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For nearly 20 years, Greg Motley has had to focus on coaching one team at Orange.

This year will be unique because he’ll be coaching two teams. The one he has now, and the one who he’ll have at the beginning of 2017. If not sooner.

The Orange team that took the floor on Tuesday night in the HighSchoolOT.com season tipoff against Leesville Road had ten players. Of those, eight played. Three of those were freshman who would be playing on the junior varsity under normal circumstances.

These aren’t normal circumstances. Orange is without Ryan Sellers, Devondrez Moore, Jackson Schmid, and possibly two other players who are still playing football. If Orange makes a deep run in the playoffs, those players may not see the hardwood until after Christmas.

Motley has known this for over a month and prepared accordingly for Tuesday night. To paraphrase the infamous words of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the height of the Iraq war, Motley went into the game with the army he had, not the army he might have wanted.

Orange almost won anyway.

Leading 59-58 with 3:58 remaining, the Panthers, which played with a six-man rotation,  got tired down the stretch trying to defend Leesville Road’s three-guard lineup. The Pride finished the game on a 18-8 run to defeat Orange 76-66.

Leesville Road advanced to Saturday’s championship game against Riverside. Orange will face Roseville Saturday at 12:30.

As expected, Orange was led by its two leading scorers from last season. Connor Crabtree, who signed with UNC-Asheville last week, had 28 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field. Center Logan Vosburg finished with 14 points and eleven rebounds. In his first varsity game, Mitch Portman had 13 points while freshman Joey McMullin had ten.

The Pride was led by Jalen Benjamin’s 25 points while D.J. Horne added 19.

Orange led 27-21 with 4:21 remaining in the first half behind Crabtree’s 12 first half points. But Leesville Road finished the half on a 11-1 run to take a 31-28 lead.

The lack of depth along Orange’s first line led to the Pride getting 19 offensive rebounds, leading to 68 field goal attempts compared to Orange’s 41. The Panthers had one offensive rebound. Vosburg had little help on the boards. He grabbed eleven rebounds, while the rest of the team had eleven combined.

The Pride’s pressure defense forced 23 Orange turnovers while LRHS committed only seven.

After Saturday, the Panthers play its first home game on Tuesday, November 29th against East Chapel Hill. It will be a varsity doubleheader, starting with the girls game at 5:30.

It’s impossible to have a defense that’s yielded only three touchdowns all season without a good secondary. That’s what Orange safety Keshawn Thompson has delivered to the team this season. Thompson is not only excellent in coverage, but he’s a threat at the line of scrimmage to blitz. Thompson has made 17 tackles for loss, two sacks, two interceptions and two fumble recoveries. He was also named the Extra Effort Award Winner from WRAL’s Tom Suiter last month.

Orange Panther of the Week: Keshawn Thompson

Keshawn Thompson has been the anchor of the Orange secondary during its undefeated romp through the regular season. The senior safety has made 17 tackles for loss, two interception and two fumble recoveries this season. This video featured appearances by Kendall Whitted and Payton Wilson after Orange defeated Oxford Webb in its regular season finale.

The Cedar Ridge Red Wolves girls tennis team won its first-ever team tennis match on Tuesday, defeating Swansboro 9-0 at Red Wolves Tennis Courts. Senior #1 singles player Tess Johnson defeated the Pirates’ Grace Ann Piner 7-5, 6-3. Freshman Olivia Ward improved to 14-3 after defeating Michaela Potter 6-2, 6-0.

Johnson and Ward discussed their performance afterwards, along with next Tuesday’s 2nd round match against Burlington Williams.

Cedar Ridge’s Tess Johnson and Olivia Ward Discuss Playoff Win over Seansboro

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Narrowly missing out on a home playoff match, the Orange volleyball team will open the 3A state playoffs on Wednesday at Cleveland in Clayton.

The Panthers are seeded 10th after finishing 11-9, 8-4 in the Big 8 Conference. Orange finished tied for 2nd in the league with Webb, but earned the tiebreaker after sweeping the Warriors during the regular season.

Tomorrow’s match starts at 6.

Cleveland finished 14-6 overall, 8-2 in the Two Rivers Conference. The Rams ended up in 2nd place, one game behind conference champion Triton.

Orange and Cleveland had no common opponents.

If Orange wins, they may have a rematch against Chapel Hill. The winner of Orange/Cleveland takes on 2nd seeded Chapel Hill or 15th seeded Northern Nash.

Chapel Hill swept the regular season from the Panthers this season.

As for other Big 8 teams, Oxford Webb earned a 10-seed. The Warriors faced Morehead in Eden. Northern Vance is a 13-seed and will face Southwestern Randolph.

On this edition of Prep Sports Tonight, we talk with five seniors from the Orange Volleyball team: Jordan Lloyd, Mileah Shriner, Macy Hughes, Julia Lovingood and Eva Porter. The Panthers clinched the 2nd spot in the Big 8 conference after a win on senior night against Webb on Tuesday. Also joining us is Ian Elliott, who clinched his 2nd straight Big 8 Conference Cross Country individual championship on Wednesday at Chapel Hill High.

Since we missed a week last week, we have two Cedar Ridge Red Wolves of the Week to make up for lost time. Our first is Cedar Ridge senior striker/placekicker Trent Gill, who leads the Red Wolves boys soccer team in scoring with 13 goals. He also leads the team in scoring with 32 points. On top of that, Gill is the kicker for the football team, where he has kicked 28 of 29 extra points this season. He also has made seven of nine field goals, with his longest being 42 yards. When it isn’t game day, Trent frequently has to attend both soccer and football practices. He’s also being recruited in football and soccer by Duke, N.C. State and Wofford.

Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week #1: Trent Gill

Uploaded by Hillsborough Sports on 2016-10-10.

With a showdown for the conference lead looming on Wednesday, Cedar Ridge girls tennis took care of business against Southern Durham.

The Red Wolves improved to 13-1 overall, 8-0 overall with a 9-0 shutout of the Spartans on Monday. Senior Ali Sapp got a start at #1 singles, capturing her match 8-0. Rachel Quade, Nora Sauers, Natalie Marochak and Briana Cellini also captured singles victories.

The only competitive match of the day came at #1 doubles, where Cellini and Watson teamed to win 8-5. Hanna Johnson and Maddie Werner teamed for a 8-1 victory at #2 doubles. Lila Woodmansee and Rachel Quade teamed for a victory at #3 doubles.

The Red Wolves host Chapel Hill on Wednesday with 1st place in the Big 8 on the line.

As Cedar Ridge girls tennis reaches the midway point in the season, there’s no question they’ve established themselves as the team to beat in the Big 8 Conference.

A week after sweeping Chapel Hill and Northwood in road matches, the Red Wolves captured its eighth straight victory over Webb 7-2 in Hillsborough on Monday afternoon.

Olivia Ward won at #2 singles over Anna Freuler in three sets,  capturing the 10-point tiebreaker 10-7. Ward is now 7-3.

From there, Cedar Ridge dominated singles play, dropping only three games in the final four matches.

Leah Thompson defeated Sarah Monte 6-1, 6-1 to bolster her record to 7-1. Serena Sauters dispatched of Erin Bostic 6-1, 6-0 to remain undefeated at 10-0. Alana Lutz swept Emily Burns 6-0, 6-0. Hannah Spear wrapped up the victory wth a 6-0, 6-0 golden bagel of Anna Currin.

Spear is also undefeated at 8-0.

Thompson & Lutz won its doubles match 8-1. Emma Wilson and Sauers swept its doubles match over Burns and Currin 8-0. Lutz & Thompson improved to 6-1 as a tandem in 2006. Sauers & Wilson improved to 4-1.

Cedar Ridge is now 9-1, 5-0 in the Big 8 Conference. They travel to the Rock Quarry on Thursday to face Voyager Academy before venturing back into conference play next week.