Orange County was awfully close to getting the kind of start the Hornets were looking for in 2019 Thursday night. But a slip and a miscommunication on offense with under a second to go ended a shot at a season-opening win over King George as the Hornets fell 31-27.
Orange faced third down from the three with under a minute to play, trailing by four. On that play, the Hornets’ ball-carrier tripped, then Orange (0-1) made a mistake and spiked the ball on fourth down to end the game.
The Hornets’ loss came in large part at the hands of quarterback Charles Mutter who threw for 326 yards and a touchdown while tailback Gabe Alley rushed for 95 yards.
Jaylen Alexander predictably provided much of the Hornets’ offense with 123 yards and two touchdowns on the ground and another 84 yards and a touchdown on four catches. Hylton Hale ripped off a 51-yard touchdown sprint with 5:17 left in the third quarter that put Orange up 27-24.
King George didn’t score the go ahead touchdown until there was 2:06 to play and Aley powered in from eight yards out.
Orange responded with a screen to Alexander that put them in position for a late score, but the mistakes in the redzone in the closing seconds proved costly. Quarterback Walker Johnson finished 9-for-15 for 122 yards through the air for the Hornets.
Hale led the Hornets with nine solo stops and a pick on defense while Noah Carey had seven total tackles. Orange surrendered 478 yards of total offense on the night.
The Hornets will try and bounce back next week on the road again against North Stafford.
