Orange High School

Connor Kruse has been setting records and milestones even before he started playing lacrosse at Orange.

In his last middle school game, he scored a goal right off the faceoff in a blowout win at Roxboro Community School. That was the final game before the pandemic set in, leading to middle school athletics being shut down for nearly 18 months.

No one knew it at the time, but it was also the final game in the long, storied athletic history of Stanford Chargers athletics before the name of the school was changed. It would be rebranded Orange Middle School in February 2021.

Kruse is now a senior and he owns almost every offensive record in the Orange lacrosse record book. On Monday night, he entered his name in a national record book.

Kruse tied the American record for most assists in a game with 16 in Orange’s 18-5 win over Southern Alamance at Redmond Stadium in Graham. The only other high school player in American high school history to have 16 assists in a game is Ryan Stadelmaier of Midland-Dow High in Michigan. In 2021, Stadlemaier had 16 assists against Linden High on May 20, 2022.

Stadelmaier is now playing lacrosse at Air Force, a member of the Division I Atlantic Sun Conference.

Kruse, the son of former North Carolina and Johns Hopkins lacrosse player Travis Kruse, became the first Orange lacrosse player to surpass 400 points in his career.

Last week, Kruse became the first Orange player to reach 200 career assists in a 14-1 win over Northwood at Auman Stadium in Hillsborough. Kruse’s feed to Gray Crabtree with 2:07 remaining in the second quarter put the Panthers ahead 7-0 and earned him another milestone in Orange history. Kruse finished the night with one goal and three assists.

“I’ve played with a lot of guys here who have done some great things,” Kruse said after last Thursday’s win over the Chargers. “There’s a lot of guys who have contributed to that. Ryan Merrill (who graduated in 2022) all the way to today with Brett (Clark) and Brandon Williams, there’s just a lot of guys who have helped me get to that point. I’d just like to thank them for helping me.”

Kruse also owns the Orange record for 170 goals coming into this season.

Kruse is after more than just records in his final games at Orange. The Panthers are 10-0, 7-0 in the Mid-Carolina Conference. Kruse was a member of the first Orange lacrosse team to win a conference championship in 2021. Since then, Orange has added two more league titles to its collection and has hosted the 3A/2A/1A Eastern Regional championship game each of the last two years.

Now, Kruse is hunting for a regional championship. It appeared that last year would be Orange’s time when they faced Northwood at Auman Stadium, a team the Panthers had defeated five straight times. But the Chargers came away with a 10-8 victory in Hillsborough.

Under head coach Chandler Zirkle, the Panthers are off to its best start in team history. They have wins over 4A teams Apex, Pinecrest and Jordan.

“Those 4A games at the beginning of the year helped us,” Kruse said. “We’re just focused on trying to get better every day.”

The win over Southern Alamance on Monday night ended a stretch of four games over six days for the Panthers. On Friday night, Orange defeated Western Alamance 17-5 at Primm Stadium in Elon. Kruse finished with six goals and three assists. Clark came away with four goals and one assist.

Last December, Kruse officially signed to play with Lenoir-Rhyne, which won the Division II national championship last year. The Bears defeated Mercyhurst 20-5 in Philadelphia to win the first national championship in team history.

Since winning the final Big 8 Conference championship in the pandemic-shortened year of 2021, the Orange softball team has been lurking in the pack of the Central Conference as Eastern Alamance won two state championships and Western Alamance won the Eastern Regional championship last year.

On Tuesday night, the Lady Panthers put on a display so dominant, it may has served as a wake-up call to the rest of the Central Conference that they won’t be content with being merely a formidable team this year.

Junior Allie Carden hit the first grand slam of her career and finished 4-for-4 with seven RBIs as the Lady Panthers defeated Western Alamance 16-6 in six innings in Hillsborough. It was the first time that Orange defeated the Warriors since the two teams became conference rivals since 2022.

Orange senior pitcher Caden Robinson smashed a two-run homer run in the bottom of the third inning as the Lady Panthers set a new season-high with 16 runs and 15 hits.

Western Alamance (3-5, 2-1 in the Central Conference) lost 2023 Central Conference Pitcher of the Year Taylor Apple to graduation last summer. Apple is already pitching regularly for East Carolina as a freshman.

The Warriors still struck for three runs in the opening inning with its first four batters all getting aboard. Ryan Justice drew a leadoff walk, while Bayleigh Burris, Addison Beal and Kara Alday all walked to score the opening run. Senior Lela Kate Bakter sent a line drive to right field for a base it to score Burris. Then courtesy runner Andrea Bryant scored off a bases-loaded walk from Kyndal Wilborn. Robinson recovered to strike out the next three batters.

Robinson doubled to centerfield to send Katie Carden to third in the Orange side of the first. That’s when Allie Carden had her first big hit of the night, a double on a liner to center to score Carden and Robinson.

Orange took the lead in the third when leadoff batter Sadie Cecil reached on an error by Burris at shortstop. Katie Carden drew a walk, which led to Robinson’s three-run blast to put the Lady Panthers ahead 5-3.

The Warriors tied the game with a pair of runs in the fourth. Kayde Moore drew a walk. Justice sent a liner to left field, advancing Moore to second. Beal lined to left to score Moore and Justice and even things up at 5-5.

Allie Carden’s grand slam turned the tide of the game for good. Addison Guentensberger reached on an error by Moore at second base. Sophomore Payton Borland replied Guentensberger as a pinch-runner. Cecil walked. Katie Carden backed up left fielder Lela Kate Baker to left field before she hauled in the ball just shy of the fence. Western actually intentionally walked Robinson to get to Carden, which proved to be a mistake.

With the wind blowing towards left field, Carden fouled off a 2-2 pitch before taking a changeup low. Carden turned the payoff pitch to a laser into right field that buzzed over the fence. Carden got pats on her black helmet as she crossed home plate for the first grand slam of her career.

Alday hit a solo homer to left field to start the fifth to cut the Orange lead to 9-6, but the Lady Panthers would turn it into a rout in the bottom of the fifth. Borland singled to centerfield, followed by another hit from Cecil. Katie Carden grounded to second, where Cecil was thrown out at second. Robinson sent a double down the left field line to score Carden and Borland.

Freshman Anna Klein came in as the new Warrior pitcher. Allie Carden lined to centerfield to bring in Robinson. Delanie Shaffer singled, Hayleigh Hammond walked and Mia Leathers scored Carden on a groundout to second base to increase the Orange lead to 13-6.

Orange has  won five in a row after dropping its season opener to Wakefield. They will travel to Southeast Alamance tonight (Thursday) in Graham. The Lady Panthers will face Walter Williams on Friday night in Hillsborough in its final game before spring break.

ELON–As James Hinshaw threw out Ryan Horton for the final out in Western Alamance’s win over Orange on Tuesday night, a disgruntled Panther fan pulled up his lawn chair and bit his bottom lip as he started to the parking lot.

“That team has our number,” he huffed while sighing.

While Western Alamance hasn’t had a winning season in either year they’ve competed in the Central Conference, they do find a winning formula when they face the Panthers, the three-time defending conference champions.

On Tuesday night, the Warriors didn’t bring their “A” game, but what they came out with was still good enough to prevail.

A week after getting blown out by Person 13-3 in Roxboro, the Warriors edged Orange 4-3 at Warriors Field. It was Western Alamance’s fourth win over the Panthers in its last six meetings.

Orange (4-3, 0-1 in the Central Conference) had its 11-game conference winning streak , dating back to last season, snapped.

On a chilly night where fans were bundled up from the first pitch, Western Alamance pitcher Camden McCandless and reliever Sam Patterson didn’t allow any walks. Orange starter Josiah Gibbs and reliever Garrett Sawyer conceded four walks that proved to be costly.

In the sixth inning, Fred Harrelson, after striking out twice in his previous at-bats, drew a leadoff walk. Sawyer threw a wild pitch with Noah Huffine at bat. After Huffine struck out, Hinshawk grounded out to Henry Hoffman at third base, moving Harrelson over to third.

Jacob Miles, the ninth batter in the Western order, sent a bouncing ball to Cross Clayton at shortstop. Clayton didn’t charge the ball and his throw to first base was low, which Miles beat out. Harrelson scored the game-winning run.

Clayton reached on an infield single in the seventh with two out, but Horton’s groundout ended the game.

It was another trip to Elon where Orange struggled to put runs across the plate. In 2022, the Panthers won 1-0 when Jackson Berini stole home in the seventh inning to break open a scoreless game. Last year, McCandless held Orange to two runs off three hits in a 4-2 Warrior win.

The Panthers scored immediately on Tuesday night. Wyatt Hedrick singled to right field, then stole second. With two out, Clayton hit a pop-up in the infield, but the howling winds played games with the ball and shortstop Cooper Marks couldn’t find it and the ball well down in right field. Hedrick scored to put Orange ahead.

The Warriors got its own unearned run in the bottom of the first. Marks drew a walk off nine pitches. Eli Abbott laid down a sacrifice bunt that was thrown away by Gibbs. Marks rounded the bases to tie the game. McCandless reached on a fielder’s choice as Abbott was thrown out at second by Hedrick. Sam Patterson lined a single to centerfield, where Cameron Guentensberger threw to Hedrick trying to tag out McCandless, who was ruled safe on a close play.

The Warriors played some base running shenanigans as Patterson ran for second. Gibbs threw to Henry Hoffman, the second baseman, as McCandless ran for the plate. McCandless beat the tag to put the Warriors ahead 2-1.

Orange immediately tied the game when freshman Oliver Van Tiem laid down a bunt. McCandless’ throw to first went off Van Tiem’s thigh, leading Van Tiem to take second base. Elijah Santos sent a two-out liner into the wind to left field, which landed just shy of the fence. Van Tiem scored to even things at 2-2.

Huffine laced a one-out single to left field in the fourth. After Miles was hit by a pitch, Johnny Curtis came out as a courtesy runner for Huffine. Marks singled to right field, where Santos got a clean throw to the plate, but Curtis slid around Horton’s tag to put the Warriors back in front.

Orange had a two-out rally in the fifth inning when Guentensberger landed an infield single, then stole second. Clayton drilled an 0-1 fastball to the fence in left field, bringing in Guentensberger.

With Orange’s loss, six of the seven teams in the Central Conference already have a league loss. Southern Alamance, who defeated Williams 4-2 in Burlington on Tuesday, is atop the league at 2-0.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior long-stick defenseman Alden Cathey. For the past four years, Cathey has been a pillar of the Orange lacrosse team’s defense. He has been a part of three conference championship teams, the first squads to win a league title in the sport in school history. Cathey was huge in Orange’s season-opening win over Apex, the first of three victories over 4A teams so far this year for the Panthers. Cathey had two ground balls and created numerous turnovers as the Panthers captured its season-opener. Last week, in a tight win at Jordan, Cathey had seven ground balls. In December, Cathey officially signed with Division III Arcadia University in Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. Cathey has paired alongside Sascha Van Praag, Josiah Tisdale, Nick Dardone and Braden Hunt over the past three years to help anchor Orange’s defense in front of goalkeeper Katie Wolter. In addition to playing lacrosse, Cathey has been a member of Orange men’s cross country team the past three years. Cathey has been a part of three conference championship teams in cross country, as well as two Mideast Regional championship teams. Last year, Orange finished 2nd in the state behind Croatan. This week, Cathey will suit up as the Panthers face Northwood at Auman Stadium on Thursday night in a rematch of last year’s 3A/2A/1A Eastern Regional championship game. Faceoff will be at 7 PM in Hillsborough. 

While the Orange baseball team has lost six starters from its 2023 Central Conference championship team, its pitching staff has largely returned intact.

In its final dress rehearsals before conference play begins this week, Orange showed off its strengths in two shutout victories.

On Wednesday night, senior Josiah Gibbs tossed six scoreless innings with a career-high nine strikeouts in a 5-0 win over Northwood in Pittsboro. Gibbs led Orange with seven victories last season as he was pressed into the starting rotation following injuries to Ryan Hench (now redshirting at UNC) and Cross Clayton. Against the Chargers, he scattered only two hits and retired the first nine batters he faced before Finn Sullivan singled to start the fourth.

Gibbs has a two-run lead before he even threw a pitch. After freshman Kayden Bradsher drew a leadoff walk in the first at-bat of the game, senior Wyatt Hedrick went opposite field for his first career homer over the right field wall.

Bradsher and Hedrick would pair again in the fifth. Bradsher drew a walk, then stole second and third bases. Hedrick sent a deep fly to centerfield that went over the head of Northwood’s Jake Leighton, allowing Bradsher to score standing up. Senior Cameron Guentensberger lined a single to left field to bring in Hedrick. Clayton, starting at shortstop, increased the Panther lead to 5-0 when he reached off an error on a ground ball to second base, scoring Guentensberger.

Gibbs thwarted any attempt at a comeback. He allowed only two baserunners in six innings, neither of whom touched second base. Coltin Hedrick, who has committed to play at Wake Tech along with his twin brother, tossed a scoreless seventh to complete Orange’s first shutout of the season, strikeout out two.

It was Orange’s seventh straight win over the Chargers, dating back to 2019.

On Thursday night, the Panthers shutout Grimsley 12-0 in Hillsborough, the Panthers first run-rule victory of the season.

Clayton, in his second start of the year, struck out seven in four innings for his first victory of the season and the 14th of his career. The last Orange pitcher to earn 20 wins in his career was Bryse Wilson, now with the Milwaukee Brewers. Wilson graduated in 2016.

Clayton has worked to recover from an injury that ended his junior season prematurely last May and caused him to miss all of travel ball last summer. He made his second start against the Whirlies and appeared in midseason form, retiring the first eight batters and giving up a scant single to Grimsley’s Will Rainwater on a meager dribbler over second base.

It was another game that Bradsher, a freshman, proved his worth as a leadoff batter. He was hit by a pitch by Grimsley starter Levi Ponder. Wyatt Hedrick lined a single to right. Bradsher didn’t skip a beat as he rounded for third base. Guentensberger scored Bradsher on a groundout to Grimsley second baseman Holden Barnwell. Following a walk to Clayton, catcher Ryan Horton laced a line drive to the left field gap that rolled to the fence, scoring Hedrick. Freshman Oliver Van Tiem hit a grounder to first baseman Max Snyder, who tried to throw out Clayton at the plate. Clayton slid under the tag of catcher J.T. Simmons for Orange’s third run.

Orange broke it open with eight runs in the third inning, sending 13 batters to the plate. Wyatt Hedrick started with a single to left field. Later, he would tag a two-run triple down the right field line to score Wren Hash and Bradsher. Van Tiem had a RBI single to score Guentensberger, who walked to conclude a 13-pitch at-bat. Horton walked with the bases-loaded for his second RBI. Hash earned his first career RBI with another bases-loaded walk.

Orange will travel to Western Alamance for its conference opener on Tuesday night.