Photo by Abigail Pfeiffenberger
PITTSBORO–It’s May and the Orange Panthers are the best lacrosse team in their conference again.
Yet Orange’s win at Seaforth on Tuesday night in the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs felt different. It wasn’t the domination that the Panthers had established against its Mid-Carolina Conference rivals the past four years.
In fact, Orange went into Tuesday’s game knowing it probably wouldn’t be.
Last year, Orange swept the season series from Seaforth by a combined score of 39-9. Panther coach Chandler Zirkle played his junior varsity players in the second half of both games to rest his starters.
As Seaforth has quickly established itself across the athletic landscape in its brief history, things changed very quickly.
In March, the Hawks ended Orange’s 47-game conference regular season winning streak–in Hillsborough. They tied the Panthers for the Mid-Carolina Conference championship.
For the first time since 2019, Orange had to play a third round state playoff game on the road on Tuesday night. After a shaky start, Orange’s depth and a spectacular effort from its sophomore goalkeeper paved the way to its fifth consecutive trip to the state quarterfinals.
Orange sophomore Owen Wimsatt scored four goals while Jackson Runkle made 16 saves as the Panthers defeated Seaforth 10-8 at Hawks Stadium. Gray Crabtree added three goals, his third hat trick of the year.
“I think we have some really committed kids,” said Orange head coach Chandler Zirkle said. “Owen was phenomenal in the offseason. He has already been voted one of our offseason captains for next year as a junior, which was incredible. There are only three players we’ve ever had voted as junior captains. The other two were Connor Kruse and Jake Wimsatt.”
The Panthers advance to face First Flight in the state quarterfinals in Kill Devil Hills on Friday night.
It was Orange’s first road win in the state playoffs since 2019 when they defeated Northside-Jacksonville, the very first postseason win for Zirkle.
Sophomore Jackson Eakes and longstick midfielder Logan Horn took turns at the face-off circle. They combined for eight wins, six from Eakes, which triggered an Orange comeback.
“With have a jangle of Jacksons on our team and they all played great tonight,” Zirkle said. “It comes down to getting the ball and getting shots. It’s the key to the game.”
Orange’s defense held Seaforth’s leading scorer, junior Ivan Grimes, without a goal for just the second time this season. Senior longstick defensemen Kale Womble was assigned on Grimes the whole game.
Nonetheless, Seaforth stormed out to a 4-1 lead in the opening quarter. The Hawks’ Cameron Exley, in his final game, scored the opener off a feed from Grimes. After Orange’s Brandon Williams tied the game courtesy of a pass from Wimsatt. The Hawks scored three unanswered goals. Tyler Watkins put the Hawks ahead on a man-advantage goal following a slashing penalty on Orange. Jackson Powell and Carter Kearny added goals to put Seaforth ahead.
The momentum changed during the first quarter break when Seaforth’s Liam McCann was penalized for an illegal stick. Orange scored two man-advantage goals in the opening minutes of the second quarter from Matthew Macneir and Drew Jouannet. It triggered a 5-0 Panther run in the second quarter. Wimsatt took a pass from Williams and scored from point-blank range to tie the game with 9:09 remaining in the first half. Crabtree put Orange ahead for good off an assist from Holden Ray. Wimsatt added insurance with his second goal assisted by Macneir as the Panthers went into the locker room leading 6-4.
Seaforth’s Connor Yalch make an incredible dodge to set up Exley’s second and final goal with 8:43 remaining in the second half. It broke a 18 minute goalless stretch for the Hawks.
Play grew more frantic as the second half continued. After Tyler Watkins was hit with a slashing penalty, Wimsatt completed his hat trick after accepting a pass from Macneir to put Orange ahead 7-5.
Seaforth countered with its own man-up goal scored by Watkins off a pass from Oscar Ditter. As time ran out in the third quarter, Grimes unleashed a shot that bounced off the crossbar. Some Seaforth fans thought it crossed the goal line, but it was ruled no goal and Orange maintained a 7-6 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Orange completed a successful clear to start the fourth quarter. Senior Aidan Monteith took a pass at midfield and ran 45 yards unchecked until he stopped and fired in a shot past Seaforth goalkeeper Finn Prospero to increase the Orange lead to 8-6 with 11:14 remaining. Crabtree added a crucial goal with 9;15 remaining. Orange’s leading scorer, Brett Clark, registered his first point of the night assisting on a goal from Wimsatt to make it 10-6, the largest lead of the night.
It appeared that Clark scored a goal that would put Orange ahead 11-7 in the final two minutes. It had already been registered on the Seaforth scoreboard, but a late crease violation was called against Clark. Seaforth immediately shot up the field, leading to a goal from Yalch
Seaforth won the subsequent face-off but Runkle made another crucial save that helped Ray and Clark run out the clock.
