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Photo by Heather Walker

The Stanford Chargers are headed back to the Orange-Person Athletic Conference Championship game.

On Wednesday afternoon, Stanford clinched the OPAC Northern Division Championship with a 28-6 victory over the Stanback Bulldogs at Auman Stadium. The Chargers will face Southern Roxboro for the OPAC Championship next week. Smith/Phillips defeated Stanford in the season opener on September 11 in Chapel Hill.

Stanford received strong games from several players. Nahour Kenion started the scoring with a strong touchdown run. Brayden Benfield followed with a 2-point conversion to put the Chargers ahead 8-0.

Cameron Guentensberger, the younger brother of former Orange linebacker Colin Guentensberger, scored on a 75-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown on a errant lateral. Guentensberger also had a receiving touchdown.

Quarterback Josh Cowan threw for one touchdown and had a 40-yard touchdown run.

The time and location of the OPAC Championship game is to be determined.

Boys Soccer: The Gravelly Hill Grizzles boys soccer team have a date in the OPAC Championship game next week.

On Monday, Gravelly Hill defeated Northern Middle School 9-0 on Monday in Efland to officially sew up the OPAC Northern Division Championship. It’s the third straight division championship for the Grizzlies. Hayden Kirk, Nathan Sorrells, Gabriel Contreas, Erick Morales, A.J. Roberts, Micah Morrow, and Lucas Gauldin all scored for the Grizzlies to win the division title.

On top of that, Gravelly Hill had to play again on Tuesday in a make-up game against Phillips Middle School in Chapel Hill. The Grizzles prevailed 5-1. Nathan Sorrells had a hat trick for Gravelly. Konner Johnson and Carson Condon scored the other Gravelly goals.

Gravelly Hill had strong defensive performances from Hayden Kirk and Don Wheless. Ben Miller earned the victory as goalkeeper.

Gravelly Hill will face Smith Middle School in Chapel Hill for the OPAC Championship on October 29.

If you have any results from any other middle school sports in Hillsborough, please send them to hamlin37@hotmail.com. This includes cross country, volleyball, etc.

The Gravelly Hill Grizzlies men’s soccer team had a thrilling, last minute win over A.L. Stanback last week.

Konner Johnson scored as the Grizzlies rallied to defeat the Bulldogs 3-2, coming back from a 2-0 deficit. It was Johnson’s second goal of the game. Gravelly leads the Orange-Person Athletic Conference Southern Division by two games with two games to play entering the final week of the regular season.

Carson Condon scored the opening two goals for the Grizzlies. Ben Miller earned the victory in net. On Tuesday, Gravelly Hill faces Northern Middle School. If the Grizzlies win, they advance to the OPAC Championship match on October 29.

Football: Gravelly Hill defeated McDougale Middle School 28-24 to earn its second win of the season on Thursday. Malachi Poole, Tyler Fields, Derek Yanko and Christian Moore all scored touchdowns for the Grizzlies.

Gravelly Hill ends its season on Wednesday with a road trip to Culbreth.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE: We want to include all of Hillsborough’s middle schools for Middle School Review during the winter. Even more important than the results are the names of athletes. Please send results and named of athletes to hamlin37@hotmail.com if you want to be included for Middle School Review.

Hillsboroughsports.com had 16,000 hits over the past month (an average of 500 a day), so the word is spreading. We’ve branched out beyond just covering Orange High School, which we were limited to following our launch in 2015. Now, we’re looking to include all schools in Hillsborough. We want all athletes included, too.

Again, the email is hamlin37@hotmail.com for middle school results.

HENDERSON–For the first time in weeks, Orange had something that they had been completely bereft of.

Momentum.

They had rallied from a 20-0 deficit after yet another awful start on the road with 17 consecutive points against Vance County. After Elliott Woods scored his third touchdown of the year early in the third quarter, Jake DeFranco picked off a pass, giving Orange a chance to take the lead in pursuit of its first road win in exactly 364 days.

Then they squandered it all away in record time.

The Panthers proceeded to get called for four personal foul/unsportsmanlike conduct penalties after Woods’ touchdown, which killed its rhythm and poise.

Samein Burwell made sure the Panthers never regained it.

After a Nigel Slanker punt, Burwell tossed to Kemarrous Jones for a 19 yard touchdown pass on 2nd-and-goal.

On the night he was crowned Homecoming King, Burwell threw for a career-high 406 yards and five touchdowns to push Vance County over Orange 40-30 at Viper Stadium.

Burwell also rushed for the Vipers’ only touchdown on the ground. His previous career high of 369 yards came against J.F. Webb on September 6. Vance County (7-1, 3-1) tied Northern Durham for second place in the Big 8 Conference. The Vipers travel to Durham County Stadium next Friday.

Orange needed a win to keep hopes of a winning season alive. Instead, a clearly frustrated Coach Van Smith walked to the team bus agitated about his defense yielding a season-high 494 yards, his team’s overall lack of discipline (102 yards in penalties) and the increasing likelihood of sitting home during the state playoffs for the second year in a row.

“We are completely not in a good mental state right now as a group of young men,” Smith said. “We started the game about as bad as you can possibly start a game.”

Orange’s Machai Holt rushed for 48 yards and two touchdowns. With Orange trailing 20-0, offensive coordinator Marty Scotten opened things up in the second quarter. That led to senior quarterback Wyatt Jones tying his season-high with ten completions for 102 yards.

Kemarrous Jones, who came into the game with 12 receptions on the year, finished with seven catches for a career-high 139 yards and two touchdowns. Late in the third quarter with the Vipers backed up to its own 10-yard line, Burwell found Jones on a slant for a 84-yard gain, stopped by a hustling Joe Kiger at the goal line. Burwell found Davonte Evans over the middle for a two-yard score moments later.

Orange, which has dropped five straight road games, got off to another bad start. The Vipers drove 79-yard on its opening drive. Burwell found William Hawkins on a 36-yard gain for Vance’s first of many trips into Panther real estate. On 3rd-and-6, Burwell found Jones for a 13-yard touchdown. Burwell and Jones hooked up again on the ensuing two-point conversion.

On the Vipers’ second drive, Phadol Jordan caught a 49-yard touchdown pass from Burwell. Kicker Khalil Kingsburgy followed with what may or may not have been an intentional onside kick, which was recovered by Vance’s Ta’Quon Lions.

The Orange defense stood on the following possession, but proceeded to fumble on its next two possessions. The second fumble took place at the Orange 9-yard line, recovered by Demarius Harris. Burwell scored on a 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard line.

Orange started its rally on a 11-play, 67-yard drive. Jones hit Holt for a 16-yard pass. On 3rd-and-4, Holt bounced off his own offensive line and stretched around left end for a touchdown.

The Panthers’ Will Torain recovered a fumble by Jordan on the next Viper possession. Slanker kicked a 31-yard field goal to narrow Vance’s lead to 20-10 at halftime.

Holt scored on a three-yard run late in the third quarter.

In the final stanza, Orange’s Joe Kiger picked off a Burwell pass. On the next play, Jones hit Omarion Lewis on a 40-yard catch-and-run touchdown.

In the final two minutes, Orange drove to the Viper red zone trailing 40-30. But Jones’ pass for Kiger was picked off by La’Maurice Bridges.

The Panthers return home to face Northwood next Thursday for Homecoming, but the sting of this loss was evident on the faces of players and coaches, alike.

Two months ago, Orange stood toe-to-toe with Eastern Alamance during a scrimmage in Mebane, where each team scored the same amount of touchdowns. Now, the Eagles are the #8 team in the state. Orange is on its way to a second straight losing season.

“We’re better than a five-win football team,” Smith said. “We just have to get out of our own way. We completely stripped the momentum away from ourself. We want to win. But we have a lot of issues with our discipline. It’s got to change.”

VANCE COUNTY 40, ORANGE 30

O– 0 10 14 6–30

VC-14 6 14 6–40

VC—Kemarrous Jones 7 pass from Samein Burwell (Burwell to Jones)

VC—Phadol Jordan 49 pass from Burwell (pass failed)

VC-Burwell 1 run (pass failed)

OR—Machai Holt 5 run (Nigel Slanker kick)

OR—Slanker 31 FG

OR—Elliott Woods 9 run (Slanker kick)

VC—Jones 19 pass from Burwell (pass failed)

VC—Rashad Evans 2 pass from Burwell (Burwell to K.Jones)

OR–Holt 3 run (Slanker kick)

VC—Noah Terry 70 pass from Burwell (pass failed)

OR-Omarion Lewis 40 pass from Wyatt Jones (pass failed)

RUSHING: VANCE COUNTY 18-10 (Evans 8-16, Terry 2-1, Burwell 8-(minus 7) TD.

ORANGE: 35-148 3 TD (Holt 12-48 2TD, W. Jones 4-44, Woods 10-27 TD, Lewis 9-29)

PASSING: VANCE COUNTY (Burwell 21-30 406 5 TD 3 INT) ORANGE 11-31 163 TD, 2INT (W. Jones 13-26 141 TD 2INT, Slanker 1-3 22)

RECEIVING: VANCE COUNTY (K. Jones 7-139 2 TD, William Hawkins 4-75, Jordan 3-59 TD, Terry 2-75 TD, Kevon Burton 2-39, Evans 2-17 TD, Ta’Quon Lyons 1-2)

ORANGE: (Lewis 3-55 TD, Woods 3-38, Cam White 3-11, Joe Kiger 2-28, Holt 2-23, Zyon Pettiford 1-8)

As the decade draws to a close, anyone who has a passing interest in Big 8 Conference football understands how drastic the changes the sports has seen the past few years.

At the beginning of 2010, Cedar Ridge was in the final four of the 2-AA State Championship tournament. After not fielding a team in 2018, the Red Wolves have opened the year 0-5. Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill also haven’t fielded varsity squads in the past two years, though both programs have varsity and JV teams this year.

It’s a far cry from 2013, where the quarterback play across the league was deep, talented and versatile. There was Garrett Cloer at Orange, who would graduate from Cornell. At Northwood, there were Ti Pinnix. Chapel Hill had Connor Stough, probably the most underrated.

Southern Durham had Kendall Hinton, the best prospect in the area. But he was surrounded by studs. Wide receiver Maurice Trowell (N.C. State), running back Jordon Brown (UNC) and William Brown (originally committed to West Virginia, ended up at N.C. State) all were skill players with Hinton.

Yes. Four Power 5 prospects on the same side of the ball. It’s little wonder why Southern jaunted out of the shadows of Northern Durham to become the power team in the Bull City for the 2010s—as long as they defeated Hillside.

(Ironically, the best prospect turned out to be just west of the Triangle. Jamie Newman was at Graham High and is now the starting quarterback for 5-0 Wake Forest. Hinton is one of his wide receivers.)

After Southern dropped down from 4A to 3A in 2013, they went from 6-5 in 2012 to 15-2 in 2013, the first of two consecutive Big 8 Championships. It also led to their crowning glory at BB&T Field in Winston-Salem, where they won their first 3-AA state championship over Shelby Crest. Hinton, who could flip Southern out of a 4th-and-32 hole with a 34-yard pass with a simple flick of his wrist, led the Spartans back from a 21-0 deficit to beat the Chargers.

Just as Phil Mickelson had to wait and watch Tiger Woods win eight majors before he claimed his first one, who’s to say Orange couldn’t have been a state champion if Southern hadn’t been so deep, so talented?

And had such for a flair for the dramatic?

From 2013-2015, Southern defeated Orange five consecutive times, twice in the playoffs. Orange’s class of 2015, which included Bryse Wilson, Garrett Cloer and Tay Jones, finished with a mark of 35-6 over three seasons. Five of the six losses were to Southern, but they defeated Cardinal Gibbons twice.

In 2014, the two undefeated teams met for the Big 8 Championship at Auman Stadium. Orange led 23-14 with 3 minutes to play, plus Hinton was carted off the field with a leg injury that had some of his teammates visibly shaken.

Yet Hinton somehow returned and led Southern to two touchdowns in the final 2:48 to give Southern a 27-23 win.

The most cruel of all came in 2015 during the 2nd round of the 3A State Playoffs. Southern had already won at Orange 34-16 on a night where Jalen Greene, Hinton’s heir apparent, threw touchdown passes to Brown and Myron Frazier. Even worse for Orange, wingback Eryk Brandon-Dean suffered a torn ACL in the first quarter. It not only ended his football career, but it also sidelined him for a promising senior basketball season where he was a starting point guard for then-coach Greg Motley.

The rematch took place two months later at Durham County Stadium. Orange put on a clinic in game tempo, slowing the game to a crawl. The Panthers threw one pass through three quarters. Wilson, playing running back and linebacker, somehow ran for 224 yards even though Southern constantly had eight men in the box.

Trailing 10-0 going into the fourth quarter, Wilson set up two Orange touchdowns in a span of 3:57, with separate runs of 59 and 57 yards. Drew Lemaster gave Orange the lead on a 31-yard carry around left end with 4:10 remaining.

Just as Hinton did before him, Green played the role of Southern hero, nicely. He converted two 3rd-and-10 situations. After Green was sacked by Orange’s Johnny Flynn for a 10-yard loss with 2:16 remaining, Southern coach Darius Robinson stepped in to call a trick play: the double pass.

They had run it twice all season. It worked against Hillside for a 49-yard touchdown to Jordan Mackins. The other time was against Orange, a harmless incompletion.

Orange’s defensive backs had keyed on Brown, holding him to 64 yards. Brown waited until the time was right to find Kaleb Barfield, who hauled it in at the goal line.

The following year was Orange’s breakthrough. The Panthers won 49-7 at Spartan Stadium in a game where Payton Wilson returned a punt for a touchdown, which was followed by a pick-six score from Rodney Brooks. The heartbreaks of years before were eased somewhat by a running clock when the Panthers’ Jackson Schmid scored on a quarterback sneak in the 4th quarter.

A year later, Francisco McKinley kicked a 28-year field goal in the final minute to lead Orange to a 16-15 win, which led to Orange’s third straight conference title.

Southern has struggled to replace Green, but junior Orion Smith has started to find his footing after a injury-plagued sophomore year. After missing the state playoffs in 2017 and 2018, the Spartans established themselves as the team to beat in the Big 8 Conference after beating Northern Durham last week 13-0

They’ll meet Orange on Friday night with a 4-1 record, its best start since their last Big 8 Championship in 2016.

The good news for Orange is they’ll be as healthy as they’ve been all season. For only the second time all year, leading rusher Machai Holt, wide receiver Zyon Pettiford and defensive end James McAdoo are expected to suit up together.

While Orange’s days as a state championship contender are behind them for now, they’re just focused on Southern Durham again in a game that could determine the Big 8 Championship.

Just like the good ol’ days of five years ago.

Wild West wisdom dictates there isn’t a horse that can’t be rode and there never was a rider that couldn’t be thrown.

The Big 8 Conference volleyball season isn’t even halfway over, and four of its teams are ranked in the MaxPreps top 25. Not one of them is undefeated in conference play.

Not after Monday night when Orange defeated East Chapel Hill 3-1 in surprisingly convincing fashion at Panther Gymnasium. The Wildcats took a nip-and-tuck opening set 25-27, staving off two set points. Orange took the final three frames 25-19, 25-12 and 25-20.

The irony is both teams ended last week with polar opposite results. On Friday, East Chapel Hill polished off Cedar Ridge 3-0 in front of a raucous crowd at Wildcat Gymnasium that was a showdown for first place in the Big 8 Conference.

On Thursday, Orange had its flattest performance of the season. Chapel Hill swept the Panthers 3-0 in a match that barely took an hour.

Afterwards, Orange coach Kelly Young squatted in front of her team for 15 minutes in an impassioned speech as the fans filtered out of the gym.

In short, Young wanted her team to loosen up. A day after the Chapel Hill loss, there were no wind sprints or meticulous review of fundamentals.

The practice consisted of simply playing volleyball.

“I think they want to have a perfect game, which just isn’t going to happen in this league,” Young said. “They’re human beings. They’re teenagers. They put a lot of stress on themselves. On Thursday, it looked like they hated what they were doing. So Friday, we just played. No drills. No corrections. We just played to remind them why they do this.”

Orange’s win also did a big favor to crosstown rival Cedar Ridge. The Red Wolves are now tied with East Chapel Hill and Chapel Hill in the loss column for 1st place in the Big 8 Conference. East (8-2, 4-1 in the Big 8), will face Northwood on Tuesday and Chapel Hill on Thursday.

Orange played without sophomore Avery Miller, who was injured. Senior Elizabeth Vosburg and sophomore Lottie Scully tied with a team-high eight kills. Vosburg had a whopping nine blocks. Scully also had 17 assists, nine digs, three blocks and two aces. Junior Chloe Riley finished with seven kills, 15 digs, and one block.

Senior Kaitlyn Werden finished with 18 assists, three kills, eleven digs and one ace.

With the win, Orange is now ranked #24 in the MaxPreps 3A polls. Orange and West Henderson are the only teams in the top 24 with five losses.

The Lady Panthers jumped out to a 8-2 lead in the second set. They pushed the lead to 20-12 before East called timeout.

The third set was even more lopsided. Orange led 19-11 before finishing the sett on a 6-1 run to take a 2-1 lead.

In the fourth set, a kill by Riley pushed Orange’s lead to 23-18.

Orange will play two more matches this week. They travel to Southern Durham on Tuesday, then host Northern Durham on Thursday.

Hillsboroughsports.com is expanding its reach for 2019 to focus on Stanford, Gravelly Hill and Stanback Middle Schools.

Middle schools are the foundation where high school sports are built on. We would love to hear from parents who keeps statistics for their children’s games, regardless of the sport. For the fall, we’re particularly interested in football, volleyball, boys soccer and cross country. If you would like to send results, please email hamlin37@hotmail.com.

We plan to continue coverage through the winter to include boys and girls basketball, as well as wrestling. And of course, there’s always baseball, softball, boys lacrosse and women’s soccer in the spring.

Gravelly Hill: The Gravelly Hill Grizzlies football team won its first game of 2019 last Wednesday. Gravelly Hill defeated Northern Middle School out of Roxboro 36-32. The Grizzlies led 12-8 at halftime, but Northern scored three touchdowns in the third quarter to take a 32-20 lead into the 4th quarter.

Gravelly Hills responded with consecutive touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Crawford Farmer threw three touchdowns. Tyler Beeman, Derek Yanko and Malachi Poole each had a receiving touchdown. Mason Cates scored a rushing touchdown. Beeman also had an interception.

Gravelly Hill, which lost to Southern Middle School in the opening week of the season, is 1-1. They will host the combined team from Phillips/Smith Middle Schools on Wednesday.

Stanford: The Stanford Chargers won its first football game of the season against Culbreth last week at Chargers Stadium. Stanford dropped its opener to Smith/Phillips. Stanford will travel to Northern Roxboro on Wednesday for a 4:45 kickoff.

There would many more sports that took place at all three middle schools last week, but this is all we have records for. So again, please send us middle school results to hamlin37@hotmail.com so we’ll have a more comprehensive column this week. We plan on making this a feature every few days, if possible.

There’s an old expression in football that 12 plays decide every game. This week, we’re revisiting a favorite feature on Hillsboroughsports.com: The Dire Dozen. Here are the 12 plays that decided Orange’s 21-13 win over Williams on Friday night, Orange’s largest come-from-behind victory since 2014.

1. Williams 1st-and-15 at the Orange 48-yard line early 1st quarter.

The return of Jake DeFranco as Orange’s free safety paid immediate dividends. DeFranco, a senior who missed the opening two games, made two important plays early as Williams played without starting quarterback Kennedy Miles (torn ACL) or backup Kalihal Currie (injured vs. Eastern Alamance)

2. Williams with a 4th-and-2 at the Orange 20-yard line.

The Bulldogs inserted Shane Whitter, who was selected to the North Carolina Shrine Bowl Team on Sunday night, at quarterback on its third season. Whitter, a middle linebacker who leads the team in tackles, attempted to sneak around right end on 4th-and-2. DeFranco had other ideas.

3. Orange moves into the red zone midway through the 2nd quarter.

Orange crossed the 50-yard line for the first time midway through the 1st quarter. Trailing 7-0, quarterback Wyatt Jones gained 17 yards on 2-and-9, then added nine more yards on a late hit penalty. While Orange didn’t score on this drive, it did set up the Panthers for a big finish to the quarter.

4. Williams 1st-and-10, leading 14-0, at its own 20-yard line with 2:57 remaining in the first half.

The biggest play of the game. Williams led 14-0 after an 80-yard touchdown run by Alijah Richmond. Orange punted with less than 3:00 remaining and despair started to creep in. Williams had just inserted Evan Breedlove at quarterback, which is when Owen Brimmer stepped in for his 1st career interception.

5. Orange 4th-and-inches from the Williams 4-yard line, late 2nd quarter.

The chain of events that led to Orange’s first touchdown was bizarre. After Brimmer’s interception, it appeared the Panthers would be content with a field goal attempt from Nigel Slanker. But Williams committed back-to-back offside penalties, leading to a 4th-and-inches from the 4–yard line. A field goal was no longer in Coach Van Smith’s game plan. Instead, he relied on 270-pound defensive tackle Courtney Edwards, who scored his first varsity touchdown. Orange trailed 13-7 at the half.

6. Williams 3rd-and-7 at its own 39-yard line, leading 13-7 early in the 3rd quarter.

Orange got the ball to start the second half, but went three-and-out. Once again, the Orange defense made a big play. This time, it was senior linebacker Joe Kiger.

7. Orange ball, 3rd-and-4 at the Williams 46-yard line.

Orange was 0-for-7 on 3rd down conversions up to this point in the game. Jones found Elliott Woods for a key 19-yard reception, which was actually the Panthers’ longest play from scrimmage in the 2nd half.

8. Orange 1st-and-10 from the Williams 4-yard line.

On the play before this one, Wyatt Jones converted a 4th-and-two by diving around left end on a read pass option (A rangy quarterback using his long reach to convert a 4th down in a big game. Imagine that!) On the next play, sophomore Omarion Lewis scored his 2nd varsity touchdown. This was Orange’s 14th point off turnovers in this game and would put them ahead for good.

9. Nigel Slanker touchback on subsequent kickoff

Slanker is off to a strong start as Orange’s triple threat kicker. He made all three extra points in this game, plus has two field goals from over 30 yards. With Orange leading 14-13, he didn’t give the Bulldogs the benefit of good field position.

10. Wyatt Jones scores on a quarterback sneak.

Early in the 4th quarter, Orange’s Lewis converted a 3rd-and-5 with a nine-yard run. Jones bounced off several tacklers to bring the ball close to the goal line on the next play, but came up just shore. Orange offensive linemen Brody Andrews and Dari’us Matkins helped blocked Jones into the end zone on 3rd-and-goal to put Orange ahead 21-13.

11. J.J. Torres forces a key holding penalty

Williams offense was tepid in the 2nd half until its final drive. Whitter found leading receiver Kendall Briggs for a 35-yard gain. The Panther were called for a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, leading to Williams getting a 1st-and-goal from the 10-yard line. On 3rd-and-goal, Williams went back to Briggs on a jet sweep. Torres read the play just right and it led to a holding penalty that appeared to nullify a touchdown.

12. Torres seals the win.

On 4th-and-goal from the Orange 18-yard line, Torres sewed up the win with his first varsity interception.

Orange’s offense opened the scrimmage with a 8:31 opening drive, concluding with quarterback Wyatt Jones throwing to wingback Machai Holt for this touchdown.

Orange’s Elliott Woods scored two touchdowns, including this one late in the first half.

Orange’s Eli Spruill had an interception in the 2nd half, which led to Woods’ second touchdown. Spruill’s pick was set up by two tackles for loss. Y Kalen Moore.

Orange finished the game strong, including Woods’ second touchdown and a strong pass rush from Khaleb Smith.

Colin Guentensberger will surely look forward to the winters of Boone he’ll eventually endure this week as temperatures creep up in the mid-90s.

While Guentensberger played his final high school football game as an Orange Panther last November against Riverside, he still has one more tilt ahead of him. He will suit up in the East/West All-Star Game at Grimsley High School in Greensboro on Wednesday.

Guentensberger, who graduated last month, was selected for the All-Star game by Wilmington Hoggard head coach Craig Underwood. In 2017 and 2018, Underwood watched Guentensberger from the sidelines as Hoggard faced Orange.

“When Coach Underwood chose Colin to be on the team, he said he wanted Colin on his side, for once,” said Orange coach Van Smith.

Smith, who was chosen as an assistant for the East squad last summer, will spend the week in Greensboro as an assistant for East head coach Sport Sawyer, who has spent the past two years at Manteo High School.

Guentensberger, who was the Orange High Most Valuable Player in 2018, will become the first Orange player to suit up in the East/West All-Star Game for football since Garrett Cloer in 2015. Only three players from Orange have ever played in the East/West game, which dates back to 1949: Larry McDonald in 2008 and B.J. Cameron in 1998. McDonald, who went on to play for Orange’s 2A State Baseball Championship team, is now an administrative assistant for Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M.

The last athlete from Hillsborough selected for the East/West All-Star Game was Cedar Ridge’s Taylin Jean, who was chosen as a goalkeeper for the women’s soccer game.

In 2018, Guetensberger registered 100 tackles, second on the team behind fellow linebacker Jett Satterfield’s 107. Guentensberger was also 2nd on the team with 23 receptions for 327 yards and two touchdowns. Guentensberger caught the opening touchdown pass from Travis Ray against Eastern Guilford on October 26.

He also caught a 26-yard pass as Orange defeated East Chapel Hill 54-0 for its first win of the 2018 season. Guentensberger had a career-high four receptions for 67 yards against Northwood on October 19, a 24-7 Orange victory in Pittsboro.

Guentensberger also played varsity baseball for two seasons. Last season, he hit .292 for an Orange team that finished 2nd in the Big 8 Conference. He opened the season as the cleanup batter and had an RBI single in an 18-1 victory against Ragsdale in Jamestown. He went 2-for-3 with an RBI double as Orange defeated Chapel Hill 10-1 on April 25, its first win at Chapel Hill since 2015.

Smith’s appointment as an assistant coach comes after he completed his second year as Orange’s head coach. Previously, Smith was the defensive coordinator under former Panthers head coach Pat Moser, who retired in 2016. Smith was named as his replacement.

Smith was also an assistant coach at Graham High under Moser. He was also the head baseball coach of the Red Devils before moving over to Orange. This is just the latest All-Star game coaching assignment for Smith. In 2016, he was an assistant for North Carolina’s Shrine Bowl team.

Smith led Orange to the 2017 Big 8 Championship.