Orange High School

Orange freshman Sascha Godfrey sure picked the right time to run her best race of the season.

On Saturday, Godfrey finished 9th in the 3A Mideast Regionals at Northwood High School. Godfrey completed the 5,000 meter course in 20:58.58, the highest among runners who didn’t hail from Chapel Hill.

Oddly, Godfrey’s regional race wasn’t her personal best for the season. Last week, Godfrey finished 18th at the Big 8 Conference Championships at Chapel Hill High with a time of 20:51.50.

With a 5th place finish, the Cedar Ridge Girls Team qualified for the state championships next weekend at Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville.

Cedar Ridge sophomore Ella Nissler, who finished 13th at the Big 8 Championships, finished 21st with a time of 21:43.85, the highest among the Red Wolves. Right behind her was teammate Anne Morrell, a freshman who completed the course in 21:47.75.

Orange sophomore Ava Heffernan came in 24th. Cedar Ridge sophomore Allison Musty finished 25th with a time of 22:00.

Orange finished 9th as a team. The top five girls team advanced to the state championships.

The girls race was a complete Chapel Hill High domination. The Tigers, led by individual Regional Champion Katherine Dokholyan, won the regional championship by having runners finish 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th. East Chapel Hill’s Annika Narbut finished 7th. Eastern Alamance’s Courtney Keeler was the only non-Big8 runner to finish in the top ten, coming in tenth.

In the boys meet, Orange finished fourth to advance to Kernersville next weekend. The Panthers were led by junior Kyle Van Tubbergh, who came in 15th with a time of 17:53.50. Orange junior Sam Rasinske finished 32nd, while senior Mitchell Askew came in 35th.

Alistar Stewart was the top finisher for the Red Wolves in the boys’ race, coming in 52nd. Junior Zach Crane came in 55th.

There was adversity for Orange football before kickoff against its crosstown rival on Friday night.

Then they lost their best player.

Payton Wilson, an All-State linebacker who has played five different positions this season, suffered a right knee injury on the opening kickoff against Cedar Ridge. He emerged from the Cedar Ridge field house on crutches before the end of the first quarter.

The Panthers were already without leading rusher Marvante Beasley, who is still awaiting an MRI after being carried off the field on a stretcher two weeks ago against Hillside.

Wilson and Beasley are scheduled for MRIs on Monday.

With Orange coming off a loss to Northwood that ended its 16-game Big 8 Conference winning streak, the Red Wolves had a glimmer of hope to beat Orange for the first time since 2011.

Instead, several Panthers who lurked in the shadows most of this season had career performances.

Quarterback Brendan Huss, Orange’s third starting quarterback this season, came on in place of Wilson and went 14-of-19 for 277 yards and four touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Kendall Whitted, who had 107 receiving yards through eight games, had 104 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter.

The Panthers (7-2, 4-1) defeated the Red Wolves 49-0 at Red Wolves Stadium. Orange retained the victory bell with its fifth consecutive win over Cedar Ridge. Since losing to Cedar Ridge 49-43 in 2011, the Panthers have outscored the Red Wolves 266-29 in its five victories.

In Orange’s most lopsided win of the year, the Panthers piled up a season-high 465 yards total offense.

The Red Wolves (1-9, 0-5) received 69 yards rushing from junior quarterback Freddie Francis, who made his sixth straight start after regular starter Phil Berger was lost for the season after suffering a concussion against Cardinal Gibbons on September 15.

With 4:12 remaining in the first quarter, Huss hooked up with Whitted for a screen pass which turned into a 47-yard catch-and-run after a strong block from left tackle Brandon Carden.

Huss and Whitted would connect again on the subsequent drive. Whitted caught a 57-yard touchdown pass against a Cedar Ridge secondary missing its best defender, Kevin Wright, who missed the game because of a knee injury. Morgan Paschall 2-point Run bottled Orange ahead 14-0.

Milton Purcell picked off a Harvey pass and was knocked out of bounds before going into the end zone. Junior Hunter Pettiford punched in the touchdown from 2-yards out as Orange lead 21-0 at the half.

It took Orange only two plays and 46 seconds to romp 77 yards for a touchdown to open the second half. After Paschall streaked around left end for 24 yards, Huss tossed a gorgeous pass to Noah Robinson for a 49-yard touchdown. It was the first varsity touchdown for Robinson, who came into the game with four catches on the season.

Huss hit Sebastian Flores and Jeremiah Rawley on consecutive completions to set up a 24-yard touchdown pass to Colin Guentensberger to extend Orange’s lead to 35-0

In the fourth quarter, Tre Richardson rumbled 66 yards before being hauled down to turf at the 1-yard line. Richardson scored his first touchdown of the season on the next play.

Cedar Ridge’s Jake DeFranco had 20 carries for 57 yards. The Red Wolves will wrap up the season next week at Hillside. Orange hosts Chapel Hill on Senior Night at Auman Stadium.

ORANGE 42, CEDAR RIDGE 0

ORANGE—�14  7    14    7-42

CEDAR RIDGE-0    0    0   0-0

O-Kendall Whitted 47 pass from Brendan Huss (kick failed)

O-Whitted 57 pass from Huss (Morgan Paschal run)

O-Hunter Pettiford 2 run (Francisco McKinley kick)

O-Noah Robinson 49 pass from Huss (McKinley kick)

O-Colin Guentensberger 24 pass from Huss (McKinley kick)

O-Tre Richardson 1 run (Tucker Krogstad kick)

RUSHING: ORANGE (Richardson 4-72 TD, Paschall 8-69, Pettiford 7-52 TD, Travis Ray 1-20, Milton Purcell 1-12, Guentensberger 1-12, Huss 4-3). CEDAR RIDGE (Freddie Francis 13-84, Jake DeFranco 21-64, Dante DeFranco 2-10)

PASSING: ORANGE (Huss 14-19 277 4 TD, Tanner Long 0-2) CEDAR RIDGE (Harvey 3-18 8  INT)

RECEIVING: ORANGE (Jonathan Rawles 3-28, Purcell 3-26, Sebastian Flores 3-26, Whitted 2-104 2TD, Robinson 1-49 TD, Guentensberger 1-24 TD, Joe Kiger 1-19) CEDAR RIDGE (J. DeFranco 2-13, D. DeFranco 1-(-5)

Brendan Huss wasn’t even supposed to start at quarterback against Cedar Ridge on Friday night. But after Payton Wilson was injured on the opening kickoff, Huss had the biggest night of his career, going 14-of-19 for 275 yards and four touchdowns as Orange defeated Cedar Ridge 42-0.

It was a long time coming, but Orange senior wide receiver Kendall Whitted had his first 100-yard receiving game on Friday night. In fact, he did it in the 1st quarter against Cedar Ridge, amassing 104 yards on two receptions, both for touchdowns as Orange defeated the Red Wolves 42-0.

Ryan Sellers is going to Hawaii.

Not for vacation. Not for college football, yet. Instead, he’ll be going to the NoKaOi enior Bowl in Honolulu July 3-10.

The event is designed for college players to spend tie on and off the field with college coaches, developing a lasting relationship that will help at the college level. 10-12 college coaches from across the country are expected to attend the event.

Sellers is in his third season as a varsity starter along the defensive line, which has been the backbone of Orange’s consecutive Big 8 Championships and an undefeated regular season in 2016, the first at Orange since 1978.

In his career, Sellers leads Orange over the past three seasons with 31 sacks. This season, he has ten sacks. He led the squad in his junior season with 15, outperforming teammate Stone Edwards, who wound up at Vanderbilt as a (probably) redshirt freshman. The two had a personal competition to see who would wind up with the most sacks, which Sellers won. He has 15 tackles for loss for the season and 62 for his career.

Sellers is also a reserve forward for the Orange Basketball team.

Bryan Torres was one of 12 Orange soccer players hoping for a victory over Northern Durham on senior night Wednesday. Instead, the Knights upended the Panthers 3-1. The only Panther goal came from Torres. Orange finished 3rd in the Big 8 Conference and will await word about their destination for the 3A State Playoffs, which will be announced on Monday.

It appears the first state playoff game at Orange Socer Stadium will have to wait.

The Orange Panthers could have tied East Chapel Hill for 2nd place on Wednesday night by simply defeating Northern Durham, a task the Panthers easily accomplished last month with a 4-2 decision at Armstrong Soccer Stadium in Durham.

Instead, Northern scored twice in the opening 20 minutes, and held off a late charge to defeat the Panthers 3-1 on Wednesday night, ruining senior night for Orange’s 12 players competing in Hillsborough for the final time.

Orange ends the regular season 13-6-2 in the regular season, 10-4 in the Big 8. The Panthers will almost certainly qualify for the 64-team 3A state playoff field, which will be announced Monday. However, they will most likely be on the road to open play.

Senior Bryan Torres knocked in his own rebound for the Panthers’ only goal with 5:32 remaining in regulation. Northern pulled that goal back scoring on a quick counter for the final tally.

Orange put themselves in position to win its first-ever conference championship by winning a school-record nine consecutive games, but ended the regular season losing three of its last four.

Cedar Ridge’s regular season ended in disappointing fashion on Tuesday night, falling to Southern Durham 2-1 at Red Wolves Stadium. Than Aung, in his final game, scored the Red Wolves’ only goal on a penalty kick.

It was the final game for Cedar Ridge seniors Aung, Jake Brown, A.J. Perez, Henry Mellor and goalkeeper Jesus Yanez.

The Red Wolves end the season 5-15-1, 4-9-1 in the Big 8.

Despite competing without its top five runners, the Cedar Ridge girls cross country team finished third at the Big 8 Cross Country Championships at Chapel Hill High School on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Orange boys cross country squad finished third in its competition, led by junior Kyle Van Tubbergh, who finished 11th overall.

Orange and Cedar Ridge had strong finishes from underclassmen in the girls meet. Sophomore Allison Musty was the top finisher for the Red Wolves, completing the 5,000 meter course at a time of 20:09.40. She finished 13th overall. Musty’s classmate, Ella Nissler, came in 13th with a time of 20:45.90.

Orange’s top finisher was freshman Sascha Godfrey, who crossed the finish line 18th overall at a time of 20:51.50. Cedar Ridge freshman Anne Morrell came in 19th at 20:56.40, ahead of Orange sophomore Ava Heffernan, who came in 20th at 21:08.50. Red Wolves freshman Ariadne Solis finished 21st.

Orange freshman Abby Dease, the daughter of baseball coach Dean Dease, came in 27th. Panther sophomore Katie Cook registered a 29th place finish.

Chapel Hill captured the girls’ individual and team championship. The Tigers had 15 points. East Chapel Hill finished 2nd with 63 points. Cedar Ridge was 3rd at 91 points. Orange was fifth at 112 points.

Chapel Hill’s Katherine Dokholyan won the individual conference championship with a time of 17:55. It was a day dominated by the Tigers, who had the top six finishers in the girls’ race.

In the boys meet, Orange finished 3rd with 98 points. Cedar Ridge finished 5th with 106 points, only five points behind Northwood.

Van Tubbergh completed the course with a personal best time of 16:57. Cedar Ridge’s top finisher was junior Rory Legg-Bell, who came in 14th at 17:17.30. Brian Finch, in his final conference meet, came in 16h for the Red Wolves. Orange junior Sam Rasinske finished 17th at 17:26.20, another personal best.

Orange senior Andrew Sollars crossed the finish line 24th. Cedar Ridge’s Alistar Stewart came in 27th. Orange sophomore Wesley Morris finished 28th, while Panther wrestler Mitchell Askew came in 29th. Cedar Ridge’s Eli Tilley finished 30th.

Chapel Hill had the top eight finishers in the boys race. The individual champion was senior Ryan Combs, who finished the course at 15:37.20.

Photo by Jackson Fuqua 

The grind of playing in the deepest conference in the Triangle, 145 yards in penalties, a banged up starting quarterback balancing the load of his team on his back and no Marvante Beasley finally caught up to Orange.

Northwood’s A.J. Jones scored on a four-yard run in overtime and Lupe Amezquita kicked the game-winning extra point as the Chargers stunned Orange 21-20 in overtime to ruin Homecoming night at Auman Stadium.

Orange (6-2, 3-1) quarterback Payton Wilson, clearly feeling the effects of making 56 carries over the last three games, scored on a eight-yard touchdown run. Kicker Francisco McKinley pushed the extra point wide right, triggering a raucous celebration on the Northwood sideline as the Chargers defeated the Panthers for the first time since the two teams became conference rivals in 2013.

Northwood (7-2, 4-0) has the inside track on winning the Big 8 Championship for the first time. They will enter the penultimate week of the regular season next Friday in sole possession of first place with senior night against Hillside in Pittsboro, following by a road date at Northern Durham.

”They have a big old offensive line and a big old power running game,” said Orange Coach Van Smith. “They get a lot of blockers at the point of attack and they know how to follow those blockers. I thought defensively, we played pretty well. We gave up a fumble for a touchdown.

Yet with :46 remaining in the first half, all seemed comfortable for the Panthers. They led 14-0 after an interception by Corbin Kenion at the Orange 8-yard line.

Things started to unravel on the next play from scrimmage, when Morgan Paschall fumbled right into the arms of Northwood’s Brendan Harrington, who scooped up the ball and scored from eight yards to saw the Orange lead in half just before intermission.

The Chargers didn’t score an offensive touchdown in the first half despite Orange committing four personal foul penalties, including three for facemask violations.

“Our halftime discussion was ‘Guys, we can’t continue to get 15-yard penalties,” said Smith.

Orange responded by getting hit with a late hit penalty—on the opening kickoff of the second half….which was immediately followed by a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty when a player mouthed off to a referee. 30 yards in penalties without a second going off the third quarter clock.

“Are you kidding me?” Jones said to himself on the sideline.

With the drive starting from the Orange 35-yard line, Harrington scored on a 21-yard scamper with 11:02 remaining in the third quarter. Orange’s 14-point lead was erased in 1:47 of game time, and they didn’t get it back.

Orange played without leading rusher Marvante Beasley, who wasn’t cleared to suit up after being taken off the field on a stretcher last week against Hillside.

His absence was never more apparent when Orange mustered one first down in the entire second half. Wilson’s hit flanker Kendall Whitted for a 42-yard strike early in the fourth quarter, the Panthers’ longest play from scrimmage. The drive stalled at the Northwood 13-yard line when McKinley pushed a 31-yard field goal wide left.

The Panthers were held to 69 yards in the second half. Pachal alone rushed for 91 yards in the first half.

Orange coped well without Beasley pretty well in the first half, storming out to a 14-0 lead. It started with a 84-yard drive that ended when Hunter Pettiford roared 15-yards for his second touchdown of the year with 9:58 remaining in the first half.

Subsequently, the Chargers mounted its longest drive of the game, driving to the Panther 4-yard line. But Amezquita banged a 23-yard field goal off the left upright.

Orange came back with a 80-yard drive, several strong runs by Paschall. Pettiford rushed for a 34-yard touchdown as Orange bolted ahead 14-0 with 2:14 remaining. No one could have known that would be the final Orange points in regulation.

Now, Orange will need help from Hillside or Northern Durham to earn a share of its third straight Big 8 Championship.

”I told our team afterwards to look down the field at Northwood celebrating,” said Smith. “They deserve to celebrate, but that celebration is the upmost respect for the program. They are happy to have beaten Orange, which says something about where we are as a program.”

NORTHWOOD 21, ORANGE 20 OT

N    0     7     7    0      7-21

O    0    14    0    0      6-20

O-Hunter Pettiford 15 run (Francisco McKinley kick)

O-Pettiford 34 run (McKinley kick)

N-Brendan Harrington 8 fumble recovery (Lupe Amezquita kick)

N-Harrington 21 run (Amezquita kick)

N-A.J. Jones4 run (Amezquita kick)

O-Payton Wilson 8 run (kick failed)

RUSHING: NORTHWOOD (Josh Scott 12-80, Tyrell Baldwin 15-53, Harrington 8-40 TD, A.J. Jones 4-10 TD, Tanner Althoff 1-(-2), Alex Parker 1-(-9)

ORANGE: (Morgan Paschall 11-91, Pettiford 12-76 2TD, Wilson 14-47 TD)

PASSING: NORTHWOOD (Parker 6-12 45 yds INT) ORANGE: Wilson 4-13 59 yards, Brenden Huss 1-2 (-2))

RECEIVING: NORTHWOOD (Baldwin 2-22, Corey Smith 2-9, Jack Holeck 1-15, Scott 1-4, Dedric Powell 1-(-5)) ORANGE: (Milton Purcell 3-10, Kendall Whitted 2-49)