Bill Hall’s nearly three-decade high school football coaching career ended with a whimper and not a bang. His Northwood Chargers were pounded by Northern Guilford 56-26 Friday night in a NCHSAA 3AA playoff opener.

The Chargers, who finished the season 9-3 overall and came into the playoffs playing their best football of the season, were never in the contest.

The 11-1 Nighthawks erupted for 35 points in the middle two quarters to blow out the Chargers. Dwain Norcott picked off Ti Pinnix and returned it 55 yards for a score for the victors.

Orange, meanwhile, needed a dramatic stop from its stellar defense on a two-point conversion in the final seconds of regulation to hold off a tough Lee County squad, 21-20 in its opener in Hillsborough.

The only area team to host a first-round game, the Panthers (11-1) needed every bit of their grit to advance as opposing running back Jerry Pullum piled up nearly 200 rushing yards.

Panther quarterback Garrett Cloer had a pair of scoring strikes in the opening half as Orange took at 14-7 lead. Eryk Brandon-Dean added a five-yard scoring dash in the third quarter as the ‘Crush’ appeared to pull away with a 21-7 advantage.

Lee County’s bruising rushing attack, including Emond Caldwell’s two yard touchdown run in the closing seconds, nearly pushed the game into overtime. Orange’s defensive line came up with a big stop, however, as the Yellow Jackets opted to go for the win on the two-point conversion and were stuffed on the attempt by Bryse Wilson.

Chapel Hill also moved on and improved to 9-3 following an easy 42-14 win over a West Brunswick (5-7) team that hosted the tilt despite coming in with a losing record.

Home field advantage meant little, however, as a focused Tiger squad recorded four touchdown passes from Connor Stough, who also threw for over 300 yards, and three scoring grabs from Arkavius Parks with two interceptions from Andy Gillespie.