Month: September 2019

Editor’s Note: As Hillsboroughsports.com expands its umbrella into middle school sports, we’re also opening our doors to college sports commentary. Each week, Curran Campbell will provide his insight into ACC football and basketball, Curran graduated from Cedar Ridge in 2018. He is the former play-by-play voice of the Red Wolves who is now a freshman at Syracuse University.

It is 5 weeks into this college football season, and we are officially into conference play in the ACC. For the remainder of this season, I will be giving you my no holds barred thoughts on where every ACC team stands on a weekly basis. Every team that played a game the previous week will get a blurb, and at the end I’ll have my power rankings and predictions for this weeks ACC slate. Now that you know the rules, here we go!

Clemson

While still the top dog in the conference after a close call with the Tar Heels, Clemson had some weaknesses exposed in their trip up to Chapel Hill. The Tigers struggled with crowd noise in a rowdy Kenan Stadium, committing 5 false start penalties on the day. Clemson also had trouble dealing with the North Carolina pass rush. The Double A Gap blitz employed by Jay Bateman’s crew frequently led to a lot of hits on Trevor Lawrence. If the Tigers are going to repeat as national champs, they’re going to need to have better blitz recognition and learn how to deal with noise in a hostile road environment.

Duke

Duke continues to roll along after their inevitable season opening loss to Alabama, the 45-10 drubbing of a disheveled Virginia Tech team their most recent victory. Quarterback Quentin Harris has been excellent in taking care of the football for the Blue Devils and also leads the team in rushing yards. For Duke, the team is going to go as far as Harris can take them, and so far, it looks like they can be a competitor for the Coastal crown.

Wake Forest

Dave Clawson’s bunch barely held on against Boston College to win 27-24 on the road, but a road win in the ACC is a road win in the ACC nonetheless. The “holding on for dear life at the end” thing has been a theme for this Wake team all season long, and the Demon Deacons have played such disciplined football, I see no reason why it can’t carry them to a 9 or 10 win season. They are without a doubt the second best team in the Atlantic as of today. Also, if you don’t know about Sage Surratt already, you should now. Surratt leads the conference with 515 reception yards and is tied with his teammate, Scotty Washington, for most receiving touchdowns with 6. Yeah.

Syracuse

Quarterback Tommy DeVito and his fantastic receiving corps of Trishton Jackson, Taj Harris, and Sean Riley beat FCS Holy Cross 41-3 on Saturday. I don’t have a whole lot to say about Syracuse this week, as they did exactly what was expected of them. Going into the bye week, the Orange just need to focus on getting star safety Andre Cisco, who had a tie for the most interceptions in college football last year (7), healthy. 

North Carolina

Mack is back. That has been the story for the Tar Heels all season, and their performance, despite losing 21-20, against Clemson is another indicator of the strides North Carolina has made this season. Under Fedora, the tough loss to Appalachian State snowballs into a prolonged streak of poor play. Brown clearly has his team playing disciplined football, which has been sorely lacking for 3 years in Chapel Hill. The key for Carolina is the play of their trio of tailbacks; Michael Carter, Antonio Williams, and Javonte Williams. If those three keep playing at the level they have so far this season, I expect the November 2nd matchup against Virginia in Chapel Hill to decide the Coastal division.

Virginia

There is no shame in the Hoos 35-20 loss on the road at Notre Dame. Similar to Duke, U.Va. will go as far as their QB can take them. Bryce Perkins is a freakishly good, dare I say, Newtonesque athlete. As mentioned earlier, the November 2nd matchup at North Carolina will be their biggest game of the season.

Florida State

The Noles have rallied well after a rough start, with a solid comeback win over Louisville and most recently a dominant 31-13 win over NC State. The FSU defense has the ability to be dominant, and Cam Akers may be the best tailback in the ACC. The question mark for Florida State comes at the QB position. James Blackman has a fantastic arm, but the team seemingly plays better for Alex Hornibrook, who has thrown 5 TDs to zero picks in a game and a half as the Seminole starter. Will FSU go back to Blackman, or will they stick with Hornibrook? Either way, the Seminoles are definitely trending up right now.

Pitt

Pitt barely survived against FCS Delaware, squeaking by in a 17-14 game at Heinz Field, albeit with starting QB Kenny Pickett out with an injury. Pitt is a competitor for the Coastal title, only if Pickett can get healthy again. Otherwise, it’s going to be a long season for the Panthers, as backup Nick Patti is certainly not Pitt’s version of Kyle Allen.

Boston College

This is not a good football team up at Chestnut Hill. Steve Addazio’s teams in the past have been known to boast a strong defense. Despite playing decent against Wake Forest in their 27-24 defeat, giving up 28 points in a win over Va Tech and 48 in a loss to Big 12 bottom dweller Kansas is a sign of major concern for the Eagles. It’s hard to see BC going to a bowl game this season.

NC State

I’m sorry Wolfpack fans, I know there are definitely a few of you reading this, but this NC State team has been dreadful. Almost all of the blame however, can be placed on the offensive side of the football. Matthew McKay and Bailey Hockman have both been underwhelming at quarterback, and because of that, receivers Emeka Emezie and Thayer Thomas haven’t been able to make the difference they are capable of. With Ricky Person sustaining an injury in the 31-13 loss to Florida State, that leaves Zonovan Knight as the only reliable tailback. And unless the Wolfpack defense can hold their opponents to less than 20 points, I have a hard time seeing the Pack having much success against ACC competition.

Virginia Tech

The Hokies are a team that have quit on their coach, and on their season. If it wasn’t already obvious after the close call with Furman, it is after the 45-10 beatdown at home against Duke, the worst home loss in 45 years. I see 2, maybe 3 wins left on the schedule. One of those wins left is FCS Rhode Island, which a win against would not count towards bowl eligibility. There is almost no way that Justin Fuente comes back next season as the head man for the Hokies.

Georgia Tech

Yes, Georgia Tech is the worst team in the conference, and a 24-2 loss, yes, 24-2 loss to Temple doesn’t help their case at all. I strongly believe that Georgia Tech will not win any more games this season. That being said, this is Geoff Collins’ first year with the Jackets, and he is still stuck with Paul Johnson’s players. Because of that, Collins’ is stuck using players recruited to run the triple option in a spread scheme. It’ll be a while before Georgia Tech is competitive again. 

Power Rankings1. Clemson2. Wake Forest3. Virginia4. Florida State5. North Carolina6. Duke7. Syracuse8. Miami9. Pitt10. Boston College11. NC State12. Louisville13. Virginia Tech14. Georgia Tech

Predictions

Boston College at Louisville (-4.5): Louisville, 28-24

Virginia Tech at Miami (-13.5): Miami, 21-10

North Carolina (-10.5) at Georgia Tech: North Carolina, 31-7

Pitt at Duke (-5): Duke, 28-14

Last week, the Orange women’s tennis team defeated Cedar Ridge for the first time since 2013. The Cedar Ridge volleyball team maintained its share of first place in the Big 8 with a five-set victory over Vance County, then rolled past Southern Durham on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Orange volleyball team showed its depth. They started the week with a convincing 3-1 disposal of East Chapel Hill, the Wildcats’ first Big 8 Conference loss of the season. Orange, despite missing senior Emma Clements and sophomore Avery Miller, still swept Northern Durham on Thursday for its third win in four days.

Yet Cedar Ridge and Orange will hardly get a chance to enjoy their victories. Both teams have monster road games this week.

Cedar Ridge starts the week tied with Chapel Hill for 1st place in the Big 8. The Red Wolves travel to CHHS on Thursday.

Orange has a rematch against East Chapel Hill, this time at Wildcat Gymnasium on Tuesday.

In football, it’s Orange-Southern Durham week. From 2012-2017, the winner of Orange-Southern dictated the Big 8 Conference Champion. After Southern’s 13-0 shutout of Northern Durham on Friday night, the Spartans appear poised to win its first conference title since 2015, when current Wake Forest wide receiver Kendall Hinton was the quarterback for Southern.

On top of all that, the Cedar Ridge women’s cross country team won the women’s invitational race at the Greensboro Cross Country Invitational on Saturday afternoon. Cedar Ridge finished with 55 points, beating East Chapel Hill, who wound up with 63.

And the Orange football team won its Big 8 opener over East Chapel Hill on Friday 40-7.

Think the candidates’ list for the Magnificent 7 was long this week? Well, it was. As always, two of the following seven athletes will be named the Orange Panther of the Week and the Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week on Tuesday.

Here is the Magnificent 7 for Week 6 of the Fall Sports season.

1. Anne Morrell: The Cedar Ridge junior was the top finisher at Saturday’s Greensboro Cross Country Invitational at Hagan Stone Park. Among 106 runners, Morrell finished 7th with a time of 20:52.34. Last season, the Cedar Ridge women finished 2nd in the Greensboro Invitational.
2. Emma Vosburg: In the Orange volleyball team’s 3-1 win over East Chapel Hill, Vosburg had eight kills, one ace, nine blocks, three digs and an assist. Orange would go on to defeat Southern Durham and Northern Durham over the subsequent three days.
3. Cameron Lanier: Another one of the power Cedar Ridge volleyball freshmen with Cameron Lloyd and Julie Altieri. Lanier had ten kills, one ace, one block and five digs in the Red Wolves victory over Bartlett Yancey. Cedar Ridge is guaranteed its first winning season since 2015.
4. James McAdoo: The Orange defensive end helped the Panther defense hold East Chapel Hill to 173 yards total offense. McAdoo caused a fumble for the third game in a row. McAdoo had two sacks as the Panthers secured back-to-back home wins for the first time since 2016.
5. Elliott Woods: The junior Orange wingback had a career-high 58 rushing yards and scored the first two touchdowns of his varsity career. Woods also leads the team in tackles at the end of five games. Woods added two receptions for 37 yards.
6. Lindsey Jouannet: The Orange junior tennis player won her match at #5 singles against Cedar Ridge 6-2, 6-1 on Monday. Jouannet teamed with Sydney Allison to win at #3 doubles 8-2 to sew up Orange’s first win over Cedar Ridge in women’s tennis since 2013.
7. Isaiah McCambry: Gave the Cedar Ridge football team its first lead of the season against Northwood by scoring a first quarter touchdown. McCambry also had Cedar Ridge’s first 100-yard rushing game since 2016 against the Chargers. Though Northwood won 24-8, McCambry showed more promise as a running back as the Red Wolves return home to face Northern Durham on Friday night at Red Wolves Stadium.

When B.J. Condron bid farewell to his women’s basketball class of 2019 last summer, he knew each of the five seniors had a bright future.

The months that followed, predictably, proved him right.

Icez Barnett, the leader of a 19-7 team last season, moved to Murfreesboro to start her college basketball career with Division II Chowan. Three-point ace Lauren Cates finally found a post-Orange basketball destination at Wake Technical Community College.

Not all of the accolades would be on the hardwood. Namron Chapman was named the North Carolina 4-H Youth Volunteer of the Year in July. Grace Dively, the starting point guard for three straight seasons, earned a $2,000 scholarship from Piedmont Energy to study chemical engineering at N.C. State.

Indeed, there was nothing that any of those five seniors could do that would surprise Condron.

And he was wrong.

Earlier this month, Condron received a text message from Kate Burgess, his starting center the past two years.

“I JUST MADE THE UNC ROWING TEAM!”

“What?!” Condron muttered to no one in particular.

“I had no idea she was going out for rowing,” Condron said. “She just sent that text in.”

Burgess was among 18 walk-ons chosen by UNC Rowing Coach Sarah Haney and her staff among 100 candidates.

Like some of her teammates, Burgess had an exemplary academic record. She also wasn’t afraid to touch a brain in biology class, so why would she be reluctant to go out for a sport she had never participated in?

In May, Burgess was honored by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association with the Heart of a Champion award at the Sheraton Hotel in Chapel Hill. She graduated with a 4.42 GPA with plans to study Biomedical Engineering at UNC.

Burgess isn’t interested in engineering as a career. She’s infatuated with it. In biology class, her squeamish classmates would shy away during activities like brain dissection. Burgess practically jumped for the scalpel, then posed for pictures after the grisly process ended.

If anyone asked, she would freely show them her brain dissection gallery on her iPhone.

After her basketball career ended with Eastern Alamance defeated Orange in February in the 3A State Playoffs, there was still a hunger within Burgess to compete.

“I’ve dreamed of being a Division I athlete since I was a kid,” Burgess said. “Especially at UNC because I’m Tar Heel born and bred.”

As her first semester at UNC started in August, Burgess approached assistant rowing coach Emily Gross, who informed her about the walk-on process.

“When I got to school, I got an email telling us about rowing walk-on tryouts,” Burgess said.

The only problem was she had never rowed a boat in her life.

“I figured why not?” Burgess said. “It could be fun and would be a new challenge.”

Burgess had played a sport every season for the past six years. In addition to women’s basketball, she ran cross country (with Dively) in the fall and track & field in the spring.

“We can be very particular about walk-ons because we have such a large campus,” said UNC Rowing Coach Sarah Haney, a resident of Hillsborough. “We don’t need a ton of walk-ons to fill our team. Kate is incredibly coachable. She was proactive before the tryout process about what she needed to do and how she could better herself to be prepared. We liked that attitude.”

Burgess’ 5-10 frame didn’t hurt. But it was her attitude that impressed Haney the most.

“Height definitely does matter, but if you don’t have the right attitude or work ethic, then your height can mean absolutely nothing,” Haney said. “So we liked Kate’s height. But we also liked that she’s presented to us from a character standpoint and a work ethic standpoint.”

While Condron was surprised by Burgess new sport, he knew Kate well enough to know she’s ready for anything.

“I was surprised at first because I didn’t know it was something that she was interested in,” Condron said. “But Kate is an athlete. She played three sports throughout high school. She is laser focused when it comes to accomplishing goals.”

UNC will start its season at the Head of the Charles on October 19 in Boston.

Payton Wilson: Florida State defeated N.C. State 31-13 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, FL on Saturday night. In his fifth college game, Wilson had a career-high with seven tackles, including a sack of Seminoles quarterback Alex Hornibrook. Wilson also had a pass breakup. As Florida State pulled away in the second half, Wilson’s impact wasn’t lost on longtime Raleigh News and Observer sportswriter Joe Giglio.

As a redshirt freshman, Wilson is 3rd on the team with 23 tackles. He has three tackles for losses, tied for third on the Wolfpack.

Trent Gill: The former Cedar Ridge star had six punts for N.C. State against Florida State. Gill averaged 47.5 yards per punt. Two of the punts landed inside the 20-yard line. Two more went over 50 yards. Gill also had four kickoff, three of which went for touchbacks. Gill, who instructs current Orange kicker Nigel Slanker, is averaging 47.2 yards per punt on 20 punts this season. N.C. State is off next weekend. They return to action on October 10 against Syracuse in Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh.

Keyshawn Thompson: The FCS Campbell Camels defeated Mercer 34-27 at Five Star Stadium in Macon, GA on Saturday night. Thompson, who was put on scholarship over the summer, played defense put didn’t record a tackle. Campbell is 3-1. They host Presbyterian in its Big South Conference opener next Saturday at Barker-Lane Stadium in Buies Creek.

Adam Chnupa: The 2018 Cedar Ridge graduate made his debut for FCS Elon on Saturday. #2 James Madison defeated the #24 Phoenix 45-10 at Rhodes Stadium at Elon. Chnupa, a redshirt freshman who was an All-Big 8 Conference football and baseball player at Cedar Ridge, entered the game in the fourth quarter. Elon, now 2-3, will travel to New Hampshire next Saturday.

Rodney Brooks: The Livingstone Blue Bears defeated Lincoln University (PA) 35-19 at Lions Stadium in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Brooks registered two tackles. Livingston is 4-0, 1-0 in the CIAA. They host Virginia Union next Saturday in Salisbury.

Kayla Hodges: The Elon women’s soccer team defeated UNC Wilmington 3-1 at Rudd Field in Elon in its Colonial Athletic Association opener on Thursday night. Hodges, who was featured on the front of the team’s program that night, assisted on the final Phoenix goal scored by Jessica Carrieri. Hodges, a sophomore, has started all ten of Elon’s games this year. Elon is 7-2-1 going into Sunday’s game against Hofstra in Hempstead, N.Y.

Taylin Jean: Division II Barton College defeated Limestone 2-0 at Bulldogs Athletic Complex in Wilson on Saturday. Jean started in net for Limestone. She made five saves in the loss.

Jordan Rogers: The Division III William Peace University women’s soccer team defeated Mary Baldwin 6-2 in its USA South Athletic Conference opener on Saturday at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary. Rogers made her ninth start of the season, this time as a wingback. Peace is 4-4-1 overall, 1-0 in the USA South Conference.

Brittany Daley: The Division III Greensboro College women’s soccer team defeated Salem 2-1 in its USA South Athletic Conference opener at Varsity Field in Winston-Salem on Saturday. Daley started at centerback for the Pride, her tenth start of the year. Greensboro is 7-3.

Lilli Henry: The Methodist volleyball team had a tri-match in USA South Athletic Conference action on Saturday at the Riddle Center in Fayetteville. The Monarchs defeated North Carolina Wesleyan 3-1 to end the day. Averett started the afternoon by beating Methodist 3-1. In the Monarchs’ win over Wesleyan, Henry had 22 assists, seven digs and an ace. In Averett’s victory against Methodist, Henry finished with 12 assists, seven digs and an ace. Methodist is 2-9, 1-2 in the USA South.

Orange sophomore Omarion Lewis has played four varsity football games. He has rushed for 100 yards twice. On Friday night, Lewis ran for 106 yards and two touchdowns as Orange defeated East Chapel Hill 40-7. The Orange coaching staff debated whether to put Lewis on the junior varsity before the season, but that debate ended on September 6 when Lewis ran up 119 yards against South Granville. Lewis didn’t even enter the game against the Vikings until the second half. In his very brief varsity career, Lewis has emerged as a reliable rusher for Orange in offensive coordinator’s Marty Scotten’s double wing offense. Orange had a season-high 316 rushing yards against East Chapel Hill.

The Orange football team defeated East Chapel Hill 40-7 in its Big 8 Conference opener on Friday night. Wingback Elliott Woods rushed for a career-high 58 yards and scored the first two touchdowns of his varsity career. Jones also starts at linebacker and leads the team with 39 tackles, including three for a loss. Woods had some key plays in the Panthers’ opening win of the season against Walter Williams, including a huge 14-yard catch to convert a third down. The Panthers eventually scored the game-winning touchdown on that drive. Woods and the rest of the Panthers will gear up for Southern Durham this Friday at Spartan Stadium. 

In 2006, East Chapel Hill defeated Orange 33-30 at Auman Stadium in Hillsborough. It was the only win of David Thompson’s final season during his turbulent two-year stint as Wildcats head coach. It was East’s second straight win over Orange, which was on its way to its 13th consecutive losing season.

Plenty has changed since then.

Orange’s football program went through a renaissance under head coach Pat Moser. There was enough budding talent at Stanford Middle School to win three conference championships and five consecutive 10-wins seasons from 2012-17.

In the meantime, East hit the reset button on varsity football, not fielding a team in 2017. While the talent lines in northern and southern Orange County are vastly different, East can look towards Hillsborough and take solace that time and persistence can change things.

On Friday night, Orange defeated the Wildcats 40-7 at Auman Stadium. Sophomore Omarion Lewis rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown. Junior Elliott Woods added a career-high 58 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

It’s the first time Orange won back-to-back home games since 2016, when they ended the regular season with a victory over J.F. Webb to wrap up the Big 8 title, then defeated Wilson Five in the state playoffs.

“Omarion is getting better and better,” said Orange coach Van Smith. “The cuts he makes and the moves he makes, the vision that he has, he’s getting better and better.”

Orange put the game away with four touchdowns in the second quarter. Quarterback Wyatt Jones, who tied his second-high with 161 passing yards before the starters were pulled midway through the third quarter, scored Orange’s first touchdown off a quarterback sneak. On the next Orange drive, Jones hit Joe Kiger with a gorgeous 14-yard fade pass into the end zone. It was Kiger’s first touchdown of the season.

Orange played without leading rusher Machai Holt and leading receiver Zyon Pettiford. The extra garbage time led to a eight-quarter player’s delight. 15 different players touched the ball for Orange.

After winning the coin toss in the opening four games of the year, Orange’s streak ended on Friday, which was the only thing they lost. With the late September humidity lingering into the early evening, Orange wore down the Wildcats with a 13-play, 60-yard drive set up when Jones found wide receiver Jake DeFranco for a 22-yard field goal. After Jones misfired on 3rd-and-goal, Nigel Slanker kicked a 22-yard field goal.

The Orange defense, which allowed only two first downs through the first three quarters, pitched a three-and-out on East’s first possession. Orange responded with another grueling drive that spilled into the second quarter, a 13-play, 85-yard drive that ended with Jones’ sneak.

Later in the second quarter, Orange finished a 82-yard drive when Jones hit Cameron White for a 46-yard pass. That set up Woods’ seven-yard touchdown run to give the Panthers a 24-0 lead.

After East botched an attempted punt on its next drive, Lewis scored his only touchdown on a 13-yard run that comprised a one-play drive.

East scored its only touchdown late in the second quarter. Quarterback Anton Enoch found Zaion Vaughn for a 45 yard pass. Two plays later, Enoch hit his twin brother Anthony for a 10-yard touchdown.

Woods’ scored Orange’s only touchdown in the second half, converting a 4th-and-3 with a five-yard scamper up the middle.

Next up for Orange will be a road trip to Southern Durham. After missing the state playoffs for the past two years, the Spartans appear to have reemerged as the favorite to win the Big 8 after shutting out Northern Durham 13-0 on Friday night at Durham County Stadium.

“They’ve won some games against some good teams,” Smith said about Southern. “They’ve beaten 71st out of Fayetteville, whose usually pretty good. They’ve beat Hillside. It’s Southern Durham.”

ORNAGE 40, EAST CHAPEL HILL 7

ECH–0 7 0 0-7

ORA-3 28 9 0-40

ORA-Nigel Slanker 22 FG

ORA-Wyatt Jones 1 run (Slanker kick)

ORA-Joe Kiger 14 pass from Jones (Slanker kick)

ORA-Elliott Woods 7 run (Slanker kick)

ORA-Omarion Lewis 13 run (Slanker kick)

ECH-Anthony Enoch 10 pass from Anton Enoch (Nick DiMasi kick)

ORA-Woods 5 run (Slanker kick)

ORA-Safety, ball snapped out of end zone.

RUSHING:EAST CHAPEL HILL 13-14 (Anton Enoch 7-11, Anthony Enoch 6-3)

ORANGE: 61-316 (Lewis 18-106 TD, Woods 11-58 2 TD, Curtis Ward 8-50, J.J. Torres 5-28, Khaleb Smith 3-21, Kiger 3-18, Jake DeFranco 3-10, Zahmir Watkins 3-7, Courtney Edwards 1-5, Slanker 1-5, Brandon Worsham 1-5, Connor Ray 1-3, Jones 1-1 TD, team 1-(-1))

PASSING: EAST CHAPEL HILL 11-24 159 yds TD INT (Anton Enoch 7-16 96 yds TD, INT, Ben Smith 4-7 63 yds, Zaion Vaughn 0-1)

ORANGE 10-13 191 yards TD INT (Jones 8-10 161 yards TD, INT; Slanker 2-3 30 yards)

RECEIVING: EAST CHAPEL HILL (Vaughn 4-107, Isaiah Roberson 2-26, Ahmad Walker 2-9, Anthony Enoch 1-10 TD, Devin Cornish 1-5, Nicholas Weaver 1-2)

ORANGE: (DeFranco 4-74, Woods 2-39, Cameron White 1-48, Connor Raye 1-17, Elijah Danley 1-13)