Photo by Tracy Thompson
The Orange lacrosse team is off to its best start ever and won its Conference 9 opener decisively.
And now it may all be over.
That was a reality that the team disguised well during its 15-0 rout of Roxboro Community School in Person County on Friday night. The game started roughly five hours before the suspension of the spring sports season, mandated by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, would go into effect because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Of course, no one on the field wanted the season to end Friday, but there sure was a sense of finality.
Orange Coach Chandler Zirkle was showered with a gatorade bath, hopefully with sanitized water, after the running clock ran out. Shortly afterwards, Roxboro Community School players gathered for two team photos–one for posterity, the other with as many zany faces as possible.
If the theme of the night could be summed up with one word, perhaps it wouldn’t be “finality” as much as “uncertainty.”
“It might be the off-season now,” said Orange senior Noah Davis, who finished with a goal and an assist. “We treated tonight as senior night and allowed a lot of seniors to get playing time. We were all a little bit upset about the news since we’re doing well this season. We think we can do well in the playoffs.”
This was Orange’s conference opener, after all. Openers aren’t supposed to end seasons.
“We really don’t know what’s going on,” said Orange senior Wyatt Jones, who has committed to play at Mercer. “We don’t know if we’re going to play anymore. We were just trying to make the most out of it tonight.”
If it was the end, Orange went out having fun, just as Zirkle wanted it.
After scoring two goals, Jones started playing with a longstick for the first time in his varsity career. By the fourth quarter, he was the goalkeeper. Jones was the final player to touch the ball in the game and joked he should have received credit for a save. Dylan Boyer and Caleb Davis, two of Orange’s top scorers, also took turns with the long pole.
All three of Orange’s goalkeepers played on the offensive end. There was even a goalkeeper-to-goalkeeper connection on Orange’s 13th goal when Chase Hawkins scored off an assist from Ethan Fortner. In fact, Forter, who earned the win in Wednesay’s thrilling game against J.H. Rose, had two assists.
Hawkins earned the win in the net. Malachi Bolton played most of the second half between the pipes.
Orange’s Seth Wolter scored the opening goal on an assist from Seth Davis with 9:32 remaining in the first quarter. Cy Horner assisted on consecutive goals from Boyer and Jones to boost Orange’s lead to 3-0. Davis, Jake Wimsatt and Nate Kaltz all scored goals in the first quarter.
Tom Wileman, Ryan Fedor and Jake Ray also scored for Orange. Hornet finished with four points, including one goal.
Once the lights were turned off at Roxboro Community School field on Friday night, there were hugs between teammates and coaches. Even though the season is only two weeks old, if this were a movie, it felt appropriate that “The End” would flash on the screen.
Orange’s players just hope it wasn’t the famous final scene.
“We’re one win away from having the best start of any Orange team ever,” Jones said. “It’s kind of sad. But hopefully we’ll play and get to 7-0 and maybe keep going.”