A three-game winning streak to end the season wasn’t enough for the Orange football team to make the state playoffs this year.
The Panthers were omitted from the 3A and 3AA state playoff brackets released by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association on Saturday afternoon.
Orange’s final MaxPreps ranking was #68.
Of Orange’s five wins, three of them came against teams ranked among the bottom eleven of 3A football (there are 109 football teams in 3A). The Panthers didn’t beat any teams that made the state playoffs.
Judging from the final 3A brackets, Orange appeared to have been the fourth team left out of the field. E.E. Smith, ranked #65, was the last team to get in. Ranked one spot ahead of Orange was Walter Williams, who the Panthers defeated 21-13 in Hillsborough on September 13.
In the end, Orange only played two nonconference teams that made the playoffs. Riverside, who finished 8-3 and in a three-way tie for 2nd in the Triangle 8 Conference, received a 9-seed in the 4A tournament.
South Granville, who held off Orange 20-15 on September 6, won the championship of the Northern Carolina 2A/1A Conference and also ended up 8-3. The Vikings will be in the 2AA State Tournament and opens with North Lenoir in Creedmoor.
R.J. Reynolds, who defeated Orange 47-24 in the season opener, missed the 4A state playoffs, which has 48 teams. The Demons finished 3-8.
After making the state playoffs for seven straight seasons from 2011-17, the Panthers will watch the postseason from home for the second year in a row.
At the end of Friday night’s 30-6 win over Chapel Hill, the Orange coaches planned to have practice on Monday despite their playoff future being murky, at best. On Saturday, that practice was canceled at plans were made to collect equipment on Tuesday.
“I’m proud of how, after a disappointing season last year for a variety of reasons, this group of seniors kind of got everybody together and refocused them during the offseason,” Orange Coach Van Smith said on Friday night. “We didn’t get as many wins as we wanted. But most of the losses we had were were in the games and competitive and had our chances. If a couple of things go our way, a turnover here or there…a penalty here or there…a lot of those game could have turned out different. I think finishing near .500 was a big improvement from one year to the next.”
The two teams who received the Big 8 Conference’s two automatic bids each have home games this Friday night. Southern Durham, who won its first Big 8 Conference Championship since 2014 after going 7-0 in the league, will host Gray’s Creek. The Spartans received a 3-seed in the 3AA State Tournament. Gray’s Creek was one of the six teams to make the playoffs from the 4A/3A Patriot Athletic Conference. The Bears finished 7-4, 4-4 in the PAC.
Northern Durham, who ended the year with six consecutive wins, also wound up in the 3AA State Tournament. The Knights received an 8-seed and will host Southern Alamance at Durham County Stadium on Friday night.
Vance County was the final team from he Big 8 to make the playoffs. The Vipers were placed in the 3A State Tournament and received a 9-seed. They will travel to Northern Nash.