Jeff Hamlin

Three weeks into the season, the Orange football team bears little resemblance to its previous two squads that won conference championships, nor should it.

The Panthers of 2014-16 ran the single wing offense under then-head coach Pat Moser. When Moser retired in June, new head coach Van Smith had to find a new offensive coordinator. Looking for an offensive coordinator that runs the single wing nowadays is akin to finding a disco group in 2017.

Steve Burdeau arrived from Richmond County in the spring and installed the spread offense just as 2016 starting quarterback Jackson Schmid stepped across the graduation stage at the Smith Center. Rodney Brooks, who has been a safety in 2016 and played quarterback sparingly, won the starting job behind center. But Orange was adjusting away from an offense that barely utilized the quarterback into a system that revolves around one.

The variance has been wide, which was never more apparent on Friday night at Rolesville.

Orange made four turnovers. Smith gave Brooks the hook after his first interception. He returned in the 2nd quarter,  leading a 97-yard drive that ended with a Payton Wilson touchdown catch. The Panthers trailed 7-6 against the 1-2 Rams for most of the half, then scored 22 points in the final 3:19 to stay ahead for good.

The Panthers held on to win 28-21 to improve to 2-1. Orange has now won 18 consecutive regular season road games.

Orange senior running back Marvante Beasley finished with 145 yards on 23 carries. Brooks had a season-high 115 rushing yards and went 11-for-24 for 106 yards passing. Wilson had five receptions for 50 yards and a touchdown.

Junior linebacker Hunter Pettiford led the Panthers with 14 tackles, including two for a loss. Junior Jett Satterfield registered 12 tackles while Noah Rogers finished with 11. Wilson had 10, including an 11-yard interception return for a touchdown. Wilson also had two sacks, while Colin Guentensberger had one.

Orange took a 6-0 lead after Brooks sprinted 64 yards on a 3rd-and-9 for a touchdown with 7:37 remaining in the first quarter, but it disguised a poor overall start. It was Orange’s only first down of the entire quarter. Two series later, Rolesville’s Juliann Stinnett intercepted a Brooks’ pass that was tipped by Wilson at the Orange 13-yard line. Three plays later, Rolesville quarterback Noah Douglas scored on a four-yard touchdown run. Thomas Buckland’s extra point put Rolesville ahead 7-6.

“We were coming off an off-week,” said Smith. “So starting this game as rusty and as poorly as we did was not a huge surprise. We you have a week of practicing at practice speed and you come back to game speed, it’s much, much difference.”

After Rolesville’s Elijah Jeffries intercepted another Brooks pass to start the second quarter, Smith yanked Brooks from the game. Brooks gathered himself and returned later in the quarter to lead, by far and away, the best Orange drive of the season: a 17-play, 97-yard drive. Brooke converted a 3rd-and-seven with a 12-yard run, then threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Wilson to put Orange ahead for good. Wilson ran in the two-point conversion to put the Panthers up 14-7.

On the next play from scrimmage, Wilson picked off a Douglas pass and walked into the end zone. Meanwhile, the Panther defense took over the game, limiting Rolesville to just seven plays from scrimmage in the second quarter.

Brooks ended the half running a successful two-minute drill for the final touchdown of the game that ended in frantic glory. After Beasley ran 22 yards to bring the Panthers into the red zone, Brooks found wide receiver Milton Purcell on a slant. Beasley was tackled inbounds and lost his shoe. Orange was out of timeouts and the clock was running with under 30 seconds remaining. Purcell ran back to the line of scrimmage, got the play call from Brooks, got his shoe back on, then caught a five-yard pass over the middle for his first touchdown of the season.

“I told the coaches to put somebody else in, but they didn’t see me,” said Purcell. “So I got my shoe back on and did what I had to do.”

Orange cruised along leading 21-7 into the fourth quarter when the Rams made a late comeback. Rolesville faked TWO punts to convert fourth downs. Josh Pullen ran for 17 yards on a 4th-and-four. Later, he threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Jeffries, who scored his first touchdown of the season.

Rolesville’s Kade West recovered an Orange fumble on the next play from scrimmage, leading to Douglas scoring on a two-yard run with 3:06 remaining. Oddly enough, Rolesville didn’t attempt an onside kick. Morgan Paschall, replacing an injured Beasley, ran for gains of 16 and 22 yards to run out the clock.

Orange travels to Riverside on Friday night. You can hear the game on Hillsboroughsports.com live starting at 6:45.

Eryk Brandon-Dean: Former Orange running back/point guard Eryk Brandon-Dean made his season debut in Guilford College’s 56-17 victory over Methodist on Saturday. Brandon-Dean had six carries for 20 yards and one reception for six yards. Brandon-Dean, now a sophomore, also had three carries for eleven yards in the Quakers’ 38-24 win over Huntingdon in Montgomery, Alabama in Labor Day weekend.

Ashley Muench: Now a senior at UNC-Greensboro, 2014 Orange graduate Ashley Muench is coming of a 2016 season where she was named All-Southern Conference for the Spartans’ volleyball team. She was also named to the SOCON All-Academic team. This season, UNCG has started 6-3. They had a five-match winning streak come to an end on Saturday in a 3-0 loss to Florida Atlantic. Muench tallied nine kills and led the Spartans with 12 digs. Last Friday in a 3-2 victory over American, Muench had 22 kills in a match where UNCG had 72 kills, the most by the team since the 2016 Southern Conference Tournament in a victory over Western Carolina. Muench had a kill to win the 2nd set against the Eagles.

Tiffany Brooks: Now a senior libero for the Shaw volleyball team, Brooks graduated from Orange in 2013. Over the weekend, the Bears competed in the Concord Classic Tournament in Athens, West Virginia, losing its first two matches before defeating Concord and West Virginia Wesleyan. In a 3-2 win over Concord, Brooks collected 26 digs. In a 3-2 win over the Bobcats, Brooks had nine digs. Brooks has played in six matches this year. Shaw is now 6-2.

Rachel Shinnick: A redshirt sophomore for the Wofford soccer team, Shinnick graduated from Orange in 2015. This season, Shinnick has played in four games for the Terriers. Last week, she entered as a reserve in Wofford’s 7-1 victory over Hampton, logging a season-high 33 minutes.

Amanda Hill: A 2016 Orange graduate, Amanda Hill is now a member of the women’s golf team at Sandhills Community College in Pinehurst. Last week in the Cutter Creek Invitational at Snow Hill, NC, Hill finished 31st, shooting an 87 in the first round, followed by an 86 in the 2nd round.

For a young man still learning quarterback under a new spread offense, Orange’s Rodney Brooks took a step forward in the Panthers’ 28-21 win over Rolesville. Brooks had a 64-yard rushing touchdown and threw for two scores, including one where Milton Purcell lost his shoe, put it on and caught a TD second later.

Orange QB Rodney Brooks on 64-yard TD run, TD pass to Milton Purcell

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For the third time in three games, Orange running back Marvante Beasley rushed for 100-yards. This time, he did it before halftime on Friday night as Orange held on to defeat Rolesville 28-21. Beasley piled up 134 yards on 22 carries, putting him at 418 yards through three games.

Marvante Beasley Discusses Running for 134 Yards vs. Roseville

For the third time in three games, Orange running back Marvante Beasley rushed for over 100 yards. In fact, he did it before halftime on Friday night against Roseville. Beasley piled up 134 yards as the Panthers held off the Rams 28-21 in Rolesville to improve to 2-1.

After winning six of its first seven matches, this week was one to forget for the Orange volleyball team.

Following conference losses to Northwood and Chapel Hill, the Panthers were swept by Roxboro Community School 3-0 on Friday night, and only the final set was close. The Bulldogs claimed its seventh straight win on scores of 25-9, 25-14 and 25-23.

Emma Clements finished with two aces, five kills, two blocks and seven digs. Libby Jones had five kills, two blocks and one dig. Faith Foushee had nine digs for the Panthers. Bailey Lucas finished with ten assists.

Orange hosts Jordan on Monday in Hillsborough, then travels to Southern Durham on Tuesday.

Cedar Ridge boys soccer waited 18 days for its first win of the season. Now they have two in four days.

Henry Mellor scored the only goal on a penalty kick as the Red Wolves defeated Northwood 1-0 on Friday night in Pittsboro. Jesus Yanez posted the clean sheet for the Red Wolves to win its Big 8 opener and improve to 2-5 overall.

If there was a time for results for Chris Walker’s team, it was now. Conference favorite Chapel Hill and archrival Orange are on tap for next week.

Speaking of the Panthers, they dropped a hard-fought Big 8 opener at East Chapel Hill 2-1 on Thursday night. R.J. Pherribo scored the only Panther goal on a penalty kick, set up by a combination play from Jamar Davis and Malcolm Phillips that led to a breakaway. Pherribo was tripped in the box, leading to the goal.

East is now 3-2. Orange falls to 3-3-2 and 0-1. The Panthers host Hillside on Monday.

Our Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is freshman #1 singles player Ivy Garner. On Thursday, Garner defeated Northern Durham’s Chloe Baker 6-1, 6-2 for her fifth win this season. Tennis isn’t even Ivy’s top sport. During the summer, she plays soccer with a club team and is planning to make her debut for the Cedar Ridge girls soccer team next spring. Her play at singles has led the Red Wolves to a 5-2 start in a new, tougher Big 8 conference.

Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week: Ivy Garner

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Evidently, four double bagel victories over Orange weren’t enough for the Cedar Ridge girls tennis team on Tuesday. So on Thursday, they did themselves one better, putting together five double bagel wins over Northern Durham.

The Red Wolves easily put away the Knights 9-0 on Thursday afternoon at Red Wolves tennis courts. Freshman Ivy Garner won the most competitive match of the day, defeating Chloe Baker 6-1, 6-2. After that, it was total Cedar Ridge domination. Olivia Ward, Kate Milner, Nora Sauers, Brianna Cellini and Maddy Werner all won their respective singles matches by a score of 6-0, 6-0.

In doubles play, Milner teamed with Sauternes to capture an 8-3 victory. Cellini partnered with Werner on a #2 doubles victory 8-1. And Rachel Quade won her 2nd doubles match of the week, teaming with Natalie Marochak to record an 8-1 win.

After a heated loss to Chapel Hill last week, the Red Wolves rebounded this week with consecutive 9-0 wins. Cedar Ridge travels to powerful East Chapel Hill Monday. The Red Wolves return home to face Hillside Wednesday.