Orange football fans have waited a long time for tonight.
It’s the Big 7 Conference opener against Seaforth.
It’s nothing less than the biggest football game at Auman Stadium since 2016.
Don’t get me wrong. Orange isn’t a state championship contender yet. Make no mistake, that’s the ultimate goal head coach Fritz Hessenthaler, offensive coordinator David Grimm and everyone else on the coaching staff has had for Orange football since they set foot in Hillsborough in June 2025.
But to be a state championship contender, you have to be a conference championship contender first.
That’s why tonight is so important.
Last year was a time of uncertainty for Orange football. The new coaching staff had to get used to the players. At the same time, Orange was in a new conference filled with teams that either they hadn’t played in years (J.F. Webb, South Granville) or had no familiarity with at all.
Seaforth fits in the latter category, but the first game between the Hawks and the Panthers was one Orange simply let get away.
It may have cost them the conference championship.
With Orange clinging to a 22-21 lead late in the fourth quarter, Seaforth quarterback Duncan Parker directed a drive into Orange territory. But Panther safety Markus Thomas picked off a pass with 1:32 remaining at the Orange 21-yard line.
On the next play, the Panthers fumbled. Seaforth got the ball back and Parker streaked 21 yards for the game-winning touchdown with 1:21 left.
The Hawks would go on to share the Big 7 championship with J.F. Webb.
Orange hasn’t forgotten that night. But some Panthers fans may have forgotten what a big game atmosphere feels like for football.
A night like, say, November 25, 2016.
A noteworthy date in Orange football lore on several levels.
Orange roared through the 2016 regular season undefeated, the first time that had happened since 1978. It was a ridiculously dominant team that ripped Southern Durham 49-7 at Spartans Stadium en route to a 11-0 regular season and the Big 8 Conference Championship. They outscored opposition 418-45 during a 12-game winning streak.
On that November night, it was the second round of the 3A State Playoffs. The Havelock Rams, a traditional powerhouse in eastern North Carolina football, came into Auman Stadium to face an Orange team that had a junior linebacker in Payton Wilson and a senior in Bryse Wilson.
Orange also had defensive end Stone Edwards, who would go on to play at Vanderbilt, and Keshawn Thompson, who then-defensive coordinator Van Smith said was the hardest working player he ever had. Thompson would go on to start at Campbell.
To no one’s surprise, the battle between the Rams and the Panthers was a defensive struggle. After Orange junior Marvante Beasley roared around end for a touchdown to tie the game 7-7 in the third quarter, Havelock quarterback Corey Cooper found H-back Christian Capps for a score early in the fourth quarter that was enough to beat Orange 14-7.
That was Pat Moser’s last game as Orange head coach. The previous summer, he announced that the 2016 season would be his last. The following day, he joined Wilson’s family for a recruiting visit to Clemson.
While Orange did win the 2017 Big 8 Conference championship, the big games that year were away from Auman Stadium. Orange won at Southern Durham and at Hillside, but those victories came with a price. Payton Wilson and Beasley suffered season-ending injuries before the season-finale against Chapel Hill. Without its top players, Cape Fear routed Orange in the opening round of the state playoffs and there hasn’t been a postseason football game inside Auman Stadium since.
Orange has hosted big volleyball games, baseball games, softball games, wrestling matches, lacrosse games, women’s tennis matches, even men’s soccer games since that November night against Havelock a decade ago.
Orange athletics has hardly struggled. They won nine conference championships in the 2023-2024 academic year. Last year, they won five.
Tonight, a big football game atmosphere returns to Auman Stadium.
Your presence would be appreciated.
