Orange High School

The Orange Boys and Girls Swimming suffered its first losses of the season on Tuesday, dropping their respective matches to Jordan at the Triangle SportsPlex in Hillsborough.

The Falcons captured the boys meet 166-120. Jordan won the girls meet 182-103.

The losses were a blip on the screen to what’s been a hot start for both squads. Both the boys and girl started 3-0 with wins over Eastern Guilford, Northern Durham and Eastern Alamance.

On Tuesday, four Orange swimmers set new school records. It was a strong day for Gabe Walker, who set the new Orange record in the 200-meter freestyle at 1:58.72.

The Orange relay team of Walker, Collin Montague, Noah Jimison and Ben Scott set school records in two relay events: the 200 and 400 freestyle.

In the 200 freestyle, Jimison set a new school record with a mark of 5:11.48. Last week against Northern Durham, Jimison swam the same event with a time of 5:19.60. Kyle Woodrum, Ethan George and Rohan Kasthuri also established personal bests in the 500 free.

Montague was set his own school record in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:04.44.

In the girls event, Orange’s Carson Mclenddon established a personal best in the 200 intermediate at 2:51.14. Lauren Behringer had the top time in the 200 freestyle at 2:18.99.

In the 50-meter freestyle, Stephanie Nolte had the top time among Orange competitors at 26.94. She had a personal best in the 100 fly at 1:12.52, while Emmy Shopmyer had her best time to date at 1:24.16.

In the 100 freestyle, Riley Shopmyer set a new personal best with 1:08.82. Taylor Montague finished at 1:12.59.

On December 1st, Orange swept Eastern Alamance. The boys defeated the Eagles 251-77, while the girls prevailed 229-170. On November 29th, the Panthers took both meets from Northern Durham. The boys triumphed 164-105, while the girls won 167-110.

In the season opener, the Panthers won over Eastern Guilford.

Orange will gear up to face Cedar Ridge, Northwood and Eastern Alamance on Thursday at the Triangle Sportsplex in the final meet before holiday break. Action is set to begin at 4:30.

For the seventh time, the Orange Panthers have captured the team championship in the Jim King/Orange Invitational Wrestling Tournament.

Behind championship in their respective weight classes from Payton Wilson and Josiah Ramirez, the Panthers finished with 232 points in the 36th annual tournament held at Jim King Gymnasium in Hillsborough.

Middle Creek, making its tournament debut, finished with 211 points behind two champions and a runner-up finish. Cary, which has won the event a record 20 times, finished third with 202.5 points.

Of the 33 times Cary has competed in the JKO, they’ve finished in the top 3 31 times.

When the state football playoffs were extened an extra week by the NCHSAA because of Hurricane Matthew, Orange Coach Bobby Shriner was concerned he wouldn’t have his full array of grapplers available for the JKO. If there was a benefit to Orange’s loss against Havelock in the 2nd round of the 3-A state playoffs, it was Peyton Wilson and Daylan Alston would be available to report back to Shriner’s wrestling practices immediately.

Wilson defeated Corinth Holders’ Larry Williams 1-0 in the championship match at 220 pounds. It came on the same week that Wilson was named Big 8 Defensive Player of the Year and received football scholarship offers from Virginia Tech and Wisconsin.

Too bad Wilson wasn’t in peak wrestling condition. Or even semi-peak condition. After all of four practices, Wilson wrestled Person’s Marcus Vincent in Friday’s opening round, pinning him in :21.

Wilson, currently #1 in the state at 220, also pinned Cedar Ridge’s Izaac Rivera in :42 Saturday morning to reach the final.

“It felt weird,” said Wilson. “In wrestling, there’s no substitute for being on the mat. Football can’t prepare you for that.”

Wilson finished 3rd in last year’s JKO at 220.

Rivera rebounded to finish 3rd for Cedar Ridge. he pinned Davin Van in 2:06 in the consolation final.

Jiminez scored three pins on his path to the 170-pound championship. In Saturday’s championship, he scored a 17-6 decision over Leesville Road’s Cade Collins. It was the only time he went the distance in the tournament.

Jiminez pinned Bartlett-Yancey’s Justin Guy in 1:27 on Friday afternoon. Less than two hours later, he disposed of Northern Durham’s Robbie Rich in 2:30.

In Saturday’s semifinals, Jiminez pinned Jason Chopp of Middle Creek in :32.

Orange had four runner-ups. At 106 pounds, Mitchell Askew lost to Cary freshman Kobe Early in 2:39. Askew earned three victories in the tournament. He pinned Corinth Holders’ Austin Carroll in :25 on Friday, then notched a major decision over Leesvile Road’s Max Buico. In Saturday’s semifinals, he pinned Chatham Central’s Cade Fields at 4:29.

At 120, Southern Alamance’s McKray Mundy edged Orange’s Gavin Wiggins 1-0. Wiggins pinned Clayton’s Logan Jones in :44 and Person’s Landon Moser on Friday, then scored a 17-5 major decision over Riverside’s Jalen Adams.

At 132, Leesville Road’s Dan Mills defeated Orange’s Bailey Hawkins 11-4 in the championship match. Hawkins earned two wins on Friday, pinning Taylor Graves of Bartlett Yancy in 1:05, then edging Milbrook’s Isaiah Willett 5-4 to advance to Saturday’s semifinals. Hawkins advanced to the final with a victory over Middle Creek’s Dylan Majette.

At 195, Jamar Davis finished second after dropping a 6-2 decision to Middle Creek’s Gabriel Puckett. Davis pinned Northern Durham’s Gabriel Puckett in the semifinals in 3:16 after edging Cardinal Gibbons’ Joey Petrucelli 3-2 on Friday.

At 285, Daylen Alston finished third after pinning Leesville Road’s Brandon Govan in 2:25.

Cedar Ridge’s Colin Davis finished 3rd at 160, edging Riverside’s Chris Whitaker 7-6 on Saturday. It was Davis’ 2nd win over Whitaker in as many days. On Friday, he defeated Whitaker 4-2.

Orange’s Charlie Fitzpatrick captured 3rd place at 152.

Chatham Central’s Nick Daggett was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler after winning his 2nd consecutive JKO championship at 113.

For the second straight year, the Orange Panthers have the inside track of winning the Jim King Orange Invitational Tournament.

Following Day 1 of the tournament, 9 Orange grapplers are alive to win their respective weight division championships. That includes Bailey Hawkins at 132 pounds. On Friday, Hawkins clinched his spot in the semifinals with a 5-4 victory over Millbrook’s Isaiah Willett.

At 106 pounds, Mitchell Askew reached the semis with a 12-0 major decision against Leesville Road’s Maximus Buico. On Saturday morning, Askew faces Cade Fields of Chatham Central.

At 120, sophomore Gaving Wiggins, who finished 2nd last year at his first JKO, als o moved on to the semifinals, where he faces Jalen Adams of Riverside.

In the 152 division, Charles Fitzpatrick of Orange scored a pin over Millbrook’s Dreysan Johnson at 1:01.

Interestingly, two wrestlers fresh off the gridiron advanced to Saturday morning’s semifinals, despite having less than a week to train for the tournament.

At 220 pounds, Payton Wilson, the Big 8 Defensive Player of the Year, moved on to the semifinals. At heavyweight, Daylen Alston also has a chance at an individual championship.

In the team totals, Orange stands a strong chance to repeat as champions of its own event. The Panthers sit atop the 21 team event with 112 points. Cary is 2nd with 99.5. Middle Creek has 87. Leesville Road registered 69 on Friday. Riverside is 5th with 65.5.

For Saturday, the consolation quarterfinals begin at 10AM. The championship semifinals are at 11:30. Third place consolation rounds begin at noon. The championship rounds are set to start at 4.

After the Orange Panthers had its first undefeated regular season in 38 years, a dozen players were honored on the All-Big 8 Conference team on Tuesday.

Cedar Ridge, which finished its first winning season since 2010, had six players make all confernece. That included kicker Trent Gill, who was the only player in Hillsborough to make all conference in two different fall sports. Gill was also honored in soccer.

Orange Linebacker Payton Wilson was named Big 8 Defensive Player of the Year. Wilson also led Orange with 16 touchdowns (five punt returns, six rushing, four receiving and an interception return). On the same day Wilson received honors from the Big 8 Conference, he received scholarship offers from Virginia Tech and Wisconsin.

Orange junior running back Marvante Beasley earned all confernece honors. He rushed for 1,040 yards and scored 13 touchdowns. Beasley’s breakthrough performance came against Southern Durham, where he rushed for a career-high 193 yards and two touchdowns.

To no one’s surprise, Orange’s entire starting linebacker corps made all conference. The Panthers defense gave up only 59 points in 13 games this season, holding 10 of its 13 opponents to under 100 yards.

Jordan Farrington, a two year starter, made 74 tackles and 13 sacks. It was his 2nd straight all-conference appearance. Farrington made eleven tackles, two for losses, against Southern Durham.

Devondrez Moore, who started playing basketball this week for Orange, made 18 tackles for loss. Moore, who transferred to Orange for his senior season from Northern Durham, had a fumble return for a touchdown against Chapel Hill.

The Big 8 All Conference team wouldn’t have been complete if all three of Orange’s defensive linemen weren’t on it. Sure enough, Stone Edwards, Ryan Sellers and Noah Rogers all made the squad.

The trio had a season-long competition to see who would end the year with the most sacks. In the end, Sellers captured the crown with 15, while Edwards had 13 and Rogers tallied 11.

In Orange’s final four games, Rogers also played left tackle on an offensive line that was in a constant state of flux from the initial scrimmage against South Granville in mid-August.

Antother stallwart on the Orange defense was safety Keshawn Thompson, who was honored with the WRAL Extra Effort Award in October. Thompson, who has a 4.2 GPA, ended the year with seven pass deflections.

Thompson’s classmate Alex Long made the team, leading the team with 17 pass deflections. Long’s interception return for a touchdown was the game-winning score in the Panthers 14-0 victory over Riverside on September 5th.

Also making all-conference from the Panthers’ offensive line was right tackle Shea Hoffman. The 6-2 senior had several position changes during the course of the year before settling in at tackle and paving the way for the Panthers to rush for 3,037 yards under head coach Pat Moser’s double-wing offense.

There were several players making their debut on the All-Conference teams. Running back Ryan Puckett, who also played linebacker, was named to the squad. Puckett scored two touchdowns against Northern Durham in a 21-13 Orange victory on August 26th. It was Orange’s closest win of the season.

Wide receiver Cody Evans also made all-conference. Evans led Orange with 364 receiving yards on 15 catches. He had a 51-yard touchdown reception in a playoff victory over Wilson Fike.

In addition to Gill for Cedar Ridge, senior running back London Saunders was named to the squad. Saunders led the Red Wolves with 635 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns.

Among other Red Wolves who made the team:

* Linebacker Montae Kee, who led Cedar Ridge in tackles with 88.

* Offensive lineman Austin Holmes.

* Offensive lineman Zach Berry, who was also named to the all-conference team last spring as a goalkeeper in lacrosse.

* Interior lineman Nate Lewis.

Orange quarterback Jackson Schmid and safety Rodney Brooks were named honorable mention. Cedar Ridge cornerback Kevin Wright and linebacker Seth Baldwin were also honorable mention.

A second consecutive Big 8 Individual Conference Championship was more than enough for Cedar Ridge’s Ian Elliott to be named the Big 8 Male Runner of the Year on Wednesday.

Elliott, a senior, earned the honor for the second consecutive year. He finished first in three separate events this year, including the Big 8 Championship at Chapel Hill High School. His time of 16:42.28 edged out Chapel Hill’s Ryan Combs by eight seconds.

On top of that, he ran while the temperature was 89-degrees—in mid October.

“It was a lot grittier this year,” said Elliott, who won the 2015 Big 8 championship at Pittsboro’s Northwood High. “I feel like I’m good running in the heat. We put in a lot of miles during the summer. Although I knew this would feel awful, it’s just running.”

Elliott also set his personal best time of 16:30 at the Adidas XC Challenge at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary.

Through plenty of success during his high school years, Elliott doesn’t see cross country in his immediate future.

“I’m not looking to run competitively in college,” said Elliott. “I’d love to stay in shape and run for a club. Maybe run a “Fun Run 5K.” Maybe take a race every now and then just to see where I’m at. I think after this upcoming track season, I’ll be done with competitive running.”

Two Orange runners earned at-large spots: Andrew Sollars, who had the highest finish for the Panthers in the Big 8 Championships, and Sam Rasinske.

On the girls side, Cedar Ridge’s Elizabeth Zarzar was named to the All-Conference team following a third place finish at the Big 8 Championships. Last month, Zarzar was honored with the WRAL Extra Effort Award.

“I was proud of my run that day, especially because of the heat,” said Zarzar. “I didn’t get my personal record. My time was still a lot better than I thought it was.”

Like Elliott, Zarzar runs indoor and outdoor track. Last spring, she finished 3rd in the Big 8 Conference in the 3200 meters. She also finished 3rd in the region in the same event.

Also making the All-Big 8 Conference from Cedar Ridge was Julie Averette, who finished eighth in the 3A Mideast Regionals with a time of 20:31.

For Orange, Adalyn Fleming made All-Big 8. Flemming, who started basketball season with Orange on Tuesday in a season-opening victory over East Chapel Hill, finished first in Orange’s opening home meet on September 7th against Burlington Williams. After finishing 11th in the Big 8 Championships, she came in 13th at the Mideast Regionals.

Earning At-large sports for Orange in girls cross country was Ava Heffernan.

By Alexandria Hopkins
Last Tuesday not only saw the start towards the five-day long weekend for Thanksgiving at Orange, but another victory for their sports team.
Orange played and later won between three competing teams from out of Orange County – Southern Alamance from Graham, Walter Williams from Burlington, and Northern Durham from Durham – on Tuesday night before students were off for Thanksgiving break.

The team first went against Northern Durham. Orange treated this Durham team the toughest of the night, with an abundance of takedowns and pins, though leading to some caution points, even if very few. Northern, however, were able to take a stand in some of the matches, earning takedowns, reversals and pinning down some of Orange’s wrestlers. However, this was no match for the Durham wrestling team, eventually winning with 48 – 24.
Next was Orange against Walter Williams High School from near-by Burlington. This was partially due to more members in Orange’s team than the smaller amount of Williams, though the matches played were fair, with some near falls and takedowns filling out the tense atmosphere of the game. Williams also were able to score a few takedowns, though very few as the rest was filled with penalty points and eventual defeat from Orange’s rougher players. However, Orange yet again won, and winning in an absolute landslide with 73 – 6.
Finally rounding out the night was Southern Alamance. Alamance played against some members of the wrestling teams who had not previously played against Durham or Williams; however, the match was cluttered, with these members playing Alamance while other wrestlers from Orange also matched against Walter Williams players. Still, when collected, both sides were tough to beat, with Orange having the most takedowns of the night and very few certified pin downs. Both sides, however, also had many near falls and escapes between each side. Although both sides played strong, Orange again came out strong with the closest scoring of the night at 46 – 35.
As far as any impressive wrestlers roughing up the competitors on Tuesday’s match, there were some few that should be mentioned for their standout performance. From Northern Durham’s match, notable players include Joey Petrucelli, who went for the fastest pin down of the match at just 1:25 in; Bailey Hawkins was also a extraordinary player who pinned down his opponent at with 1:05. However, the most impressive match was Williams: not only because half of the match was filled with defeats due to few wrestlers to fight, Orange should great times of pin downs and lots of takedowns that showed the overwhelming power of the Panthers wrestling match. Southern Alamance, as aforementioned, were also very rigid in tackling down the competition, including Josiah Ramirez and Charlie Wilechase.
The next game for Orange Wrestling is a Jim King/Orange Invitational, next Friday and Saturday on December 2nd and 3rd, with 21 team invited to play against Orange.

Ever notice the term “putting up video game numbers” is almost exclusively used in context of offense?

Whether its MLB ’16, FIFA, Madden 2016 or NHL ’16, it’s offense that people gravitate towards. Regardless of what sport you enjoy, you can bet there has been some rule change over the years to benefit the offense. And almost never one to help the defense. Whether it’s lowering the pitcher’s mound in baseball before the 1969 season, the NBA adding the 3-point line after mergining with the American Basketball Association or the myriad of rules instituted by Gary Bettman on the ice, the defense hardly ever gets a bone tossed its way.

Of course, it’s a long way to professional sports from where the Orange Panthers are now, but it doesn’t make their defensive accomplishments this year any less remarkable.

Orange is 12-0 and won the Big 8 Championship. That’s despite having a giveaway/takeaway turnover ratio of -5 during the regular season. The Panthers made six turnovers in its August 26th 21-13 over Northern and basically stayed in the turnover hole all season. And it didn’t matter.

Why? Defense.

They’ve given up 82 yards per game. They’ve yielded four touchdowns the whole season (Northern scored 13 points against Orange, but six of those came off a fumble return for a touchdown). On September 16th, Western Guilford scored a garbage time touchdown with 8:34 remaining in the fourth quarter.

It’s the only points Orange has given up in the second half all year.

On and on it goes. The Panthers have outscored opponents 179-12 in the second half.  10 of Orange’s 12 opponents have been held under 100 yards total offense, including Wilson Fike in Friday night’s 1st round 3A playoff game.

The Golden Demons had 92 yards, which by current standards isn’t a bad number. It’s the fifth-highest amount of yardage Orange has allowed this season. (Western Guilford’s 243 is the highest. Southern Durham had 123).

Linebacker Payton Wilson has made 106 tackles, 13 sacks and 39 tackles for loss. The defensive line of Stone Edwards, Noah Rogers and Ryan Sellers have their own personal competition to see who will have the most sacks by season’s end. Right now, Sellers is in the lead with 15, while Edwards has 13 and Rogers with 11. However, Rogers does have the most tackles for loss among the trio with 27.

Perhaps most impressive of all is Orange’s 24 consecutive quarters without giving up a touchdown, which ended Friday night when Fike quarterback Jaelynn Melton scored on a 40-yard zone read in the 2nd quarter.

To put that streak in proper context, Orange went six full games without giving up a touchdown. That’s half a regular season.

Of course, these numbers are easy to outline now because the Panthers will face the most dangerous offense yet in Havelock this Friday in the 2nd round of the 3A playoffs at Auman Stadium.

The 11-1 Rams average 42 points per game out of its spread offense run by quarterback Corey Cooper.

In 20 years, however, fans of Orange football can look back at the Big 8 Conference champions and talk about how the team put up video game numbers.

But not in the way it’s usually meant.

On this week’s edition of the Prep Sports Tonight podcast, we’re joined by Orange defensive end Stone Edwards. After Friday night’s victory over Fike, Stone has 61 tackles, 21 tackles for loss and 13 sacks. But there’s more to Stone than just football. There’s his educational background, where he took college classes taught by his parents at UNC when he was barely a teenager. Also joining the podcast is safety Keshawn Thompson, who was honored with the Extra Effort Award from WRAL television earlier this year. This show was taped on Thursday afternoon, the day before Orange’s victory over Fike.

The Prep Sports Tonight podcast is presented by Occoneechee Golf Club. Learn how you can give the golfer in your family the gift of a trip to Occoneechee Golf Course in Hillsborough this Christmas by going to their website, which can be found here.

The Orange Panthers lost its season opener on Tuesday night to Leesville Road 76-65. Connor Crabtree had 28 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field. The Panthers seek its first win of the season on Saturday at Millsbrook High School against Rolesville. Tipoff is at 12:30.

Orange Coach Greg Motley Discusses Loss to Leesville Road

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