Following the most successful season in Orange men’s soccer season, the Panthers cleaned up in the postseason honors.
Senior Dallas Johnson has been named to the 5A All-State team by the North Carolina Soccer Coaches Association. The Panthers’ two leading scorers, Yurem Tapia and John Gomez, were named to the All-Region Team for the 4A/5A/6A Burlington Classification. Johnson also earned a spot on the All-Region team.
Johnson used his boundless endurance to win countless 50-50 balls as the Panthers won a school-record 18 games. Over the course of his three years at the varsity level, Orange won 43 games, a school record for a three-year period.
This season, Johnson scored a career-high seven goals. Arguably the most important came on October 20, when South Granville led Orange 2-1 with less than five minutes remaining in regulation. On a corner kick from Mendez, Johnson tore through the box and fired in the equalizer on a shot so fierce, the ball tore through a hole in the net. Minutes later, Gomez drew a penalty that Tapia converted to send Orange home with a 3-2 win, preserving first place in the conference.
Johnson had the only multi-goal game of his career against South Granville. He also scored against Eastern Alamance, Hillside, J.F. Webb and in his final regular season home game, a 5-0 win against Durham School of the Arts.
In addition to playing soccer, Johnson also ran for the Orange men’s cross country team, which also won the Big 7 Conference Championship. In 2024, Johnson ran for an Orange cross country team that won the 3A State Championship.
For the second year in a row, Tapia was the leading scorer for Orange. After registering 19 goals and two assists in his junior season, Tapia dished out a career-high 17 assists after being pressed into a different role one-third of the way into the season. He was also second on the team with 12 goals.
Tapia had three multi-goal games this season. Against Cedar Ridge, in the opening leg of the Rosewood Financial Cup, he scored both goals in a 2-0 win on September 15. Both goals came off penalty kicks. In the rematch with the Red Wolves on October 8, Tapia scored another brace. That included the game-winning goal in the opening overtime session in a 4-2 Orange win, which secured the first Rosewood Financial Cup. He scored Orange’s opening goal of the season at Chapel Hill on August 13.
Tapia concludes his career with 33 goals in 45 games.
After scoring three goals as a junior, Gomez had a breakout senior season. He led the team with 15 goals and also added a career-best six assists.
In the final week of the regular season, Gomez scored the first hat trick of his career on a rainy day in Oxford as the Panthers defeated J.F. Webb 6-0, which clinched a share of the Big 7 Conference championship. Two nights later, Gomez notched the second hat trick of his career in Orange’s 3-1 win over Seaforth, which secured the conference title. Gomez also scored the game-winner against Southeast Alamance in a 1-0 win on September 10, a dramatic win where goalkeeper Hector Garrido made a save on a penalty kick with 35 seconds remaining in regulation.
Orange won the Big 7 Conference championship this year. It was the first time in the 38-year history of the program that the Panthers claimed a conference championship. In the 5A State Playoffs, Orange reached the round of 16 for the first time ever after beating Seaforth 3-1 in the second round at Orange Soccer Field. Gomez scored the game-winning goal off an assist from Ajali Carter on a header. Gomez notched the game-winning goal in the second half while Tapia closed the night with the final goal of his career off a penalty.
In addition to Johnson, Tapia and Gomez, there were four other Orange players named to the All-Big 7 Conference team. Garrido, a goalkeeper playing just his second year of organized soccer, named the All-Conference team. Condon, Brendan McDonald and centerback Logan Edwards were also named to the All-Conference team.
