HILLSBOROUGH - Drevis Torain's last regular season home game was so good, he might have earned the right to play another next week.

On senior night at Glen Auman Stadium, Torain piled up a career-high 218 yards and four touchdowns as the Orange Panthers defeated Chapel Hill 42-23 in their regular-season finale Friday in Hillsborough. With the win, Orange (6-5, 3-2 Carolina-Six Conference) clinched second place in the 3-A league and could wind up with a home game in the first round of next week's state playoffs. Chapel Hill (5-6, 3-2) saw a four-game winning streak come to an end.

"Defensively, we just couldn't get anything going," said CHHS coach Issac Marsh. "They just outplayed us on their side of the ball. Defensively, we have to do a better job if we want to win."

Alternating between the Wing-T and a standard I-formation, Orange controlled the line of scrimmage from the beginning, running up 225 rushing yards in the first conference matchup between the two teams since 2001. Fullback Thomas Jones added 113 yards and two touchdowns.

"It was the counter and the misdirection (that caused us problems," Marsh said. "Our defensive ends were getting too far upfield, and, when they do that, it just creates some running alleys. We made a couple of adjustments that worked, but their running back just did a wonderful job."

In winning five of its last six games, the Tigers had used the running of tailback Daniel Watson to set up the passing attack of alternating quarterbacks Stephen Wistner and Winston Washington. On Friday, almost all of Chapel Hill's offense came through the air because of Orange's depth along the defensive front, anchored by 340-pound tackle Donald McIver.

The shape of the game changed during a bizarre sequence that started with 14-seconds remaining in the second quarter, when Orange inherited the ball after a failed, desperate drive by Tigers. Not content with a 21-17 halftime lead, Torain took a misdirection handoff, eluded early pressure and wound up scrambling for a 54-yard touchdown run on the half's final play from scrimmage. Instead of being down by 4 at the half, Chapel Hill trailed instead 28-17.

Marsh refused to blame that play for his team's downfall.

"We've bounced back from something much greater than that," said Marsh. "We just can't give that big of a deficit for ourselves. But our players fought hard the entire game. We just have to do things a little better if we want to do well in the playoffs."

For a brief period, the Tigers pulled within 28-20 after kicker Andrew Dejong kicked a 28-yard field goal. But Orange was called for roughing the kicker, and Marsh elected to take the points off the board and accept the penalty for a first down. After the Tigers' stalled in the red zone, Dejong's ensuing 22-yard field goal attempt was blocked by the Panthers' Troy Jones.

From there, the Panthers put the game away with an 80-yard drive that ended when Jones ran in from 11-yards out to give the Panthers a 35-17 advantage. Jones and Torain comprised all of the carries on the 10-play drive.

Chapel Hill grabbed the early lead running out of a spread setup with Wistner making his first career start at quarterback. He connected with former starting signal caller Winston Washington on the first two plays from scrimmage, leading to a 22-yard field goal from Dejong.

Orange scored touchdowns on four of its five first half possessions, all of them runs by Torain.

Washington kept the score close with a gutsy six-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter, but all momentum was ruined after Torain's score at the very end of the half.

Despite the loss, Chapel Hill is still assured of a playoff berth, albeit on the road.

"A lot of teams across the state don't have the luxury of moving on to the state playoffs," said Marsh. "We're fortunate enough have that luxury of playing next week. Tonight is over."

Elsewhere in area football: East Chapel Hill fell 30-3 at Roxboro Person, Northwood and Cedar Ridge went to overtime in a surprising defensive struggle, and Carrboro hosted Pasquotank.

At Hillsborough, Northwood (10-1, 3-1 Carolina Conference) and Cedar Ridge (7-4, 2-2) locked horns for four quarters and two overtime periods in a battle to see who would win second place in the Carolina 2-A and, with it, a home field advantage for the start of the NCHSAA playoffs. Senior Harold Baldwin finally won it for the Chargers with his 2-yard quarterback keeper. The Chargers struggled without usual starter Sam Griffin at quarterback. Baldwin completed only two of nine passses for 10 yards and ended up with a net minus-one yard on the ground. The Red Wolves also limited Shannon Peppers to "only" 96 yards rushing.

At Roxboro, Thomas Moore provided the only bright moment Friday for East Chapel Hill (1-10, 1-5 PAC) with his 24-yard field goal in the first half. The Wildcats spent most of the rest of the game inside their own territory as Person (6-5, 4-2) won to keep alive its hopes for hosting a playoff game.

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