The Orange Panthers hosted round 1 and 2 of the 3A State Dual Team Tournament on January 29, 2019. Round 1 was Union Pines vs Cape Fear and Morehead vs Orange. The Orange Panthers advanced to the 2nd round with a win over Morehead that was 42-24 and would face Cape Fear, who advanced with a score of 39-33 over Union Pines. In Round 2 the Panthers were met with a very tough Cape Fear team and quickly fell behind. The Panthers fought back but unfortunately could not overcome the score and ended up losing 46-27.

When asked about the tournament, this is what freshman Ethan Fortner had to say about the matches, “I wrestled in the 1st round when we beat Morehead. I lost my match but the team did pretty well, we were down early put we came back. In second round we were down early and we stayed down until about 106 and that’s when we started coming back but we ended up losing that match.” 

As the Panthers plan to move on from the loss of the tournament they prepare for the State Individual Tournament starting with Regional competition at South Guilford High School with placers moving to the State Tournament in Greensboro.