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Eastern View sprints past Orange County

Orange County’s second visit to neighboring Culpeper County turned out to be a far cry from last week’s season opener, as perennial Class 4A power Eastern View trounced the Hornets with a 35-point second quarter en route to a 56-14 victory.

 

“I thought effort was good, but execution at times wasn’t what we needed, both offensively and defensively,” said Orange coach Jeff Lohr. “We didn’t execute on early downs tonight and got ourselves in bad situations on offense. It’s hard to pickup (yards) against a good defense that’s only giving up [an average of] 10 points in the first two games.”

 

Celebrating the school’s 10th academic year as part of its Homecoming festivities, the Cyclones hung 56 on their opponent for the third straight week to start their 2017 season. The defense proved to be a valuable scoring contributor as the Hornet offense focused early and often on the passing game, an approach that well-suited Eastern View senior defensive back Cameron Spangler. He alone matched Orange’s scoring with a pair of first half pick-sixes, bringing his career interception total to 11.

 

“We knew how talented their quarterback was and the skill they had on the outside,” said Eastern View coach Greg Hatfield as the Cyclones adjusted their defensive approach from last year’s matchup where the Hornets featured a two-headed ground attack. “We challenged our d-linemen and didn’t keep as many guys in the box as we normally would. We were trying to pick our poison a little bit.”

 

Although the squads traded punts and the Cyclones missed a short field goal in the first half of the opening quarter, the field position battle was tilting as Orange took the field for its third series backed up inside its own 5. As junior quarterback Kenyon Carter dropped back into his own endzone and fired his sixth pass in eight plays, Spangler closed in as the second defender on target receiver Darius Minor. The ball deflected up in the air, and Spangler hauled it in and dashed three yards for the game’s first points.

 

“I just saw the second receiver come out, and my job was to stay right there in the flat,” said Spangler. “I was in the right spot and the right time.”

 

The Hornets bounced back with a nine-play drive, as sophomore running back Jaylen Alexander found some yardage on the ground. However, penalties for holding and delay of game were too much to overcome, and the series ended on downs at the Cyclones’ 24. Still, Orange hung tough, and with great starting position for its next possession at the Eastern View 39. Carter hit junior receiver Chris Washington for a gain of 32 down to the 1, and Alexander ploughed across on the next play to make it 7-6 for the Cyclones after one quarter.

 

“I thought our running back ran hard tonight,” Lohr said as Alexander led the way with 17 rushes for 55 tough yards. “He runs violent. We’ve got three sophomores up front. They’ll keep plugging away, and we’re going to get this thing right.”

 

Eastern View senior D’Ago Hunter had the first of several gamebreaking plays on the ensuing kickoff, which he returned 47 yards inside the Orange 40. He would cap the six-play drive with a 4-yard touchdown run after junior Trey Holmes carried for 13 yards to convert on fourth-and-3. The Cyclones would add two more scores over the next 3:44. Junior quarterback Matt Lowry hit senior receiver Zach Thomas for a 30-yard touchdown on a third-and-16. Then, after Hunter returned a punt into Hornet territory, Lowry connected with junior Noah Proctor for a 29-yarder.

 

Down 28-6, Orange continued to battle and the offense seemed poised to stay the momentum with a drive inside the EV 30; however, passes on third- and fourth-and-3 fell incomplete. The Cyclones drove 74 yards in six plays and Holmes raced in from 17 yards on his 17th and final carry of the evening. Then, with the Hornet offense in hurry-up mode as the clock ticked inside a minute in the half, Spangler struck again on a deep ball.

 

“I caught it and started running to the left, and then I saw all of my defenders to the right so I had to cut back,” Spangler said as he circled back inside his own 20 before turning upfield and taking it all the way to give Eastern View a 42-6 halftime lead.

 

“We take a lot of pride in turnovers, and we work on [returns],” said Hatfield. “It was good to see that Jeff Stallings, who’s the biggest kid on our defense, was the one blocking for him when he crossed into the endzone. To see those guys hustling like that downfield just shows how these kids work for one another.”

 

With a running clock in effect after the break, the Cyclones added a pair of third quarter touchdowns on runs by Jalen Veeney (48 yards) and Jeremy Yates (yards). Orange got on the board again to round out the scoring midway through the fourth with a 12-play, 75-yard drive, capped by a Carter-to-Minor 2-yard pass.

 

Holmes led all rushers with 140 yards on his 17 carries for Eastern View (3-0). Lowry completed 6-of-10 passes for 105 yards, all in the first half. For Orange (1-1), junior Korrelle Brown ended up with a team-high 60 yards on 11 carries, mostly in the second half. Carter finished 7-of-23 for 60 yards, with one touchdown and three picks.

 

Orange wraps its out-of-district slate when Spotsylvania heads to Porterfield Park for the home opener next Friday.

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