Month: October 2019

There was more than a cruel irony in Orange’s largest comeback victory since 2015 on Friday night.

It was downright eerie.

On October 20, 2017, Orange bolted out to a 14-0 lead against Northwood after Hunter Pettiford scored on a 35-yard touchdown run. The Panthers didn’t score again in regulation. Ultimately, the game went to overtime. Northwood scored first. Orange followed suit, but usually reliable kicker Francisco McKinley hooked an extra point right and the Chargers stunned the Panthers 21-20 in overtime.

With 7:06 remaining in the third quarter on Friday night, Northwood’s Aaron Ross danced untouched into the end zone to give the Chargers a 24-6 lead. At that point, some Orange fans left the stadium, and why not? Homecoming festivities had ended and it appeared Orange’s state playoff chances were gone, as well. This was a Northwood team that trailed for much of the first half against East Chapel Hill and Cedar Ridge, but they were blowing Orange out of their own stadium—on Homecoming. At that moment, the last thing anyone thought was another overtime game was on the horizon, especially when Orange went three-and-out on its next drive.

Elliott Woods had other ideas.

His interception of Northwood quarterback Jack Thompson’s pass sparked 24 unanswered Orange points. In a rally as zany and unpredictable as the team itself, the Panthers pulled off a stunning 31-30 overtime victory over the Chargers at Auman Stadium. Machai Holt scored the game-winning touchdown in the only extra session. Nigel Slanker booted through the extra point, concluding a night reminiscent of Seinfeld’s opposite episode where Slanker missed his previous four extra points after starting 19-of-20 on the year.

On the first play of overtime, Thompson threw to Aaron Ross for a 10-yard touchdown. But kicker Aaron Laros, who looked as reliable as possible earlier, shanked the extra point wide right.

It was Orange’s (3-6, 2-3 in the Big 8 Conference) first overtime win since October 2, 2009, when they defeated South Granville in Pat Moser’s first year as head coach.

It appeared that Laros would be the hero of the night after an incredibly gutsy call by first-year Chargers’ coach Cullen Homolka in the final minute of regulation. With the game tied 24-24, Northwood (4-5, 3-2) faked a punt on 4th-and-3 with 47 second remaining at midfield. Laros dashed to the Orange sideline around right end and earned the first down by the nose of the football.

Thompson completed passes to Jalen McAfee and Ross to set up a 40-yard field goal attempt by Laros with 12 seconds left, but the kick was blocked by Orange’s Trey Grizzle to force overtime.

Orange sophomore running back Omarion Lewis scored three touchdowns and finished with 95 yards rushing. It was his highest total since going for 119 yards against South Granville in his first varsity game on September 6.

The Panthers came into the game on a three-game losing streak. In response, Orange coach Van Smith vowed changes to the lineup before Friday night. He wasn’t kidding.

Three regular starters never got off the bench in the first half. During one possession in the second quarter with Orange trailing 10-0, the wide receiver corps consisted of Connor Ray, Jayce Hodges and Jared Weaver, two of whom are junior varsity players who played the previous night in a 27-0 win over Northwood in Pittsboro.

“I never lost hope,” Smith said after trailing 24-6. “I knew what we had coming in later. We started the game with some guys that don’t normally get a lot of playing time. We were relying on them to make plays when they don’t have a lot of experience making plays at the varsity level. Sometimes, young teenage boys make poor decisions. I’ve done it. You’ve done it. Sometimes you have to suffer the consequences of your actions.”

With 5:51 remaining in the third quarter, Woods returned an interception 27 yards. Two plays later, Lewis scored his second touchdown on a 24-yard run.

Orange’s defense held Northwood without a first down on the next five Charger drives. Lewis scored on a 24-yard run on the Panthers’ next possession to draw within 24-18.

Penalties killed potential big plays for both teams late in the third quarter. Laros appeared to have scored on a 63-yard fake punt for a touchdown where he was never touched, but it was called back for a holding penalty. Orange quarterback Wyatt Jones hit Zyon Pettiford on a perfectly executed misdirection pass for 59 yards, but the Panthers were flagged for ineligible man downfield.

Fittingly, it was Holt who sparked the two biggest plays of the fourth quarter. He picked off a Jackson pass and returned it 14 yards. Two plays later, Jones found Holt for a 32-yard touchdown. Slanker had the extra point blocked to keep the game tied 24-24. Orange was 0-for-4 on points after touchdowns during regulation. By that point, Woods replaced regular long snapper Joseph Kiger, who injured his hand in the first half. Even Jones, Slanker’s holder, left the game in the third quarter because of an injury. He later returned.

For the third week in a row, Orange got off to an awful start. Laros kicked a 42-yard field goal to open the scoring with 9:31 left in the first quarter after Orange muffed a punt return. Laros converted the kick from nearly the exact spot on the field where he was later miss with the game on the line.

After Orange missed a field goal on its opening drive, the Chargers moved effortlessly down the field on a 10-play, 80-yard drive. Thompson found Ross for an 11-yard touchdown.

Ross scored on an eight-yard run with 6:32 remaining in the second quarter to push Northwood ahead 17-0. On the play, Chargers running back Dedric Powell injured his left leg and didn’t return. Northwood’s offense didn’t get another first down the rest of the half and largely struggled the rest of the game.

Orange scored on its final drive of the first half. After Jones found Woods on a 26-yard pass on 3rd-and-7, Lewis scored on a 12-yard run to narrow Northwood’s lead to 17-6 going into the locker room.

“My hats off to my young team,” Smith said. “I think we made a lot of strides tonight.”

ORANGE 31, NORTHWOOD 30 OT

NWD—10 7 7 0 6-30

ORA—0 6 12 6 7-31

NWD–Aidan Laros 42 FG

NWD–Aaron Ross 7 pass from Jack Thompson (Laros kick)

NWD–Ross 8 run (Laros kick)

ORA–Omarion Lewis 12 run (kick failed)

NWD-Ross 5 run (Laros kick)

ORA–Lewis 24 run (run failed)

ORA–Lewis 24 run (kick failed)

ORA–Machai Holt 32 pass from Wyatt Jones (kick blocked)

ORA–Holt 10 run (Nigel Slanker kick)

NWS-Ross 10 pass from Thompson (kick failed)

RUSHING:NORTHWOOD 19-8 2 TD (Ross 8-15 2 TD, Dedric Powell 2-13, Laros 1-3, Thompson 8-(minus 23)

ORANGE: 34-122 (Lewis 12-95 3 TD, Holt 8-26 TD, Elliott Woods 8-14, J.J. Torres 2-6, Joe Kiger 1-4, Jones 3-(minus 23).

PASSING: NORTHWOOD (Thompson 32-49 333 yards 2 TD, 3 INT) ORANGE (Jones 9-26 134 yards TD, INT)

RECEIVING: NORTHWOOD: (Jalen MCAfee 10-99, Ross 8-99 2 TD, Jack Spotz 7-77, Chris Lawson 5-49, Powell 2-9)

ORANGE: (Woods 3-52, Joe Kiger 2-43, Holt 2-34, Torres 1-4, Lewis 1-1)

For the better part of the last decade, Southern Durham has been one of the most dominant teams in central North Carolina. But now, in 2019, after two surprising back-to-back losing seasons, the Spartans are back among the state’s elite – and on Friday night in Durham, Southern showed that it absolutely is a team to be reckoned with in the 3A state playoffs in a few weeks. Cedar Ridge came to town hoping to play spoiler and uproot one of the best seasons in recent Southern history, but the Spartans (8-1, 5-0 Big 8) scored 20 points within the first four minutes and dominated an outmatched Cedar Ridge (1-8, 1-4) squad from start to finish, 54-0. It was the eighth straight win this year for Southern, and the third loss by shutout for Cedar Ridge. 

Even in the face of such a strong team with very few flaws, Cedar Ridge sure didn’t look scared. The Red Wolves looked calm as ever during warmups and never looked like giving up even in the dying moments of the game itself, but, in all fairness, this was always going to be an uphill battle – and that was evident from the opening series. The usually sure-handed Isaiah McCambry fumbled on the first play from scrimmage, and, three plays after that, Southern punched it in on a two-yard score from running back Logan Harper. 

But that was only the beginning. On the ensuing kickoff, Sincere Lecraft hit return man Elijah Whitaker at the 15-yard line, spun him around, ripped the ball away like a vice grip, and jogged down the sideline with the ball, escorted by an entourage of teammates for the strip-and-score. McCambry was pummeled on the next Cedar Ridge possession and coughed the ball up again, and, two plays later, Omari Smith hit top receiver Xavier Rhodes on a quick in, and Rhodes did the rest, evading tacklers and racing 40 yards for the touchdown. The Red Wolves looked up at the small endzone scoreboard: it read 20-0, and four minutes hadn’t even gone by.

Southern wasn’t done. Later in the first, punter Zach Holmes had to scramble to field a poor snap and right after he found the ball Lecraft found him for a tackle for loss on fourth down, and Harper soon scored again to make it 27-0. Cedar Ridge punted on all three of its possessions in the second quarter, and Southern scored on two of their own, one on a bullet of a touchdown pass from Smith to Cinsere Clark, and the other on a 25-yard touchdown run almost unimpeded from Smith himself. Mercifully, the first half came to an end with the home team on top 41-0.

Sure, the running clock was in effect for the entirety of the second half, and sure, the Spartans had nothing more to prove in a game that was no longer in doubt, but the Red Wolves’ defense still showed marked improvements after the halftime break. But even with that said, the Southern offense was just too strong, and the Spartans were able to add an eight-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-goal from linebacker Jaki Brevard, his first career score, as well as a 96-yard touchdown run from safety Jacquez Warren – a remarkable play where Warren somehow dodged tacklers in his own end zone, and ended up in the other end zone in a matter of seconds. The final score at Spartan Stadium on this night was 54-0, the most lopsided loss in a season that has featured a few of them. 

But as always, there were bright spots for Cedar Ridge. Aiden Seagroves showed some more flashes as the newly appointed number two running back. Jake Mergenthal and Desi Raspberry both recorded their first career catches. Zach Holmes ran a long-awaited fake punt, where the former quarterback baffled the Spartan defense by hitting Whitaker for a big gain on fourth down from midfield. Braxton Mergenthal added another note on the ledger of his excellent Cedar Ridge career by picking off a poor Smith pass in the backfield in the second half. Whitaker and the rest of the Red Wolves blocked John Paulino’s final PAT. And above all else – and yes, this too sounds trite and hard to conceptualize, but it’s true – the Red Wolves never gave up. Even on that Warren TD run with just minutes to go in the game, it’s not like the Red Wolves turned around and let him walk in from 96 yards out – they nearly tackled him around his own goal line, and from there, he was just simply too fast and did the rest himself. At that point, all the Red Wolves could do was tip their collective caps for a job well done.

For Southern, this was just another step towards a perfect conference season – and with matches with Chapel Hill and East left on the ledger, it would be stunning if the Spartans don’t finish this undefeated conference season off. For Cedar Ridge, Friday night was a night to forget, but the Red Wolves will have one more chance to create a night to remember when they host Orange for Senior Night and the football edition of the Hillsborough Rivalry at Cedar Ridge next Friday at 7 PM. Even with all the losses, all the injuries, the trials and the travails that Cedar Ridge has had to suffer this year in its return to varsity football, a win against Orange, a team with legitimate playoff aspirations after a legendary victory on Friday, might help make the 2019 season feel a whole lot better. 

Olivia Ward became the first Cedar Ridge women’s tennis player to qualify for the 3A State Singles Tournament, the 3A State Doubles Tournament and win a Big 8 team Conference Championship in her career on Friday. Though she lost in the opening round, Ward concludes her Cedar Ridge career as the most accomplished tennis player in school history. Here are some photos of Olivia’s match against Rose Kenny of Charlotte Catholic.

Not that it was in question for the past month, but the Cedar Ridge volleyball team is officially headed back to the state playoffs for the first time since 2015.

Meanwhile, Orange will journey across the Triangle for its opening round game.

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association released the 3A State Volleyball brackets on Thursday afternoon.

Orange received a 19-seed and will face Clayton on Saturday at 1 o’clock Saturday afternoon. Clayton (15-10) finished 2nd in the Greater Neuse Conference with a 8-2 record. The Comets lost three matches to the Rams, including in Wednesday’s Greater Neuse Tournament Championship game in three sets.

The winner of Clayton-Orange will face 3rd-seeded Gray’s Creek or 30th-seeded Southeastern Guilford in the 2nd round.

Cedar Ridge earned a 20-seed. The Red Wolves will travel to Fayetteville to face Terry Sanford of the 4A/3A Patriot Athletic Conference on Saturday at 2 o’clock. The Bulldogs finished 19-4, 12-4 in the PAC. Three of its four losses came against PAC Champion Grey’s Creek, who is 24-0.

The winner of Cedar Ridge-Terry Sanford will face 4th-seeded Cleveland or 29th-seeded Northwood next week.

The final MaxPreps ranking of the season was released Wednesday morning. It was the first poll of the year that had Orange ahead of Cedar Ridge, who jumped out to a 6-0 start and virtually guaranteed itself of its first winning season in four years by mid-September.

Orange and Cedar Ridge split the regular season series with two five-set battles. What may have pushed Orange ahead of the Red Wolves at the last minute was consecutive wins over teams that made the state playoffs. Last Friday, the Lady Panthers defeated Roxboro Community School in five sets. RCS wound up making the 1A playoffs as a #20 seed. In its regular season finale on Tuesday, Orange rallied from two sets down to defeat Northern Durham at Poe Gymtorium. The Knights earned a 26-seed in the 3A playoff and will travel to Union Pines on Saturday.

Cedar Ridge, on the other hand, were swept by East Chapel Hill on Senior Night. They concluded the regular season with wins over Vance County and Southern Durham, the only two teams from the Big 8 to miss the state playoffs.

The unveiling of the bracket proved what had been obvious to anyone who paid attention to the local volleyball scene this year: the Big 8 is really deep.

Six of the league’s eight teams made the playoffs. Big 8 Champion Chapel Hill received the top seed and will host Triton in the opening round. The Tigers have reached the final eight in each of the last three seasons, and claimed the Eastern Regional Championship in 2016 and 2017.

Big 8 runner-up East Chapel Hill received a 10-seed and will host South Johnston on Saturday at Wildcat Gymnasium.

Orange’s 16 wins are the most for the team this decade. The Lady Panthers will go for its first state playoff win since 2015, when they reached the Round of 16 with victories over Eden Morehead and Northern Guilford.

In the three years since then, Orange has been eliminated in the opening round each time. Franklinton took out the Panthers last year. Chapel Hill eliminated Orange in 2017 and Cleveland swept them in 2016.

In its penultimate game of the season, the Orange junior varsity football team defeated Northwood 27-0 in Pittsboro on Thursday night. The Panthers’ defense didn’t allow a first down in the second half and forced two turnovers in the third quarter. Winston Brown had an interception that led to a 39-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ty Walker to Jared Weaver. Dominique Minnifield scored on a five-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Orange had a strong pass rush from linemen Cameron Harshaw and Amari Morgan. Connor Ray also had a strong game on both sides of the ball. Joining us for this interview was center Ethan Fortner, Ray, Brown, Morgan, Harshaw, Minnfield and Jake Wimsatt. Orange will have next week off.  They will conclude its season against Chapel Hill in Culton-Peerman Stadium on November 7. 

The Cedar Ridge women’s cross country team had another strong showing at the Big 8 Cross Country Championships at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary on Thursday. The Red Wolves finished third behind Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill. In a sprint to the finish line, Cedar Ridge Anne Morrell edged out East Chapel Hill’s Sara Oren for 10th place, meaning Morrell was named to the All-Big 8 Conference team for the second year in a row. Allison Musty, Zoe Wade, Ariana Solis, Jill Myler, Ruby Lapham and Sarah Tucker also ran for the Cedar Ridge women. Next week, Cedar Ridge will compete in the 3A Mideast Regionals at Northwood High School in Pittsboro. Last year, the Cedar Ridge women finished 2nd in regionals and qualified for the state championships as a team.