Hornets roll past Dragons

In Orange, Orange County exploded in the second quarter Friday night to pull away and beat visiting William Monroe 44-3 in a Jefferson District showdown.

The Greene Dragons got off to a good start, forcing two Orange County turnovers in the first half, but William Monroe (0-7, 0-4 JD) was only able to turn the Hornets’ mistakes into three points, taking a 3-0 lead after an interception by Markees Towles set up a field goal.

Towles was one of the few bright spots for the Dragons. In addition to his interception, he also had another pass deflection, returned a kickoff 47 yards and ran for a team-high 21 yards.

Though Towles was able to help Monroe build an early lead, it was all Orange the rest of the way. The Hornets (3-4, 2-2) answered with a field goal of their own later in the first quarter to tie the game before the taking over in the second period.

Orange quarterback Cameron Hughes rebounded from the early pick to throw two touchdown passes in the second period.

Hughes connected on a 74-yard catch-and-run to star wide receiver Amir Waller with 5:42 left in the second quarter. The junior quarterback then threw another TD, this time a four-yard pass to a wide-open Jamal Hunter with just eight seconds remaining in the first half.

The Hornets also got a pair of one-yard touchdown runs from Dominique Walker in the second to make it a 30-3 lead at halftime.

Walker finished with a game-high 71 yards on 15 carries. Hughes completed 13 of 23 passes for 238 yards.

The Hornets used more big plays in the second half to keep pouring it on against the struggling Dragons. Waller raced for his second long touchdown of the night in the third quarter when the wide receiver lined up at quarterback and took a direct snap 55 yards for the score with 2:36 left in the third quarter.

Orange put the closing notes on the victory late in the fourth when junior linebacker Brandon Vann picked off a pass and ran it back 58 yards for another score.