Orange High School

For the third year in a row, the Orange lacrosse team has advanced to the state quarterfinals of the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs. On Tuesday night, Orange defeated First Flight 9-4 at Auman Stadium. The Panthers avenged a loss to the Nighthawks in last year’s state semifinal match. Senior Tigh Metheny scored the opening three goals of the game, all assisted by Connor Kruse. In a critical sequence late in the first half, Orange led 3-2. First Flgiht’s Cody Keller raced down the field on a breakaway. Orange goalkeeper Katie Wolter made a huge save to keep the Panthers in the lead. Wolter has a scholarship to play at American University in Washington, D.C. Wolter and the rest of the Panther defense helped keep the Nighthawks off the board for the entire third quarter. In a span of 18:56, the Nighthawks were held scoreless. Orange scored all four goals in the third quarter to take a 9-2 lead into the final stanza. The Panthers will face Carrboro at Auman Stadium in the state quarterfinals on Friday night. If Orange wins, they will host the 3A/2A/1A Eastern Regional Championship game next Tuesday in Auman Stadium. Metheny is the second-leading scorer on the team with 53 goals and 68 points. Wolter has made 119 saves this season with a 51% save percentage.

Orange lax’s Tigh Metheney & Katie Wolter talk playoff win vs. First Flight, reaching state quarters

For the third year in a row, the Orange lacrosse team has advanced to the state quarterfinals of the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs. On Tuesday night, Orange defeated First Flight 9-4 at Auman Stadium. The Panthers avenged a loss to the Nighthawks in last year’s state semifinal match.

During summer weightlifting sessions for the Orange lacrosse team, the score “13-7” was written on the white board beside the entrance.

Every time the players left a workout, they would see that score written in back ink that served as a less-than-subtle  reminder to the end of an otherwise successful 2022 season, when Orange hosted the 3A/2A/1A Eastern Regional Championship game for the first time.

It was a moment where Orange truly arrived as a lacrosse program. Thousands of fans gathered at Auman Stadium to see if the Panthers could reach the state championship game. Yet the moment may have overwhelmed the Panthers, who once played in empty stadiums when lacrosse was an afterthought compared to the more traditional baseball and softball programs.

In the regional title game, First Flight’s defense flustered Orange into uncharacteristic mistakes. The Nighthawks held Orange to one goal over 23:26 and advanced to play for the state championship for the first time ever.

By a score of 13-7.

The First Flight team that returned to Auman Stadium on Tuesday night was the same as last year’s in name only. The Nighthawks lost nine seniors, including their top five scorers and goalkeeper Porter Smith. Jacob Gray, who scored five goals against Orange last May, was supposed to return for his senior season yet opted for the Coast Guard Academy instead.

But Orange was still facing First Flight. More importantly, they were facing the Nighthawks in the 3rd round of the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs.

Which made the results no less gratifying. The irony was that the key to Orange’s victory was defense.

Senior Tigh Metheny scored Orange’s first three goals, all assisted by junior Connor Kruse, while the Panthers (17-3) held the Nighthawks scoreless for 18:56 through the second and third quarters in an 9-4 victory at Auman Stadium. Orange, the #1 seed in the East Region of the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs, will face Carrboro on Friday night in the state quarterfinals at Auman Stadium.

Carrboro rolled past Cape Fear 17-3 at Jaguars Stadium.

First Flight, the co-champions of the Northeastern Conference with Croatan, ends the season 8-6.

While the Panthers found its rhythm in the second quarter, they were disjointed and sloppy early. Metheny’s sidearm shot off a feed from Kruse with 6:45 remaining was Orange’s only goal of the opening quarter.

The game turned on a sequence late in the second quarter. With Orange leading 3-2 and 4:45 remaining in the first half, First Flight Captain Cam Van Lunen intercepted a clearance pass and found sophomore Cody Keller up the field for a breakaway. It appeared the game would soon be tied, but Keller opted to go low against Orange goalkeeper Katie Wolter, who kicked it away. Defenseman Braden Hunt won the subsequent ground ball and sent it into the attacking end on a feed to Kruse, who found Metheny for a pinpoint shot that hit the back of the net.

After Orange freshman Matthew Macneir won the face-off, Wimsatt passed to Kruse for another goal seven seconds later to push the Panthers lead to 5-2 at halftime.

Kruse factored into all five Orange goals in the first half, assisting on four of them.

“Katie is a Division I goalkeeper for a reason,” said Orange coach Chandler Zirkle. “That was a huge one. The fact that we were able to make defensive stands throughout the game.”

Wolter has committed to American University, where she earned a scholarship.

First Flight was whistled for four penalties in the opening four minutes of the second quarter, including an illegal stick penalty to open the frame. That led to Metheny scoring with 9:01 remaining following an unnecessary roughness penalty with 9;31 remaining for the first of Orange’s two man-up goals. Metheny would add another two minutes later off a unsportsmanlike conduct call with 10:19 left.

Orange outscored the Nighthawks 5-0 in the third quarter. Jake Wimsatt, a senior who just recently returned to action after injuring his MCL early in the season, scored his second goal with 8:50 remaining off a pass from Kruse. Josh Cowan added two more goals in a span of 31 seconds, the first assisted by Josh Crabtree. Senior Joe Cady provided the highlight reel play of the night with a behind-the-back pass to sophomore Gray Crabtree, who finished it to put Orange ahead 9-2.

Freshman Danny Gardill had two goals for the Nighthawks, including one in the fourth quarter. Junior Bert Waddington also notched a goal in the final quarter, a frame where Orange was more content to run the clock out that scoring.

The Panthers have reached the state quarterfinals for three straight years and are one win away from hosting the Eastern Regional Championship game for the second straight season.

“First Flight plays so hard,” Zirkle said. “The nice thing we have is depth. It helps when you can put a freshman out (Brett Clark) at the end of the first half to replace tired players. Realistically, he’s not supposed to be playing heavy minutes right now, but he’s able to go out on the field and give us some good ones. That’s a big difference maker.”

Jason Knapp’s latest state playoff win as Orange baseball coach was unlike any he’s had before.

It wasn’t a first round nail bitter that went nine innings against Cedar Ridge.. It wasn’t decided in the late innings like last year’s thriller against Terry Sanford.

Instead, the Panthers went about business against Croatan thoroughly, efficiently and best of all, quickly.

Orange scored eight runs in the second inning, capped by a three-run blast by junior centerfielder Cameron Guentensberger, en route to an 16-2 win in five innings over Croatan in the opening round of the 3A State Playoffs on Tuesday night in Hillsborough. Orange, the #2 seed in the East Region, advance to host Triton on Friday night.

Triton defeated Scotland County 12-2 in six innings on Tuesday night.

Orange is 23-2, their most wins in a season since 2013, when they reached the 3A Eastern Regional final series with freshman Bryse Wilson.

Ryan Hench threw five innings to earn his third win of the season. Hench, who missed 12 games because of an injury suffered against Grimsley on March 9, struck out eight in only five innings. He allowed just two hits. Both runs he surrendered were unearned.

“Ryan looked great,” Knapp said. “He’s coming right back into form. He commanded the strike zone well. He had them out front with his slider. It looked the same old Ryan we’ve had forever.”

Croatan ends the season 12-13.

Hench finished 3-for-4 with five RBIs and a solo homer that led off the bottom of the fourth, which put Orange ahead 9-2.

Orange took control of the game going station-to-station in the second inning until, before you knew it, they had eight runs. It started when Ryan Honeycutt drilled a double down the left field line. With Ty Walker serving as a courtesy runner, Ryan Horton reached on a booted grounder at third base. Neo Best’s soft liner to right field loaded the bases. Cross Clayton drove in the opening run with a base hit that floated over second base into the outfield. Senior Jackson Berini, who went 2-for-3, lined a single up the middle to bring in Horton.

Senior David Waitt sent his team-leading 31st hit of the season through the 3-4 hole for another RBI single. With Orange leading 3-0, Hench ended a six-pitch at-bat with a liner to left field to score Clayton and Berini, leading to Croatan starter Broderyk Miller getting pulled.

Guentensberger poked a 1-0 pitch over the left field fence, which Knapp labeled”a classic Orange High home run,” for a three-run blast to score Waitt and Joey Pounds. It was the first home run of Guentensberger’s career.

The Cougars fought back with Owen Woodruff scoring off a sacrifice fly in the third inning hit by Nathan Michalowicz. Ben Boyette, who reached on an error in the outfield, reduced Orange’s lead to 8-2 off a squeeze play bunt by Nathan Griffin.

After Hench’s leadoff homer in the fourth, Connor Nordan had a single. Guentensberger was hit by a pitch, and Horton walked to load the bases. Best drove in Nordan and Guentensberger with a sharp liner to left field. Clayton put the game in run-rule territory with a seeing eye grounder that reached right field that brought in Horton. After Berini walked, Waitt knocked in Best with an RBI fielder’s choice where Berini was thrown out at second. Hench drilled a doubled on a ball that just missed getting out of the ballpark, plating Waitt and Clayton. With Pounds running for Hench, Nordan drove in his 37th run of the season with a single to centerfield.

Hench has home runs in three of Orange’s last four games.

It was Orange’s first run-rule victory since they defeated Cedar Ridge 12-2 on March 28.

“The guys were loose and focused,” Knapp said. “I have a lot of these guys in my weight training class and I saw it early today. They were feeling good and it came out right on the field. It was a lot different than last year.”

The Orange Middle School Chargers men’s lacrosse team captured its seventh consecutive Orange Person Athletic Conference Northern Division championship on Monday afternoon. At Charger Stadium, the Chargers defeated Stanback 10-4 to clinch the title and advance to the Orange Person Athletic Conference championship game. The Chargers got the opening goal from Kaiden Wallace with 6:14 remaining in the first quarter on an assist from Braden Pfeiffenberger. Dylan Herndon scored a hat trick for the Chargers. Pfeiffenberger scored four goals and finished with six points. Renn Vanhoose had a goal and won several key face-offs for the Chargers. Stanback got two goals from Penn Cochran, who finished with three points on the day. Jeremy Holquist and Joseph Drive also had goals for the Bulldogs. Stanford will journey to Chapel Hill on Tuesday to face Culbreth. The Cougars won the Southern Division championship and defeated the Chargers earlier this year. Stanford will be going for its seventh straight OPAC Championship.

OMS Chargers Dylan Herndon, Owen Wimsatt, Jackson Runkle & Braden Pfeiffenberger talk division title

The Orange Middle School Chargers men’s lacrosse team captured its seventh consecutive Orange Person Athletic Conference Northern Division championship on Monday afternoon. At Charger Stadium, the Chargers defeated Stanback 10-4 to clinch the title and advance to the Orange Person Athletic Conference championship game.

How far has Orange lacrosse come in four years?

In 2019, the Panthers won its first state playoff game under head coach Chandler Zirkle, beating Northside-Jacksonville 17-13. It didn’t hurt that the Monarchs had a defenseman throw the ball into his own empty net in the first quarter. Even Zirkle admitted it took a good draw to beat the Monarchs in Jacksonville, but it was the second playoff win in school history.

Fast forward to 2023 and you see what a program looks like. Playoff wins aren’t a novelty in Hillsborough anymore. They’re excuses to give junior varsity players a chance to play in the second half because the Panthers have a 10-1 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Since that win over the Monarchs, the Panthers have won three conference championships, reeled off 28 consecutive conference wins, captured six more state playoff games and hosted the 3A/2A/1A Eastern Regional Championship game last May.

That latter fact will be a point of discussion during the next 48 hours, because the same First Flight squad that frustrated the Panthers defensively last year will be back on Tuesday night for the third round of the 2023 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs. Some of the players who struck it big for the Nighthawks last year won’t be back for one reason or another, but the Panthers know what to expect now that the expectations around the program, both within and abroad, have changed dramatically.

On Thursday night at Auman Stadium, Orange rolled past Eastern Alamance 16-6 at Auman Stadium in the second round of the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs. Senior Tigh Metheny, who committed to play at Catawba College two weeks ago, scored a hat trick as the Panthers won its ninth straight home game.

Eastern Alamance defeated J.F. Webb 11-5 in Oxford during the opening round on May 3 to advance to the second round. The Eagles, who end the season 8-11, g0t two goals from Dalton Helton.

Josh Crabtree scored the opening goal off an assist from Connor Kruse to open the game. After Helton tied it off an assist from Brett Hupman, the Panthers reeled off eleven consecutive goals to put the game away. It was the Panthers’ third win over the Eagles this season.

A welcome sight for Orange was the return of senior midfielder Jake Wimsatt, who played in his first game since early March. Wimsatt, a key to Orange’s face-off success for the past three years, missed most of the season with an injured MCL. Wimsatt scored Orange’s ninth goal on a sidearm shot assisted by Metheny. While Wimsatt didn’t take any face-offs against the Eagles, his experience will be valuable as the Panthers try to reach the state championship game for the first time in school history.

Metheny started Orange’s long run with a goal assisted by freshman Matthew Macneir, who scooped the face-off clean and sent it to the veteran Orange attacker. Crabtree followed with his second goal. Senior Joe Cady and sophomore Luke Nevius each finished with two goals. Gray Crabtree, freshman Brandon Williams, Brett Clark, and Josh Cowan each tallied one goal.

Kruse added on to his team-leading scoring total in the third period. Kruse, Orange’s all-time leading scorer, finished with five points. That increases his school-record total to 313 points.

Nick Cardone, a defenseman, got a rare assist on Metheny’s second goal in the first quarter. Junior Katie Wolter made three saves but she didn’t play after the first quarter. Sophomore Carson Latta and junior Parker Christie-Pohl played the rest of the game.

Of the seven other teams remaining in the East Region, Orange has beaten two of them. First Flight is a team that Orange has yet to conquer. The Nighthawks defeated Western Alamance 12-11 on Friday night in Elon.

The Nighthawks and the Panthers will face-off at Auman Stadium on Tuesday night at 6 PM.

Photo courtesy of GoPack.com. 

Jamar Davis: Five years after Davis participated in the Penn Relays as a senior at Orange High School, he returned as a senior at N.C. State last month. Davis won the gold medal in the long jump. He finished at 7.42 meters. That was ahead of the runner-up, Louis Gordon of Albany, who came in at 7.40 meters. Davis finished fifth in the triple jump with his best leap at 15.49 meters. Clarence Foote-Talley of Ohio State won the championship at 16.71 meters.

Jaylin Jones: The Division III Pfeiffer men’s lacrosse team won the USA South Conference championship on Saturday at Lefko Field in Misenheimer. The Falcons, who won the regular season championship, defeated Southern Virginia 12-9. Jones had one ground ball and created one turnover. In the opening round, Pfeiffer blasted Methodist 23-3. Jones started at midfield and had one ground ball. Jones is a graduate student who has played for the Falcons program for five seasons. On Sunday night, the field for the NCAA Division III Tournament was released. Pfeiffer will face Centre College in Danville, KY on Wednesday. Pfeiffer defeated Centre College 14-13 on March 23.

Cy Horner: Horner completed his sophomore season with Methodist in the loss to Pfeiffer. The Monarchs defeated LaGrange College 24-16 in the opening round of the USA South Tournament on Tuesday. Horner scored one goal and one assist on six shots. Against Pfeiffer, Horner had three shots. This season, Horner started 17 games. He scored 15 goals and had 21 assists. Methodist ended the year 7-10 overall, 4-4 in the USA South.

Chase Finley: Division II Shorter College ended its season with a loss to the University of Montevallo 26-8 in the opening round of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament in St. Augustine, FL. Finley, a former Cedar Ridge goalkeeper, started and made nine saves. He also surrendered nine goals. Shorter ends the season 3-12.

Bryse Wilson: Wilson continues to come out of the bullpen for the Milwaukee Brewers. On Friday, Wilson threw one inning as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Brewers 6-3 at Oracle Park. Wilson threw a scoreless inning in the seventh with two walks and a strikeout. On April 29, Wilson threw two-thirds-of-an-inning against the Los Angeles Angels. He allowed two runs off two hits. The Brewers won 7-5.

Joey Berini: The East Carolina baseball team completed a weekend sweep of Cincinnati at UC Baseball Stadium. On Friday, the Pirates defeated the Bearcats 9-3. Berini knocked in the final run of the game with a sacrifice bunt in the ninth inning. He finished 0-for-5. On Saturday, the Pirates won 11-3. Berini went 3-for-5 with a run scored. The Pirates won 6-5 in ten innings on Sunday. Berini went 0-for-4. On Tuesday, North Carolina held off East Carolina 2-1. Berini started at shortstop.

Dante DeFranco: The Charlotte 49ers baseball team defeated #7 Coastal Carolina 7-3 at Springs Brooks Stadium in Conway, SC on May 2. DeFranco went 3-for-5 with an RBI double.

Phillip Berger: The Division III William Peace University baseball team has reached the USA South Baseball championship game in Rocky Mount. On Sunday, the Pacers defeated Brevard College 15-14 in Fayetteville in the USA South Baseball Tournament. On Friday, Brevard defeated William Peace 5-2. Berger threw nine innings in a no decision. He struck out a career-high 14 batters. He allowed two runs off seven hits and zero walks. The Pacers will face North Carolina Wesleyan in Rocky Mount on Friday. The winner advances to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Davis Horton: The season of the Rockingham Community College baseball team ended over the weekend in the Region X Tournament. Surry Community College defeated the Eagles 8-7 on Friday. Horton started as catcher and went 0-for-5. Caldwell Tech defeated Rockingham 9-1 on Friday. Horton started at first base. On Thursday, Rockingham defeated Virginia Peninsula Community College 13-3. Horton finished 1-for-4. This season, Horton hit .262 with one home run. He was second on the team with 24 RBIs.

Cooper Porter: The season of Pensacola State ended in the National Junior College Athletic Association South Atlantic District Baseball Championships. Miami Dade College defeated the Pirates 6-0 on Sunday. Porter, a sophomore, played eleven games this season. He hit .154 with one RBI. Porter didn’t play in a game after February 18.