Jeff Hamlin

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior golfer Sarah Durham. Last week during Orange’s second meet of the year at the Preserves at Jordan Lake, Durham finished tied for 2nd place with a 47 in nine holes. Only Eastern Alamance’s Emily Matthews finished ahead of Durham. On Sunday mornings, you can probably find Durham on the practice range at Occoneechee Golf Course in Hillsborough. She constantly works on her short game, as well as teeing off. Her younger sister, Samantha, also plays on the Orange golf team. Her brother, Chris, played at Cedar Ridge and attends Campbell University. Sarah opened the year on September 6 with a 4th place finish at the opening Central Carolina Conference meet of the year at Occoneechee. Last spring, Sarah qualified for the 3A Central Regionals in Greensboro. She aims to do that again this year, as well. First of all, there are several more regular season meets, in which Sarah hopes to improve both her short game and her overall score. On Monday, Orange and Cedar Ridge will take part in the Valley Golf Course in Burlington, hosted by Western Alamance.

Through three different head coaches, the Cedar Ridge men’s soccer team has managed to beat its crosstown rival in three of their last four meetings.

On Wednesday night, the Red Wolves (2-7, 1-1 in the Central Carolina Conference) got two goals each from Chris Mendez and senior Jorge Salazar to defeat Orange 4-1 at Red Wolves Stadium.

It was the first Central Carolina Conference win for new Cedar Ridge men’s soccer coach Chauncey Brummell, who replaced Andrew Berg over the summer. While it’s always great to do it against your crosstown rival, it was satisfaction delayed for the Red Wolves and Brummell, in particular.

Without any prompting, each Cedar Ridge player to a man will tell you the team’s first conference win should have been last Monday night against Northwood. The Red Wolves were tied with the Chargers 1-1 in Pittsboro, but the Chargers’ scored the game-winning goal with two minutes remaining in regulation.

Justin Murillo scored the only goal for Cedar Ridge against Northwood.

“I think heart made the difference tonight,” Brummell said. “I think the kids had a lot of determination tonight. They’re a tight-knit, close group. I think they wanted to get that win tonight after we fell short on Monday night.”

Though the scoreline may indicate otherwise, Orange (3-7, 0-3) had numerous opportunities to get the equalizing goal throughout the second half. Trailing 2-0 at halftime, Orange’s Cooper Zinn took an entry pass from midfielder Dylan Silverman and fired the ball into the lower left corner for the Panthers’ first tally with 18:56 remaining.

Orange continued the pressure after Zinn’s goal. The turning point came when Orange’s Konnor Johnson sent a pretty ball into the box for Darius Corbett, who was open at the penalty spot. Cedar Ridge goalkeeper Benjamin Weaver raced out of the net to block Corbett’s shot. The subsequent corner kick was headed wide by Johnson with 14:04 remaining.

“Ben has shown up for us time and time again this year,” Brummell said. “He’s made some really big, key saves for us. He’s a talented goalkeeper. I think that save just put a reassurance how bad the boys really wanted this game. He came through for us.”

Orange’s Jasper Tyll let loose with another attempt from 17 yards that missed wide, which was the Panthers’ last serious attempt to tie. With 7:59 remaining, Salazar led a charge from the left flank to the top of the box. Orange was issued a yellow card for a handball in the box, leading to a penalty that Salazar tucked firmly into the bottom right corner for an insurance goal.

Mendez would add his second goal after he unleashed a shot chest high that rebounded off Orange goalkeeper Connor McMurtry. Mendez headed the loose ball over McMurtry to put the Red Wolves ahead 4-1.

Cedar Ridge led 2-0 at halftime. With 20:43 remaining in the first half, senior Alex Jackan found Salazar for a chip shot that lofted into the bottom of the net for the opening goal. Nine minutes later, Jesus Quirez-Rivera passed across the penalty area to Mendez, who uncorked a rocket in from nine yards away.

“I would like to build up the program and bring it back to where it once was,” said Brummell. “Historically, Cedar Ridge has had some great players come through. They were a dominant team in 2A. I want to get them back where they once were. This is a new conference for us and we’ve got a good group of kids.”

Orange will go for its first Central Carolina Conference win against Person tonight (Monday) in Hillsborough. Cedar Ridge will attempt to win consecutive games for the first time this year when they face Eastern Alamance tonight in Mebane.

Bryse Wilson: The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Miami Marlins 6-3 at LoanDepot Park in Florida in Saturday night. It marked Wilson’s first win in a Pirates uniform. Over five innings, Wilson retired the Marlins in order twice. He surrendered two runs off four hits with three strikeouts and no walks. The only runs that Wilson gave up came off a 2-run homer from Nick Fortes in fifth inning. Wilson is now 3-7 with a 4.88 ERA this season. His next start will likely be at Philadelphia next week. It marked the end of a bittersweet week for the Wilson family.

Payton Wilson: On Monday afternoon, N.C. State football coach Dave Doeren announced that Wilson will miss the rest of the season after suffering a shoulder injury against Mississippi State last Saturday. Wilson led the Atlantic Coast Conference in tackles per game last year. Before he left the contest against the Bulldogs, Wilson had his first sack of the season. Wilson has led N.C. State in tackles each of the last two seasons with a total of 177. Last season, the Wolfpack went 6-1 in games where Wilson led the team in tackles. Wilson is a redshirt sophomore who took a medical redshirt two years ago after an injury during spring practice shortly after he enrolled in Raleigh. Wilson had surgeries on both of his shoulders last winter, which led to him missing spring practice.

Trent Gill: On Saturday night in Raleigh, N.C. State rolled past Furman 45-7 at Carter-Finley Stadium. Gill, the former Cedar Ridge kicker, had four punts for an average of 38 yards. Three of the punts were downed inside the 20-yard line. His longest was 41 yards. The Wolfpack are 2-1 and will face #5 Clemson next weekend in Raleigh.

Keshawn Thompson: It was another big week for the former Orange linebacker. Campbell hammered Presbyterian 72-0 at Barker-Lane Stadium in Buies Creek. Thompson had his first career interception for the Camels. He also registered two tackles. The past two weeks, Thompson led the team in tackles. Campbell is now 1-2 and will travel to North Alabama next Saturday to open Big South Conference action.

Kayla Hodges: The Elon women’s soccer team defeated Furman 2-0 on Thursday in its final nonconference game of the season. Hodges played all 90 minutes for Elon, who improved to 5-3. Hodges has played 685 out of 690 possible minutes so far this season. The Phoenix will travel to UNC Wilmington to open Colonial Athletic Association action this afternoon.

Emerson Talley: The all-time leading goal scorer in Cedar Ridge women’s soccer history made her college debut for Division II Lenoir-Rhyne last week. The Bears defeated Francis Marion 6-0 at Mortez Sports Complex in Hickory. Talley came off the bench to play 30 minutes. On Saturday, it was a matchup between two former Cedar Ridge players when Lenoir-Rhyne faced #21 Limestone, featuring goalkeeper Taylin Jean. Neither Talley nor Jean played. Lenoir-Rhyne defeated the Saints 3-2 to improve to 3-0-2. It was the South Atlantic Conference opener for both teams.

Brittany Daley: The Division III Greensboro College women’s soccer team dropped a 2-0 decision to Randolph-Macon College in Ashland. Daley made her sixth start of the season and played all 90 minutes. On Wednesday, Bridgewater College defeated Greensboro 5-1 in Virginia. Daley also started and played the distance. The Pride are 2-4.

Jordan Rogers: The Division III William Peace women’s soccer team defeated Ferrum 3-1 in its USA South Athletic Conference opener at WakeMed Soccer Parkin Cary on Saturday night. Rogers started and played all 90 minutes. On Wednesday, Rogers also went the distance as the Pacers played a scoreless tie against Brevard College at Ives-Lemel Family Field in Brevard on Wednesday. Peace now has a four-game unbeaten streak and is 3-2-1 overall, 1-0 in the USA South.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is outside hitter Cameron Lanier. It’s the second consecutive year that Lanier has been honored. The Cedar Ridge volleyball team is off to its best start in school history after wins over Western Alamance and Williams last week. Lanier is second on the team with 66 kills. She has had double-digit kills in four of Cedar Ridge’s first eight games. She had a career-high 18 kills in a victory over defending 3A State Champion D.H. Conley on August 20. Against Northwood on September 2, she had ten kills, while she registered eleven kills in a victory at Eastern Alamance on September 9. Last season, Lanier was second on the team in kills with 68 as Cedar Ridge captured the Big 8 Conference championship. Lanier and the rest of the Red Wolves have a busy week ahead with a rematch against D.H. Conley on Monday night in Hillsborough. Then East Chapel Hill will return to Hillsborough for a nonconference game on Tuesday. On Thursday, Cedar Ridge travels to Person to start the second half of the Central Carolina Conference season. Cedar Ridge leads the CCC with a 6-0 record, one game ahead of Northwood for first place. (Quick note: this award commemorates the week starting September 5. It’s not being posted until now because we got behind. We’ll have another Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week to announce on Wednesday.)

For more photos from Jacques Morin, go to www.jacquesonthesidelines.com

ELON-The home team walked through the stands during its entrance onto David Morton Field while a crowded grandstand cheered them, even during its worst start in decades.

There were sponsor banners stretched out from one end of the home fencing to the other, with even more in the end zone. It was enough patronage to make a NASCAR executive proud.

Even after the Western Alamance Warriors cruised to a 44-7 win over Orange, the night was hardly over. Parents played catch with their kids while the Homecoming court and cheerleaders gathered around the Warrior football team in a victorious huddle.

These were the images of Orange football’s new league. In its first game in the Central Carolina Conference, the Panthers couldn’t have looked more rattled and overmatched. Western Alamance, which hasn’t lost a conference opener in the ten-year stint of head coach Jeff Snuffer, looked right at home as they should have.

Western Alamance quarterback Eric Wagoner rushed for three touchdowns and threw for 200 yards. Running back Mason Hogsed rushed for 87 yards and two touchdowns.

It was Snuffer’s 110th win as Western Alamance head coach.

After piling up a season-high 402 yards total offense and 21 first downs in last week’s win over Granville Central, Orange was held to 131 yards and seven first downs.

The Warriors, which had dropped its opening three games against Northern Guilford, Southern Alamance and Reidsville by a combined score of 125-28, put Orange on its back minutes after the opening kickoff and kept them there.

“We got off to another bad start,” said Orange coach Van Smith. “We weren’t executing. We got on ourselves early. All the Homecoming activities is great for what goes on beyond the field. But we let it get to us on the field. We have to more leadership from our coaches and our players.”

For the third time in five games, Orange gave up a touchdown on its opening drive and played uphill from that point forward. After Orange nose tackle Kameron Harshaw dropped Warriors running back James Newton for a 7-yard loss to force a 3rd-and-17, Wagoner threw to Kaden Wilborn for a 48-yard reception to invade the Panther red zone. On the next play, Wagoner danced up the middle for a 12-yard touchdown.

Orange fumbled on its next possession, which was recovered by Western Alamance’s Jordan Lambert. It led to Ty Belles scoring on a three-yard run.

After another 3-and-out by Orange, Hogsed rushed up the middle for a 22-yard score. Jacob Carter’s extra point put the Warriors ahead 20-0, and the Panthers hadn’t even picked up a first down yet.

Orange’s only substantial drive of the first half was aided by three offside penalties against the Warriors. After quarterback Jared Weaver hit running back Nathan Sorrells for a 5-yard gain, Orange attempted a 32-yard field goal, but it missed wide left as the first half expired.

The only saving grace on the night for the Panthers came when Weaver found tight end Jake Wimsatt for a 52-yard touchdown pass midway through the fourth quarter. Wimsatt made the catch along the Orange sideline, then ran across the field and beat the rest of the Warriors pursuit in order to avoid a shutout. Darius Satterfield added the extra point.

In the third quarter, Wagoner scored on an 11-yard touchdown run, while Hogsed burst up the middle for a 39-yard touchdown. Jacob Carter added a 34-yard field goal.

With its regular season halfway done, Orange looks ahead for the first of two meetings against Walter Williams. Next Friday’s game in Hillsborough will count in the conference standings, while the matchup on October 22 in Burlington (which replaced the scheduled date with Cedar Ridge, which is not fielding a varsity team) will be a nonconference game.

“Everybody has to get better on our side,” Smith said. “We have to have leadership from everyone right now because we didn’t get it tonight.”

WESTERN ALAMANCE 44, ORANGE 7

ORA–0 0 0 7-7

WAL–20 7 10 7-44

WAL–Eric Wagoner 12 run (Jacob Carter kick)

WAL-Ty Belles 3 run (pass failed)

WAL–Mason Hogsed 22 run (Carter kick)

WAL–Wagoner 4 run (Carter kick)

WAL–Carter 34 field goal

WAL–Wagoner 11 run (Carter kick)

WAL–Hogsed 39 run (Carter kick)

ORA–Jake Wimsatt 52 pass from Jared Weaver (Darius Satterfield kick)

RUSHING: ORANGE– 30-71 (Omarion Lewis 12-55, Weaver 6-12, Nate Hecht 2-6, Satterfield 1-5, Jackson Wood 1-3, Ronald Cooper 1-3, Connor Ray 1-0, Nate Sorrells 6-(-13)

WESTERN ALAMANCE– 23-120 6 TD (Hogsed 7-87 2 TD, Wagoner 7-24 3 TD, James Newton 4-16, Belles 3-12 TD, Evan Kuehnel 1-(-4), Jackson Snyder 1-(-5)

PASSING: ORANGE (Weaver 2-8 57 TD)

WESTERN ALAMANCE: (Wagoner 13-17 200)

RECEIVING: ORANGE (Wimsatt 1-52 TD, Sorrells 1-5)

WESTERN ALAMANCE (Logan Wilborn 6-133, Jackson Snyder 3-34, Zack Oakley 2-12, Burch Keck 1-18, Hogsed 1-3)

Ever notice that any good sports film is only as good as its main heel, a.k.a bad guy?

Carl Weathers was a great subtle heel in the first two Rocky films. As overrated a film as “Major League” is, Margaret Whitton was a wonderful villainess as Cleveland Indians’ owner Rachel Phelps.

And then there’s gambler Gus Sands from “The Natural.” Due to a financial dispute, Darren McGavin, perhaps best known as the father from “A Christmas Story,” demanded to be uncredited in the film. But he has the film’s most underrated moment as a wounded Roy Hobbs walks into Knights Field front office to play his last game against Sands’ wishes. When sinister owner The Judge, who would gain full ownership of the New York Knights if they lose the climactic game, threatens to turn over disturbing details about Hobbs’ past to the press, Sands halts everything and utters the movie’s best line with a sneer:

“That won’t be necessary. I like the action.”

I like to think my intentions are more pure, but I like the action, too. It’s why I sit up long after games still writing in a dark room listening to the Kiss solo albums way more than I should (Why did Gene Simmons end his with “When You Wish Upon a Star?). This should be the best time for the high school students who play these games because there’s a legion of fans ready to enjoy the action, too. The Cedar Ridge volleyball team is off to its best start ever. Orange’s volleyball team has been formidable even without two of its best players. The Orange women’s tennis team has a chance to win the Central Carolina Conference title. The atmosphere at recent volleyball and football games has been electric.

If you paid any attention to the beginning of this week, you probably know where I’m going with this.

It’s a time when it’s never been easier to communicate. Email. Twitter. Facebook. Instagram. At the click of a button, an entire day’s worth of activities with countless people can be scheduled within minutes.

So why is it so hard to communicate with each other right now?

On Monday morning, word broke that the Orange County School Board would act on a recommendation by the local health department to shut down all sports for two weeks. This was at the beginning of the fifth week of the fall sports season.

It caught most local coaches, players, students and parents completely by surprise. They’ve spent hours on end preparing, practicing and playing this season, only to be told they could be sent home for two weeks, disrupting (if not ruining) everything they’ve worked for over the past seven weeks.

During a workout on Monday afternoon, I asked one local athletic official if they had any idea the vote was coming before Monday morning.

Their answer was “No, we just work here.”

There’s the problem. The Orange County School Administrative office certainly wants to protect everyone. For that, they’re to be credited because it’s their first priority.

But this is a communication business. And the lapse made some local officials feel less like employees and more like pieces of equipment.

At best, the short notice of the meeting by the Orange County Administrative office was poor communication.

At worst, it was deceptive.

While sports continued this week, the school board did limit fans from attending games to two people per spectator for two weeks. It didn’t stop the Cedar Ridge volleyball team from beating Western Alamance on Tuesday at Red Wolves Gymnasium, but it was certainly a less spirited affair. Ordinarily, the student section would have been packed as the Red Wolves continue an undefeated season. Instead, it was empty. Red Wolves junior Melissa Benkowitz admitted “we had to create our own emotion.”

Make no mistake, there’s frustration around both local high schools with the administrative office right now. Among coaches. Among players and certainly among fans.

The school board and administrative office are lightning rods stuck with an extremely difficult job during the worst pandemic in modern American history. Their job is to keep students safe as the delta variant spreads faster. Meanwhile, there’s an inordinate amount of people who seemed to have earn medical degrees from Alex Jones University by “doing their own research,” whatever that means.

When people can easily obtain their own preferred version of the truth, it’s impossible for a governing board anywhere to satisfy everyone. Indeed, information overload is another problem and has made governing harder.

Hopefully, there will be better communication by everyone concerned in the near future.

Because everyone deserves to like the action. And be there in person for it.