During the first quarter of Carrboro’s Friday-night home opener against Orange High School, it was announced that Jaguar Stadium’s old Porta-Johns had finally been replaced. A new fieldhouse, complete with 32 toilets, was now finished.

The sizable crowd was understandably pleased with this development, but not more pleased than it was with Carrboro’s performance.

Alongside its stadium, Carrboro’s team has improved consistently over its six-year existence. Its 27-19 win over their county rivals demonstrated this trend was likely to continue. The undersized Jaguars put up 453 yards of total offense against a deep Orange squad.

“It’s great to beat a team like that,” Carrboro head coach Jason Tudryn said. “A great opponent on a hot night when we’re playing a lot of guys both ways.”

Carrboro scored first, taking advantage of an early Orange fumble. Tobias Sales’s 3-yard touchdown rush at the 7:09 mark capped the drive.

But the Panthers responded decisively. Jamal Pittman opened up the field with a 60-yard run into the end-zone, tying the score just a minute later.

Carrboro’s Trai Sharp had a 15-yard facemask penalty tacked on to his 20-yard run on the next drive, giving his team another opportunity in the red zone. But the Jaguars couldn’t convert and settled for a field goal from kicker Mike McPeak, bringing the score to 10-7.

A 40-yard bomb from Orange quarterback Sean Motely to Matt Gattis set up Patrick Pettiford touchdown reception from short yardage. Kicker Juan Torres’ point-after missed just left, leaving the score at 13-10 as the first quarter ended.

Sharp, who rushed for over 200 yards on the night, made his scoring debut in the second period’s first play with a 25-yard rushing touchdown.

“Our offensive line did a great job,” Tudryn said. “They paved the way for him to have a great night.”

But scoring stagnated until the final seconds of the half, when Carrboro’s McPeak hit a 32-yard field goal, putting his team up 20-17.

Jaguar Quarterback Alex McVeigh found Malik Carrington for touchdown four minutes into the third, and when Carrboro picked up a muffed kickoff reception, the game seemed in hand. Each team committed another turnover apiece, and the score remained 27-13 as the game entered its final period.

With 7:07 left, Orange snapped its two-quarter scoring drought with another touchdown, though Torres missed yet another extra point.

Orange’s momentum was interrupted when a Panther player went down and stayed down with 4:13 left to play. Orange, looking rattled when play resumed, turned the ball over on downs and never threatened again.

“There’s a lot of times when it could have gone one way or another,” Jason Tudryn said. “But we played with great passion. So enjoy this one. You don’t get nights like this very often.”