Orange High School

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.

Photo by Troy Miller

On Saturday, Jamar Davis will do something he’s never done before.

He’ll play a high school soccer game. And he’s responsible for that, as are his 11 classmates responsible for Orange’s first state playoff win since 2009.

The Panthers, trailing 2-0 to White Oak just eight minutes into the game at Vikings Stadium, stormed back to stun the Vikings 6-2 in extra time on Wednesday night in Jacksonville. Davis finished with his third hat trick of the season, including the equalizer late in the first half.

Luke Wirzba score the game-winning goal in the opening ten-minute overtime session. Davis, Wirzba and R.J. Pherribo all scored in the 2nd overtime.

Orange (14-6-2) eliminated a White Oak team that finished runner-up in the Coastal Conference, but came into the state playoffs with a victory over crosstown rival Jacksonville, who won the Coastal crown.

On the other hand, Orange had lost three of its last four, including a 3-1 loss on senior night to Northern Durham.

In the end, Orange Coach Palmer Bowman believes the new Big 8 Conference, including powerhouses Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill, prepared his team well for the field of 64.

“Every night in our league is a battle,” said Bowman. “The Northern game got us focusing on going back to basics. We had a strong week of practice and we worked on our crosses. We stayed patient tonight and found the right passing lanes.”

”We have the hardest 3A Conference in the state,” said Wirzba. “Our conference prepares us well for the playoff schedule. Any team we play in the playoffs, we’ve played a team just as good, if not better.”

Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill both won its opening round games on Wednesday.

Davis also assisted on the game-winning goal by Wirzba and the overtime insurance by Pherribo. Ewan McCallum assisted on Wirzba’s equalizer.

Orange goalkeeper Noah Miller finished with eleven saves to keep the Vikings scoreless in the final 90 minutes after yielding two goals in the opening ten minutes.

“Our coaches say 2-0 is always the worst lead to have,” said Davis. “It’s just enough to let you get confident. It allowed us to capitalize. I think they let down their guard a little bit. Once we got a goal, a couple followed.”

Davis says despite the 2-0 deficit at the half, there was no panic inside the Orange locker room. There was focus.

“The entirety of the second half was us pounding on them,” said Davis. “Everything was going forward for us.”

On Saturday, Orange travels to Northern Guilford in the 2nd round of the 3A state playoffs. The Nighthawks, who went 14-0 in the Mid-State Conference, are 18-3-2 overall.  Game time will be 6.

The winner advances to the round of 16 to face either Topsail or Southern Lee.

Once Orange started scoring in the 3A State Playoffs against White Oak in Jacksonville on Wednesday night, they couldn’t stop. It just took the Panthers 65 minutes to get going. After that, the Panthers scored a whopping six goals in the final 35 minutes to defeat the Vikings 6-2. It was Orange’s 1st playoff victory since 2009. Orange will face Northern Guilford in Greensboro on Saturday night at 6 in the 2nd round of the 3A state playoffs.

The first winning season for the Orange boys soccer team in seven years has led to an opening round matchup in Jacksonville.

The Panthers will face the White Oak Vikings on Wednesday night. It’s Orange’s first playoff appearance since 2014, when they fell to Cleveland in Wendell 3-1.

White Oak earned the second automatic playoff spot from the Coastal Conference, finishing 7-3 in the league and 13-8-1 overall. The Vikings head into the playoffs with momentum after upsetting Coastal Conference champion 3-2 at Jacksonville on Thursday.

Orange settled for the top wildcard spot in the Big 8 after being tied for first place entering the final five games of the regular season. The Panthers stumbled against Northwood on October 11 in Hillsborough, and enter the playoffs having lost three of its last four.

The Panthers thrust themselves in position to win the Big 8 by winning nine straight, including results over conference champion Chapel Hill (1-0 on September 20) and runner-up East Chapel Hill 2-1 on October 2.

Orange enters the playoffs 13-6-2, its best regular season mark in seven years, with a 10-4 Big 8 mark.

A playoff victory has proven difficult for Orange. The last time the school has won a postseason game was in 2009. At that point, Orange played in the Carolina 7 Conference and upset Gray’s Creek 1-0 in Hope Mills.

In 2013, Terry Sanford blasted the Panthers 5-0 in Fayetteville.

On paper, the best Orange team in modern history was in 2010, when they finished 15-5 in the regular season. Playing as the third seed out of the Big 8, Orange lost to Western Alamance 1-0 in Elon.

Last season, White Oak defeated Burlington Williams 3-1 in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to Chapel Hill 4-0.