Nov 09, 2008: November 8, 2008
Two OHS Wrestling Alumni made their collegiate debuts on Saturday November 8, 2008 at the Wolfpack Open in Reynolds Coliseum.
Wrestling for UNC-Pembroke was Jamar Jackson and for the hosting NC State Wolfpack was Alex Kubacki.
This was the second year for the Wolfpack Open and many local as well as nationally ranked schools were represented. Included in the field were UNC, Duke, UNC-Greensboro, UNC-Pembroke, George Mason, Campbell, 17th-ranked Maryland and 5th-ranked Ohio State.
The tournament had all the ambiance of a state finals; a big time national venue, too many mats to watch at once and every competitor was a proven champion. While the results were not what we had hoped for, after a first round bye, Alex lost his next two matches by decisions. Jamar fared slightly better, after a first round loss; he rebounded with a win but lost his next match.
Good luck to all our OHS Wrestling Alumni.
A special photo album is in the gallery.

Sep 12, 2008:

At 55Kg., SPC Jermaine Hodge won the bronze medal by defeating Song Buer, China, 0-2, 4-2, 3-0. Hodge lost his opening bout to Gyu-Jin Choi, Korea, 1-3, 0-3. Choi, the gold medalist in the competition, pulled Hodge into the Repechage bout for the bronze against Buer, who lost to Choi in the semi-final bout.
Against Buer, the first minute of each period was scoreless. Hodge lost the draw in each of the three periods but seemed undaunted in the down position. Buer gained an exposure with a gut wrench and went on to win the first period. In the second period, Hodge lost two points when he was unable to execute the start, but quickly gained them back by turning Buer for two, and then hitting a high gut wrench for the margin.
The final period belonged to Hodge who was placed down first, and then kept Choi from scoring. Hodge picked up two more points when Buer was penalized for the start.

Feb 27, 2008:

The Panthers took 10 wrestlers to the state individual finals in Winston-Salem this past weekend and came away with the team 1A/2A title, for the first time in school history, as well as a number of individual awards, including Nick Walters' 1st place finish.

Each team is awarded points based on the performances of the individual wrestlers. Orange ended up with 111.5 points to handily beat 2nd place finisher Newton-Conover who had 74 points.

The state trophy was the final accomplishment for the 2007--08 wrestling season that was the best in school history. Among the accomplishments for the Panthers were:

• 30-1 Dual Team Record, losing only to 4A state runner-up Davie County
• 8-0 Conference Record
• Jim King / Orange Invitational 2nd Place, behind 4A state champion Cary
• East Wake JV Tournament 1st Place
• Morehead Tournament 6th Place
• Eagle Tournament 2nd Place
• Knightdale Duals 1st Place
• Chapel Hill Tiger Classic 11th Place
• Cedar Ridge JV Super Duals 1st Place
• Greenville, TN Tournament 2nd Place
• 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th Grade State Open 1st place (with Orange JV and Stanford wrestlers)
• Mid-State 1A/2A Regular Season Conference Champion 
• Mid-State 1A/2A Conference Tournament Champion
• 1A/2A Dual-Team State Champion
• 1A/2A Mideast Individual Regional Champion
• 1A/2A Individual State Champion

Individual results from the state finals are as follows:

STATE CHAMPION - NICK WALTERS
STATE RUNNERS UP - CHRIS JOHNSON, JAMAR JACKSON
3rd - James Norman
5th - Dustin Champion, Remington Jarrett
6th - Alex Kubacki

Other state finalists who did not place are Luke Mincey, Taylor Cash, and Aaron Bernstein.

Please mark your calendars for Friday, March 7 for the team banquet. More details will be forthcoming shortly.

Feb 12, 2008:

The day started with a roll-around practice this morning (actually, due to the hour now, it was yesterday when they had this practice). When the team left, the parents moved in and decorated the practice room with balloons, pictures, posters, banners, and streamers. When the team came back to the school to board the bus, they found not only the decorated room, but also a throng of family and friends there to wish them luck.

At the match, the stands were filled with Orange wrestlers' parents, coaches' families, former wrestlers, school administrators, the Stanford wrestling team, and wrestling fans, most of them dressed in Orange. There were probably as many OHS supporters as there were Newton-Conover supporters, and the OHS folks had a 2 1/2 hour drive to get there.

Jeremy Rasberry started the team off with a pin - in fact, this was our only pin of the night. Nick Walters followed that with a 13-4 win to put Orange up 10-0. Jamar Jackson bumped us up to a 13-0 lead with his 9-4 victory.

Aaron Bernstein fought hard against the #3 ranked wrestler in the state (Aaron is #4), but fell 1-4. Chris Intehar and Eric Confer also lost, but not without putting up good fights. Orange forfeit the heavyweight match, which gave Newton Conover the lead with 16-13.

Next up was Luke Mincey, followed by Dustin Champion, Chris Johnson, and James Norman who all defeated their opponents to put Orange up 26-16. With 2 weight classes to go, Orange needed just one more win to clinch the title.

Out to the mat comes Alex Kubacki, who clinched the match against McMichael earlier in the week - could he do it twice? No doubt about it - Alex toughed it out to a 10-4 victory to clinch the state championship.

This was an incredibly exciting match, especially for the seniors who are going out on top. The night wrapped up with the awards presentation and the most valuable wrestler award going to Jeremy Rasberry, who had the only pin of the night for either team.

CONGRATULATIONS PANTHERS!!!

Next up - individual state competition, starting on Friday.

Aug 27, 2007:

National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum

North Carolina Chapter-Class of 2007

"Lifetime Service in Wrestling"

Jim King, was born in Melbourne, Florida. He attend Applachian State University 1968-1972, wrestled and earned All-American status at the National NAIA Tournament in 1971. Served as Head Wrestling Coach at Prattville High, Ala. 1973. Head Wrestling coach at Orange High from 1974-1990 with a record of 125-28. He coached two individual state champions when state had only one classification. His team won State Sectional tournaments in 1978 and 1982. He served as Athletic Director at Orange High 1979-2003. Named the North Carolina 1999 Westling USA State Man of the Year: directed the Orange High/Jim King Invitational Tournament 1975-2006. Coach King spent months planning and putting all the pieces in place when he began serving as Director for the North Carolina High Tournament when all three classifications came together under one roof in 1994. He directed the State meets through 2003. Named Regional NC Athletic Director of the Year 1999. Coach King was named NC Alliance of Athletics, Health, Phy. Ed, Recreation, and Dance Athletic Director of the Year 2001. He has been a wrestler, a coach, and an Athletic Director who has continued to be involved in the sport of wrstling. He was retired but now works as the Orange Trainer, working and teaching the student trainiers. He resides in Hillsborough with his wife Andrea. They have two children Jamie and Robin.