Jeff Hamlin

Landon Riley: 2016 Orange graduate Landon Riley has made the Liberty Flames baseball team as a walk-on. Riley was the only walk-on added to the roster by Flames Coach Scott Jackson. Last month, Jackson asked Riley to throw during an inter-squad scrimmage. After throwing one inning, Riley was offered a spot on the team. Riley is currently a sophomore at Liberty. At Orange, Riley threw 28 innings over two seasons as a varsity pitcher, striking out 35 and walking only 12 with a 3.00 ERA.

Ashley Muench: On senior night for UNCG Volleyball, Muench led the Spartans with 17 kills on 60 attempts in a 3-2 victory over Western Carolina at Fleming Gymnasium. Muench, a senior from Hurdle Mills, also had ten digs. This season, Muench has started every match for the Spartans and leads the team in kills. UNCG is now 17-10 overall, 10-5 in the Southern Conference. The Spartans will close out the regular season at the Citadel on Saturday.

Lindsay Thompson: The 2017 Cedar Ridge graduate became a starter late in the season for the Cape Fear Community College volleyball team. Thompson had ten digs in a 3-0 loss to Pasco-Hernando Community College on November 3rd, which ended the Sea Devils’ season in the NJCAA Region 10 tournament at Brunswick Community College. Thompson’s best performance came against Davidson County Community College, finishing with four aces and eight digs. In her freshman year, Thompson had 93 digs and 19 aces. She started ten matches for a team that finished 19-6.

Eryk Brandon-Dean: Brandon-Dean, now a running back at Division III Guilford, scored two touchdowns on a 45-20 victory over Shenandoah on October 21. Brandon-Dean has played in six games this season for the Quakers, rushing for 106 yards and three touchdowns.

Chandler Compton: A redshirt freshman centerback for the Wofford men’s soccer team, Chandler Compton ended the season playing two games for the Terriers. Compton played a total of 36 minutes as the Terriers ended the season 4-15, 4-6 in the Southern Conference.

Amanda Hill: Hill, who is a sophomore golfer at Sandhills Community College, shot a personal best 78 on October 24 during the St. Andrews Fall Invitational held at Scotch Meadows in Laurinburg. Hill’s 87-78-165 total placed her in 8^th place individually. As the only junior college squad in the field of six teams, the Lady Flyers finished fourth in the event won by Brenau University, an NAIA school from Gainesville, Ga.

In the absence of All State candidate Payton Wilson, junior Jett Satterfield has been the leading tackler for Orange over the past two games. He had nine on Friday against Chapel Hill, after compiling ten against Cedar Ridge. Jett’s father. Trent, was a fullback and wrestler for Orange. His uncle. Scott, was a quarterback and safety at Orange and is now the head coach at Appalachian State. Jett receives advice from his elders to improve on the gridiron nightly.

Junior Eryk Mercado is tied with Milton Purcell for the team lead with four interceptions this season. Mercado picked off his latest pass against Chapel Hill on Friday night, when the Panthers clinched a share of its third straight Big 8 Championship. Mercado now will lead the secondary into the first round of the 3-AA state playoffs against Cape Fear on Friday night in Hillsborough.

The Cedar Ridge and Orange cross country teams have been dominated by underclassmen all year, so why should the state championships be any different?

On Saturday, Orange was led by sophomore Ava Heffernan at the 3A State Championships, held at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville. Heffernan finished 65th overall with a time of 20:28.48. Freshman Sascha Godfrey came in 67th, completing the race in 20:31.82.

Freshman Anne Morrell was the highest placer among the Cedar Ridge runners, finishing 78th at 20:45.98. Sophomore Ella Nissler wound up 91st with a time of 21:00.37. Cedar Ridge had seven runners competing overall: sophomore Allison Musty came in 115th (21:33.33), freshman Ariadna Solis finished 148th (22:30.54), Abby Averette 160th (22:59.60), senior Alexandria Wirth (23:17.22) and senior Noa Bearman (23:36.41)

Elise Wright of T.C. Roberson won the 3A girls individual championship, completing the 5,000 meter course in 18:03.56, ten seconds ahead of Chapel Hill’s Katherine Dokholyan, who captured the Big 8 Conference and Mideast Regional Championships.

Chapel Hill captured its third straight state championship with 62 points, ahead of Cuthbertson’s 71 points. Cedar Ridge finished 20th.

The Orange Cross Country team had seven runners place in its state championship meet. Junior Kyle Van Tubbergh finished 114th with at time of 17:40.08. Also finishing for Orange: junior Sam Rasinske came in 144th (18:05.65), senior Andrew Sollars 158th (18:13.81), senior Mitchell Askew 164th (18:25.07), sophomore Bennett Fleming 179th (18:43.65), sophomore Whitt Phillips 198th (19:27.24) and sophomore Josh Van Mater (20:15.05).

Mount Tabor’s Cameron Ponder won the individual state championship, setting a new course record time of 15:19.77. Ponder became the fourth individual state champion in Mt. Tabor cross country history.

Mount Tabor captured the 3A Men’s State Championship with 72 points, ahead of Weddington’s 110. Chapel Hill, the Big 8 Champions, finished third at 114. Orange came in 25th.

After the fire/the fire still burns/the heart grows older/but never, ever learns/the memories smolder/and the soul always yearns/after the fire/the fire still burns—Pete Townshend 

There was a melancholy feeling around senior night at Auman Stadium on Friday night, which is standard most years.

When training camp started in August, anyone could have told you that watching Payton Wilson and Marvante Beasley play their final regular season game in Hillsborough would be emotional. But no one was prepared for it to end the way it did.

Wilson watched on crutches wearing shorts, a week removed from tearing his ACL against Cedar Ridge. Beasley, all of 23 yards away from rushing for 1,000 yards for the second consecutive season, joined his teammate on the bench after being diagnosed with a bruise on his spinal cord. While Beasley has dedicated the last year to earning a football scholarship (and has a visit planned to Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday), those close to the Orange program deem it “very doubtful” Beasley will play football again.

When the news of Wilson and Beasley’s season-ending injuries became public on Monday, the Orange coaches and players knew what they were losing. Their starting quarterback. Their leading receiver. Their leading rusher. And tackler. And punt returner. And kick returner.

51% of its offense, to be exact.

All of this for a team that dubbed 2017 “Keep it Rolling,” based on the unsatisfying finish of the 2016 season when Havelock handed the Panthers its only loss of the year in the 2nd round of the 3A playoffs.

That was only the beginning of Orange’s problems. Hunter Pettiford, the backup to Beasley, missed Friday’s game against Chapel Hill with a sprained ankle. Even the defensive line coach, Eric Villines, missed the first Orange game of his 13-year career after tearing his ACL.

Despite all that, Orange found a way to win a share of its 3rd consecutive Big 8 Championship.

Orange will receive the top automatic bid to the 3A state playoffs after Northern Durham defeated Northwood 34-7 on Friday night at Durham County Stadium. The Knights also claimed a share of the Big 8 title, its first conference championship since 2004.

Orange will receive a home game in the opening round of the 3A state playoffs. The North Carolina High School Athletic Association will announced the playoff pairings on Saturday afternoon.

Junior Morgan Paschall rushed for 152 yards and two touchdowns, while senior Milton Purcell scored three touchdowns in the 2nd quarter as the Panthers defeated Chapel Hill 56-16.

Orange coach Van Smith knew the loss of his two biggest playmakers would be a major shakeup for his team with the playoffs starting next week.

“Our first thought was with Payton and Marvante as people,” said Smith. “We care about their careers. We weren’t thinking about how this would affect us in the playoffs.”

Eli Haithcock and Wyatt Jones each had interception returns for a touchdown. The Panthers had five takeaways and scored 35 points off turnovers, both season-highs.

Paschall broke the game open with a 96-yard touchdown run with 6:25 remaining in the first quarter. Paschall scored the initial touchdown earlier in the frame on a 15-yard scamper.

Purcell scored the first of his three touchdowns in the 2nd quarter off a tap pass from quarterback Brendan Huss. After defensive end Ryan Sellers recovered a fumble off a misguided snap to Chapel Hill quarterback Alex Stough, Huss found Purcell on a 21-yard touchdown. On the next play from scrimmage, Purcell picked off a Stough pass and returned it 57 yards for his 2nd touchdown in 22 seconds.

“I think our offense is getting adjusted to the spread now,” said Smith. “Games like this are good for a teenager’s confidence because every teenager is insecure, in some way. They need to build their confidence.

In the third quarter, Corbin Kenion rushed for 16 yards around left end for his first rushing varsity touchdown.

Stough rushed around right end for a nine-yard touchdown with 8:00 remaining in the fourth quarter. Stough found Bradley Kenyon for a 21-yard touchdown pass on the final Tiger drive.

ORANGE 56, CHAPEL HILL 16

CH-0    0    0    16-16

OR-21   21  7     7-56

O-Morgan Paschall 15 run (Tucker Krogstad kick)

O-Paschall 96 run (Krogstad kick)

O-Eli Haithcock 51 interception return (Krogstad kick)

O-Milton Purcell 16 pass from Brandon Huss (Krogstad kick)

O-Purcell 25 pass from Huss (Krogstad kick)

O-Purcell 57 interception return (Krogstad kick)

O-Corbin Kenion 16 run (Krogstad kick)

O-Wyatt Jones 38 interception return (Krogstad kick)

CH-Alec Stough 9 run (Caleb Clegg run)

CH-Bradley Kenion 21 pass from Stough (Clegg run)

RUSHING: CHAPEL HILL (Clegg 23-146, Stough 4-22 TD, Javon Cobb 2-2, Leo Tun 1-0) ORANGE (Paschall 15-152 2 TD, Kenion 4-70 TD, Purcell 1-9, Tre Richardson 2-(-4), Huss 1-(-11)

PASSING: CHAPEL HILL (Stough 6-26 94 TD 4 INT) ORANGE (Huss 8-15 79 2 TD, Wyatt Jones 0-1)

RECEIVING: CHAPEL HILL (Kenion 5-89 TD, Clegg 1-5) ORANGE (Purcell 2-39 TD, Kendall Whitted 2-23, Noah Robinson 2-8, Sebastian Flores 1-16, Colin Guentensberger 1-(-4)

Orange senior Morgan Paschall made a memorable senior night run, scoring on a 96-yard scamper in the first quarter of Orange’s 56-16 victory over Chapel Hill. Paschall, in his final regular season game, rushed for a career-high 152 yards. It was his 2nd 100-yard game of the season and his first multi-touchdown game of the season.

On the eve of a recruiting trip to North Carolina A&T for the A&T/N.C. Central game, Kendall Whitted and Ryan Sellers helped Orange claim its third consecutive Big 8 Conference Championship with a 56-16 victory over Chapel Hill. Once again, Sellers leads the team in sacks after compiling two against the Tigers. Whitted tied for the team lead with two receptions for 23 yards.

In his final regular season game at Auman Stadium, Milton Purcell scored three touchdowns against Chapel Hill, all in the 2nd quarter. He jumped around left end on a tap pass from Brendan Huss for a 16-yard touchdown. Then he caught a 21 yard pass late in the 1st half. On the next play from scrimmage, Purcell intercepted his 2nd pass in as many weeks and returned it 57 yards for a touchdown.

On his senior night, Orange’s left tackle Brandon Carden helped the Panthers put up a season-high 56 points against Chapel Hill. Orange claimed a share of the Big 8 Championship for the third consecutive season. Last week against Cedar Ridge, Carden set up two long screen pass touchdowns by Kendall Whitted with pancake blocks.