Orange Football

Photo courtesy of ACCSports.com

Payton Wilson: In the first-ever Textile Bowl where both teams were ranked in the Associated Press top ten, #5 Clemson defeated #10 N.C. State 30-20 at Memorial Stadium in South Carolina on Saturday night. Wilson, who was recruited by Clemson while he attending Orange High School, led the Wolfpack with eleven tackles. He finished with six solo tackles, assisted on five and had one tackle for loss. The Wolfpack (4-1, 0-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) fell to #14 in this week’s AP Top 25. They will host Florida State on Saturday night at Carter-Finley Stadium.

Keshawn Thompson: The Campbell Fighting Camels rolled past previously undefeated North Carolina Central 48-18 at Barker-Lane Stadium in Buies Creek on Saturday. Thompson, a graduate student, finished with two tackles as the Camels improved to 2-2. Campbell will start play in the Big South Conference when they face Charleston Southern next Saturday.

Darius Satterfield: On Thursday, Johnson C. Smith defeated Elizabeth City State 49-14 at Irwin Belk Stadium in Charlotte. Satterfield attempted a 34-yard field goal for ECSU. The Vikings are 1-5, 1-2 in the CIAA. They will travel to Virginia Union on Saturday.

Braxton Mergenthal: Division III Bridgwater defeated Hampden-Sydney 27-17 at Jopson Field in Bridgewater, VA on Saturday. Mergenthal had three tackles for the Tigers, who fell to 1-3. Hampden-Sydney will travel to Ferrum next Saturday to continue play in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.

Trenton Gill: On Sunday, the New York Giants defeated the Chicago Bears 20-12 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Of Gill’s five punts for Chicago, three were downed inside the 20-yard line. He averaged 52.8 yards per punt. His longest was 58 yards. Chicago is 2-2 and will travel to face the Minnesota Vikings next Sunday.

Bryse Wilson: A correction from last week. Wilson actually has two more starts scheduled for the Pittsburgh Pirates this season. On Wednesday, Wilson had the longest outing of his Major League Career as the Pirates defeated the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 in ten innings at PNC Park. Wilson threw eight innings of shutout baseball with six strikeouts and only one walk. He gave up only three hits in 90 pitches. Wilson left the game with Pittsburgh leading 4-1, but the Pirates bullpen gave up three runs in the ninth inning. The Pirates will wrap up its season against St. Louis on Tuesday.

Lottie Scully: The Binghamton volleyball team has now won three straight matches. On Tuesday, the Bearcats swept Niagara 3-0 on scores of 25-16, 25-15, 25-16. Scully, a freshman, had four kills, 33 assists, an ace and ten digs. On Sunday, Binghamton opened its American East Conference slate with a sweep of the University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH on scores of 25-19, 25-22, and 25-20. Scully had 34 assists, along with one kill, one ace and 12 digs. Binghamton is 10-4 overall, 1-0 in the American East. They will host the University of Maryland-Baltimore County on Friday night.

Avery Miller: In its only game last week, the Pitt Community College volleyball team defeated Louisburg College 3-0 (25-11, 25-18 and 25-21). Miller, who played two sets, finished with one kill and three digs. A match against Wake Technical Community College, scheduled for Saturday, was postponed because of Hurricane Ian.

Ivy Garner: Garner, who played soccer and tennis for Cedar Ridge in 2017-2018 before she transferred to Eno River Academy, is now a freshman for the Liberty University women’s soccer team. Garner made her college debut in a 3-0 win over Campbell on August 28 at Osborne Stadium in Lynchburg, VA. Garner reported into the game as a substitute and played three minutes. On September 1, Garner assisted on a goal as the Flames defeated Marshall 3-2 in Lynchburg. In the 38th minute, Garner assisted on goal scored by Saydie Holland. Against Richmond on September 4, Garner played 28 minutes as a reserve as the Flames defeated the Spiders 1-0. Garner had a career-high two shots in a loss to #11 Penn State, 2-1, on September 8 in Jeffrey Field. In her first start with Liberty, Garner scored her first college goal against Pitt on September 11. Garner scored the opening goal off an assist from Bridie Herman. The Panthers would come back and beat the Flames 3-2. Garner scored her second college goal in a 1-1 tie against Stetson on September 15. Garner evened the game in the 25th minute on an unassisted goal. Liberty defeated Florida Gulf Coast 2-0 on September 18. Garner had a career-high six shots, four of them on net. On September 23, Garner assisted on the only goal as Liberty defeated Jacksonville State 1-0 at JSU Soccer Field. Rachel DeRuby notched the goal off the helper by Garner in the second minute of the game. Against Kennesaw State on September 25, Garner assisted on an insurance goal by Halle Engle in the 85th minute as the Lady Flames won 2-0. Liberty blasted Central Arkansas 6-0 last Thursday. Garner, once again starting, has another assist on a goal scored by McKinley Burkett. On Sunday, Garner scored the final goal in Liberty’s 4-1 win over North Alabama. Garner played 56 minutes and fired four shots. Thus far in her freshman year, Garner has played in eleven games. She has scored three goals with four assists with 13 shots on goal. Liberty is 4-0-1 in the Atlantic Sun Conference, 9-3-2 overall.

(Editor’s Note: I’ve started and stopped this column twice over the past two years. Today, I turn 49, so now is as good as time as any to finish it).

Why didn’t I go to the McDonald’s when I graduated from Orange High?

That question has stayed with me for 31 years. I graduated from Orange on a Friday night and, for whatever reason, I drove straight from Auman Stadium back home to Caldwell in my Pontiac Fiero and watched the Chicago Bulls play the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. And I stayed in my room listening to my new Compact Disc player (Rush’s “Chronicles” and ZZ Top’s “Recycler” were the first CDs I ever purchased) instead of going ten miles back down Highway 57 one final time as a high school student.

Hillsborough was a different place in the early 1990s. Orange High students would take over downtown on Friday and Saturday nights (occasionally Thursdays, too) with G105 or 102 Jamz blaring from various cars with the best, loudest (or most annoying, depending on your perspective) sound systems. There would be hundreds of cars on a given night for mostly innocent fun, but it wasn’t very amusing for motorists who knew nothing about Orange High and simply wanted to get through to I-85 or I-40.

What did a miss that night? I don’t know, which is precisely what bothers me even now. I suspect I would have seen Tony Penland, whom I had known since 1st grade at Cameron Park Elementary School. We probably would have told countless, harmless lies to one another as we remarked the end of a chapter that I was lucky to see.

That bothers me, too.

That summer started with Poision and Warrant still being a viable force on the radio. By summer’s end, in the span of five weeks, Pearl Jam released “Ten,” Nirvana released “Nevermind,” A Tribe Called Quest dropped “The Low End Theory,” Soundgarden came out with “Badmotorfinger.”

And just like that, the game changed in music.

Life moves fast. It’s a lesson that’s easy to forget.

Now, 31 years later, I can’t reach out to Tony. He left us nearly two years ago during the pandemic at his home in Tennessee. Even now, some nights I drive around Boone Square knowing he won’t be there, years after cruising across Hillsborough became passe. But I still look for him. Which makes me wish I had taken that trip that night to see him.

Sadly, that isn’t the only member of the Boone Square cruising crew we’ve lost over the years. Possibly the most rambunctious was Sonya Barnes Rogers.

Back when the bleachers at Orange basketball games were packed with fans, there would be two student sections inside Panther Gymnasium. One for the home team (nicknamed Brown’s Bleacher Bums by Principal Dr. Stephen Halkiotis in honor of then-men’s basketball coach Andy Brown), the other for the visiting team. It was a big deal back then, and Sonya would scream at the top of her lungs, possibly because her then-boyfriend was the captain of the team.

Of course, age mellows people. But in Sonya’s case—well, no.

Years later, as her daughters Jordan, Logan and Sydney played soccer at Orange, she was still making as much noise as anyone watching from the grandstands of Panther Soccer Field. The 30 years that had passed since she had graduated was just a number. Sadly, Sonya left the community she loved suddenly in January. However, I know she was watching when her daughter, Sydney, became the first female to score a point for the Orange football team when she kicked an extra point against South Granville last month.

Days later, a classmate of mine of 1991 saw the video clip of Sydney’s extra point and texted me to see if that was Sonya’s daughter. He concurred that if someone had told us in 1990 that the first female to score a point in Orange football history would be Sonya Barnes Rogers’ daughter, it would have been no surprise at all.

A few years ago as I covered a college signing for an Orange High athlete, I looked around Orange’s gymnasium and thought to myself “Didn’t I dream of leaving this place when I was 17?”

And I sure did.

After covering three ACC men’s basketball tournaments, two Stanley Cup Playoffs, three FCS National Championship games, a Meineke Car Care Bowl, four Duke men’s basketball seasons, four Duke football seasons under Carl Franks (or, as I like to call it, “Seasons in the Abyss”) and a Stanley Cup Final in my earlier days in radio, I’ve learned that the passion of a high school event can transcend anything that comes afterwards. There’s nothing I would trade to experience Cedar Ridge volleyball in a state championship match at Reynolds Coliseum, or seeing Orange baseball back in a state championship series.

When I graduated from Appalachian State (whose current football team will likely lead to my demise before next September), I dreamed of being the next voice of the Duke Blue Devils or Appalachian State. Now, those jobs are taken by gentlemen I happen to work for at Learfield Sports in Winston-Salem. Both jobs are in much more capable hands than mine.

I’m at the 49-yard line as of today. Just shy of midfield.

So what have I learned since they day when I wondered what I was still doing in Hillsborough? Through this website, I know that the secret of life isn’t having what you want. It’s wanting what you’ve got.

Stories like Sydney Rogers are the ones I was born to tell. And many more like hers. Through images and words, as the progressive heavy metal band Dream Theater titled their second album.

Thanks to gifted photographers like Jacques Morin, Bernard Thomas, Sheril Sheppard, Phil Stapleton and Aidan Jensen, those images are as stark and clear as any high school website in North Carolina.

Best of all, on Sunday night at the Mellow Mushroom in Durham, I will sit down with my mother, my father, and my brother Stephen for dinner. Right now, considering the state of the world over the past two years, I couldn’t ask for anything more.

So, talk to you tonight for Orange-Cedar Ridge football. Look for me in the press box in the Rush “Moving Pictures” t-shirt.

And maybe at Boone Square afterwards.

This week’s Interior Lineman of the Week is junior Andre Hill. Last season, Hill became a starter as an offensive tackle for the Orange football team. This year, in addition to maintaining his status as an offensive lineman, he became one of three new starters on the defensive line. In addition to football, Hill is also a member of the Orange wrestling team. Last season, Hill was a regular starter at 160 and 170  pounds for an Orange wrestling team that reached the 3A Eastern Regional final of the State Dual Team Tournament. Last February, Hill reached the 3A Mideast Regional Final of the 160 pound tournament. He also qualified for the 3A State Championships at the Greensboro Coliseum. Hill has been a constant presence on the Orange offensive line throughout this season and will prepare to face crosstown rival Cedar Ridge this Friday night at Auman Stadium. 

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is sophomore quarterback Hank Nunnery. On September 9, Nunnery threw for five touchdowns as the Panthers defeated Granville Central 45-0 in Stem. Nunnery is believed to be the first Orange quarterback ever to throw for five touchdowns in one half. Nunnery added a career-high 196 yards as the Panthers won its first game under head coach DeVante’ Pettiford. When Nunnery was a middle school student at Gravelly Hill, he didn’t know he would be the starting quarterback by his sophomore year at Orange High. Nunnery started playing football in Mebane when he was in fourth grade. He grew up as a linebacker at Gravelly Hill, then asked Coach Pettiford if he could adjust to quarterback. He has started Orange’s last three games. He threw touchdown passes against Chapel Hill and Burlington Cummings. Coming up tonight, Nunnery and the Panthers will travel to Burlington to face Walter Williams to kick off the second half of the season.

We wait and wait for fall sports season to finally arrive. And while Major League Baseball season drags on and on, we’re five weeks into the high school sports season and already the regular season is halfway over for most fall sports.

In volleyball, it appears that Cedar Ridge and Orange are on track to take the two automatic playoff spots in the Central Carolina Conference. After Cedar Ridge’s 3-0 win over Jordan on Tuesday night, the Red Wolves have won 39 consecutive sets. In other worse, since losing to J.H. Rose on August 17, Cedar Ridge hasn’t lost a set in 13 straight matches. The Red Wolves will host Orange next Thursday in a match that could determine the next CCC regular season champion. It could also be the second of three matchups between the Red Wolves and the Lady Panthers with the Central Carolina Conference Tournament slated for next month.

The Orange women’s tennis team remains in 2nd place in the CCC behind only Walter Williams. The Lady Panthers won a match in the 3A State Dual Team Tournament last year, which was the first time that’s ever happened. Orange made the tournament as a wildcard in 2021, something that Cedar Ridge is aiming for right now. The Red Wolves are in 3rd place in the CCC at 4-2.

So here are the seven best performances for the week of August 28-September 3.

1. Ella Wimsatt, Sr. Orange: Was named the Orange Panther of the Week for the week of August 28-September 3. She led the team in kills as Orange opened the Central Carolina Conference season with a win over Western Alamance. Two days later, she had another strong game as the Lady Panthers defeated Williams in Burlington. Orange remains one game behind Cedar Ridge for 1st place in the Central Carolina Conference.
2. Adeline Cummings, Soph. Cedar Ridge: Won all three of her singles matches for Cedar Ridge women’s tennis team. Competing at #1 singles, defeated Person 6-2, 6-0 in Roxboro as the Red Wolves won its CCC opener 9-0. The following day, Cummings won her singles match 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 as the Red Wolves defeated Southern Alamance 7-2. On August 31, Cummings worked overtime to defeat Northwood’s #1 singles player 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (15-13). Cedar Ridge defeated the Chargers 6-3.
3. Evan Marty, Sr. Cedar Ridge: Scored two goals as the Red Wolves’ men’s soccer team defeated Eastern Guilford 8-0 at Red Wolves Stadium. On August 30 against East Chapel Hill, Marty added a goal as the Wildcats defeated the Red Wolves 6-3 in Hillsborough. For the season, Marty has four goals and nine points.
4. Noami Dyreng, Soph. Cedar Ridge: Finished third in her first race of the season during the Ronald Horton Cross Country Classic at Northwood High School in Pittsboro. Dyrent crossed the finish line at 22:33.90 in a field that included 55 competitors. It was Dyreng’s first race with the Red Wolves.
5. Claire Hargett, Fres. Cedar Ridge: The next generation for Cedar Ridge volleyball, Hargett had a career-high nine kills in a 3-0 win over East Chapel Hill on August 29. Two days later against Person, Hargett had seven kills, two aces and five digs in a 3-0 victory over Northwood in Hillsborough. Hargett is a regular rotation player on a team that returned all of its starters from last season.
6. Shannon Sollars, Soph. Orange: Won her singles match in the Orange women’s soccer team’s CCC opener against Western Alamance on August 29. Sollars defeated Sarah McLaghlin at #2 singles 6-2, 6-2. At #1 doubles, Sollars clinched the match for Orange by teaming with her sister, Erin Sollars, to win 8-0. Orange remains #2 in the Central Carolina Conference and is on track to earn an automatic spot to the 3A State Dual Tournament.
7. Shawn Beasley, Sr. Orange: Had a career-high 152 yards receiving on seven receptions in Orange’s loss to Burlington Cummings. Beasley had a 70-yard touchdown reception in the first half, which briefly tied the game. It was Orange’s longest play from scrimmage this season. Beasley is Orange’s leader in reception yardage.