Vazquez earned a #3 seed. In the quarterfinals, Vazquez edged Franklinton’s Landon Michael 2-1 for his first trip to the semifinals. Vazquez will face Northern Nash’s Jaquan Elliott in the semifinals.

At 182 pounds, Acoya Isley pinned Southern Lee’s Joshua Silva in 2:48. Isley, seeded #4, will face Scotland County’s Michael Locklear in the semifinals.

The biggest surprise of the day came at 160 pounds where Andre Hill stunned top-seeded Wade Johnson of Harnett Central in the second round. Hill, another first-year starter, rode out an 8-4 victory over Johnson to reach the semifinals. In the opening round, Hill pinned Zeke May of Western Alamance in 4:22.

At 132 pounds, Orange’s Jared Hutchins pinned second-seeded Luis Arellano of Southern Nash in 1:14. Hutchins, who is now 26-7 on the season after four wins in the 3A State Dual Team Tournament last week, faces Cameron Curva of Western Harnett in the semifinals.

Orange’s Braden Crawford also earned a trip to the semifinals at 120 pounds. Crawford pinned Southern Lee’s Nasir’e Jones in 1:57 to open the day, then defeated third-seeded Zy’Aire Priester 11-7 in the quarterfinals. It was Crawford’s second win over Priester this season. Dakota Little of Westover, the #2 seed at 120, awaits Crawford on Saturday.

In addition to the wrestlers who reached the semifinals, there are several more who remain in contention for the state championships in the consolation brackets.

Orange’s Aidan Sierra and Cedar Ridge’s Jaylen Williams are in the consolation bracket at 106 pounds.

At 120 pounds, Cedar Ridge’s Pierce Prescod pinned Northwood’s Coltrane Northington in 1:07. Prescod lost to top-seeded Christian Rothrock of Douglas Byrd in the quarterfinals. He will face Damani Nantambu of Southern Nash in the consolation round.

Cedar Ridge’s Kaden Tatro pinned Chaz May of Western Alamance in 1:44. Tatro was pinned in the second round by Byrd’s Demarcus Carroll.

Orange is second in the team standings after the first day with 54.5 points. Union Pines, the 3A Eastern Regional Champion, is in first place with 68.5 points. Cedar Ridge, who had representatives in all 13 weight classes for the first time in coach Scott Metcalf’s tenure, had 19.5 points.

The top four wrestlers from each weight class will reach the 3A State Tournament, which starts on Thursday at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Jerec Thompson left an indelible memory in his final game at Orange High School. On this 18th birthday, Thompson scored 40 points as Orange defeated Eastern Alamance 77-68. It was the eighth time this year that Thompson has scored over 30 points in a game. He fell one point shy of is career high, which was 41 points against the North Carolina School of Science and Math on December 2. It was the final home game for Jerec Thompson, J.J. Thompson, Joshua Jackson and Hunter Burch, who all grew up as teammates playing at Orange Middle School (when it was called Stanford Middle School) and on the Mid State Magic AAU team. This was the first time all year that Orange has won back-to-back games. The Panthers will go for a three-game winning streak this afternoon against Cedar Ridge in the regular season finale at Red Wolves Gymnasium. This will be the second game in four days between the Panthers and the Red Wolves. Orange defeated Cedar Ridge 53-48 on Wednesday at Orange.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior diver Stanislav “Stasz” Zitko. On Thursday, Zitko completed his Orange career with a 2nd place finish in the 3A State Diving Championships at the Pullen Aquatic Center. It was the third time in his career that Zitko medaled in the state championships. Last year, Zitko finished with a total of 412.15, which put him in consideration for All-American status. Zitko is a four-time Central Regional Diving Champion. On February 3, Zitko won is fourth regional championship with a final score of 441.20, once again earning All-American consideration. Zitko’s total in the regionals was a personal record. In his Orange career, Zitko had two bronze medals in the 3A State Championships, along with a silver medal. Zitko got his start by diving into pools across Hillsborough as an adolescent, which earned him some admonishment from lifeguards. Now, he leaves Orange as the most accomplished male diver in school history. Zitko hopes to walk on with a college diving team after he graduates from Orange in June.

While lacrosse season starts for some schools last week, the spring sports season will get underway in earnest today. Baseball will officially start for most Division I schools next week, but here are the Hillsborough products who will start their spring season this weekend:

Mia Davidson: The all-time leading home run hitter in Mississippi State history, baseball or softball, Davidson will kick off her final season with the Bulldogs on Friday in the Mark Campbell Invitational. Mississippi State will face Loyola Marymount, then face #1 Oklahoma at Bill Barber Park in Irving, California. On Saturday, the Bulldogs will take on #4 UCLA, then end the weekend with another game against Loyola Marymount. This is the 40th Mississippi State softball team. To commemorate the anniversary, Mississippi State released its 40 greatest players in team history. Davidson was named to the all-time team. Davidson, the catcher for Orange’s 2017 3A State Championship team, was named an All-American in 2019. A two-time All-Southeastern Conference selection, Davidson holds the school record with 69 career home runs. She needs just two more to tie the SEC career record. In 2019, Davidson hit 26 home runs. Davidson holds the Mississippi State record for most NCAA Tournament games played (19).

Montana Davidson: Mia’s older sister was a third baseman at Orange. She enters her final season at Mississippi State after playing 58 games in 2021, starting 57 at third base. Last season, Montana hit .257. She was fifth on the team with 23 runs scored and 21 RBIs. Montana was a three-time All-State selection at Orange playing for her father, Eddie Davidson.

Tori Dalehite: The UNC Greensboro softball team begins its season in the Feisberg Invitational at Florida International in Miami, FL. On Friday, the Spartans face #18 Tennessee, then will take on Florida International later in the day. The Spartans will also battle Maryland on Saturday. Dalehite was the 2018 Big 8 Conference Hitter of the Year for Cedar Ridge. She won two Big 8 Conference championships with the Red Wolves, including the first title in program history in 2018. Dalehite, a sophomore, played in 12 games last season. She had one at-bat and mainly played as a pinch runner.

Jaden Hurdle: Hurdle will start her second and final year at Patrick Henry Community College on Friday afternoon against USC Union. Last week, Hurdle announced she would compete her college career at Catawba College.

Grace Andrews: The Catawba Valley Community College softball team was supposed to start play last weekend, but a series against East Georgia State College and Patrick Henry Community College was rained out. This weekend’s series at the Highland Recreation Center in Hickory has also been canceled because of COVID precautions. Last season, Andrews hit eight home runs for the Red Hawks. She led the team with 41 RBIs as CVCC finished 23-13-1.

Kara Tackett: A freshman at Wake Tech, Tackett was the extra hitter for the Orange softball team last season. Tackett hit .462 with five doubles last season for a Lady Panthers team that won the Big 8 Championship in 2021. The Lady Panthers went undefeated in the regular season.

Madison Bartlett: Another former Orange player now a freshman at Wake Tech. Bartlett was a shortstop in 2020 who had her senior season was limited to four games because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bartlett was a starter for Orange’s 2019 team that tied Cedar Ridge for the Big 8 Regular Season championship. In 25 games as a varsity player at Orange, Bartlett hit .367 with 29 hits, 19 RBIs and eight doubles. Wake Tech will open against the Willam Peace University junior varsity squad in a doubleheader on Friday in Raleigh.

Not since the days of Logan Vosburg has the Orange men’s basketball team had a reliable low-post scorer.

It’s something that head coach Derryl Britt has struggled to find since the day he arrived in Hillsborough in 2018. Though he’s had teams filled with perimeter threats to rain in 3-pointers, sometimes at will, there’s hasn’t been a steady force in the paint.

On Wednesday night, junior Isaiah Seymour finally filled that void.

Seymour, who had not been in double figures through the first 18 games of the season, scored a career-high 18 points to push Orange past Cedar Ridge 53-48 in the first meeting between the two teams this season at Panther Gymnasium.

Orange (5-16, 1-9 in the Central Carolina Conference) ended an eight-game losing streak to pick up its first win of the calendar year 2022. They also ended a four-game losing streak to Cedar Ridge.

The Red Wolves (4-13, 1-9), playing for the second time in two nights, were led by junior Colton Taylor, who finished with 17 points.

It was Orange’s first win over Cedar Ridge since February 1, 2019.

“Isaiah played well,” Britt said. “I’ve been waiting on it all year. At this point, with the way our season has gone, I just want a win. The kids deserve a win. Of course, they want to play Cedar anytime they play, just like they want to beat us. It’s good to beat our crosstown rival, but the picture is much bigger than just beating Cedar.”

Cedar Ridge took the lead at 31-30 with 2:58 remaining in the third quarter after Rawlins Taylor scored on a jumper from the middle of the lane. Orange’s Ryan Moss rebounded a miss by Amare Morgan for a stickleback bucket to put Orange ahead 32-31 with 1:24 remaining in the third quarter, which triggered a 10-0 Panther run.

Seymour started the fourth quarter with a reverse layup, then Thompson intercepted an inbounds pass to score on a breakaway layup. With 6:18 remaining, Seymour picked up a miss by Joshua Jackson, scored on a finger roll and was fouled by Cedar Ridge’s Cameron Harper. Thompson added another lay-in to push Orange’s lead to 40-31.

Just it when it appeared that Orange would be set to roll to a long-awaited victory, Cedar Ridge senior Garrett Ray wouldn’t let his team go quietly. Ray took a pass from Colton Taylor and drained a 3-pointer, then blocked a shot by Seymour, leading to a transition opportunity where Ray knocked down another trey. Within seconds, Orange’s lead was reduced to 40-37.

Once again, Seymour came up big when the Panthers needed offense, rebounding a miss by senior Hunter Burch and scored off the glass.

In the final four minutes, Cedar Ridge steadily made up ground at the foul line. Rawlins Taylor sank two free throws after drawing a foul on Seymour. Cedar Ridge had a chance to tie after a miss by Thompson, but Darius Corbett knocked the ball away from the Red Wolves’ Neco Clark. Corbett fed Seymour for a lay-in. Orange freshman Xandrell Pennix stole the subsequent inbounds pass and found Seymour again for another basket that sent the Orange student section into a frenzy.

After some cold shooting early, Colton Taylor found the range for the Red Wolves with two three-pointers in the opening quarter. Cedar Ridge led 15-11 after Neco Clark scored on a lay-in late in the opening frame.

The Red Wolves played a box-and-one to defend Jerec Thompson, who averages 25.1 points per game. With Colton Taylor defending him the majority of the game, Thompson didn’t hit a 3-pointer and scored nine points.

Thompson, J.J. Thompson, Burch and Joshua Jackson were honored on senior night before the game.

Cedar Ride will host Orange in a rematch on Saturday at 1PM.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: ORANGE 55, CEDAR RIDGE 5

On her senior night, Orange’s Aaliyah Harris scored a career-high 24 points as the Lady Panthers improved to 13-6, 5-5 in the Central Carolina Conference. Another senior, Haley Reynolds, had a career-high seven points.

MEN’S BASKETBALL: ORANGE 53, CEDAR RIDGE 48

CEDAR RIDGE: Colton Taylor 17, Garrett Ray 16, Neco Clark 7, Rawlins Taylor 6, Kamill Harrsion 2.

ORANGE: Jerec Thompson 9, J.J. Thompson 3, Hunter Burch 5, Thomas Loch 2, Amare Morgan 9, Isaiah Seymour 18, Ryan Moss 2, Darius Corbett 2, Xandrell Pennix 1.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: ORANGE 55, CEDAR RIDGE 5

CEDAR RIDGE: Julie Altieri 2, Cameron Copeland 1, Angelica Carbajal 2.

ORANGE: Samantha George 9, Aisha Caron 2, Haley Reynolds 7, Jarmil Wingate 2, Aaliyah Harris 24, Evelyn George 7, Katelyn Van Mater 4.

The path to success for senior diver Stanislav “Stasz” Zitko is quite different from his fellow athletes at Orange High.

Swimmers typically work out in the morning because it’s the best hours available to train together at the Orange County Sportsplex, which makes them unusual in their own right since most other sports hold practices during the afternoon and evenings. Plus, it’s the only sport where Orange and Cedar Ridge athletes practice together, which makes for a close kinship between two rival schools.

Zitko, for four years, has strayed even further away from his classmates by necessity. Instead of working out at the SportsPlex, he’s practiced at the Duke University Aquatic Center with coach Brandon Robinson. For two hours a day, five times a week, Zitko is surrounded by other divers, none of whom go to high school in Hillsborough.

“It can be a little isolating because sometimes I see other teams with more divers on them,” Zitko said. “It’s helpful to have more people on your team because you can be more competitive with each other. Everyone else is just as friendly as a team, so it’s kind of like I still have one.”

Truly in a category by himself, Zitko is the most accomplished male diver in Orange history. Last Thursday, he claimed the 3A Central Regional Diving Championship in the 1-meter springboard at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. Zitko set a new personal best of 441.20 over ten dives. It was a score high enough for All-American consideration.

“I wasn’t expecting it at first,” Zitko said. “I thought I was just going to have a normal day since I was the only one in my event. So I was really just trying to push through it and get to states. I started off pretty strong and I realized at that point that I could go for a personal record.”

This afternoon, Zitko will go for an elusive 3A State Diving Championship at the Pullen Aquatic Center in Raleigh. It’s the fourth time that Zitko has qualified for the State Championships. Two years ago, Zitko finished with a bronze medal in the state championships at Koury Natatorium at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Zitko’s parents met on a cruise in Russia. After years of moving across the United States, they finally settled down in Hillsborough, where Zitko was born inside UNC Hospitals.

When Zitko was five years old, he learned that he had a taste for extreme things.

“I just saw it was a new thing and it was interesting,” Zitko said. “I’ve done surfing, hang gliding, skiing ad snowboarding. I got competitive with diving and it stuck with me. It’s a really difficult sport. It’s constant training. One hour of dry training and one hour in the water.”

Zitko started diving at his own expense. He got in trouble at a neighborhood pool for ignoring constant warnings to not dive into the water. There were a few suspensions along the way, but Zitko discovered his high school passion at the same time.

“The people who ran the poll told my dad to sign me up for diving if I wanted to do it so badly,” Zitko said. “I had a lot of fun.”

Zitko’s coaches implored him to start going to competitions.

“At first, I didn’t really understand what was going on,” Zitko said. “I started going around to different places to practice. Later on, I learned I was gaining these skills to compete.”

Zitko started getting more daring on his dives when he worked on dry land diving into a foam pit. With time, that carried over into the water.

At the Duke Aquatic Center, if Zitko has a fear of heights, he doesn’t show it.

“Stasz likes to jump off the 10-meter platform,” said Robinson, who was alongside Zitko for his regional championship last week. “Not everyone is as enthusiastic about jumping off that platform the way he is.”

The only diving state champion in Orange High history is Jennifer Rehm, who won two 4A State Championships in 1999 and 2000 on the 1-meter springboard.

On a night when Orange needed someone to step up against its crosstown rival, junior Isaiah Seymour turned in the biggest performance of his career. Seymour scored a career-high 18 points as the Panthers defeated the Red Wolves 53-48 on Wednesday night at Orange High Gymnasium. Seymour scored eight points in the second quarter. With Orange clinging to a 3-point lead late, Seymour hit a driving lay-up that paved the way for the Panthers to end a four-game losing streak against the Red Wolves. Senior Hunter Burch, who started for Orange, got a critical stickback shot to fall with under four minutes remaining to push Orange ahead by nine. The Panthers earned its first win since December 30 and its first victory of the Central Carolina Conference season. The Panthers will play its final home game of the season against Eastern Alamance on Friday before starting play in the Central Carolina Conference Tournament.