There were plenty of milestones at Auman Stadium on Friday night.

DeVante’ Pettiford officially became the first Black head coach in Orange High football history.

Sydney Rogers became the first female player to score a point in Orange High football history.

Khawan Bobbitt played his final game against Orange, and there’s no one connected with Orange football that will miss him.

Bobbitt, who has played quarterback and running back for South Granville since he was a freshman, scored three touchdowns and as the Vikings used a smothering ball control offense to score the final 26 points and defeat Orange 33-10 on Friday night in Hillsborough.

It was South Granville’s third win over the Panthers since 2019, a year where Bobbitt was a freshman quarterback running the triple option. Bobbitt, who was moved to running back midway through the 2021 season by head coach Mike Hobgood, ran for 132 yards. In three career games against Orange, Bobbitt rushed for 250 yards and factored in on seven touchdowns, six of them on the ground.

Facing an Orange defense with ten new starters, South Granville averaged 8.8 yards per carry and punted once. Senior Sha’king Allah, who alternated with Bobbitt at running back, ran for 129 yards, his second career 100-yard game.

All of which belies the fact that Orange nearly led at halftime following a string of remarkable 4th-down conversions. South Granville scored on its opening possession when quarterback Charlie Vestal found Antoine Doyle for an 11-yard score. To start the second quarter, Orange starting quarterback Ty Walker hit Ja’Ki McDaniels for a 26-yard touchdown pass into the left corner of the end zone. Rogers became the first female player to score a point in Orange football history when she evened the game on an extra point.

After the Panthers forced the only South Granville punt of the game midway through the second quarter, it appeared the subsequent drive would stall out. Following a holding penalty and a sack by the Vikings’ Nehemiah Hunter, Orange faced a 3rd-and-33 from its own 36-yard line. Orange quarterback Hank Nunnery, who alternated with Walker, hit running back Nathan Sorrells for a 20-yard gain to return to the original line of scrimmage. On 4th-and-ten, Nunnery hit Sorrells again out of the backfield for a 17-yard gain for a new set of downs.

Orange converted yet another 4th-and-10 when Nunnery found Sorrells for a 20-yard fade pattern to the South Granville 5-yard line. Orange, which struggled in short-yardage situations, lost one yard on the next three running plays, leaving Rogers to become the first female in Orange football history to kick a field goal on a 25-yarder with four seconds remaining in the first half.

The announcement of Rogers’ accomplishment pumped energy into Auman Stadium that gave the partisan crowd reason to think Orange would win its first season opener since 2017. True to form, Bobbitt dashed that hope in one fatal swoop. Bobbitt initially struggled with Rogers’ ensuing kickoff, but picked it up and rumbled up the middle of the field to score on a 78-yard return. As Grayson Gaul tacked on the extra point, the vibrant enthusiasm once in the Panthers’ grandstand quickly evaporated as the Vikings’ led 14-10.

“This game can be a game of dominos, if you let it,” Pettiford said. “That one play, if it didn’t happen, we’d be going into the locker room with the lead. That one did take our momentum.”

South Granville’s ground game took over the second half, opening with a 6:14 drive in the third quarter that nearly ended with disaster. Bobbitt, Allah and Traevon White took turns carrying the ball on a 67-yard drive. After Allah punched the ball into the red zone, Vikings’ quarterback Charlie Vestel floated a pass for Antoine Doyle. It appeared that Sorrells picked off the pass as he fell to the ground, but the official ruled Doyle ripped the ball away from him, somehow without it hitting the ground. Doyle jaunted into the end zone much to the protests of the Orange sideline.

On the Panthers’ opening drive of the second half, they got a strong run from Jabari Albright, tacked on by a personal foul penalty, that carried the ball deep inside Vikings’ territory. Once the Panthers’ reached the Viking 24-yard line, Walker was sacked by Hunter, then was pressured into consecutive incompletions to lose the ball on downs.

Two plays later, Bobbitt delivered one, final blow to the Panthers, taking the ball on an end sweep and scoring on a 75-yard run down the Vikings’ sideline to increase the South Granville lead to 27-10. South Granville held the ball for the opening 5:49 of the fourth quarter, ending with a 12-yard touchdown run by Allah with 6:11 remaining.

Despite losing its first game, there were positive signs for Orange. Last year, on a dismal, muddy night in Creedmoor, the Panthers’ had only 15 yards total offense and one first down against the Vikings. On Friday night, they had 250 yards, nine first downs and crossed midfield on six of its seven drives.

“I was really proud of our offense,” Pettiford said. “I felt every time we had the ball, we had a chance to keep moving it and score. We have to get a little more polished. We have to cut down on our mistakes. Nathan Sorrells played a heck of a game tonight. He represented what Panther football is all about on offense and defense.”

Most memorable of all was Rogers, who became the first female football player in Orange history. Rogers, who won both her singles matches against Voyager Academy and Southern Alamance last week, scored Orange’s last four points. Last spring, she was a starting midfielder for Orange women’s soccer team, which reached the third round of the 3A State Playoffs for the first time ever.

“I love the intensity she brings,” Pettiford said of Rogers. “She is a heck of a kicker. I love the intensity she brings. When they said her name, the whole stadium lit up. I’m proud of what she brings she to this team.”

SOUTH GRANVILLE 33, ORANGE 10

SG–7 7 7 12–33

OR-0 10 0 0–10

SG–Antoine Doyle 13 pass from Charlie Vestal (Grayson Gaul kick)

OR–Ja’Ki McDaniels 26 pass from Ty Walker (Sydney Rogers kick)

OR–Rogers 25 FG

SG–Khawan Bobbitt 78 kickoff return (Gaul kick)

SG–Doyle 19 pass from Vestal (Gaul kick)

SG–Bobbitt 73 run (kick failed)

SG–Allah 12 run (kick failed)

RUSHING–SOUTH GRANVILLE 30-265 2 TD (Bobbitt 8-132 TD, Allah 21-129 TD, Travon White 1-4)
ORANGE 28-86 (Nate Sorrells 13-64, Jabari Albright 2-33, Ja’Ki McDaniels 5-11, Derk Yanko 2-2, Jaylen Starks 1-1, Walker 3-(-8), Hank Nunnery 2-(-16).

PASSING: SOUTH GRANVILLE (Vestal 3-7 41 yards 2 TD INT)

ORANGE: 17-25 181 TD (Walker 10-16 101 yds TD, INT, Nunnery 7-9 80 yds)

RECEIVING: SOUTH GRANVILLE (Doyle 2-31 2 TD, Nehemiah Hunter 1-10)

ORANGE: (Sorrells 8-76, Wynston Brown 2-51, McDaniels 3-37 TD, Shaun Beasley 2-8, Deandre Brown 1-9)

Even after winning a match in the state dual team playoffs in 2021, there were still plenty of questions for the Orange women’s tennis team as its started its season against Voyager Academy on Tuesday. The Lady Panthers lost its top five singles players from last season. They did return plenty of experience, nonetheless, and it showed as the Panthers defeated the Vikings 6-3 at Orange High Tennis Courts on Tuesday. Orange won five of the six singles matches, including junior Erin Sollars winning a three-set battle against Voyager’s Katelyn Hutson 3-6, 6-4, 10-3. The only player for either team on the day to win both matches was Orange senior Madelyn Horn. In doubles action, Horn teamed with Isabel Jones to win against Grace Garrett and CeCe Meath. Horn also won her match at #6 singles. Makayla Davis, Shannon Solars and Sydney Rogers also captured Orange’s singles wins. The Lady Panthers will return home to face Southern Alamance on Thursday afternoon to wrap up the opening week of the season. 

Justin Webb has an old saying about the start of each tennis season.

“The boys freeze and the girls melt.”

When Webb’s Orange women’s tennis team started workouts on August 1, there were eight players practicing in heat indexes in triple digits, even at 6PM. From May-to-July, according to temperatures from Raleigh-Durham International Airport, there were 42 days where the high exceeded 90 degrees. Last year, it was 23.

That’s why it was a present surprise when Orange opened its season against Voyager Academy at home on Monday, the highs more adept to a early October match than a season-opener. The highs were barely in the 80s at match time. In fact, Webb had to open with doubles matches (which usually conclude dual meets) on the other side of the tennis stadium so that the other end could dry up from torrential rain that had fallen in previous days.

Though Webb lost his top five starters from last season, including senior Jera Hargrove (who is headed to Alabama for tennis at Tuskegee University), he did return plenty of veterans who are no strangers to competition. Seniors Sydney Rogers, Katelyn Van Mater and Isabel Jones are all multi-sport athletes who just led the Orange women’s soccer team to its deepest postseason run ever last spring.

After dropping two of the three doubles fixtures, Orange relied on its experience to win five of the six singles matches to defeat Voyager 6-3. Setting the tone was junior Erin Sollars, who won at #1 singles over Voyager’s Katelyn Hutson 3-6, 6-4, 10-3 (10 point tiebreaker for the third set). Erin’s younger sister, Shannon, defeated Cara Frieburger 7-6 (9-7), 6-3.

Senior Madelyn Horn was the only player to win both of her matches on the day. Horn won at #6 singles against Lauren King 6-3, 6-1. She teamed with Jones to take home Orange’s doubles win over Grace Garrett and CeCe Meath 8-6.

Junior Makayla Davis sewed up the dual match win with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Karli McKenna. Rogers knocked off Garrett 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.

For one of the first times in team history, Orange had to deal with some preseason expectations. In 2021, Orange defeated Wilson Fike in the 3A State Dual Team Playoffs, believed it be the only time in school history that the Lady Panthers won a postseason match.

“Any time you have a good group of girls coming back, that’s always a good thing,” Webb said. “They know the basis, they know the fundamentals. For a lot of players, it’s just a factor of getting back into match play.”

Orange will host Southern Alamance on Thursday.

Cedar Ridge 9, Southern Alamance 0

Sophomore Ella Caltabiano, junior Raven Mowles-Aring and junior Annabeth Lundberg each had two victories as Cedar Ridge opened its season with a win over Southern Alamance in Graham on Tuesday afternoon.

Caltabiano, who played regularly as a freshman, defeated Lexie Hester 6-0, 6-0 at #3 singles. In doubles action, Caltabiano teamed with Ria Ballenger to defeat Faith Moore and Paicey Cameron 8-1.

Mowles-Aring won at #6 singles over Mallory White 6-0, 6-0. At #2 doubles, the tandem of Mowles-Aring and Lundberg defeated Lexie Hester and Maddie Corbett 8-1.

In addition to her doubles win with Mowles-Aring, Lundberg defeated Morgan Isley at #5 singles 6-1, 6-0.

Cedar Ridge’s top singles player, junior Cameron Mayhew, started the sweep with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Moore. At #2 singles, Adeline Cummings won 6-1, 6-0. Catherine Ballenger won at #4 singles 6-0, 6-0.

At #3 doubles, Addie Paine and Molly Alverson defeated Isley and Mallory White 8-3.

CARRBORO 9, CEDAR RIDGE 0

Carrboro, the defending Northern Lakes Conference champion, defeated Cedar Ridge 9-0 on Wednesday in the Red Wolves home opener. Mowles-Aring won six games in her #5 singles match against Kaitlyn Lubell.

Cedar Ridge will host Durham School of the Arts on Thursday in Hillsborough.

Trenton Gill: Among various media outlets connected with the Chicago Bears, the prevalent thought is that Gill will be the team’s new punter when the regular season starts on September 11 against the San Francisco 49ers. On Saturday, Gill suited up for the Bears for the first time against the Kansas City Chiefs in its preseason opener. Playing on a surface at Solider Field that garnered criticism from the National Football League Players Association, Gill averaged 42.6 yards on seven punts. USA Today reporter Alyssa Barbieri said that Gill “played like a seasoned veteran.” Gill had a coffin corner punt that pinned the Chiefs inside at their own 3-yard line. In addition, Gill had three punts downed inside the 20-yard line. It could have easily been four, but the Bears didn’t down the ball before it tumbled into the end zone. Gill is also serving as the team’s holder on field goals and extra points for placekicker Cairo Santos. The Bears will play its second preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night at Lumen Field.

Bryse Wilson: On Friday night, Wilson started for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. Wilson, opposed by the Giants’ Carlos Rodon, suffered the loss as the Giants won 5-3. In five-and-one-thirds innings, Wilson gave up four runs off six hits. He struck out one and walked one. It was Wilson’s 13th start of the season. He is now 2-7 with a 5.93 ERA. Leading up to the start against the Giants, Wilson had thrown 32.1 innings and compiled a 3.34 ERA.

Mia Davidson: In week three of Athletes Unlimited softball, Davidson played for Team McCleney during a three-game series at Parkway Bank Sports Complex in Rosemont, IL. In the opening game on Friday, Team Jaquish defeated Team McCleney 7-2. Davidson had three walks in the game. Under the Athletes Unlimited format, players are awarded eight points for a walk and ten points for every inning their team won. Davidson earned 34 points on the night. On Saturday, Team McCleney defeated Team Chidester 10-1. Davidson went 1-4 with an RBI single to right field in the second inning. Davidson came away with 120 points (10 for the single, 50 as a member of the winning team, 60 points for winning six innings). On Sunday, Davidson had a pop-up double down the right field line as Team McCleney came from behind to defeat Team Mulipola 9-6. Davidson finished 1-for-3 with a double. She scored two runs and finished the night with 110 points (20 for the double, 50 for the win and 40 inning point). Currently, Davidson is 18th in the individual standings with 782 points. On Monday night, Davidson was drafted to Team McCleney once again. She will play on Friday night against Team Jaquish at 6:30.

Kayla Hodges: Hodges, who transferred to Virginia Commonwealth after playing four years for the Elon women’s soccer team, played during the Rams’ 2-0 exhibition win over Old Dominion last week. Virginia Commonwealth will start its regular season at James Madison on Thursday night. This will be James Madison’s first game in any sport as a member of the Sun Belt Conference after jumping from the Colonial Athletic Association during the summer.