The Orange Panthers nearly broke the stranglehold that teams from southern Orange County have had at the top of the Big 8 standings on Tuesday night, but not quite.

East Chapel Hill held off Orange 3-2 at Wildcat Gymnasium on scores of 25-8, 17-25, 25-14, 19-25 and 16-14.

Senior Bailey Lucas had a strong all-around performance for the Panthers, finishing with twelve kills, 16 assists and eleven digs. Sophomore Emma Clements had four aces, 14 kills and 21 digs. Emma Clements had two aces, two kills, one block, 26 assists and eleven digs.  Libero Faith Foushee also had 21 digs.

With the win, Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill maintain the top two spots in the Big 8. The Tigers are 7-0 in conference play while the Wildcats are now 7-1, 11-6 overall.

Orange falls to 8-6, and is now in fifth place in the Big 8 with a 3-5 record.

After winning the 3-A state championship in June, former Orange softball shortstop Abby Hamlett started to cry after her final game at N.C. State Dail Softball Complex because it would be the last time she would play with her teammates.

But it won’t be the last time she plays softball.

Over the weekend, Hamlett made the East Carolina softball squad during a walk-on tryout. She was the only walk-on to make the team under Coach Courtney Oliver. East Carolina will start its fall schedule on September 29th against Campbell at ECU Softball Stadium. Fittingly, ECU will also play at N.C. State on October 6th, where Hamlett played her final high school game. It’s possible that Hamlett will receive a scholarship in the future.

Ashley Muench: UNC-Greensboro senior volleyball outside hitter Ashley Muench was named to the All-Tournament team over the weekend during the Tussle in the Triad at Fleming Gymnasium. Muench, a native of Hurdle Mills, had 38 kills in three matches as the Spartans defeated High Point on Friday, but lost to Navy and Elon on Saturday. In the victory over the Panthers, Muench had 20 kills, seven digs and a block. UNCG Coach Cory Carlin was pleased with Muench’s effort. “Her performance was huge.” Carlin continued, “She came up big for us in so many spots. Its good to have the senior leadership we do on this team and her performance tonight was a big factor in this win.” UNCG is now 7-5 on the season.

Tiffany Brooks:  Tiffany Brooks, a native of Efland, had 18 digs on Sunday as Shaw swept Chowan 3-0 to wrap up an undefeated weekend at the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Round-Up at the C.E. Gaines Center in Winston-Salem. On Saturday, Shaw swept Virginia Union and Lincoln University of Pennsylvania, each by 3-0 scores. In the win over Union, Brooks had five digs, two assists and an ace. She had six digs against Lincoln as Shaw improved to 10-2 on the season, 3-0 in the CIAA.

Jordan Lloyd: The Brevard College Tornadoes defeated Emory & Henry 3-1 on Saturday in the second match of a doubleheader. White Cross-native Jordan Lloyd played in all four sets, finishing with two kills and a dig. Brevard also lost to Washington & Lee 3-0. Lloyd had three digs against the Wasps. Brevard is 4-2.

Andie McKinnon: Emory volleyball has now won seven straight matches after defeating sixth-ranked Juniata 3-0 in the East/West Challenge at the Woodruff PE Center in Atlanta on Saturday. Andie McKinnon, a sophomore, finished with twelve digs as the Eagles improved to 8-1.

Rachel Shinnick: Rachel Shinnick saw action in the Wofford women’s soccer team’s victories over Alabama A&M on Sunday (4-0) and Charleston Southern (1-0) on Friday. Shinnick has played in eight matches this season.

Cedar Ridge sophomore Ellie Nissler was the top runner for the Red Wolves during Saturday’s adidas Cross Country Challenge at WakeMed Soccer Complex in  Cary.

On a humid day, Nissler finished with a time of 22:20.00, 79th overall. She was one of nine Red Wolves to finish with personal best times. Sophomore Allison Musty came in with a time of 22:23.60, finishing 84th. Freshman Anne Morrell came in third for the team at 22:28.20, 89th overall. Abby Averette (24:14.) and Jill Myler (24:26.80) also finished in the top 200 in a race that featured over 300 runners from across the state.

The Cedar Ridge girls squad came in 21st as a team with 582 points among 39 teams.

For the Cedar Ridge boys’ team, junior Rory Legg-Bell led the Red Wolves with a time of 18:22.10, finishing 98th overall. Senior Brian Finch finished 111th with a time of 18:35.20. Junior Grant Stewart came in 184th at 19:12.60 Evan Paisley and Joshua Goularte finished in the top 300.

The Cedar Ridge Boys squad finished 25th among 43 teams.

No one knows when adversity will happen.

For Orange football, it came on the second drive against Riverside on Friday night. Quarterback Rodney Brooks, who rushed for over 100 yards and threw for 106 last week against Rolesville, collapsed after planting his leg on an option carry around right tackle Juan Navarro.

Replays showed no one touched him as he crumbled to the turf at Tommy Blalock Field. It was a textbook “non-contact” injury.

Brooks limped off the field and never returned, leaving the game in the hands of backup Brenden Huss. In the previous two games, Huss had appeared in one drive, throwing one pass. If there was a time for Orange to panic, this was it.

Riverside, with only one winning season since 2006, is resurrecting its program under Corey Lea, a coach known for being well-prepared and with a wealth of experience against Orange. In two years at Northern Vance, Lea won eleven games at a school that had just nine wins in the previous six years.

A funny thing happen on the way to the panic button.

New potential big play threats emerged. Senior wide receiver Sebastian Flores caught two huge passes, setting up a touchdown. Classmate Morgan Paschal scored his first touchdown of the season. The Panthers didn’t even need Payton Wilson to bail them out of bad situations. Wilson only had four touches the whole game, one on a kickoff return.

On a night when things could have imploded easily, Orange comfortably improved to 3-1 with a  23-3 victory at Linny Wrenn Stadium for its fifth consecutive win over Riverside.

Running back Marvante Beasley rushed for 121 yards on 20 carries, scoring two touchdowns. It was Beasley’s fourth consecutive 100-yard game.

Huss finished 8-of-11 for 90 yards.

Immediately after Brooks injury with 8:25 remaining in the first quarter, Huss threw to Milton Purcell for a 31-yard gain. Francisco McKinley kicked a 33-yard field goal to put Orange ahead 3-0 with 6:06 remaining in the first quarter.

On the subsequent Riverside drive, Pirates quarterback Cole Infinito’s pass was intercepted by Eryk Mercado. Huss threw to Noah Robinson on consecutive passes, gaining nine yards on a 3rd-and-8. Paschall rushed for 19 yards on the next play, and scored his first touchdown of the year on an 18-yard scamper.

Riverside got its only points early in the second quarter off a 21-yard field goal from Lance Rio, trimming the Orange lead to 13-3.

The Pirates opened the third quarter with a lengthy drive that took nearly five minutes off the clock, but ended when defensive end Ryan Sellers pressured Infinito into a  incompletion. Late in the third quarter, Huss invaded Pirate real estate with consecutive passes to Flores for gains of 17 and 19 yards. With :55 remaining in the third quarter, Beasley scored on a 31-yard touchdown run around left end.

Meanwhile, Riverside’s special teams unit became its own worst enemy in the second half. Punter Tre Fitzpatrick had the ball snapped wide to his left on back-to-back drives, setting up Orange deep in Riverside territory twice.

The first time, McKinley attempted a career-long 44-yard field goal, which hit off the face of the crossbar. The second time, Beasley plowed into the left corner of the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown, his fourth of the year.

The Orange defense held the Pirates to 91 yards total offense. Infinite finished 5-of-15 for 25 yards.

The Panthers will take next week off and travel to Southern Durham on September 29th.

Orange 23, Riverside 3

O-10    0      7      6-23

R-0       3.    0.     0-3

O-Francisco McKinley 33 FG

O-Morgan Paschall 18 run (McKinley kick)

R-Lewis Rio 21 FG

O-Marvante Beasley 31 run (McKinley kick)

O-Beasley 13 run (kick blocked)

RUSHING:

ORANGE–Beasley 19-121 2 TD, Paschall 10-45 TD, Payton Wilson 2-4, Rodney Brooks 2-(-7), Brenden Huss 2-(-7)

RIVERSIDE: D’Anthony Bright 14-60, Toriyon Jones 18-50, Kimathi Smith 1-9, Cole Infinito 2 (-10), Tre Fitzpatrick 2-(-43)

PASSING:  

ORANGE: Brooks 1-1, 6 yards; Huss 8-11 90 yards.

RIVERSIDE: Infinito 5-15 28 yards INT

RECEIVING: 

ORANGE: Sebastian Flores 2-36, Milton Purcell 2-33, Noah Robinson 2-14, Wilson 1-7, Paschall 1-5.

RIVERSIDE:

Bright 2-17, C.J. Bell 1-4, Malachi Fuller 1-4, Jalen Adams 1-0.

Last week, Orange quarterback Rodney Brooks ran for a 64-yard touchdown and threw touchdown passes to Payton Wilson and Milton Purcell as the Panthers defeated Rolesville 28-21. Brooks has learned the spread offense in his first year as starting quarterback, and also plays right field for the Orange baseball team.

The Orange JV football team now has a winning streak that spans over three years following Thursday night’s 49-14 victory over Riverside. Cornerback B.J. Stewart had two interceptions that spawned a 21-point 3rd quarter. Machai Holt had two touchdown passes, one of them to wide receiver Zyon Pettiford.

Junior Hunter Pettiford has played three games as a full-time member of the Orange varsity football team. In all three of them, he has had double-digit tackles, including a season-high 14 against Rolesville last week. Senior defensive end Ryan Sellers is off to a solid start after leading the Panthers in sacks last season. Sellers has eight tackles for losses so far in 2017.

Things couldn’t have started much better for Orange against Northern Durham on Thursday night. And it couldn’t have ended much worse.

After dropping the first set, Northern slammed past the Panthers 3-1 at Jim King Gymnasium on scores of 13-25, 25-21, 25-20 and 25-11.

Northern’s sister tandem of Alyssa and Ashlyn Stone took over the match after the second set. In the fourth set, the two combined for 12 of the Knights points, including Alyssa spiking home match point. Northern reeled off a 9-1 run to pull ahead 24-11 in the final set to improve to 9-3 overall, 5-2 in the Big 8 Conference.

Orange falls to 8-5, 3-4 in the Big 8 after winning two out of three matches this week. Freshman outside hitter Avery Riley led Orange with eleven kills, while Sophomore Emma Clements had ten kills, three aces and eleven digs. Senior Caroline Compton led the Panthers with 21 assists, along with ten digs and two kills. Sophomore Kaitlyn Werden finished with four kills and three digs. Senior libero Faith Foushee had 14 digs and an assist.

The Panthers return to action next Tuesday at East Chapel Hill. They host Hillside next Thursday.