Month: October 2021

The Cedar Ridge volleyball team will host the first Central Carolina Conference tournament championship game on Wednesday night. In the tournament semifinals on Tuesday, Cedar Ridge easily dispatched of Orange 3-0 on scores of 25-8, 25-17 and 25-10. Among the players who set the tone for the Red Wolves was sophomore middle blocker Addie Reid, who had five blocks for the Red Wolves. It was another strong game for junior Cameron Lloyd, who added to her school-record for kills with 15. Junior setter Julie Altieri went over 1,200 assists in her career. Cedar Ridge improved to 24-2 on the season. The win over Orange wasn’t only the third victory over its crosstown rival this season. It also tied the school record for most wins in a season, which was set by the 2015 team, which hosted the Eastern Regional championship match. On Wednesday night, Cedar Ridge will face Person in the CCC Tournament championship game. The Rockets knocked off Northwood in Pittsboro in Tuesday’s other semifinal. First serve between the Red Wolves and the Rockets will be a 6PM at Red Wolves Gymnasium. On Saturday, Cedar Ridge will host the opening game of the NCHSAA State Playoffs. Time and opponent will be determined.

For the first time in six years, there will be a representative from Hillsborough in the 3A State Women’s Golf Tournament.

On Tuesday, Orange senior Samantha Durham qualified for the state championships after a solid finish in the Central Regional at Greensboro National Golf Course. It was the second time in five months that Samantha played in the regionals.

Samantha Durham will become the first competitor in the 3A State Women’s Golf Tournament for Orange since Amanda Hill, who reached the state tournament in 2015. To say the competition that year was stiff would be an understatement. The winner of the tournament was Chapel Hill’s Gina Kim, who has gone on to win a national championship with the Duke women’s golf team and currently is in the process of qualifying for a LPGA Tour card.

The 3A State Championship is a two-day event that starts on Monday at Foxtrot Resort and Golf in Pinehurst. It will continue on Tuesday.

Golf runs deep in the Durham family. Samatha’s younger sister, Sarah, also qualified for the Central Regionals for the third year in a row. They both competed in the regionals last May. On most Sunday mornings, Sarah Durham can be found on the driving range at Occoneechee Golf Course in Hillsborough, the official golf course of the Orange and Cedar Ridge men’s and women’s golf teams.

It’s one of the favorite courses of the Durham sisters.

“It’s a good course,” Samantha said. “It’s nice and open. There’s not a lot of water. So I personally like it and it’s close.”

Reaching the state tournament is a fitting final accomplishment for Samantha Durham. When she started at Orange, golf it became more than just something she did every now and then.

“We started playing when we were younger,” said Samantha. “Our father played and our brother played so it was just a family activity. We started taking lesson and last year we started taking it a little more seriously. That’s when we started playing more in school and playing in more tournaments.”

Things would get competitive among members of the Durham family.

“We always want the best for each other,” Samantha said. “I definitely want Sarah to win tournaments. She’s always rooting for me and I’m always rooting for her.”

Samantha and Sarah aren’t the only members of the Durham family to represent Hillsborough in high school golf. Their brother, Matthew, qualified for the regional and state tournaments as a student at Cedar Ridge. Last spring, Matthew Durham graduated from Campbell University and has served internships with the Professional Golfers’ Association in Oakmont, PA and Ootwah, TN in the hopes of becoming a golf pro. He also served as a tournament director for several events at Campbell.

As any golfer will tell you, golf is all about routine. Samantha, who was recently honored during senior day at Occoneechee, says it’s not easy to maintain focus.

“You need good course practice,” Samantha said. “Then when you’re on the golf course, you’re thinking the same things. It’s just ‘stroke, keep your head down, good contact with the ball.’ Every time you swing your club, you just want to make good contact and get it to the hole.”

High Point Central’s Emma Niebauer won the Central Regional championship shooting an even-par, 72. Emily Matthew of Eastern Alamance, the Central Carolina Conference champion, came in second with a 74, 2-over for the afternoon.

Cedar Ridge’s Olivia Aitkin also qualified for the Central Regionals. Aitkin, who recently committed to play softball at Amherst College in Massachusetts, is a three-sport athlete at Cedar Ridge. She seems in the winter, along with playing centerfield for Allan Byrd’s softball team.

Photo by Angie Hurdle

There’s a wonderful uncertainty about conference tournaments that you can’t experience until you see it yourself.

Look no further than Monday night at Orange. The Lady Panthers volleyball team faced Western Alamance, a team that Orange had little trouble with in the regular season. Just last week, Orange traveled to Elon, could have parked in a one-hour zone and faced no repercussions, disposing of the Warriors 25-22, 25-8 and 25-15.

It was considerably different on Monday. No one could explain why, but the Warriors jumped out to a 2-sets-to-nothing lead. Perhaps Orange looked ahead to a potential third matchup against Cedar Ridge on Tuesday. Perhaps Western Alamance was more motivated to make a run for a 3A State Playoff birth.

A week after dominating the Warriors, the Lady Panthers had to rally and rally in order to pull out its second five-set win of the season, and its first since the season opener against Jordan. To start the fifth set, Western Alamance led 5-0 after several close calls went against Orange, which sparked a comeback triggered by junior Allie Wilkerson, who has consecutive kills.

After Avery Miller earned a side out for Orange to reduce the Western Alamance lead to 10-6, Orange sophomore libero Sadye Porter lined up to serve. And she would serve nine consecutive points to finish out the match. During that run, Wilkerson had two blocks and two kills, including match point as Orange finally earned a 15-10 fifth set win and the match.

The lesson is that in conference tournaments, nothing is ever certain.

While conference tournaments were common in men’s and women’s basketball during the Big 8 Conference, they were a non-entity in volleyball. But not in the Central Carolina Conference. And now, on Tuesday night, Orange and Cedar Ridge will meet for a third time this season.

As Western Alamance proved on Monday, it’s hard to beat a team three times.

It was another strong week for Hillsborough volleyball last week, which brings us to the Magnificent 7. Here are the seven athletes who established themselves last week on the tennis court, volleyball court, soccer pitch and gridiron:

Olivia Aitkin: A three-sport athlete at Cedar Ridge, Aitkin qualified for the 3A Central Women’s Golf Regionals. Aitkin competed in the Central Carolina Conference Tournament at Mill Creek Country Club in Mebane. Aitkin also recently committed to play softball at Amherst College in Massachusetts.

Melissa Benkowitz: The Cedar Ridge volleyball team had three players register 100 kills during the regular season. Benkowitz, who was arguably East Chapel Hill’s best player in 2020, transferred to Cedar Ridge over the summer and has grown into her role as an outside hitter. In the regular season finale against Carrboro last Wednesday at Red Wolves Gymnasium, Benkowitz led Cedar Ridge with eight kills. She also had six digs as the Red Wolves broke the school record for most wins in a regular season with 23. Cedar Ridge also finished with a perfect 12-0 record in the CCC after sweeping Williams on Monday.

Chloe Patz: A senior co-Captain for the Cedar Ridge women’s tennis team, Patz earned her first trip to the Mideast Regionals during the Central Carolina Conference tournament on Friday. Patz defeated a participant from Northwood to extend her season. Patz has been Cedar Ridge’s regular #2 singles player this season and has had several key victories, including one against Northwood on September 27 to ensure a 6-3 win. Northwood would go on to claim a share of the CCC championship with Walter Williams.

Jera Hargrove: Reached the 3A Mideast Regional women’s tennis finals for the third time in her career last week. Hargrove teamed with Erin Sollars in doubles play to defeat Williams’ Kaori Naruse and Lauren Turner during the Central Carolina Conference Tournament at the Burlington Tennis Center. Hargrove reached the Mideast Regionals in her freshman and sophomore years as a singles player. She was one of six Orange women’s tennis players who qualified for the Mideast Regionals.

Avery Miller: Had 12 kills and eight digs as the Orange volleyball team ended the regular season with a 3-0 win over Eastern Alamance on Thursday. It was Miller’s final regular season game for the Lady Panthers. Last Tuesday, Miller had five kills in a win over Western Alamance.

Ella Wimsatt: Led Orange with eleven kills in the win over Western Alamance. Also had a strong game against Eastern Alamance in Mebane as Orange secured fourth place in the CCC. The Lady Panthers will likely host a 3A State Playoff game on Saturday.

Konnor Johnson: The Orange freshman midfielder scored two goals as the Panthers defeated Person 4-2 on Wednesday at Rocket Stadium. Johnson also set up several scoring opportunities for the Panthers in its 1-1 draw with Cedar Ridge at Orange Soccer Park on October 11. It was the first brace for Johnson in his varsity career. He has four goals on the season.

While past records of local women’s tennis are frustratingly incomplete, the Orange women’s tennis team can certainly say they’ve accomplished something that hasn’t been done in a long time.

They’ve made the 3A State Dual Team Playoffs.

On Monday morning, the Orange women’s tennis team received a wildcard entry into the 32-team 3A State Tournament. The Lady Panthers, who finished 15-4, will face Quad City Conference Champion Wilson Fike (17-1) on Wednesday.

Orange is the first women’s team from Hillsborough to reach the 3A State Team Playoffs since the 2016 Cedar Ridge Red Wolves won the Big 8 Conference Championship. That year, Cedar Ridge reached the state quarterfinals, beating Swansboro in the opening round and Walter Williams in the round of 16.

While MaxPreps records extend back to only 2013, this is the first time that Orange has ever reached the 3A State Tournament. It could very well be the first time Orange women’s tennis has made the state tournament, period, but there aren’t any records that can definitively prove that.

What is certain is that all six of Orange’s participants in last week’s Central Carolina Conference tournament have made the 3A Mideast Regionals.

In addition, two Cedar Ridge singles players Cameron Mayhew and Chloe Patz both earned spots to the regionals during the conference tournament at the Burlington Tennis Center last Friday.

Orange’s doubles team of Tea Jones and Shannon Sollars earned one spot in the regionals. Jones and Sollars opened with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Northwood’s Evelyn Dallman and Anna Gilliam. In the match to determine a regional bid, Jones & Sollars defeated Williams’ Aniella Profillo and Gracie Hartle 6-3, 6-2.

Orange had a second doubles team advance to regionals. Jera Hargrove and Erin Sollars received a bye into the second round. They defeated Williams Kaori Naruse & Lauren Turner 6-1, 6-2.

This will be Hargrove’s third trip to the Mideast Regionals. As a freshman and a sophomore, she reached regionals as a singles player.

Cedar Ridge’s freshmen team of Adeline Cummings and Ella Caltabiano won their opening round match over Preson’s Annie Adcock and Cassidy Swanik 6-1, 6-0. Western Alamance’s Amelia Weaver and Avalyn Ward defeated Cummings and Caltabiano to reach the regionals.

In singles play, Cedar Ridge’s Mayhew didn’t have a match on the day. She was the #1 overall seed and advanced straight to next weekend. Mayhew is the younger sister of Cedar Ridge’s Josh Mayhew, who reached the 3A Men’s State Championship match last year. It’s the second straight year that Cameron Mayhew has reached the Mideast Regionals.

Cedar Ridge senior Chloe Patz, a Co-Captain who was named the Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week last week, defeated Northwood’s #6 player 6-2, 6-0 to advance to regionals for the first time.

For the second year in a row, Orange’s Finley White reached the Mideast Regionals. While defeated a player from Northwood to reach in the second round.

Orange’s sophomore Grace Pell defeated a player from Williams to advance to regionals, which will also be held at the Burlington Tennis Center.

It was a dramatic night for the Orange volleyball team in the opening round of the Central Carolina Conference tournament. The Lady Panthers trailed 2-sets-to-nothing against Western Alamance before staging a comeback to win 3-2. In the final set, Orange was down 5-0 before junior outside hitter Allie Wilkerson had consecutive kills. The Lady Panthers were down 10-6 before a kill by Avery Miller, assisted by Ella Wimsatt, led to a side out. Then Orange reeled off nine consecutive points with sophomore Sadye Porter serving. Wilkerson had two blocks during the 9-0 run, including one that put the Panthers ahead for good 11-10. After Porter delivered an ace, Miller had consecutive kills before Wilkerson scored match point. Orange improved to 10-8 and advances to the semifinals of the CCC Tournament. On Tuesday night, Orange will travel across town to face regular season champion Cedar Ridge.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is junior setter Julie Altieri. Last week, the Red Wolves set the school record for wins in a regular season by beating Walter Williams and Carrboro to improve to 23-2 overall. On October 10, Cedar Ridge participated in a quad match where they defeated three teams that have either captured its conference championship or will be the top 3A team going into the 3A State Playoffs. The Red Wolves dominated Chapel Hill (champions of the DAC-VII Conference) Pinecrest (champions of the Sandhills Conference) and J.H. Rose (tied with D.H. Conley for the Big East title). Altieri was part of a contingent from White Cross that started playing against each other during elementary school that included Cameron Lloyd, Cameron Lanier and Grace Young. Together, that group has built a familiarity that has led Cedar Ridge to consecutive conference championships. On September 9, Altieri surpassed 1,000 career assists in a 3-1 win over Eastern Alamance in Mebane. Later this week, Altieri will surpass the 1,200-assists plateau when the Red Wolves play in the semifinals of the Central Carolina Conference tournament. Cedar Ridge will face either Orange or Western Alamance on Tuesday night at Red Wolves Gymnasium. In addition to being an All-Conference volleyball player, Altieri also has a 4.2 GPA and has been the starting setter for Cedar Ridge since she was a freshman.

We’ve done many interviews with Julie over the last few years. We didn’t want to burn her out by asking her to do another one last week, so enjoy this one that we taped last summer.

Through eight years in the Big 8 Conference, the Orange and Cedar Ridge volleyball teams annually competed against state championship contenders–namely Chapel Hill.

Yet they never had a chance to compete in a conference tournament simply because the league never held one.

This week that will change. The 7-team Central Carolina Conference volleyball tournament gets underway tonight with games in Hillsborough, Pittsboro and Roxboro. It will start an eventful week.

On Tuesday, the CCC semifinals will unfold with Cedar Ridge guaranteed to host one of the games. On Wednesday, there will be the tournament championship game. On Thursday, the pairings for the 3A State Tournament will be unveiled by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association. On Saturday, the state playoffs begin.

After they finished the regular season with road wins against Western Alamance and Eastern Alamance, Orange earned the #4 seed for the CCC Tournament. Once again, the Lady Panthers will face Western Alamance to open the tournament tonight at Panther Gymnasium in Hillsborough. Orange swept the regular season series from the Warriors, both by 3-0 scores.

The winner of Orange-Western Alamance will travel to Cedar Ridge on Tuesday. The Red Wolves received a bye into the semifinals after they captured the regular season title.

Also tonight, second-seeded Northwood faces 7th-seeded Williams. In Roxboro, 3rd-seeded Person welcomes #6 Eastern Alamance.

In Orange’s win over Western Alamance last week, sophomore Ella Wimsatt led Orange with eleven kills with an impressive 79% kill percentage. Wimsatt is second on the team with 104 kills. Senior Ella Van Tiem, who had ten kills against the Warriors, leads the team with 117.

Junior Caitlin Carden had 17 assists. Carden finished the regular season with 355 assists. She also led the team with 21 aces.

Cedar Ridge has already earned the top seed for the 3A State Tournament from the Central Carolina Conference after winning the regular season championship with a 12-0 record. The Red Wolves will hold that top spot regardless of who wins this week’s conference tournament. In all likelihood, Cedar Ridge will be the #1 seed for the Eastern Regional when the brackets are released on Thursday morning, meaning the Red Wolves will have home court advantage throughout the state playoffs.

As of right now, Northwood will be the #2 seed out of the CCC for the state playoffs.

Last week, the Red Wolves concluded the regular season with wins over Williams and Carrboro. The victory over the Jaguars was the sixth victory for Cedar Ridge against a team that has won its conference championship or will be the #1 seed out of its own league for the 3A State Playoffs (D.H. Conley, a 4A squad who lost to Cedar Ridge in August, plays in the 4A/3A Big East Conference and has won the league title. J.H. Rose will be the top-seeded 3A team from the Big East).

Cedar Ridge finished the regular season 23-2 overall. The school record for wins in a season is 24, held by the 2015 squad that hosted the 3A Eastern Regional Championship game, where it lost to Asheboro with a trip to the state championship match on the line.

Junior Cameron Lloyd, who eclipsed 500 kills in her career last month, finished the regular season with a team-high 213 kills. Another junior, Cameron Lanier, was second on the squad with 45 kills. Melissa Benkowitz, who transferred to Cedar Ridge from East Chapel Hill over the summer, successfully made the transition from libero to outside hitter and registered 117 kills.

Junior setter Julie Altieri, who will likely surpass 1,200 career assists this week, has a team-high 414 assists this season. Her career high for a season is 586 in 2019.

On Sunday, the NCHSAA released the latest RPI rankings. Cedar Ridge maintained its #1 ranking with a .712 RPI. J.H. Rose, who lost to the Red Wolves in three sets during a quad match at Chapel Hill High School on October 9, was ranked #2 at .695.

The CCC had four of the top eleven teams in the latest RPI rankings. Northwood, who finished behind only Cedar Ridge in the CCC, was ranked #3. Person was ranked #4. Orange came in at #11.

Kayla Hodges: Hodges was one of the seniors honored by the Elon women’s soccer team before last Sunday’s game against Towson at Rudd Field. Hodges fired two shots, including one on net, but the Tigers defeated Elon 1-0. The Phoenix are 6-5-1 overall, 1-2-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association. They face Northeastern this afternoon at 1PM in Boston.

Taylin Jean: The former Cedar Ridge goalkeeper returned to action for Division II Limestone on Saturday. The Saints defeated Coker 4-0 at Saints Field in Coker, S.C. Jean entered the game to start the second half and made one save, which was Coker’s only shot of the game. Limestone is 8-2-1, 4-2-1 in the SAC. They will host Tusculum on Wednesday.

Emerson Talley: On Wednesday, Talley played the entire second half as the Lenoir-Rhyne women’s soccer team defeated Mars Hill 5-0 at Meares Stadium. Talley fired the first shot in her college career. The Bears are 8-1-1, 6-1 in the South Atlantic Conference. They will face Tusculum in Greenville TN this afternoon at 2 PM.

Brittany Daley: The Division III Greensboro College women’s soccer team defeated William Peace University 3-0 at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary on Saturday. Daley started and played her usual 90 minutes at centerback. The victory ended a six-game winless streak for Greensboro, who won the USA South Athletic Conference Southern Division championship last spring. On Tuesday, Methodist defeated Greensboro 1-0 at Pride Field. Daley started and played the distance. The Pride are 4-9-2 overall, 2-4-1 in the USA South Athletic Conference.

Jordan Rogers: The Greensboro College-William Peace matchup pit a former Cedar Ridge player against a former Orange player. Daley for Greensboro and Rogers for Peace. Rogers started as a wingback for the Pacers in the 3-0 loss and got off one shot. On Tuesday, Peace defeated North Carolina Wesleyan 1-0 at WakeMed Soccer Park. Rogers played all 90 minutes. Peace is 4-5-2 overall, 2-3-1 in the USA South Athletic Conference.

Joey McMullin: McMullin, who reached 1,000 points for his Orange High career, played his first game during a scrimmage with the Sandhills Community College Flyers on Wednesday in Pinehurst. Fayetteville Tech defeated Sandhills 84-79. McMullin hit two free throws with 1:24 remaining to tie the game at 76-76. McMullin played 19 minutes and scored nine points off 3-of-4 shooting from the field, including one 3-pointer. Sandhills will play Blue Lights College in a scrimmage on Wednesday.

Trenton Gill: The #22 N.C. State Wolfpack football team defeated Boston College 33-7 at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, MA on Saturday night. Gill was also the holder when Wolfpack placekicker Christopher Dunn kicked an extra point to become the Wolfpack’s all-time leading scorer. On a rainy night, Gill had six punts for a 46-yard averaged. His longest was 65 yards. Four punts were downed inside the 20-yard line. He had two punts exceed 50 yards. The Wolfpack will face Miami at Hard Rock Stadium in Coral Gables, FL next Saturday night.

Keshawn Thompson: For the third time this season, the former Orange linebacker led Campbell in tackles. Thompson, who is a graduate student with the Camels, had eleven tackles (including one for a loss) and a pass breakup, but Monmuth defeated Campbell 34-17 in a battle for first place in the Big South Conference at Barker-Lane Stadium in Buies Creek. Campbell will host Kennesaw State next week for Homecoming. The Camels are 3-3 overall, 2-1 in the Big South.

Bailey Lucas: The Division III Meredith College volleyball team is on a five-match winning streak. On Saturday, the Avenging Angels swept a quad match at Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, VA. Meredith defeated Southern Virginia 3-1 on scores of 25-21, 25-21, 17-25 and 25-18. Lucas started for the Angels and had a team-high 23 assists, along with one kill and two digs. Later, Meredith defeated Mary Baldwin 3-0 on scores of 25-16, 25-16 and 25-9. Once again, Lucas led the team with 13 assists. She also had three digs. On Wednesday, Meredith defeated Methodist 3-0 at the Riddle Center in Fayetteville on scores of 25-16, 25-23 and 25-17. Lucas started once again and had 16 assists, along with two kills and seven digs. Lucas is second on the team with 318 assists. Meredith is now tied for second place in the USA South Athletic Conference South Division with Averett with a 5-2 record. William Peace is in first place at 7-0.

PITTSBORO–In the post-Pat Moser era of Orange football, the Panthers’ most competitive rivalry has been with Northwood.

In March, the Chargers prevailed 10-7 when Aidan Laros scored all of Nortwood’s points (a touchdown, the extra point and a field goal). In the fall of 2019, Orange trailed 24-6 before Machai Holt and Omarion Lewis triggered a comeback and the Panthers won 31-30 in overtime at Auman Stadium.

On Friday night, both Orange and Northwood met again, this time as members of the Central Carolina Conference. It wasn’t nearly as dramatic.

The Chargers used its power-I offense to dominate a battle of attrition, reducing Orange’s manpower to a nub and prevail 34-6 in front of a packed grandstand at Charger Stadium. Northwood (4-3, 2-1 in the Central Carolina Conference), which got all 363 yards of its offense on the ground, was led by senior tailback Jalen Page, who ran for 162 yards. Senior backup Ryan Hilliard rushed for 137 yards and three touchdowns the Chargers beat the Panthers for the second time in seven months.

The only positive aspect for Orange was that linebacker Jake Wimsatt was Northwood’s leading receiver. You read that right. With 6:46 remaining in the first quarter, after Orange punter Darius Satterfield booted a 47-yard punt to back the Chargers up to its own 4-yard line, Wimsatt picked off a pass from Northwood quarterback Carson Fortunes and returned it 13 yards for a touchdown.

Orange finished the first quarter with a 6-0 lead. They held Northwood without a first down and had just 12 yards total offense in the opening 12 minutes.

From the start of the second quarter to the end of the night, Northwood outgained Orange 351-67. Using a running game that was as successful as it was repetitive, the Chargers ran 52 plays in the final three quarters compared to Orange’s 21.

“It was the same old story,” said Orange coach Van Smith. “We play a team like that’s so big up front and we’re not big. We just got hammered on both sides of the ball.”

After being stymied by Orange’s defense, led by tackles for losses by Kameron Harshaw and Connor Ray, Page opened the second quarter with a 14-yard gain by Page on its first play from scrimmage for the Chargers’ initial first down of the game. From that point forward, Northwood scored on five of its next seven drives. The only two exceptions came when the Chargers took knees to end the first and second halves.

“They had a power formation with two tight ends and just started pounding away,” Smith said. “There wasn’t much we could do.”

Northwood faced a 4th-and-8 from the Orange 34-yard line where Fortunes ran around left end on a designed keeper for eleven yards. Freshman Gus Ritchey scored on a 12-yard burst up the middle to tie the game.

The Chargers took the lead with 2:41 remaining in the first half off a 7-play, 63-yard drive. After Paige gained ten yards on 2nd-and-7, Fortunes scored on a 2-yard quarterback sneak. Holder Jack Spotz threw to backup quarterback Kirk Haddix on the 2-point attempt to put the Chargers ahead 14-6.

Despite starting two drives in the opening quarter inside Northwood territory, the Panthers didn’t chain together two first downs in the same series all night. The Panthers finished with only three first downs, one of which came when quarterback Jared Weaver threw to wide receiver Wynston Brown for a 24-yard gain after the final points had scored.

Northwood opened the second half with a 14-play, 88-yard drive. Hilliard had four consecutive carries to cross the 50-yard line, and scored the first of his three touchdowns from ten yards out. Hilliard added touchdown runs of 28 and six yards in the fourth quarter.

Orange (2-6, 1-2) is now guaranteed its fourth consecutive non-winning season. They will travel to face Walter Williams in a nonconference game next week in Burlington. The Bulldogs defeated the Panthers 28-0 on September 24 in Hillsborough in Orange’s CCC opener.

NORTHWOOD 34, ORANGE 6

ORA–6 0 0 0-6

NWD–0 14 6 14-34

ORA-Jake Wimsatt 12 INT return (pass failed)

NWD-Gus Ritchey 8 run (Illegal forward pass penalty)

NWD-Carson Fortunes 2 run (Jack Spotz to Kirk Haddix)

NWD-Ryan Hilliard 10 run (run failed)

NWD–Hillard 28 run (Michael McGraw kick)

NWD–Hillard 6 run (McGraw kick)

RUSHING: ORANGE 20-27 (Ronald Cooper 8-19, Nate Sorrells 5-10, Jared Weaver 4-0, Jackson Wood 1-0, Omarion Lewis 1-(-1), Nate Hecht 1-(-1))

NORTHWOOD: 56-363 (Jalen Page 22-162, Ryan Hilliard 17-137 3 TD, Ritchey 5-36 TD, Fortunes 7-20 TD, Nathaniel Haley 2-8, Stephen Lane 1-3, Spotz 1-1, Will Smith 1-(-4))

PASSING: ORANGE (Weaver 5-11 63 yards, Ty Walker 0-1 INT)

NORTHWOOD (Fortunes 0-6 INT)

RECEIVING: ORANGE (Sorrells 3-32, Winston Brown 2-31)