Though the recent past indicates otherwise, the Orange Panthers don’t have the richest football tradition.

They went 15 years without a winning season from 1993-2007. Their 2008 playoff birth was the first in 17 years.

Before the dark era of Panther football, some rich names played under a series of head coaches that varied in quality.

Alvis Whitted, Class of 1993, was a wide receiver and kick returner. While he had numerous shining moments on the gridiron and track, unquestionably his most infamous came on a rainy Monday night at Chapel Hill High in 1992. With Orange trailing 10-3 in the fourth quarter, Whitted handled a reverse on a kickoff return that caught CHHS totally off guard. With speed that would earn him state championships in the 100 and 200 meters, no Tiger could stop Alvis.

But the rain could.

Whitted slipped and fell at the 1-yard line.

Right on cue, quarterback Mark Pounds fumbled a snap on the subsequent play that the Tigers recovered. Ultimately, the CHHS won and went to the playoffs. It was the first of 17 straight years that the Panthers would miss the postseason.

After a career at N.C. State playing under Mike O’Cain, Whitted was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1997. Six years later, his career peaked, winning an AFC Championship with the Oakland Raiders. He even played in Super Bowl XXXVII, falling to Jon Gruden’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Whitted’s classmate, Damon Scott, was a three-year varsity starter at OHS. He was the tailback for Orange’s only playoff victory of the 90s, a win at Greenville Rose in 1991. After leaving Hillsborough, he became an FCS All-American at Appalachian State. He’s the 2nd leading rusher in school history and a member of the university’s 75th anniversary team.

Of course, the natural lineage between Orange High and Appalachian State is current Mountaineer head coach Scott Satterfield, who led a (brief) revival of Panther football in 1990. The previous three Orange teams won a combined eight games. It likely would have been more if Satterfield hadn’t suffered a season-ending torn ACL injury against Eastern Alamance, the first game of his junior year.

In 1990, the combination of Satterfield, Scott and tight end Kevin Wright paced the Panthers to a 7-3 record, good enough for a three-way tie for 2nd in the PAC-6 conference behind Northern Durham. That season, the PAC-6 had only two playoff slots allotted, and the Panthers stayed home from the playoffs after losing a draw to Northern Vance (Chapel Hill came up with a short straw, as well).

Before Satterfield, Scott and Whitted, there was defensive lineman J.R. Bolden, class of 1988. He immediately grabbed the attention of UNC Head Coach Mack Brown, who had just transplanted himself in Chapel Hill in 1988 after going 6-6 in Tulane. Bolden would play in the Shrine Bowl. He endured the jokes and jeers (often from UNC’s own fan base) of consecutive 1-10 teams, the dog days of Brown’s tenure. His senior year culminated in a Peach Bowl victory over Mississippi State.

Satterfield. Scott. Whitted. Bolden.

There was also Walter Boyd, Class of 1988 who signed with Lou Holtz and Notre Dame. And Marc Latta, a former OHS school class president who would win his own Peach Bowl at N.C. State.

And none of them won a conference championship.

They were victims of bad timing—and Ken Browning.

Indeed, Orange, just like the usual array of challengers to throne, were mired in the dominance of the Northern Knights, who won or shared every PAC-6 Championship from 1984-2001. Browning was the head coach for ten of them, leaving Northern to become an assistant at UNC after winning the 1993 4-A state championship.

Which is why tonight is so important for the Panthers.

After Orange’s 41-19 victory over Chapel Hill last week, Panther coaches and personnel weren’t focused on the result. Athletic Director Ernie Price and head coach Pat Moser got word from a trainer of a final score from Durham: Northwood 28, Southern Durham 26.

How stunning was that development? It was the Spartans’ first loss as a 3-A team in Big 8 Conference regular season play. A 22-game conference winning streak was over. It was Southern’s first conference loss since September 14, 2012, when they fell to Hillside 18-13 in the 4-A PAC-6. The last time Southern lost a conference game to anyone except Hillside was 2008 (another rainy night triumph for Chapel Hill, 10-0).

The attitude on the Orange sideline was a mixture of joy and concern. The Panthers suddenly needed one win over a last-place Oxford Webb team to win a share of the Big 8 Conference championship.

But what about the potential three-way tie for first in the Big 8? It seems most likely that Northwood, Southern and Orange will share the title.

Orange opened the Big 8 with a home loss to the Spartans. They followed with five straight wins, most importantly a soggy 14-0 win at Northwood the week after the Southern loss. Before last week, Orange seemed resigned to its fourth straight runner-up finish. It may not bring a conference championship, but at least the Panthers would likely earn a home game for the 1st round of the state playoffs.

Northwood’s upset changed all that. A three-way tie for first would require another drawing next Friday night (which is Orange’s bye week). A top six seed in the playoffs? Two potential home playoff games? That’s on the table. So is a bottom six seed that could lead to an opening round road game.

Draw the number 3 and the Panthers may not see Auman Stadium again until next September against Riverside.

For now, all of that is hypothetical. Tonight, Orange faces Oxford Webb in Granville County. Forget that the Warriors have lost five straight and have given up 133 points in its last four games. The bottom line is Orange can become a conference champion for the first time in 2008, and only the third time since 1978.

The playoffs can wait. To earn something that so many Orange greats never achieved is enough to play for.

With a 3,7 GPA, Alex Long has already accomplished plenty at Orange High. The fact he scored four touchdowns in Orange’s 40-19 win over Chapel Hill was just gravy. Alex talked with Hillsboroughsports.com about his role in the offense in the absence of Eryk Brandon-Dean and Friday’s game against Oxford Webb.

The Panthers look to claim a share of the Big 8 Conference Championship tonight against Oxford Webb in Granville County. Pat Moser discusses the Warriors, the possibly playoff implications and the health of his team.

The Cedar Ridge Red Wolves volleyball team is moving on to the 3-A state quarterfinals.

On Thursday night at Red Wolves Gymnasium, CRHS defeated the Topsail Pirates 3-0 on scores of 25-16, 25-19 and 25-20.

Cedar Ridge will face Lee County Saturday for the Sectional Championship in Hillsborough. The Yellow Jackets ruined a potential All-Hillsborough match in the playoffs by sweeping Orange in Sanford.

It was the third straight sweep for the Red Wolves in the playoffs. CRHS defeated Swansboro and Eastern Alamance in the opening rounds.

Courtney Eckmann had 13 kills. Meg Anderson added eight kills, six digs and two assiss. Alexis Dumain had 19 assists Karsen Lee registered eight digs. Lily Henry finished with four kills, six digs and nine assists. Kayla Robinette had six kills.

With the win, Cedar Ridge has captured its first district championship in the 3-A ranks. They won two district championships, two sectional championships and a regional championship as a 2-A school. The Red Wolves are 23-3. The school record for wins is 26, set by the 2009 team that won the 2-A Eastern Regional Championship and lost to East Surry for the state title.

The Orange Panthers are moving on to the Round of 16 in the state playoffs.

Orange traveled to Greensboro on Tuesday night and defeated the Northern Guilford Nighthawks 3-2 on scores of 26-24, 21-25, 21-25, 25-19, and 15-9.

With the win, the Panthers improve to 15-9 on the season. And they continue to rack up the bus mileage.

Orange won their first round match in Eden on Saturday against Morehead Head. After winning in Greensboro on Tuesday, the Panthers travel to Sanford on Thursday night to face Lee County on Thursday night at 6. The Yellow Jackets, seeded 13th, pulled its own five-set upset on Tuesday night, defeating Coastal Conference Champion West Carteret 16-25, 25-18, 28-26, 17-25, and 15-8.

Cedar Ridge volleyball is three wins away from the 3-A state championship match.

On Tuesday night, the Red Wolves rolled past Eastern Alamance 3-0 at Red Wolves Gymnasium on scores of 25-9, 25-16 and 25-16.

In the opening set, Alexis Dumain served up four straight points to bolt the Red Wolves out to a 7-2 lead. After the Eagles narrowed the gap to 11-6, Cedar Ridge finished the set by winning 11 of the last 14 points. Courtney Eckmann and Asha Barnes each had two kills in that span.

Karsen Lee finished with 18 digs, while Lily Henry had 18 assists, 2 aces, 5 kills and four digs. Eckmann had 11 kills, while Barnes finished with 9. Meg Anderson registered 10 kills.

The closest Eastern Alamance came to winning a set came during the middle frame. Dumain opened the set serving five consecutive Red Wolves points. The advantage grew to 11-4 before the Eagles won 5 of the next six points. Once Eastern narrowed the Red Wolves lead to 14-12, the Red Wolves went on an 11-4 run to close out the set. Eckmann led the way with four kills in that span.

The third set was all Cedar Ridge, which opened on a 9-2 run. Kayla Robinette spiked home a kill on match point to send Cedar Ridge into the round of 16 in the playoffs.

Cedar Ridge will play at home on Thursday against the Topsail Pirates at 6 PM.

Ian Elliott is the 2015 Big 8 Men’s Cross Country Champion after winning the conference championship meet last week at Northwood High School. The junior finished with a time of 16:53.24, edging out Orange’s Hunter Spitzer. Colin Bunner of Cedar Ridge finished fifth. Ian also has plenty of other activities going on at Cedar Ridge aside from cross country, as he discussses in the video below.

After Cedar Ridge’s 3-0 win over Swansboro, Asha Barnes, Cassie Anderson, Lindsay Thompson and Kayla Robinette discussed the victory and what lies ahead against Eastern Alamance in the 2nd round.

When you’re a number one seed starting play in the opening round of a state tournament, you have to prove your dominance.

That’s exactly what Cedar Ridge did on Saturday.

The top-seeded Red Wolves defeated Swansboro 25-7, 25-9 and 25-13 to advance to the 2nd round of the playoffs. Cedar Ridge will face Eastern Alamance next. The Red Wolves defeated the Eagles in four sets earlier this month.

Asha Barnes, who was named Homecoming Queen on Friday night in Cedar Ridge’s football victory over Oxford Webb, finished with 14 kills. Alexis Dumain registered 16 assists and 5 aces.

In the first set, the Red Wolves Meg Anderson served as the Red Wolves ran off 13 consecutive points to take a 16-1 lead.

The Pirates, who drove four hours on Saturday morning to arrive in Hillsborough, drew closer in the second set. At one point, they trailed 7-4. The service by Dumain and Courtney Eckmann proved too much as the Red Wolves finished the set by winning 18 of the last 21 points.

Cedar Ridge is now 21-3 on the season.

In other volleyball action from Saturday, Orange defeated Eden Morehead in four sets. The Panthers advanced on scores of 22-25, 25-23, 25-20 and 25-17.

Orange will travel to Greensboro to face Northern Guilford on Tuesday night.

Hillsboroughsports.com will continue radio coverage of Cedar Ridge games with the Eastern Alamance contest.

For the seventh straight time, Orange football has defeated Chapel Hill.

Alex Long scored four touchdowns on Friday night as the Panthers defeated the Tigers 40-19 on senior night at Culton-Peerman Stadium. Junior quarterback Jackson Schmid threw three touchdown passes as the Panthers (9-1, 4-1 in the Big 8) won its fourth straight.

The win insured the Panthers will take one of the Big 8 Conference’s three automatic births to the state playoffs, which the Orange coaching staff knew going in. What they didn’t know was how much Northwood would help the Panthers cause—or perhaps hurt it.

The Chargers stunned Southern Durham 26-24 at Spartans Stadium, ending Southern’s 23-game conference winning streak. The Spartans had not lost a conference game since returning to 3-A football and the formation of the Big 8 Conference in 2013. It’s last conference loss was on September 14, 2012 as a 4-A school, falling to archrival Hillside.

The Panthers will finish the regular season next week at Oxford Webb (they will be idle on November 6th). A win guarantees they will tie for the conference championship. Southern finishes with a home game against Cedar Ridge and a road trip to Webb. Northwood plays at Northern Vance next week and hosts Chapel Hill on Nov. 6. If all three schools win out, they will draw for playoff positioning.

That means Northwood’s win may give Orange a top six seed for the state playoffs….or they could draw third and wind up on the road for the opening round, with more road games to follow.

As for the game against Chapel Hill, the Panthers rode its running game again, carrying the ball 62 times. Senior Bryse Wilson led the Panthers with 97 yards. Fellow senior Drew Lemaster, who appeared to be injured during the second quarter after a collision with Chapel Hill wide receiver Connor Korfas, rushed for 68 yards on 12 carries.

Arguably, it was Schmid’s best game of the season. He threw for 214 yards. The most noteworthy possession came late in the first half, when Chapel Hill scored on a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Connor Stough to wide receiver Albert Nyamayaro to narrow the Orange lead to 21-12. With only 47 seconds remaining, it seemed the standard protocol would be to have Schmid take two knees and go to the locker room.

Instead, Schmid aired it out, covering 60 yards in 30 seconds. Consecutive completions to Cody Evans of 25 and 35 yards advanced the ball to the Tiger 13-yard line. Then Schmid found Long for a 11-yard catch-and-run to tack on another touchdown.

“I think Jackson is getting more poised,” said Moser. “Chapel Hill was putting nine men in the box against us, so we had to pass it at some points. Jackson made good decisions out there tonight.”

Long has stepped in for running back Eryk Brandon-Dean, who was lost for the season with a torn ACL suffered against Southern Durham on September 24th. He’s the change of pace runner the Panthers desparately need after a rash of injuries to skill players during the opening two months of the season.

Montee Mitchell also caught a touchdown pass from Schmid (which he set up moments earlier with a 28-yard punt return into Tiger territory), and registered an interception on defense.