The Orange Middle School Chargers are the 2026 Orange Person Athletic Conference champions. In May, the Chargers defeated Phillips 9-8 in Chapel Hill in the OPAC Championship game. Beckett Kinlaw scored the game-winning goal in the fourth quarter for the Chargers, who avenged a regular season loss to the Falcons to take the title. There were 20 8th graders for Orange this year. Jakiah Rawles and Kinlaw were the leading scorers for head coach David O’Neal. Rawles switched to attacker in the middle of the season and helped run the offense from behind the net. Longstick midfielder Sam Wilking provided a touch from long range, frequently scoring goals from outside the box. The Chargers finished the season 11-3, going undefeated over the final two months of the year. Ben Runkle, the younger brother of former Orange goalkeeper Jackson Runkle, was one of an experience group of 8th graders who helped keep the Chargers defense stingy. Jayden Gutierrez, who played running back in football and wrestled in the winter, led Orange in face-off wins. While 20 8th graders have graduated and are moving on to high school, Coach O’Neal has 20 more rising 8th graders coming up next season as the Chargers will be looking for back-to-back conference championships.
