Orange Football

The fall sports season will officially end in Hillsborough on Saturday—unless Orange football can make the state playoffs.

The possibility of that appears remote, at best, as of Wednesday night. Orange’s current MaxPreps ranking is #69. Assuming that Orange beats Chapel Hill on Friday night, three of Orange’s five wins will have come against teams ranked in the bottom ten of 3A football, according to MaxPreps.

The Cedar Ridge men’s soccer team narrowly missed the state playoffs. The field of 64 was announced on Monday morning. Cedar Ridge was on the bubble, but missed out after losing to Southern Durham in the season finale.

Cedar Ridge ended the season 7-12-1, 5-9 in the Big 8 Conference.

The Cedar Ridge women’s cross country team has a good showing in the 3A Mideast Regionals at Northwood High School in Pittsboro. While Cedar Ridge didn’t qualify for the state championships as a team, like last year, there are several individual Red Wolves who will participate in the states on Saturday at Ivey Redmon Park in Kernersville.

Here is this week’s Magnificent 7, which will be the next-to-last edition for the fall sports season. We’ll begin focusing on winter sports next week.

Anne Morrell: Finished 12th at the 3A Mideast Regional Cross Country Championships at Northwood High. Morrell, a junior, qualified for the state championships for the third year in a row with a time of 20:16.4.

Zoe Wade: Finished 24th at the Mideast Regional Championships. Crossed the finish line at 21:05.84. Wade also qualified for the 3A State Championships. A sophomore, Wade will have participated in the state championships each of her first two years at Cedar Ridge.

Desi Raspberry: Cedar Ridge junior wide receiver had three receptions for 69 yards, including a 55-yard touchdown pass from William Berger against crosstown rival Orange on Friday night. Raspberry had the most yards from scrimmage for the Red Wolves.

Elliott Woods: Had 87 rushing yards and two touchdowns for Orange in a victory over Cedar Ridge at Red Wolves Stadium. Woods also had two tackles. Coming into the game, Woods led Orange in receptions and tackles. He was named this week’s Orange Panther of the Week.

Omarion Lewis: A sophomore, Lewis had a career-high 173 yards rushing against Cedar Ridge. Lewis added two touchdowns. He now leads the team in rushing yards and touchdowns this season, even though he missed the season-opener against R.J. Reynolds because it appeared he would spend this season on the junior varsity team.

Joseph Kiger: Led Orange in receiving with a career-high five receptions for 62 yards and a touchdown. On defense, Kiger led the team with six tackles. He also had ten rushing yards. Kiger also was the long snapper on extra points for kicker Nigel Slanker. He will play his final game in Hillsborough against Chapel Hill on Friday.

Bennett Fleming: The top finisher for the Orange men’s cross country team last week at the Mideast Regionals. Fleming came in 32nd with a time of 18:08.88. At the Big 8 Cross Country Championships at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, Fleming was also the top finisher for Orange.

Win or lose on Friday night’s season-finale at Auman Stadium, Chapel Hill’s players will probably walk off the field in a double-file formation.

That’s Issac Marsh’s way. He doesn’t stop coaching his players once the game ends. As a special needs teacher at CHHS, he knows proper tutelage is needed throughout a young person’s life.

When Chapel Hill didn’t field a varsity football team in 2018, it was heartbreaking for many longtime high school football fans. Just four years prior, Chapel Hill had played in the 3-AA Eastern Regional Championship game, losing to Northern Guilford.

Then again, perhaps the cancellation of a season was the only logical extension for Marsh. He’s has seen just about everything else in his 15 years at Chapel Hill. He’s the most successful football coach in school history. In 2007, he led the Tigers to its first state playoff win since the mid-1960s, when the school was still on Franklin Street.

He even led Chapel Hill to a 2008 PAC-6 Championship in the Tigers final season as a 4A school.

When the National Football League commemorated the 50th Super Bowl in 2015, they sent gold footballs to all high schools that had a player participate in any of the previous 49 NFL Championship games.

Chapel Hill received one. Orange didn’t, but they should have.

In the early 1990s, when high school football received more coverage because newspapers were still a primary influence (the Durham Herald-Sun doesn’t even print a Saturday edition anymore), Chapel Hill-Orange was the biggest rivalry in Orange County by default. It was the only rivalry in Orange County since they were the only two high schools.

Nonetheless, the vast majority of coverage was focused on Northern Durham since the Knights had several state championship contenders at that time. What slipped through the cracks was that Orange and Chapel Hill often played excellent games featuring players who would go on to long, distinguished careers.

In 1990, Orange defeated Chapel Hill at Auman Stadium in Jermaine Lattie returned a fumble for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. On the field that night for Chapel Hill was Bernardo Harris, who would go on to play at UNC in the glory years of Mack Brown. Despite going undrafted, Harris would spend nine seasons in the NFL and play in Super Bowl 31 for the Green Bay Packers, who defeated New England 35-21 for Brett Farve’s only world championship.

On top of that, no less than three players who would go on to become instrumental parts of Appalachian State’s 1995 Southern Conference Championship team were on the field. At safety for Chapel Hill was Matt Stevens, a native of Michigan. After graduating from Boone, Stevens went on to eight-year NFL career that included a stop in New England in 2001. That year ended with a quarterback named Tom Brady leading the Patriots to its first World Championship over St. Louis.

Of course, for Orange there was quarterback/safety Scott Satterfield, who would start a long association with Appalachian the following year as the quarterback on head coach Jerry Moore’s scout team. 22 years later, he would become the Mountaineers’ head coach.

Tailback Damon Scott shared the backfield with Satterfield, both in Hillsborough and in Boone. Scott would become an FCS (then it was I-AA) All-American at Appalachian and graduate in 1997.

Two years later, Orange’s Alvis Whitted would have a memorable moment of his own against Chapel Hill–no matter how hard he tries to forget. On a rainy Monday night where the field was a quagmire of mud, Chapel Hill kicked off after a touchdown. Whitted, with his cleats digging in the mud, took the ball on a reverse and had the entire side of the field to himself. But the mud stopped him and Whitted slipped and fell at the Chapel Hill 1-yard line. On the next snap, quarterback Mark Pounds fumbled and Chapel Hill recovered, won the game and went on to the state playoffs in Bill Hodgin’s final year.

Whitted went on to play for the Oakland Raiders and played special teams in Super Bowl 37 against Tampa Bay. Yet Orange never got its gold football from Roger Goodell’s office four years ago. Perhaps the commissioner is a reader of the website and can correct this wrong.

On Friday night, the Orange Panthers defeated Cedar Ridge in a spirited contest between the two rivals. Elliott Woods had two rushing touchdowns. Zyon Pettiford scored on a 57-yard touchdown reception, his longest gain of the year. Desi Raspberry had an early touchdown for the Red Wolves, while William Berger added a rushing touchdown in the first quarter. Enjoy highlights from the game from Thompson Team Films.com. Shayne Thompson can help your athlete get recruited by spreading videos across college circles. Go to Thompsonteamfilms.com to learn more!

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is junior wingback/linebacker Elliott Woods. On Friday night, the Orange football team defeated crosstown rival Cedar Ridge. Entering the game, Woods led Orange with 15 receptions for 280 yards. Against the Red Wolves, Woods had two rushing touchdowns and a season high 87 rushing yards. Woods also leads Orange with 83 tackles, including eight for a loss. Woods had a key interception against Northwood that triggered the Panthers to a come-from-behind victory after trailing 24-6 midway through the third quarter. Woods has only played football for four years, but has learned quickly to have a solid season. He will conclude the 2019 season against Chapel Hill on Friday night. You can hear that game on Hillsboroughsports.com starting at 6:45 with the C&R Ski Outdoor pregame show. 

It isn’t really news that Cedar Ridge High has the lowest enrollment in the Big 8 Conference, according to the latest Average Daily Membership figures released by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association on Monday afternoon.

However, enrollment is up at Cedar Ridge compared to last year, while Orange High’s ADM had a minor drop.

Cedar Ridge’s ADM is 1076 for the 2019-2020 academic year. Last year, it was 1025. Both figures were easily the lowest in the Big 8 Conference.

On the other side of Hillsborough, Orange’s ADM was 1,306. That’s down slightly from last academic year, when it was 1,326.

In the 2017-18 academic year, Cedar Ridge’s ADM was 1,145. Orange was at 1,324.

Of the 109 3A schools in the state of North Carolina, only eleven have a lower ADM total than Cedar Ridge. Those schools are Eastern Wayne (891), Hunter Huss (1,046), Monroe (1,006), White Oak (1,057), Montgomery Central (a new school that is the only 3A member of the 3A/2A Rocky River Conference with 1,060), South Brunswick (1,033), Havelock (1,036), East Rowan (939), Tuscola (948), Southwest Randolph (1,026), and Stuart Cramer (1,032).

Among Big 8 Conference schools, Northern Durham has the highest ADM (1,707). Southern Durham was second with 1,575. Chapel Hill finished with 1,536, followed closely by crosstown rival East Chapel Hill (1528), and Northwood (1,306). Vance County, which consolidated Northern and Southern Vance in 2018, had 1,245.

The ADM numbers are released just in time for the state football playoffs. The brackets will be released on Saturday.

The Orange football team finishes its season against Chapel Hill on Friday night. The Panthers currently have a MaxPreps ranking of #69, placing them on the bubble to make the state playoffs. Chances are, if the Panthers do make the postseason, it will be in the 3A State Tournament, as opposed to the 3AA.

These figures will also be used by the NCHSAA Board of Directors when discussions continue regarding realignment this winter.

In May, NCHSAA President Que Tucker announced that the association would delay the realignment process by one year to pursue a fifth class. A proposal to allow the NCHSAA to add a 5A class is expected sometime next spring. Tucker was quoted as saying that if a fifth class is added, it would end the practice of awarding eight state champions in football. Instead, the NCHSAA would crown five state champions.

The new realignment plan would take effect in August 2021.

The subdivision of the four classifications started in 2002 in North Carolina.

Some Cedar Ridge parents and graduates want the Red Wolves to return to the 2A classification. The Red Wolves were members of the 2A/1A Carolina 10 Conference until the end of the 2012-13 academic year. In 2010, the Cedar Ridge football team reached the 2AA Eastern Regional Championship game, where they lost to traditional power Elizabeth City Northeastern.

For comparison’s sake, there are other neighboring schools that have an ADM in the same ballpark as Cedar Ridge. That includes Orange’s former PAC-6 Conference rival Person, which had 1,095. Rockingham County, who competes against Cedar Ridge in several sports, had an ADM of 1082. Southern Guilford, West Rowan, West Carteret (who Cedar Ridge has defeated each of the last two years in the state softball playoffs), Forestview, North Gaston and North Henderson all had ADMs of under 1,100.

The largest 3A school was Clayton with 1,951. Eastern Wayne was the smallest.

The largest 2A school was Atkins at 1,138. The smallest 4A school was West Mecklenburg at 1,262. Myers Park has the largest public school enrollment in the state at 3,688.

Payton Wilson: It was another long day for the N.C. State football team on Saturday. #23 Wake Forest handled the Wolfpack 44-10 at BB&T Field in Winston-Salem. For the first time in his college career, Wilson led the Wolfpack with eleven tackles, including one for a loss. Wilson also had a pass breakup. A redshirt freshman, Wilson is now third on the team with 46 tackles. He’s also tied for third with 4.5 tackles for loss. N.C. State will face #4 Clemson next Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh.

Trenton Gill: The 2018 Cedar Ridge graduate was busy for N.C. State on Saturday. Gill had eight punts averaging 46 yards per boot. Three of the punts went over 50 yards and two were downed inside the 20-yard line. His longest punt was 61 yards. Gill also had three kickoffs, two of which were touchbacks.

Adam Chnupa: Many people know Virginia Tech and UNC played the first college football game ever that ended with dueling two-point conversions in the fifth and sixth overtimes two weeks ago. On Saturday, Adam Chnupa played in the second for the FCS Elon Phoenix. William & Mary defeated Elon 31-29 in five overtimes at Rhode Stadium on the Phoenix’s Homecoming. Chnupa played special teams for Elon. The Phoenix are now 4-5, 3-3 in the Colonial Athletic Association. They host Maine next week.

Keshawn Thompson: The FCS Campbell Camels loss in heartbreaking fashion at North Alabama 25-24 at Braly Stadium in Florence, AL on Saturday. The Lions’ Joe Gurley kicked a 20-yard field goal as time expired. Thompson played the game on special teams for the Camels, whose six-game winning streak was snapped. Campbell is still undefeated in the Big South Conference (North Alabama will officially join the Big South in 2020. They’re a provisional FCS program this season after jumping up from Division II). Campbell hosts Kennesaw State next Saturday.

Rodney Brooks: Division II Fayetteville State defeated Livingstone 32-0 at Alumni Memorial Stadium in Salisbury on Saturday. Brooks made three tackles for the Blue Bears, including one for a loss. Livingston falls to 4-5, 1-5 in the CIAA. They end the season next week against Johnston C. Smith for Senior Day.

Kevin Wright: Division III North Carolina Wesleyan defeated Methodist 48-24 at Monarch Stadium in Fayetteville. Wright, a 2018 Cedar Ridge graduate, had two tackles for the Battling Bishops. Wesleyan is 4-4, 3-2 in the USA South Athletic Conference. They travel to Huntingdon next Saturday.

Taylin Jean: Mount Olive defeated Division II Limestone 2-1 at Saints Field in Gaffney, S.C. on Saturday in a showdown for first place in Conference Carolinas. Jean started as goalkeeper for the Saints once again and made two saves. Limestone is 8-8, 7-3 in Conference Carolinas . The Trojans wrapped up the Centennial Conference regular season championship with the victory.

Brittany Daley: The Division III Greensboro College women’s soccer team advanced to the USA South Conference Tournament semifinals on Saturday. The Pride defeated Huntingdon 2-0 at Pride Field in Greensboro. Daley started her 18th game of the season at center back. Greensboro will face Covenant in the semifinals at Maryville College in Tennessee on Friday.

Lili Henry: The Division III Methodist volleyball team ended its regular season on Saturday in a tri-match at the Riddle Center in Fayetteville. William Peace defeated the Monarchs 3-0 on scores of 25-20, 25-20, and 25-15. Henry had 13 assists, five digs and one ace against the Pacers. Earlier in the day, Greensboro College edged the Monarchs 3-2 on scores of 16-25, 25-22, 11-25, 25-16 and 12-15. Henry led the team with 29 assists, eleven digs and one ace. Methodist concludes the regular season 6-19, 5-11 in the USA South Conference. The Monarchs still play in the USA South Conference tournament with a road trip to William Peace on Tuesday.

Photo from Will Okin

The storybook ending for the eight Cedar Ridge seniors that embodied patience and courageousness will come eventually.

It just didn’t come on Friday night.

Not at this point in time when Orange is too talented, too deep and too experienced.

After a one-year interruption in the rivalry when Cedar Ridge didn’t field a varsity team in 2018, the series continued Friday night as Orange scored four unanswered touchdowns to defeat the Red Wolves 43-14 on Senior Night at Red Wolves Stadium. Panthers’ sophomore running back Omarion Lewis rushed for a career-high 170 yards and two touchdowns as Orange (4-6, 3-3 in the Big 8) beat its crosstown rival for the seventh straight time.

In the absence of starting wingback Machai Holt, who missed the game, Lewis now leads Orange with 682 rushing yards and eleven touchdowns.

Cedar Ridge played without leading rusher Isaiah McCambry, who injured his right shoulder against Southern Durham last week. Despite that, the Red Wolves scored touchdowns on its first two possessions. Sophomore quarterback William Berger hit Desi Raspberry for a 55-yard touchdown pass. Berger found Zachary Holmes on a crossing pattern on the two-point conversion to give Cedar Ridge an 8-7 lead.

On its second drive, Berger led Cedar Ridge down the field on a 7-play, 77-yard drive, its only sustained drive of the game. Berger connected with Raspberry on a 29-yard pass to five midfield. After Baxter Mergenthal reached the edge of the goal line for a first down, Berger scored on a quarterback sneak with :56 remaining in the first quarter.

After that, the Red Wolves were held to two yards total offense and zero first downs during the middle two quarters.

“I was real proud of my team for how we handled the storm,” said Orange coach Van Smith. “They (Cedar Ridge) came out excited and fired up because it was a crosstown rivalry and their senior night. They had a good game plan for how to attack us. But we answered and settled in and started playing better defense.”

The Red Wolves (1-9, 1-5) will conclude its season next week at Vance County.

“I think we came out energized,” said Cedar Ridge coach Torrean Hinton. “My hat is off to Orange. They came out here and played hard. Our guys came out and tried things a little different and it was working. Usually when you get down into the trenches of the game, bodies start to fall, fatigue plays a factor. And the better team won today.”

Orange started the game with a 57-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Wyatt Jones to senior wide receiver Zyon Pettiford. it was the longest touchdown catch of the year for Pettiford.

Following Raspberry’s touchdown, the Panthers responded with a 10-play, 80-yard drive. Elliott Woods scored on a four-yard run up the middle. Senior wide receiver Joe Kiger hooked up with Jones on the ensuing two-point conversion to boost Orange’s lead to 15-8.

Orange rolled up a season-best 414 yards total offense to snap a five-game road losing streak. They defeated Northwood in Pittsboro on October 17, 2018.

“Joe made some big plays in the second half,” Smith said. “That one touchdown was a fantastic catch. I thought that first half was as good of a half as he’s played all season.”

Oranges wingback Elliott Woods, who also had a season-high with 87 rushing yards, scored on a 10-yard touchdown run to open the second quarter.

Caulin Fansler blocked a punt on the following Cedar Ridge drive, which led to Kiger’s second touchdown catch of the night from Jones on a 19-yard fade. Orange led 29-14 at the half.

Lewis crossed the goal line on Orange’s first series of the second half. On a 10-play, 82-yard drive, orange kept the ball exclusively on the ground. After Jones ran for 19 yards on a read option to jump start the drive, Lewis ended it with a 12-yard touchdown.

Lewis scored on a two-yard run early in the fourth quarter for his eleventh touchdown of the year.

It wasn’t the ending that Mergenthal, Braden Thompson, Zachary Holmes, Matthew Hinton, Brandon Poteat, or K.J. Barnes wanted. But just as no football dynasty lasts forever, no struggling program stays lean on wins forever, either.

Whenever Cedar Ridge football gets back to where it once was, the unsung heroes will be the ones for played its final home game at Red Wolves Stadium on Friday night.

“We had that conversation earlier this week,” Hinton said. “I told them that whatever happens after this year, when we start to pull this thing together, these guys will be the cornerstones of that. They’re the guys we build around. All of them are going to be great kids moving forward. I just hate it that the outcome of this game was what it was. But those guys are our strength and they exemplify what it means to be a Cedar Ridge football player.”

ORANGE 43, CEDAR RIDGE 14

ORA-15 14 7 7-43

CR—14 0 0 0-14

ORA-Zyon Pettiford 57 pass from Wyatt Jones (Nigel Slinkier kick)

CR–Desi Raspberry 55 pass from William Berger (Berger to Zachary Holmes)

ORA–Elliott Woods 4 run (Jones to Joe Kiger)

CR–Berger 1 run (run failed)

ORA—Woods 10 run (Slanker kick)

ORA-Kiger 19 pass from Jones (Slanker kick)

ORA—Omarion Lewis 19 run (Slanker kick)

ORA—Lewis 2 run (Slanker kick)

RUSHING: ORANGE 40-295 4 TD (Lewis 19-170 2 TD, Woods 15-87 2 TD, Jones 3-22, Kiger 3-11, Courtney Edwards 1-5, Connor Ray 2-4)

CEDAR RIDGE: 24-8 (Aidan Seagroves 15-34, Brandon Poteat 1-6, Braxton Mergenthal 1-1, Elijah Whitaker 2-(minus 9), K.J. Barnes 2-(minus 11), Berger 3-(minus 16) TD)

PASSING: ORANGE: Jones 6-11 119 TD

CEDAR RIDGE: BERGER 6-15 115 TD

RECEIVING: ORANGE: (Kiger 5-62 TD, Pettiford 1-57 TD)

CEDAR RIDGE: (Raspberry 3-69 TD, Barnes 3-46)

The Orange Panthers rolled up a season-high 414 yards total offense in beating Cedar Ridge 43-14 on Friday night. Left guard Dari’us Matkins had a strong game as the Panthers registered 185 rushing yards. Matkins has also played defensive line for Orange this season. Now, Matkins wants to help the Panthers reach the state playoffs. Orange will host Chapel Hill for senior night next Friday at Auman Stadium in Hillsborough. With the win over Cedar Ridge, Orange has surpassed its win total from last year and they retained the victory bell for another year. 

Sophomore Omarion Lewis had a career-high 170 yards on 20 carries as Orange pulled away from Cedar Ridge 43-15 on Friday night. The Red Wolves took a 15-14 lead after quarterback William Berger scored on a quarterback sneak late in the first quarter. After Elliott Woods opened the second quarter with a touchdown, Lewis controlled the second half. Lewis scored on a five-yard touchdown run to complete a 10-play, 82-yard drive on Orange’s first series of the second half. Lewis also had a 59-yard run to conclude the third quarter, and ended the scoring with a two-yard run. Brimmer who has been a varsity player since his sophomore year, will play his final game at Auman Stadium next Friday against Chapel Hill. He’s looking to beat Chapel Hill and potentially put Orange into the state playoffs. 

The fall sports season is drawing to a close with some playoff intrigue in football and men’s soccer. On Monday night, the Cedar Ridge men’s soccer team dropped a 1-0 decision to Southern Durham on senior night at Red Wolves Stadium. The Spartans scored in the opening minute and largely packed in its defense the rest of the game to hold Cedar Ridge scoreless.

It was a costly loss to Cedar Ridge’s playoff chances. On Tuesday, the Red Wolves’ MaxPreps ranking fell to #68. They’re 7-12-1 overall, 5-9 in the Big 8 Conference. While Southern Durham’s MaxPreps ranking is #67, they can’t make the state playoffs ahead of the Red Wolves because Cedar Ridge finished ahead of them in the Big 8 standings.

Last week, the Orange football team kept its playoff hopes alive with a dramatic 31-30 overtime win over Northwood. Machai Holt scored in overtime for the game-winning score. Sophomore Omarion Lewis scored three touchdowns.

On Saturday, the season ended for the Cedar Ridge and Orange High volleyball teams. Terry Sanford defeated the Red Wolves 3-1 in the opening round of the 3A State Playoffs. Clayton swept Orange. Two nights later the Comets stunned previously undefeated Grey’s Creek 3-0 to advance to the Round of 16.

The Big 8 Conference Cross Country Championships were held at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary last Thursday. We’ll have more details on the results in a post coming up later tonight.

Now, here’s the Magnificent 7 from Week 9 of the Fall Sports Season:

Anne Morrell: Finished 10th in the Big 8 Women’s Cross Country Championships with a time of 19:52.70. Helped Cedar Ridge finish 3rd in the Big 8. The Red Wolves will compete in the 3A Mideast Regionals at Northwood High School in Pittsboro on Saturday.

Allison Musty: This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week, Musty was also named to the All-Big 8 Conference team in women’s cross country (Morrell was, as well). Musty finished 15th overall in the Big 8 Championships, crossing the finish line at 20:34.30.

Reese Weaver: Scored a hat trick in Cedar Ridge’s 9-0 win over Vance County on October 23. Weaver has eleven goals for the Red Wolves this season.

Levi Draughon: A sophomore, Draughon finished 19th in the Big 8 Men’s Cross Country Championships for Cedar Ridge. He was the highest finisher among Cedar Ridge runners. Cedar Ridge finished 4th as a team.

Omarion Lewis: The sophomore Orange running back was named the Orange Panther of the Week after rushing for 95 yards and three touchdowns in the Panthers 31-30 win over Northwood in overtime last Friday night. Lewis leads the team in rushing.

Machai Holt: Made an interception in the fourth quarter of the Northwood game. Two plays later, Holt scored off a 32-yard touchdown pass from Wyatt Jones to tie the game against Northwood. Holt scored on a 10-yard touchdown run in overtime. Holt leads the team with eight touchdowns.

McKenzie Hawks: Hawks competed in the 3A Central Regional Women’s Golf Championships at Greensboro National Golf Club last week. Hawks, a senior, shot 107. Sarah Durham, an Orange sophomore, were the only Hillsborough representatives in the Central Regional Championships.