In a few years, if Orange can maintain its current levels of participation at the junior varsity level, they’ll be better prepared to win a battle of attrition.
It’s the battle that Vance County has dictated against the Panthers over the past two years. At another time, say in 2017, when the varsity roster was at 55 players Orange would have been equipped for the challenge.
On Friday night, with a roster of 29 players (but with a growing junior varsity team), the Vipers gradually worked its way past the Panthers.
Senior Jontavious Nile rushed for 113 yards and a touchdown while Antoine Doyle caught seven passes for 95 yards to lift Vance County over Orange 14-6 at Auman Stadium to ruin the Panthers’ home opener.
The Vipers held Orange to 145 yards total offense and seven first downs, but the Panthers had a chance late because of senior Deandre Brown. A wrecking ball on defense who finished with eleven tackles, Brown also scored Orange’s only touchdown midway through the fourth quarter on a three-yard plunge. Brown jump started the dormant Orange offense and the crowd when he roared up the middle for a 20-yard gain on a 3rd-and-19 from the Vipers 49-yard line. It was Orange’s only 3rd down conversion of the night.
Orange running back Ja’ki McDaniels ran up the gut for 21 yards to break into the Vance County red zone for the first time, leading to Brown’s first touchdown of his senior season.
Before that drive, Orange had been held to 70 yards and four first downs in the opening three quarters simply because the Vance County running game kept Orange’s offense off the field. The Vipers ran 35 plays in the first half. Orange ran 12.
Orange’s Keyshawn Farrington made a stop on Nile on 3rd-and-eight as Vance County went 3-and-out in its opening drive. After Orange couldn’t move the ball on its first series, the Vipers alternated between a spread setup and the old Power-I formation to control the ball on its next drive, a 14-play, 95-yard drive. Quarterback Javion Vines-Holder threw to Andre Perry for 12 yards on a 3rd-and-2, the first of three 3rd-down conversions on the Vipers opening touchdown drive. On a 3rd-and-12 from the Vipers 33-yard line, Vance County went to the perimeter to show off its speed advantage as Vines-Holder tossed a slip screen pass to Perry for 20 yards.
There appeared to be daylight for Orange after brown tackled Nile for one yard on 2nd-and-10. But on 4th-and-7 from the Panther 18-yard line, Nile took a handoff and followed blocks from halfbacks Maurice Jackson and Zion Thornton for an 18-yard touchdown run. Aidan Labra kicked the extra point to put the Vipers ahead 7-0.
The Vipers chewed up the majority of the second quarter clock with a 11-play drive that stalled out at the Orange 5-yard line when Panther linebacker Jayden Medley stopped Symahj Charles for a two-yard gain on 4th-and-3.
After the subsequent Vance County drive died out in Viper territory, punter Ayden Foster fielded the snap while on his knees, giving Orange the ball at the Viper 30-yard line with 38 seconds remaining in the first half. Orange dialed up a double pass that was intercepted by Vines-Holder, who is also a defensive back.
Vance County scored on its opening drive of the second half. Vines-Holder found Doyle on a 3rd-and-17 for 20yards to advance the ball into Orange territory. Vines-Holder hit Doyle again for a 10-yard touchdown pass on a slant.
Following Brown’s touchdown, Orange still had time to get the ball back, but the Vipers successfully ran out the clock with another time-draining drive to improve to 3-0.
Orange (1-2) will make its first-ever trip to Montgomery Central on Friday night. Last year, Orange shut out the Timberwolves 20-0 in Hillsborough.
