Month: February 2021

Whenever the Orange lacrosse team holds team reunions years from now, there will always be a certain amount of mystery surrounding the 2020 team.

On paper, it was the most talented team in Orange history with plenty of firepower. In practice, it sure looked that way, too.

The Panthers had senior midfielder Wyatt Jones, the first Orange player in school history to end up playing lacrosse at a Division I school at Mercer. There was also senior attacker Dylan Boyer, now at Division II Queen’s University.

Orange started 2020 with a 6-0 record with wins over 4A teams J.H. Rose and Heritage. Of course, the ending to this story is all too familiar by now. Last March, the pandemic hit, ending the spring sports season two weeks after it started. On March 13, the Orange lacrosse team defeated Roxboro Community School 15-0, but there was a sense of finality apparent when the players dosed Coach Chandler Zirkle with a Gatorade bath after a anticlimactic win at Bulldog Stadium.

It was the last time that Orange team took the field. They never got the chance to see if they were the squad that could beat one of the Chapel Hill superpowers. Or see if a deep run in the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs was possible.

It was also the last high school sports event for any Hillsborough high school team for eight months.

Jones, Boyer and the rest of the 2020 Orange seniors now hang their hats elsewhere, leaving behind a group of younger Panthers learning on the job.

But Orange’s Ryan Merrill isn’t letting the past get in the way of his senior year.

In likely his final game against crosstown rival Cedar Ridge, Merrill scored six goals as the Panthers defeated Cedar Ridge 10-6 at Auman Stadium on Wednesday night. Merrill opened the game with three goals as he completed the hat trick off an assist from Connor Kruse with 1:14 remaining in the first quarter.

Cedar Ridge junior Roman Oguntoyinbo turned in a six-point night, factoring in on every Red Wolf goal. Oguntoyinbo finished with three goals and three assists to keep Cedar Ridge competitive until Orange ran out the clock in the final minutes.

It was the Panthers (2-1, 1-0 in Conference 9) fourth straight win over the Red Wolves. Cedar Ridge (2-2, 2-1) had its two-game winning streak snapped.

While some players may have spent the interminable hours after the pandemic wondering what might have been in 2020, Zirkle has chosen to let the mystery be.

“Actually, I didn’t think about it at all,” Zirkle said. “It would have been really cool to finish the season, but the thing I really appreciated about the team last year was we did everything we wanted to do the way we wanted to do it. Obviously, I wished we could have finished the season, but I feel proud of what that team did.”

After Merrill’s three goals, Oguntoyinbo broke free in front of the net to score Cedar Ridge’s first goal just 56 seconds into the second quarter. Orange freshman Connor Kruse scored off an assist from sophomore Joe Cady to extend the Panther lead to 4-1, but Cedar Ridge held the Panthers scoreless in the final eight minutes of the first half. Oguntoyinbo scored his second goal with 3:04 remaining in the first half, then assisted on a Holden Neal’s only goal to cut Orange’s lead to 4-3 going to halftime.

Merrill started the second half with two unassisted goals in the opening minute. Kruse added another tally to increase Orange’s lead to 7-3. After Oguntoyinbo completed his hat trick with 8:24 remaining in the third quarter, Merrill registered his sixth goal on a feed from Kruse. Orange’s Duncan Grant widened the Panther advantage to 9-4 off an assist from senior Leif Mahaney.

With regular goalkeeper Ethan Fortner working out for the Panther football team, Malachi Bolton started in net for Orange. Katie Wolter, the younger sister of former Orange goalkeeper Tyson Wolter, played between the pipes in the second and third quarters.

Cedar Ridge’s Alex Castro notched the Red Wolves final goal of the third period. Neal provided the final Cedar Ridge tally in the fourth quarter, his second goal of the night.

The Red Wolves started senior Aiden Kehoe at goalkeeper, but also used junior Joshua Taylor intermittently in the second half.

Orange will travel to Northern Durham on Thursday. Cedar Ridge will travel to Northern Durham on Monday.

The Orange men’s lacrosse team defeated Cedar Ridge 10-6 at Auman Stadium on Wednesday night. Senior Ryan Merrill finished with six goals, including three in the opening period. Caleb Davis added two goals and an assist as the Panthers defeated the Red Wolves for the fourth straight time. it was Orange’s first game in two weeks. The Panthers were supposed to face Roxboro Community School last week twice, but both games were rained out. In 2020, Orange started 6-0 with possibly its most talented team in school history before the pandemic ended the season after a convincing victory against Roxboro Community. Now, with college prospects Wyatt Jones and Caleb Davis now playing at Mercer and Queen’s University, respectively, the Panthers are building again behind younger players like Connor Kruse and Jace Womble. Orange will travel to Northern Durham on Thursday night, then travel to Vance Charter on Saturday.

Like most other football teams across North Carolina, Cedar Ridge is starting football season in the spring. Now, they will start a night earlier than anticipated. The Red Wolves season-opener against Northwood has been moved to Thursday night because of rain anticipated on Friday. For new Cedar Ridge Coach Corey Lea, it will give his new staff a chance to learn about his new team. The Red Wolves were supposed to face Granville Central in a scrimmage last week, but it was rained out. The Red Wolves will have to find a replacement for Isaiah McCambrey, who transferred to Williams last summer. Aiden Seagrvoes is expected to be the starting quarterback for Friday’s opener against the Chargers. Jake Mergenthal, the younger brother of former Cedar Ridge All-Conference offensive lineman Braxton Mergenthal, will be a prominent player on defense for the Red Wolves. You can hear live coverage of the Red Wolves vs. the Chargers on Friday night at 6:15 on Hillsboroughsports.com.

Grace Andrews: For the first time in her college career, the former Orange High second baseman hit a home run as #20 Catawba Valley Community College hosted a doubleheader against #19 Pitt Community College on Saturday. Andrews launched a solo blast in the bottom of the second inning. In the sixth, Andrews hit a double and went on to score off a home run by Cali Hinnant. Pitt County won the game 13-9, then completed the sweep with a 9-1 decision in the nightcap. Through eight games, Andrews leads Catawba Valley with a .520 batting average, 13 hits and four doubles. She’s tied for the team lead with eight runs scored. Catawba Valley is 5-3 and will travel to face Camp Community College in Franklin, VA on Friday. The following day, the Red Hawks travel to Virginia Beach for a doubleheader against Bryant & Stratton College.

Montana Davidson: The #22 Mississippi State softball team completed the Alex Wilcox Memorial (dubbed “The Snowman”) with wins over Missouri State and Mississippi Valley State on Monday. In a 5-0 win over the Bears, Montana Davidson went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Davidson, who started at third base, singled in the game’s final run in the fifth inning. In the nightcap, MSU defeated Mississippi Valley State 10-1 in five innings. Davidson went 2-for-2 with an RBI and two runs scored. After reaching on a single, Montana scored in the 2nd inning off an error. In the 3rd, Montana singled to left field to plate Anna Kate Segars. She would go on to score off a hit by Brylie St. Clair. Davidson is on a four-game hitting streak. Through the four games of the Snowman, Davidson went 7-for-11 with four RBIs. Against Southern Illinois, Davidson homered in the sixth inning to even the game at 4-4. The Salukis went on to win 6-5 in eight innings.

Mia Davidson: Mia Davidson hit her first home run of the season against MVSU. It was a two-run blast to dead center. Mia went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored. In the third inning, Davidson singled to left field to score Jackie McKenna. Against Missouri State, Davidson scored the game’s opening run after she was hit by a pitch. Mississippi State is 4-1.

Adam Chnupa: The Elon football team opened its spring football season with a 26-23 victory over Davidson at Rhodes Stadium on Saturday. Chnupa, a redshirt sophomore, played on special teams for the Phoenix. Elon will travel to Gardner-Webb on Saturday.

Landon Riley: The Liberty baseball team started its season with a series against Campbell at Jim Perry Stadium in Buies Creek over the weekend. Riley, a junior, pitched two shutout innings for the Flames on Sunday. Riley surrendered two hits and struck out three batters. The Camels edged the Flames 3-2 to take the rubber game in the series. Liberty will play its home opener against North Carolina A&T on Wednesday in Lynchburg, VA.

Brandon Andrews: The former Cedar Ridge centerfielder and pitcher entered the NCAA Transfer Portal after two seasons at Nicholls State. After being redshirted by the Colonels in 2020, Andrews is now at Jacksonville State. He didn’t play in the Gamecocks’ opening series over the weekend, which included a win over Alabama State and loses to Tennessee Tech and Southern Illinois.

Cooper Porter: Porter, who played six different positions with the Orange baseball team over three seasons, originally committed to play at N.C. State. He is now at Pensacola State, a junior college, after a scholarship crunch with the Wolfpack forced by the pandemic. Porter has appeared in three games for the Pirates. In an 8-2 win over Enterprise State Community College on February 7, Porter had his first college start at second base and finish with an RBI groundout. Pensacola State is 7-8 and will host Bishop State Community College on Friday.

Dylan Boyer: In his first college game, the former Orange High attacker scored a goal for Division II Queen College. Boyer scored the Royals’ final goal in a 9-4 loss to #15 Mount Olive at Ray McDonald Stadium on Saturday. Previously, Boyer was honored by the team with the Practice Player of the Week for week five of the season. Queens, which is picked to finish fourth in the South Atlantic Conference, will travel to Newberry College on Saturday.

So far, the closest thing Katie Belle Sikes has had to an in-person class at Orange High was freshman orientation last summer. But she’s already made her mark in swimming. Last weekend, Sikes, a freshman, finished 2nd in the 50 Yard Freestyle during the 3A State Swimming and Diving Championships at Pullen Aquatic Center in Raleigh. On February 6, Sikes won the 3A Central Regional Championship in the 50 Yard Freestyle at the Greensboro Aquatic Center with a time of 23.31 seconds. In the state championships, Sikes finished at 23.26 seconds, behind only Olivia Rhodes, a senior from Charlotte Catholic. In the Central Regional Championships, Sikes joined Riley White, Brooke Walker and Melissa Campbell to finish 5th in the 200 Yard Medley Relay. White also qualified for the state championships on Orange’s 400 yard Freestyle Relay team, joining senior Abby Dease, senior Calla Walker and Riley White. If you’ve been to the Orange County Sportsplex, chances are you’ve seen Sikes working out in the pool. She’s a constant in the water, whether its swimming in meets with Orange or with the Hillsborough Aquatic Club. We’ll have a complete profile of Sikes coming up this weekend on the website.

Jarmil Wingate had a season-high 12 points to help the Orange women’s basketball team defeat Southern Durham 44-41 at Spartan Gymnasium on Tuesday afternoon. Wingate also assisted on what turned out to be the game-winning three-point play from Erin Jordan-Cornell with 1:27 remaining. Aaliyah Harris scored all eight of her points in the second half as the Lady Panthers came back from 12 down. Wingate and Harris have been teammates for the past five years on travel teams throughout the area. It’s for that reason that Harris and Wingate have been dubbed the Wonder Twins on Hillsboroughsports.com broadcasts, in honor of the 1980s SuperFriends cartoon superheroes that are relatively obscure. Despite being 5-2, Wingate is second on the team with 5.2 rebounds per contest. Orange clinched a winning season with the victory over the Spartans and remains alive for a state playoff birth. Orange is slated to wrap up the regular season against Northern Durham on Friday afternoon at Panther Gymnasium.