Orange Football

Last week, the Orange women’s tennis team defeated Cedar Ridge for the first time since 2013. The Cedar Ridge volleyball team maintained its share of first place in the Big 8 with a five-set victory over Vance County, then rolled past Southern Durham on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Orange volleyball team showed its depth. They started the week with a convincing 3-1 disposal of East Chapel Hill, the Wildcats’ first Big 8 Conference loss of the season. Orange, despite missing senior Emma Clements and sophomore Avery Miller, still swept Northern Durham on Thursday for its third win in four days.

Yet Cedar Ridge and Orange will hardly get a chance to enjoy their victories. Both teams have monster road games this week.

Cedar Ridge starts the week tied with Chapel Hill for 1st place in the Big 8. The Red Wolves travel to CHHS on Thursday.

Orange has a rematch against East Chapel Hill, this time at Wildcat Gymnasium on Tuesday.

In football, it’s Orange-Southern Durham week. From 2012-2017, the winner of Orange-Southern dictated the Big 8 Conference Champion. After Southern’s 13-0 shutout of Northern Durham on Friday night, the Spartans appear poised to win its first conference title since 2015, when current Wake Forest wide receiver Kendall Hinton was the quarterback for Southern.

On top of all that, the Cedar Ridge women’s cross country team won the women’s invitational race at the Greensboro Cross Country Invitational on Saturday afternoon. Cedar Ridge finished with 55 points, beating East Chapel Hill, who wound up with 63.

And the Orange football team won its Big 8 opener over East Chapel Hill on Friday 40-7.

Think the candidates’ list for the Magnificent 7 was long this week? Well, it was. As always, two of the following seven athletes will be named the Orange Panther of the Week and the Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week on Tuesday.

Here is the Magnificent 7 for Week 6 of the Fall Sports season.

1. Anne Morrell: The Cedar Ridge junior was the top finisher at Saturday’s Greensboro Cross Country Invitational at Hagan Stone Park. Among 106 runners, Morrell finished 7th with a time of 20:52.34. Last season, the Cedar Ridge women finished 2nd in the Greensboro Invitational.
2. Emma Vosburg: In the Orange volleyball team’s 3-1 win over East Chapel Hill, Vosburg had eight kills, one ace, nine blocks, three digs and an assist. Orange would go on to defeat Southern Durham and Northern Durham over the subsequent three days.
3. Cameron Lanier: Another one of the power Cedar Ridge volleyball freshmen with Cameron Lloyd and Julie Altieri. Lanier had ten kills, one ace, one block and five digs in the Red Wolves victory over Bartlett Yancey. Cedar Ridge is guaranteed its first winning season since 2015.
4. James McAdoo: The Orange defensive end helped the Panther defense hold East Chapel Hill to 173 yards total offense. McAdoo caused a fumble for the third game in a row. McAdoo had two sacks as the Panthers secured back-to-back home wins for the first time since 2016.
5. Elliott Woods: The junior Orange wingback had a career-high 58 rushing yards and scored the first two touchdowns of his varsity career. Woods also leads the team in tackles at the end of five games. Woods added two receptions for 37 yards.
6. Lindsey Jouannet: The Orange junior tennis player won her match at #5 singles against Cedar Ridge 6-2, 6-1 on Monday. Jouannet teamed with Sydney Allison to win at #3 doubles 8-2 to sew up Orange’s first win over Cedar Ridge in women’s tennis since 2013.
7. Isaiah McCambry: Gave the Cedar Ridge football team its first lead of the season against Northwood by scoring a first quarter touchdown. McCambry also had Cedar Ridge’s first 100-yard rushing game since 2016 against the Chargers. Though Northwood won 24-8, McCambry showed more promise as a running back as the Red Wolves return home to face Northern Durham on Friday night at Red Wolves Stadium.

Payton Wilson: Florida State defeated N.C. State 31-13 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, FL on Saturday night. In his fifth college game, Wilson had a career-high with seven tackles, including a sack of Seminoles quarterback Alex Hornibrook. Wilson also had a pass breakup. As Florida State pulled away in the second half, Wilson’s impact wasn’t lost on longtime Raleigh News and Observer sportswriter Joe Giglio.

As a redshirt freshman, Wilson is 3rd on the team with 23 tackles. He has three tackles for losses, tied for third on the Wolfpack.

Trent Gill: The former Cedar Ridge star had six punts for N.C. State against Florida State. Gill averaged 47.5 yards per punt. Two of the punts landed inside the 20-yard line. Two more went over 50 yards. Gill also had four kickoff, three of which went for touchbacks. Gill, who instructs current Orange kicker Nigel Slanker, is averaging 47.2 yards per punt on 20 punts this season. N.C. State is off next weekend. They return to action on October 10 against Syracuse in Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh.

Keyshawn Thompson: The FCS Campbell Camels defeated Mercer 34-27 at Five Star Stadium in Macon, GA on Saturday night. Thompson, who was put on scholarship over the summer, played defense put didn’t record a tackle. Campbell is 3-1. They host Presbyterian in its Big South Conference opener next Saturday at Barker-Lane Stadium in Buies Creek.

Adam Chnupa: The 2018 Cedar Ridge graduate made his debut for FCS Elon on Saturday. #2 James Madison defeated the #24 Phoenix 45-10 at Rhodes Stadium at Elon. Chnupa, a redshirt freshman who was an All-Big 8 Conference football and baseball player at Cedar Ridge, entered the game in the fourth quarter. Elon, now 2-3, will travel to New Hampshire next Saturday.

Rodney Brooks: The Livingstone Blue Bears defeated Lincoln University (PA) 35-19 at Lions Stadium in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Brooks registered two tackles. Livingston is 4-0, 1-0 in the CIAA. They host Virginia Union next Saturday in Salisbury.

Kayla Hodges: The Elon women’s soccer team defeated UNC Wilmington 3-1 at Rudd Field in Elon in its Colonial Athletic Association opener on Thursday night. Hodges, who was featured on the front of the team’s program that night, assisted on the final Phoenix goal scored by Jessica Carrieri. Hodges, a sophomore, has started all ten of Elon’s games this year. Elon is 7-2-1 going into Sunday’s game against Hofstra in Hempstead, N.Y.

Taylin Jean: Division II Barton College defeated Limestone 2-0 at Bulldogs Athletic Complex in Wilson on Saturday. Jean started in net for Limestone. She made five saves in the loss.

Jordan Rogers: The Division III William Peace University women’s soccer team defeated Mary Baldwin 6-2 in its USA South Athletic Conference opener on Saturday at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary. Rogers made her ninth start of the season, this time as a wingback. Peace is 4-4-1 overall, 1-0 in the USA South Conference.

Brittany Daley: The Division III Greensboro College women’s soccer team defeated Salem 2-1 in its USA South Athletic Conference opener at Varsity Field in Winston-Salem on Saturday. Daley started at centerback for the Pride, her tenth start of the year. Greensboro is 7-3.

Lilli Henry: The Methodist volleyball team had a tri-match in USA South Athletic Conference action on Saturday at the Riddle Center in Fayetteville. The Monarchs defeated North Carolina Wesleyan 3-1 to end the day. Averett started the afternoon by beating Methodist 3-1. In the Monarchs’ win over Wesleyan, Henry had 22 assists, seven digs and an ace. In Averett’s victory against Methodist, Henry finished with 12 assists, seven digs and an ace. Methodist is 2-9, 1-2 in the USA South.

Orange sophomore Omarion Lewis has played four varsity football games. He has rushed for 100 yards twice. On Friday night, Lewis ran for 106 yards and two touchdowns as Orange defeated East Chapel Hill 40-7. The Orange coaching staff debated whether to put Lewis on the junior varsity before the season, but that debate ended on September 6 when Lewis ran up 119 yards against South Granville. Lewis didn’t even enter the game against the Vikings until the second half. In his very brief varsity career, Lewis has emerged as a reliable rusher for Orange in offensive coordinator’s Marty Scotten’s double wing offense. Orange had a season-high 316 rushing yards against East Chapel Hill.

The Orange football team defeated East Chapel Hill 40-7 in its Big 8 Conference opener on Friday night. Wingback Elliott Woods rushed for a career-high 58 yards and scored the first two touchdowns of his varsity career. Jones also starts at linebacker and leads the team with 39 tackles, including three for a loss. Woods had some key plays in the Panthers’ opening win of the season against Walter Williams, including a huge 14-yard catch to convert a third down. The Panthers eventually scored the game-winning touchdown on that drive. Woods and the rest of the Panthers will gear up for Southern Durham this Friday at Spartan Stadium. 

In 2006, East Chapel Hill defeated Orange 33-30 at Auman Stadium in Hillsborough. It was the only win of David Thompson’s final season during his turbulent two-year stint as Wildcats head coach. It was East’s second straight win over Orange, which was on its way to its 13th consecutive losing season.

Plenty has changed since then.

Orange’s football program went through a renaissance under head coach Pat Moser. There was enough budding talent at Stanford Middle School to win three conference championships and five consecutive 10-wins seasons from 2012-17.

In the meantime, East hit the reset button on varsity football, not fielding a team in 2017. While the talent lines in northern and southern Orange County are vastly different, East can look towards Hillsborough and take solace that time and persistence can change things.

On Friday night, Orange defeated the Wildcats 40-7 at Auman Stadium. Sophomore Omarion Lewis rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown. Junior Elliott Woods added a career-high 58 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

It’s the first time Orange won back-to-back home games since 2016, when they ended the regular season with a victory over J.F. Webb to wrap up the Big 8 title, then defeated Wilson Five in the state playoffs.

“Omarion is getting better and better,” said Orange coach Van Smith. “The cuts he makes and the moves he makes, the vision that he has, he’s getting better and better.”

Orange put the game away with four touchdowns in the second quarter. Quarterback Wyatt Jones, who tied his second-high with 161 passing yards before the starters were pulled midway through the third quarter, scored Orange’s first touchdown off a quarterback sneak. On the next Orange drive, Jones hit Joe Kiger with a gorgeous 14-yard fade pass into the end zone. It was Kiger’s first touchdown of the season.

Orange played without leading rusher Machai Holt and leading receiver Zyon Pettiford. The extra garbage time led to a eight-quarter player’s delight. 15 different players touched the ball for Orange.

After winning the coin toss in the opening four games of the year, Orange’s streak ended on Friday, which was the only thing they lost. With the late September humidity lingering into the early evening, Orange wore down the Wildcats with a 13-play, 60-yard drive set up when Jones found wide receiver Jake DeFranco for a 22-yard field goal. After Jones misfired on 3rd-and-goal, Nigel Slanker kicked a 22-yard field goal.

The Orange defense, which allowed only two first downs through the first three quarters, pitched a three-and-out on East’s first possession. Orange responded with another grueling drive that spilled into the second quarter, a 13-play, 85-yard drive that ended with Jones’ sneak.

Later in the second quarter, Orange finished a 82-yard drive when Jones hit Cameron White for a 46-yard pass. That set up Woods’ seven-yard touchdown run to give the Panthers a 24-0 lead.

After East botched an attempted punt on its next drive, Lewis scored his only touchdown on a 13-yard run that comprised a one-play drive.

East scored its only touchdown late in the second quarter. Quarterback Anton Enoch found Zaion Vaughn for a 45 yard pass. Two plays later, Enoch hit his twin brother Anthony for a 10-yard touchdown.

Woods’ scored Orange’s only touchdown in the second half, converting a 4th-and-3 with a five-yard scamper up the middle.

Next up for Orange will be a road trip to Southern Durham. After missing the state playoffs for the past two years, the Spartans appear to have reemerged as the favorite to win the Big 8 after shutting out Northern Durham 13-0 on Friday night at Durham County Stadium.

“They’ve won some games against some good teams,” Smith said about Southern. “They’ve beaten 71st out of Fayetteville, whose usually pretty good. They’ve beat Hillside. It’s Southern Durham.”

ORNAGE 40, EAST CHAPEL HILL 7

ECH–0 7 0 0-7

ORA-3 28 9 0-40

ORA-Nigel Slanker 22 FG

ORA-Wyatt Jones 1 run (Slanker kick)

ORA-Joe Kiger 14 pass from Jones (Slanker kick)

ORA-Elliott Woods 7 run (Slanker kick)

ORA-Omarion Lewis 13 run (Slanker kick)

ECH-Anthony Enoch 10 pass from Anton Enoch (Nick DiMasi kick)

ORA-Woods 5 run (Slanker kick)

ORA-Safety, ball snapped out of end zone.

RUSHING:EAST CHAPEL HILL 13-14 (Anton Enoch 7-11, Anthony Enoch 6-3)

ORANGE: 61-316 (Lewis 18-106 TD, Woods 11-58 2 TD, Curtis Ward 8-50, J.J. Torres 5-28, Khaleb Smith 3-21, Kiger 3-18, Jake DeFranco 3-10, Zahmir Watkins 3-7, Courtney Edwards 1-5, Slanker 1-5, Brandon Worsham 1-5, Connor Ray 1-3, Jones 1-1 TD, team 1-(-1))

PASSING: EAST CHAPEL HILL 11-24 159 yds TD INT (Anton Enoch 7-16 96 yds TD, INT, Ben Smith 4-7 63 yds, Zaion Vaughn 0-1)

ORANGE 10-13 191 yards TD INT (Jones 8-10 161 yards TD, INT; Slanker 2-3 30 yards)

RECEIVING: EAST CHAPEL HILL (Vaughn 4-107, Isaiah Roberson 2-26, Ahmad Walker 2-9, Anthony Enoch 1-10 TD, Devin Cornish 1-5, Nicholas Weaver 1-2)

ORANGE: (DeFranco 4-74, Woods 2-39, Cameron White 1-48, Connor Raye 1-17, Elijah Danley 1-13)

The Orange junior varsity football team shutout East Chapel Hill 35-0 at David Thaden Stadium in Chapel Hill on Thursday night. For sophomores Eli Danley, Brendon Worsham and Connor Ray, it was another successful outing in a year that started at the varsity level. Danley, Worsham and Ray played in the Orange varsity team’s opening games against R.J. Reynolds and Walter Williams. Orange scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter in a game where the contest was shortened to eight-minute quarters. After winning its first Big 8 Conference game, the junior varsity will return to Auman Stadium in Hillsborough next Friday for a game against Southern Durham. 

Taylin Jean: The former Cedar Ridge goalkeeper posted her 3rd shutout of the season for the Limestone women’s soccer team on Wednesday night. Division II Limestone defeated North Greenville 3-0 at Saints Field in Gaffney, SC on Wednesday night. Jean made four saves in her sixth start of the season. She is now 3-3. After not playing last season, Jean also had clean sheets against Chowan and Lander earlier this month. Limestone improved to 2-1 in Conference Carolinas. On Saturday, Limestone will face Barton College in Wilson. 

Jordan Rogers: Division III William Peace University scored a resounding 7-0 win over Sweet Briar in Sweet Briar, VA on Wednesday night. Former Orange star Jordan Rogers made her eighth start of the season as a wingback. Rogers has started every game for the Pacers this year. With Wednesday night‘s win, Peace has already exceeded its win total from 2018. They’re now 3-4-1 overall. They will open play in the USA South Athletic Conference against Mary Baldwin College at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary on Saturday. 

Brittany Daley: On Sunday, Division III Greensboro College fell to Eastern Mennonite 1-0 at EMU Turf Field in Harrisonburg, VA. Daley, a 2018 Cedar Ridge graduate, made her eighth start of the season at centerback. Daley had played 642 minutes for the Pride this season after making 15 starts in her freshman season. Greensboro is 5-3. They host Ferrum College on Thursday night at Pride Field in Greensboro.

Lionel Reid-Shaw: The Division III Dickinson men’s soccer team shutout Neumann University 3-0 on Tuesday night in Aston, PA. The Red Devils are now 4-4. Reid-Shaw started the game at centerback and was credited with one shot off a corner kick. Reid-Shaw has played in all eight of Dickinson’s games this year. The Red Devils return to action in the Centennial Conference on Saturday against McDaniel College.

Bryse Wilson: Though he hasn’t pitched since Game 4 of the Governor’s Cup Semifinal series for the Gwinnett Stripers of the International League, Wilson is still on the 40-man roster for the Atlanta Braves. For the second year in a row, the Braves clinched the National League Eastern Division Championship on Friday, beating San Francisco 6-0 in SunTrust Park. The Braves will wrap up the regular season this weekend with a three-game series against the New York Mets at Citi Field in New York. Last season, Wilson finished the regular season with Atlanta but wasn’t on the 25-man postseason roster.

Rodney Brooks: As mentioned in Sunday’s update, the Division II Livingstone Blue Bears defeated Allen University 21-7 at Alumni Memorial Football Stadium in Salisbury on Saturday. Brooks, who spent last season with Fort Union Military Academy, had a fumble recovery for Livingstone, one of two turnovers forced by the Blue Bears’ defense. Brooks has played in all three games this season. Livingstone is 2-1 and will face Lincoln University in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

Lili Henry: Division III Salem College defeated Methodist University in volleyball 3-1 on Wednesday night at the Riddle Center in Fayetteville. The Spirits defeated the Monarchs on scores of 25-21, 25-21, 24-26 and 25-21. It was the USA South Athletic Conference opener for Methodist. Monarchs junior Lili Henry, who graduated from Cedar Ridge in 2017, finished with 15 assists and one ace. Henry leads the team 167 assists this season. The Monarchs are 1-8 overall and will host Averett University in Fayetteville on Saturday. 

It won’t feel like it, but this is the first full week of fall. It’s also the start of the 2nd half of volleyball, women’s tennis and men’s soccer seasons.

Cedar Ridge and Orange were both swept by teams from Chapel Hill last week. Against an unforgiving Big 8 Conference schedule, Orange faces East Chapel Hill tonight (Monday) to start a three-game week. After losing its first conference game to East Chapel Hill on Friday, Cedar Ridge will look to bounce back with its first-ever match against Vance County in Hillsborough on Tuesday. The Red Wolves travel to Southern Durham on Thursday.

Also on Monday afternoon, Cedar Ridge will host Orange for its senior night. It will be a special day for the Red Wolves’ Olivia Ward, who was a member of Cedar Ridge’s Big 8 Championship team as a freshman. The Red Wolves haven’t lost to Orange since the two teams became conference rivals in 2014.

On Friday, football will start conference play. Orange will host East Chapel Hill. Cedar Ridge will travel to Northwood in Pittsboro. Both games will kickoff at 7. Our coverage here on Hillsboroughsports.com starts at 6:45 with the C&R Ski Outdoor pregame show.

Without any further ado, here’s the Magnificent 7 from last week. It featured a dramatic first leg of the Hillsborough Derby between Orange and Cedar Ridge in men’s soccer. Despite losing to East Chapel Hill, it was still another strong showing from Cedar Ridge volleyball. And the Orange women’s tennis team won three dual matches.

As always, a reminder that two of these athletes will be named the Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week and the Orange Panther of the Week on Tuesday.

Nicholas Frank: Orange appeared set to win its third straight men’s soccer game at Cedar Ridge on Wednesday night. The Panthers led 3-1 with 19:00 remaining. But Cedar Ridge freshman Nicholas Frank scored two stunning goals within 47 seconds to even the match. Dean Allen found Frank on a through ball with 15:43 remaining, and Frank finished from 18 yards. Moments later, Reese Weaver created a turnover and found Erickson Thole, who hit Frank again for the equalizer. Frank also scored the game-winning goal in penalties as Cedar Ridge defeated Orange 4-3.

Ty Corbin: Cedar Ridge’s goalkeeper earned the victory against Orange with back-to-back saves on Orange’s final two penalty attempts. Corbin also made a huge save in the first overtime session, which was the only major chance by either team to score after regulation ended. Corbin, who is also a lacrosse player, earned his third win of the year.

Cameron Lloyd: Yes, it’s cliche by now. But Lloyd becomes the first three-time inductee into the Hall of Awesome after two stellar games against Bartlett Yancey and Northern Durham. Against the Knights, Lloyd had 17 kills, 12 aces and ten digs as Cedar Ridge defeated Northern for the first time since becoming Big 8 rivals. In Monday’s sweep of Bartlett Yancey, Lloyd had 13 kills, one ace and four digs. Plus, she celebrated her birthday last week.

James McAdoo: The Orange football team fell short against Riverside on Friday night. It was also Orange’s best effort of the season. McAdoo, playing his second game after getting injured in a scrimmage against Person, had a team-high seven tackles. In the 2nd quarter, he stripped the ball away from Riverside quarterback Landon Sledge, and Will Torain dove on the loose ball. It led to a touchdown from Machai Holt. In the third quarter, McAdoo recovered another fumble, again leading to a touchdown from Holt.

Emma Williamson: The Orange women’s tennis team swept Vance County in back-to-back matches on Wednesday, then defeated Roxboro Community School 8-1 on Thursday. Williamson won her lone match at #4 singles against the Vipers 8-0. On Thursday, she won her match against Roxboro Community in straight sets. She also teamed with Morgan Gwinn at #2 doubles to win 8-1.

Lottie Scully: A sophomore enshrined into the Hall of Awesome for the first time, Scully had a team-high nine kills in Orange’s 3-0 win over Northwood on Tuesday night at Panther Gymnasium. Scully also had ten assists, two digs and an ace as the Lady Panthers improved to 7-4 before Thursday’s game against Chapel Hill.

Elliott Sikes: On Monday night, the Orange men’s soccer team defeated Vance County 10-1. Sikes came away with his first hat trick against the Vipers. Sikes also had two goals against Hillside in a 7-1 Panther victory on September 3.