CHAPEL HILL– What a night of high school football action we had. Week nine had it all as one local titan survived a grueling slugfest and another top-notch area school dropped a shootout.

In our WCHL game of the week, the Chapel Hill fans were treated to an unexpected nail biter. Depleted by injuries, Coach Isaac Marsh’s squad entered their contest against undefeated powerhouse Orange High School with a 3-4 record.

But on this night, the Chapel Hill Tigers played much better than their record suggests, matching the physicality and speed of the Orange “Crush” Panthers every step of the way. In a defensive battle, it wasn’t until two seconds left in the game that lightning struck for the Panthers.

And with the dramatic 55-yard touchdown throw by Garrett Cloer, Coach Pat Moser’s Orange Panthers survived 6-0 over a valiant Chapel Hill team.

Over in Durham, the 6-1 Northwood Chargers faced 5-2 Southern Durham in our exclusive Chapelboro.com game. And unlike the Orange-Chapel Hill affair, this one kept the scorekeeper busy.

It was a back and forth contest, but ultimately it was the home team, Southern Durham that pulled out the 56-54 win to improve to 6-2 on the season.

In other area action, Carrboro continued its struggles as the Jaguars fell to Cummings 37-20. East Chapel Hill was blown out by Northern Durham 42-6 to drop to 1-7 on the season.

And in the feel good story of the night, the winless Cedar Ridge Red Wolves nabbed their first victory of 2013 with 24-17 home win over Webb.

Hear all the action on the Grid with Matt & Matt

Hear all the action on the Grid with Matt & Matt