Orange High School

113-pound Senior Mitchell Askew wrestled his final two matches at Orange High Gym on Tuesday night. He won via forfeit against Gray’s Creek, then scored a technical fall over Aaron Marriot of Morehead 16-1. Askew will be a vital piece of the puzzle of Orange wants to advance past Cape Fear on Thursday night. The…

Scoring a pin in his last match at Orange High Gym was a fitting finale for Josiah Ramirez, who defeated Zachary Baumannn in :49 on Tuesday night. But it was only another step towards a series of goals that will unfold over the next week for Ramirez, a 182 pound senior. First, he wants to…

Donald Hicks found himself with big shoes to fill as he entered his first season as a starter on the Orange Wrestling team. He replaced Payton Wilson at 220 pounds after Wilson left midway through his senior season to enroll at N.C. State early. Wilson captured the 3A State Championship last season. On Tuesday night,…

Orange Wrestling’s 16 consecutive Big 8 Conference Championship will direct them to an opening round matchup against a familiar face on Tuesday night. The Panthers will face Grey’s Creek in the opening round of the 32-team 3A state dual team playoffs on Tuesday night at Orange High starting at 6. Orange defeated Gray’s Creek last…

Rivalry games aren’t supposed to make sense. On Friday night, the Orange girls basketball team rolled into Cedar Ridge winless for 2018. They had lost six consecutive conference games, including a 46-39 decision to the Red Wolves on December 19th at Orange. The Panthers were 72 hours removed from a 49-27 loss to Hillside. On…

Rivalry games sometime produce surprising results. On Friday night, the Orange girls basketball team came into its rivalry game with Cedar Ridge on a five-game losing streak. They had yet to win in 2018, but junior forward Icez Barnett changed that by scoring 13 points, including seven in the fourth quarter as the Lady Panthers…

Now this is a dynasty. Orange Wrestling has been dominant across Orange and Durham Counties since Bobby Shriner took over the program in 1991. When Shriner retired last May, assistant Spencer Poteat was the only true choice to replace him. Poteat grew up in the Orange program, not just wrestling under Shriner, but learning about…

The Orange Wrestling Team captured its 16th consecutive conference championship on Thursday night, defeating Southern Durham 70-9 at Jim King Gymnasium. It was the final regular season home match for Bailey Hawkins, who pinned Anincoo Nyanngoro in 6:00 to improve to 27-4. At 126, Gavin Wiggins pinned Zion Mcare in 2:48. Wiggins, coming off winning…

In his final regular season match at Orange High, senior Trey Jones pinned A’Cire Collins in :17 to help the Panthers win the Big 8 Championship, its 16th consecutive league title. Jones is now 27-6 after winning his second conference match in two night. On Tuesday, Jones pinned Northern Durham’s Christian Dixon in 1:49. Unlike…