There were plenty of milestones at Auman Stadium on Friday night.
DeVante’ Pettiford officially became the first Black head coach in Orange High football history.
Sydney Rogers became the first female player to score a point in Orange High football history.
Khawan Bobbitt played his final game against Orange, and there’s no one connected with Orange football that will miss him.
Bobbitt, who has played quarterback and running back for South Granville since he was a freshman, scored three touchdowns and as the Vikings used a smothering ball control offense to score the final 26 points and defeat Orange 33-10 on Friday night in Hillsborough.
It was South Granville’s third win over the Panthers since 2019, a year where Bobbitt was a freshman quarterback running the triple option. Bobbitt, who was moved to running back midway through the 2021 season by head coach Mike Hobgood, ran for 132 yards. In three career games against Orange, Bobbitt rushed for 250 yards and factored in on seven touchdowns, six of them on the ground.
Facing an Orange defense with ten new starters, South Granville averaged 8.8 yards per carry and punted once. Senior Sha’king Allah, who alternated with Bobbitt at running back, ran for 129 yards, his second career 100-yard game.
All of which belies the fact that Orange nearly led at halftime following a string of remarkable 4th-down conversions. South Granville scored on its opening possession when quarterback Charlie Vestal found Antoine Doyle for an 11-yard score. To start the second quarter, Orange starting quarterback Ty Walker hit Ja’Ki McDaniels for a 26-yard touchdown pass into the left corner of the end zone. Rogers became the first female player to score a point in Orange football history when she evened the game on an extra point.
After the Panthers forced the only South Granville punt of the game midway through the second quarter, it appeared the subsequent drive would stall out. Following a holding penalty and a sack by the Vikings’ Nehemiah Hunter, Orange faced a 3rd-and-33 from its own 36-yard line. Orange quarterback Hank Nunnery, who alternated with Walker, hit running back Nathan Sorrells for a 20-yard gain to return to the original line of scrimmage. On 4th-and-ten, Nunnery hit Sorrells again out of the backfield for a 17-yard gain for a new set of downs.
Orange converted yet another 4th-and-10 when Nunnery found Sorrells for a 20-yard fade pattern to the South Granville 5-yard line. Orange, which struggled in short-yardage situations, lost one yard on the next three running plays, leaving Rogers to become the first female in Orange football history to kick a field goal on a 25-yarder with four seconds remaining in the first half.
The announcement of Rogers’ accomplishment pumped energy into Auman Stadium that gave the partisan crowd reason to think Orange would win its first season opener since 2017. True to form, Bobbitt dashed that hope in one fatal swoop. Bobbitt initially struggled with Rogers’ ensuing kickoff, but picked it up and rumbled up the middle of the field to score on a 78-yard return. As Grayson Gaul tacked on the extra point, the vibrant enthusiasm once in the Panthers’ grandstand quickly evaporated as the Vikings’ led 14-10.
“This game can be a game of dominos, if you let it,” Pettiford said. “That one play, if it didn’t happen, we’d be going into the locker room with the lead. That one did take our momentum.”
South Granville’s ground game took over the second half, opening with a 6:14 drive in the third quarter that nearly ended with disaster. Bobbitt, Allah and Traevon White took turns carrying the ball on a 67-yard drive. After Allah punched the ball into the red zone, Vikings’ quarterback Charlie Vestel floated a pass for Antoine Doyle. It appeared that Sorrells picked off the pass as he fell to the ground, but the official ruled Doyle ripped the ball away from him, somehow without it hitting the ground. Doyle jaunted into the end zone much to the protests of the Orange sideline.
On the Panthers’ opening drive of the second half, they got a strong run from Jabari Albright, tacked on by a personal foul penalty, that carried the ball deep inside Vikings’ territory. Once the Panthers’ reached the Viking 24-yard line, Walker was sacked by Hunter, then was pressured into consecutive incompletions to lose the ball on downs.
Two plays later, Bobbitt delivered one, final blow to the Panthers, taking the ball on an end sweep and scoring on a 75-yard run down the Vikings’ sideline to increase the South Granville lead to 27-10. South Granville held the ball for the opening 5:49 of the fourth quarter, ending with a 12-yard touchdown run by Allah with 6:11 remaining.
Despite losing its first game, there were positive signs for Orange. Last year, on a dismal, muddy night in Creedmoor, the Panthers’ had only 15 yards total offense and one first down against the Vikings. On Friday night, they had 250 yards, nine first downs and crossed midfield on six of its seven drives.
“I was really proud of our offense,” Pettiford said. “I felt every time we had the ball, we had a chance to keep moving it and score. We have to get a little more polished. We have to cut down on our mistakes. Nathan Sorrells played a heck of a game tonight. He represented what Panther football is all about on offense and defense.”
Most memorable of all was Rogers, who became the first female football player in Orange history. Rogers, who won both her singles matches against Voyager Academy and Southern Alamance last week, scored Orange’s last four points. Last spring, she was a starting midfielder for Orange women’s soccer team, which reached the third round of the 3A State Playoffs for the first time ever.
“I love the intensity she brings,” Pettiford said of Rogers. “She is a heck of a kicker. I love the intensity she brings. When they said her name, the whole stadium lit up. I’m proud of what she brings she to this team.”
SOUTH GRANVILLE 33, ORANGE 10
SG–7 7 7 12–33
OR-0 10 0 0–10
SG–Antoine Doyle 13 pass from Charlie Vestal (Grayson Gaul kick)
OR–Ja’Ki McDaniels 26 pass from Ty Walker (Sydney Rogers kick)
OR–Rogers 25 FG
SG–Khawan Bobbitt 78 kickoff return (Gaul kick)
SG–Doyle 19 pass from Vestal (Gaul kick)
SG–Bobbitt 73 run (kick failed)
SG–Allah 12 run (kick failed)
RUSHING–SOUTH GRANVILLE 30-265 2 TD (Bobbitt 8-132 TD, Allah 21-129 TD, Travon White 1-4)
ORANGE 28-86 (Nate Sorrells 13-64, Jabari Albright 2-33, Ja’Ki McDaniels 5-11, Derk Yanko 2-2, Jaylen Starks 1-1, Walker 3-(-8), Hank Nunnery 2-(-16).
PASSING: SOUTH GRANVILLE (Vestal 3-7 41 yards 2 TD INT)
ORANGE: 17-25 181 TD (Walker 10-16 101 yds TD, INT, Nunnery 7-9 80 yds)
RECEIVING: SOUTH GRANVILLE (Doyle 2-31 2 TD, Nehemiah Hunter 1-10)
ORANGE: (Sorrells 8-76, Wynston Brown 2-51, McDaniels 3-37 TD, Shaun Beasley 2-8, Deandre Brown 1-9)