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)