Photo by Jacques Morin
CHAPEL HILL–Bit by bit, inch by inch, Fritz Hessenthaler’s mission to rebuild Orange football is taking shape.
On Friday night, the Panthers walked into a humid Culton-Peerman Stadium without a nonconference win in 728 days. They walked out with its first shutout of the Chapel Hill Tigers since 2016.
Orange’s wing-T offense drained the clock, its offensive line wore down the Tigers and its defense made the important plays in a 30-0 win. Junior running back Markus Thomas rushed for 177 yards and two touchdowns, including a 73-yard scamper early in the fourth quarter.
The Panthers (1-1) scored touchdowns on its first three drives to put the Tigers in an early hole. Senior Kayden Bradsher scored on a 51-yard scamper for the game’s opening touchdown, his first of the year.
The last time Orange shutout the Tigers, it was October 21, 2016. Arguably the greatest team in school history, current Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Payton Wilson recorded five tackles as the Panthers defeated the Tigers 42-0 in Hillsborough en route to an undefeated regular season.
Hessenthaler’s stoic nature doesn’t treat every win like it’s a state championship. It’s simply the next step in a process that focused about learning from today, using it to be better tomorrow, and never, ever about yesterday.
“It’s still early and we’re on a learning curve,” Hessenthaler said. “We have to continue to brand ourselves on both sides of the ball and on special teams. I feel like the special teams had the biggest improvement this week. I think we punted well and we kicked off well.”
Chapel Hill (0-2) was hamstrung without freshman quarterback Landon Cuthrell, who shared time with sophomore starter Max Wehr last week at Seaforth. After building some offensive rhythm in the second half, Cuthrell including his throwing hand against the Hawks. It forced Wehl, making his second start, to play the whole way against an Orange defense hungry for success.
Orange, which went 6-for-11 on 3rd down conversions, earned a new set of downs on 3rd-and-3 when Thomas carried several Tigers for three yards on 3rd-and-1 on the opening series. On the next play, Bradsher bolted from the gates like a thoroughbred and ran untouched 51 yards for his first touchdown of the season. Thomas added the 2-point conversion with 9:13 remaining in the first quarter.
Chapel Hill was penalized 13 times for 138 yards. On its second drive, Orange faced a 3rd-and-11 from the Tiger 41-yard line, but Chapel Hill was hit with consecutive offsides penalties, On 4th-and-2, Thomas broke free for a 32-yard touchdown, his second touchdown of the season. This time, Bradsher ran in the 2-point conversion to put Orange ahead 16-0.
Chapel Hill running back Christian Brooks McMillian earned the first Tigers first down of the night with a 14-yard gain, which had ten yards tacked on after an Orange holding penalty. But the series stalled after the Tigers were called for a holding penalty at the Panther-33-yard line.
Orange grinder out a 12-play, 75-yard drive that took 7:22 off the clock. Thomas converted a 3rd-and-3 with a four-yard gain. On 3rd-and-6 from the Tiger 9-yard line, Orange quarterback Jackson Moody threw a jump pass to fullback Mason Stubbs, who dashed for the left corner of the end one. Stubbs extended the ball inside the pylon, just winning the race against the Tigers’ Nicholas Kelly to score his first varsity touchdown.
Orange sophomore Ronte Love delivered a resounding end to the first half with a sack of Wehr at midfield.
Chapel Hill’s biggest threat to score came midway through the third quarter on a sloppy, prolonged series that included five total penalties. Facing 3rd-and-21, Wehr found Justin Harrington for 19 yards, which also included another Orange holding penalty that took the ball into Orange real estate. Wehr hit freshman Elgin Laws of 12 yards to advance to the Orange 6-yard line. After three straight incompletions, Panther junior defensive back T.J. Atkins rushed on a safety blitz and took down Wehr to end the threat.
After he ended the third quarter with a ten-yard gain on 3rd-and-nine, Thomas broke free for the longest run of his career, a 73-yard dash for his second touchdown of the night. Thomas added the 2-point conversion.
It was just the second win for Orange over Chapel Hill since 2021.
ORANGE 30, CHAPEL HILL 0
ORANGE–16 6 0 8-30
CHHS– 0. 0 0 0-0
ORANGE–Kayden Bradsher 51 run (Markus Thomas run)
ORANGE–Thomas 32 run (Bradsher run)
ORANGE–Mason Stubbs 9 pass from Jackson Moody (kick failed)
ORANGE–Thomas 73 run (Thomas run)
RUSHING–ORANGE 40-290 3TD (Thomas 23-177 2TD, Bradsher 6-73 TD, Stubbs 8-25, Owen Phillips 2-11, Moody 1-4)
CHAPEL HILL 18-52 (Christian Brooks-McMillan 5-38, Justin Harrington 4-23, Alijah Baldwin 3-15, Elgin Laws 1-(-1), John Roach 1-(-1), Max Wehr 4-(-22))
PASSING: ORANGE (Moody 1-3 9 yds TD)
CHAPEL HILL (Wehr (13-25 125 yds)
RECEIVING: ORANGE (Stubbs 1-9 TD)
CHAPEL HILL (Laws 3-34, Brooks McMillian 3-17, Kitrell Amaker 2-23, Harrington 1-19, Lukas Tennant 1-13, Baldwin 1-10, Cole Gwaltney 1-6, Nicholas Kelly 1-3)
