Jeff Hamlin

No one knows when adversity will happen.

For Orange football, it came on the second drive against Riverside on Friday night. Quarterback Rodney Brooks, who rushed for over 100 yards and threw for 106 last week against Rolesville, collapsed after planting his leg on an option carry around right tackle Juan Navarro.

Replays showed no one touched him as he crumbled to the turf at Tommy Blalock Field. It was a textbook “non-contact” injury.

Brooks limped off the field and never returned, leaving the game in the hands of backup Brenden Huss. In the previous two games, Huss had appeared in one drive, throwing one pass. If there was a time for Orange to panic, this was it.

Riverside, with only one winning season since 2006, is resurrecting its program under Corey Lea, a coach known for being well-prepared and with a wealth of experience against Orange. In two years at Northern Vance, Lea won eleven games at a school that had just nine wins in the previous six years.

A funny thing happen on the way to the panic button.

New potential big play threats emerged. Senior wide receiver Sebastian Flores caught two huge passes, setting up a touchdown. Classmate Morgan Paschal scored his first touchdown of the season. The Panthers didn’t even need Payton Wilson to bail them out of bad situations. Wilson only had four touches the whole game, one on a kickoff return.

On a night when things could have imploded easily, Orange comfortably improved to 3-1 with a  23-3 victory at Linny Wrenn Stadium for its fifth consecutive win over Riverside.

Running back Marvante Beasley rushed for 121 yards on 20 carries, scoring two touchdowns. It was Beasley’s fourth consecutive 100-yard game.

Huss finished 8-of-11 for 90 yards.

Immediately after Brooks injury with 8:25 remaining in the first quarter, Huss threw to Milton Purcell for a 31-yard gain. Francisco McKinley kicked a 33-yard field goal to put Orange ahead 3-0 with 6:06 remaining in the first quarter.

On the subsequent Riverside drive, Pirates quarterback Cole Infinito’s pass was intercepted by Eryk Mercado. Huss threw to Noah Robinson on consecutive passes, gaining nine yards on a 3rd-and-8. Paschall rushed for 19 yards on the next play, and scored his first touchdown of the year on an 18-yard scamper.

Riverside got its only points early in the second quarter off a 21-yard field goal from Lance Rio, trimming the Orange lead to 13-3.

The Pirates opened the third quarter with a lengthy drive that took nearly five minutes off the clock, but ended when defensive end Ryan Sellers pressured Infinito into a  incompletion. Late in the third quarter, Huss invaded Pirate real estate with consecutive passes to Flores for gains of 17 and 19 yards. With :55 remaining in the third quarter, Beasley scored on a 31-yard touchdown run around left end.

Meanwhile, Riverside’s special teams unit became its own worst enemy in the second half. Punter Tre Fitzpatrick had the ball snapped wide to his left on back-to-back drives, setting up Orange deep in Riverside territory twice.

The first time, McKinley attempted a career-long 44-yard field goal, which hit off the face of the crossbar. The second time, Beasley plowed into the left corner of the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown, his fourth of the year.

The Orange defense held the Pirates to 91 yards total offense. Infinite finished 5-of-15 for 25 yards.

The Panthers will take next week off and travel to Southern Durham on September 29th.

Orange 23, Riverside 3

O-10    0      7      6-23

R-0       3.    0.     0-3

O-Francisco McKinley 33 FG

O-Morgan Paschall 18 run (McKinley kick)

R-Lewis Rio 21 FG

O-Marvante Beasley 31 run (McKinley kick)

O-Beasley 13 run (kick blocked)

RUSHING:

ORANGE–Beasley 19-121 2 TD, Paschall 10-45 TD, Payton Wilson 2-4, Rodney Brooks 2-(-7), Brenden Huss 2-(-7)

RIVERSIDE: D’Anthony Bright 14-60, Toriyon Jones 18-50, Kimathi Smith 1-9, Cole Infinito 2 (-10), Tre Fitzpatrick 2-(-43)

PASSING:  

ORANGE: Brooks 1-1, 6 yards; Huss 8-11 90 yards.

RIVERSIDE: Infinito 5-15 28 yards INT

RECEIVING: 

ORANGE: Sebastian Flores 2-36, Milton Purcell 2-33, Noah Robinson 2-14, Wilson 1-7, Paschall 1-5.

RIVERSIDE:

Bright 2-17, C.J. Bell 1-4, Malachi Fuller 1-4, Jalen Adams 1-0.

Last week, Orange quarterback Rodney Brooks ran for a 64-yard touchdown and threw touchdown passes to Payton Wilson and Milton Purcell as the Panthers defeated Rolesville 28-21. Brooks has learned the spread offense in his first year as starting quarterback, and also plays right field for the Orange baseball team.

Orange Panther of the Week: Rodney Brooks

Last week, Orange quarterback Rodney Brooks ran for a 64-yard touchdown and threw touchdown passes to Payton Wilson and Milton Purcell as the Panthers defeated Rolesville 28-21. Brooks has learned the spread offense in his first year as starting quarterback, and also plays right field for the Orange baseball team.

The Orange JV football team now has a winning streak that spans over three years following Thursday night’s 49-14 victory over Riverside. Cornerback B.J. Stewart had two interceptions that spawned a 21-point 3rd quarter. Machai Holt had two touchdown passes, one of them to wide receiver Zyon Pettiford.

Orange’s Zyon Pettiford, Machai Holt & B.J. Stewart Discuss JV’s 41-12 Win over Riverside

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Junior Hunter Pettiford has played three games as a full-time member of the Orange varsity football team. In all three of them, he has had double-digit tackles, including a season-high 14 against Rolesville last week. Senior defensive end Ryan Sellers is off to a solid start after leading the Panthers in sacks last season. Sellers has eight tackles for losses so far in 2017.

Orange Interior Linemen of the Week: Hunter Pettiford & Ryan Sellers

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Things couldn’t have started much better for Orange against Northern Durham on Thursday night. And it couldn’t have ended much worse.

After dropping the first set, Northern slammed past the Panthers 3-1 at Jim King Gymnasium on scores of 13-25, 25-21, 25-20 and 25-11.

Northern’s sister tandem of Alyssa and Ashlyn Stone took over the match after the second set. In the fourth set, the two combined for 12 of the Knights points, including Alyssa spiking home match point. Northern reeled off a 9-1 run to pull ahead 24-11 in the final set to improve to 9-3 overall, 5-2 in the Big 8 Conference.

Orange falls to 8-5, 3-4 in the Big 8 after winning two out of three matches this week. Freshman outside hitter Avery Riley led Orange with eleven kills, while Sophomore Emma Clements had ten kills, three aces and eleven digs. Senior Caroline Compton led the Panthers with 21 assists, along with ten digs and two kills. Sophomore Kaitlyn Werden finished with four kills and three digs. Senior libero Faith Foushee had 14 digs and an assist.

The Panthers return to action next Tuesday at East Chapel Hill. They host Hillside next Thursday.

Not only did the Orange Girls’ Tennis team earn its second win of the season on Wednesday, but nine different players earned victories.

Orange defeated Southern Durham 9-0 at Spartans Tennis Courts. Caroline Branan took the victory at #1 singles 8-1, while Karoline Gillfillen earned an 8-2 win at #2 singles. Senior Leah Gates took the win at #6 singles 8-1; Emma Williamson prevailed 8-0 at #3 singles, senior Payton Clayton got an 8-1 victory at #4 singles and senior Chandler Woods completed the sweep at singles with an 8-0 victory.

In doubles play, Clayton teamed with Sara Campbell to win #1 doubles 8-5, the most competitive match of the day. Sydney Allison and Lindsey Jouannet teamed to win at #2 doubles 8-0 and Gaylaw Eh and Eli Baucom Hays earned an 8-1 victory at #3 doubles.

Orange will return to action against Northern Durham at Orange High Tennis Courts on Tuesday afternoon.

The bleachers at Red Wolves Stadium had almost emptied as Cedar Ridge boys soccer coach Chris Walker finished meeting with the media, then realized something he would have rather not noticed.

“This is the first time I’ve lost to Orange here,” said Walker, looking around the field. “We tied last year here, but we’ve never lost to them.”

During Walker’s five years at Cedar Ridge, the Red Wolves had gone 3-0-1 against the Panthers. What made the difference on Wednesday night was experience. Orange has it right now and Cedar Ridge doesn’t.

Orange (5-3-2) defeated the Red Wolves 4-1 by scoring three goals in the final 17 minutes. Panther senior Ewan McCallum notched the game-winning goal off a corner kick, assisted by classmate Jamar Davis.

Two minutes later, Orange captain Malcolm Phillips added insurance with a free kick goal from just outside the box when Cedar Ridge was called for a handball. Davis ended the scoreline with his eighth goal of the season with 3:19 remaining.

The late Orange goals only partially obscured a solid performance by Cedar Ridge goalkeeper Jesus Yanez, who kept the Red Wolves even with its crosstown rivals a majority of the second half. Yanez made six saves in the 2nd half, including a stone cold robbery of Phillips, who fired a line drive off a rebound from eight yards away with 24:01 remaining.

Remarkably, the senior Yanez is playing his first year at the high school level after several years playing in local recreational leagues.

“I thought he played amazing,” said Walker. “He made one mistake late on the goal on the short side. He has great hands, great movement. If he wasn’t in net, they probably could have mercy ruled us.”

Orange improves to 5-3-2 and keeps hope alive for a winning season, something the Panthers haven’t achieved this decade. In 2015, Orange finished 10-10-2.

“We’re starting to work a lot better as a team, communicating more,” said Orange goalkeeper Noah Miller. “We’re moving off the ball better, making better touches. If we keep doing that every day, we’re going to be a lot better.

Orange junior R.J. Pherribo got the opening goal with 14:37 remaining in the first half off a set up from Drew Jagentenfl. In open field, Victor turned back Pherribo’s first attempt, but the Panther converted the rebound.

Cedar Ridge was held to one shot on net in the first half due to solid play from the Orange backline, led by senior Omar Landeros.

“We started talking more in the second half,” said Landeros. “The balls that they were playing down the middle, we were stepping up towards them. When you’re pressuring the ball like that, there’s no way they’re going to keep possession.”

Trailing 1-0 at the half, Cedar Ridge’s Brandon Garcia got the equalizer off a free kick with 31:36 remaining off a free kick set up off a foul drawn by Tatha Hso 20 yards from the net.

Leading up to his 2nd half goal, Garcia had Cedar Ridge’s best attempts at a goal in the first half. The biggest came with 6:21 remaining when Hso set him up from the edge of the box from 19 yards, but Garcia’s shot lofted over the crossbar and through the football goalposts.

Cedar Ridge played without centerback Cameron Koehler, who pulled his hamstring.

Cedar Ridge falls to 2-7 despite valiant efforts this week against Chapel Hill and Orange. Walker, who had to replace 12 seniors to start this season, feels the best is yet to come.

“I knew coming in that Orange was strong,” said Walker. “We got worn out tonight against a good team. They just kept attacking and we made some mistakes. I think if we stay poised and keep improving in the midfield, we can get better.”

Cedar Ridge travels to Northern Durham on Monday and hosts East Chapel Hill on Wednesday. The Panthers travel to Northwood on Monday before hosting Chapel Hill next Wednesday in a vital match.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is junior soccer midfielder Tatha Hso. Last week, Hso played a huge role in setting up two goals in Cedar Ridge’s 3-2 victory over Graham, the first win of the season for a team that is starting one senior and a goalkeeper playing his first year at the high school level. Two days later, Hso performed well defensively in a 1-nil victory over Northwood in the Red Wolves’ Big 8 opener. Hso discussed what’s ahead for the Red Wolves following a week where they played valiantly in losses against Chapel Hill and Orange.

Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week: Tatha Hso

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