It might not have captured a state championship, but the Chapel Hill High School football team still enjoyed a marvelous and in many ways amazing season.
The Chapel Hill area is perhaps years away from a light rail system, but the Tigers became the ‘Express’ in the playoffs. They made successful stops in Shallotte to topple West Brunswick, Fayetteville to upset Terry Sanford and Durham to knock off nemesis Southern Durham.
They also nearly tripled their win total from last season, finishing at 11-4 despite finishing the regular season playing .500 in the Tigers last six tilts. Their stellar playoff run was enough for us to award Chapel Hill as our WCHL/Chapelboro.com Team of the Year, edging out Orange and Northwood for the honor.
For our other postseason honors:
COACH OF THE YEAR: Isaac Marsh, Chapel Hill
In his last year at Northwood, Bill Hall was a sentimental favorite for this award and his Chargers actually thumped the Tigers in a regular season clash. There’s also no questioning the coaching genius of Orange mentor Pat Moser, who led the Panthers to the third round of the playoffs in another superb season.
But Marsh brought his team to unprecedented heights. particularly with the consecutive upsets at Terry Sanford and Southern Durham. A Class 3AA semifinals loss to Northern Guilford did little to detract from Marsh’s amazing work, as both Orange and Northwood also fell to the same Nighthawks in the playoffs.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Connor Stough, Chapel Hill
There were flashier and bigger names in our area coming into the season, but Stough raised his level of play as the season progressed. It’s hard to overstate just how good Stough became but it really comes down to two sets of numbers: 11-4 and 25. The Tigers record that is, along with the number of touchdown passes he tossed.
GAME OF THE YEAR: Orange vs. Chapel Hill
The Tigers endured some rough patches during the regular season, like blowout losses to Northwood and Southern Durham. No defeat was more difficult to stomach, however, than their 38-37 setback to Orange in mid-October.
Chapel Hill, in need of a signature win despite its improvement from 2013, was poised to knock off the Panthers with more than a three touchdown lead at the half. The Panthers roared back, while the Tigers managed just a field goal after intermission and Chapel Hill endured another bitter loss following a 6-0 setback on the final play of the game in 2013.
The Tigers used the loss to fuel their terrific postseason run, as Marsh later noted in an interview, and the rest became history.
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