Orange County HS Football Hopes to Build on Last Season's Succes - NBC29 WVIR Charlottesville, VA News, Sports and Weather

After a long off season, Orange County high school is ready for a new year of football.

"We're very excited," says head coach Jesse Lohr. "The kids seemed to have a lot of energy this morning. It was our first real day out here. We had a really good off season. I thought we had a good day of practice."

The Hornets had a record of 6-4 last season and earned a berth in the 5A State Playoffs. The six wins were more than Orange had in its previous four seasons combined. Stone Bridge eliminated Orange in the first round of the playoffs last year and the Hornets say they have bigger expectations in 2016.

"We can't just walk out here and expect to be better than 6-4," says Lorh. "This is a whole new season and I have a whole new set of practices." 

"It feels good to be that [the hunted and not the hunter], says senior running back Trevon Smith. "We have to take that on our backs and carry it all the way."

"Like you said, there's a big target on our back," says senior center Carter Rickett. "Coach Lohr wants us to try a lot harder and do better than we did last year."

Jesse Lohr enters his second year as head coach of Orange County. His message to the players this year, 'win the day.'

"Make everyday count," says senior safety Jay Lewis-Nixon. "You come out here on the field and work, and give it your all."

"I feel like he's more experienced in the head coaching spot and he's implementing all that in our practices and stuff," says senior linebacker Ryan Horton.

"He noticed that we have a lot of talent this year," says senior running back DeAngelo Hunt. "We lost some key players and we're just going to build off of that. Some guys are going to have to step up. He's pushing us harder because he wants this season to be a great year."

Orange is anchored by a big backfield. DeAngelo Hunt is 6'1", 230 pounds. Trevon Smith is 5'11", 230 pounds. Orange expects to run downhill this season.

"We both do things well and some things not well," says Smith. "We just try to get better and we tell each other what we're doing wrong and what we're doing right."

Orange County opens its season at Culpeper Friday, August 26th.