BAILEY–Exactly three months after its season started, Orange men’s soccer ventured into Bailey on Tuesday night.
They have played in 13 different stadiums across ten different towns.
They scored 66 goals and won a school record 16 games.
In the end, the number that Coach Palmer Bowman wanted more than anything else was one.
Just one more practice with a group that had been the most successful in the 37-year history of the team. A group that had overachieved since they kicked off the long campaign on August 12, with a heat advisory in effect, in its first-ever win against Carrboro.
“It was a good group,” Bowman said. “I wanted to keep it rolling after tonight.”
On Tuesday night, fans gathered at Firebirds Stadium wearing earmuffs, sweatshirts and overcoats in 55-degree weather to watch Southern Nash forward Wyatt Earp put the tombstone on Orange’s season.
Earp scored two goals while junior Mario Arredondo scored the game-winning goal with 5:19 remaining in the first half as Southern Nash defeated Orange 4-1 in the second round of the 3A State Playoffs. The Firebirds, the champions of the Big East Conference, will face J.H. Rose in the third round on Thursday night.
Orange, which reached the second round of the playoffs for only the second time in school history, ends the season 16-6.
“They’re fast,” Bowman said as he finished an emotional team meeting. “We turned the ball over a lot and they exploited that really quickly. At time, we were careless with the ball and they’re a quick team. They punished us we were turned it over, especially in the middle of the field.”
From kickoff, the Firebirds established a tempo that was as loud as the colors of their uniforms. A fast, pressing attack made it difficult for Orange to gain any significant possessions in the attacking end of the field. The Firebirds Yair Payola scored off a header just minutes into the game, leaving Orange with an uphill battle the entire night.
The best attempt in the first half for Orange came when Demetrius Holmes outfought a Firebird to win a ball in the box late in the first half. Holmes made the turn and fired from ten yards, but it sailed over the crossbar into the crisp November night.
Orange’s leading scorer, Yurem Tapia Mendez, decided to test Southern goalkeeper Alexis Benitez with an attempt from 45 yards with 1:12 remaining in the first half. Benitez, backpedaling, made the save and immediately launched a counter. Earp took a long throw from Benitez and dribbled to midfield, where he found Arredondo. As he enters the box, Arredondo fired to the low right corner, where the ball skipped past Orange goalkeeper Hector Garrido with :51.9 remaining in the first half.
Any hopes of an Orange comeback were dashed just when it appeared they would cut the lead in half. The Panthers’ Dallas Johnson fired from ten yards with Benitez out of position, but the ball was headed away on the goal line. The Firebirds stroked down the field on a counter, which ended with Earp scoring his first goal as he tucked it safely past Garrido with 24:50 remaining in regulation.
“That was a huge momentum swing,” Bowman said. “It was a total 180. We went from having a chance of our own to letting up and allowing them to get one. It was a two goal swing.”
Earp would score again later in the second half. It was the first time all year that Orange surrendered four goals in a game.
Junior Daniel Romero Toledo scored late for Orange to keep it from being a shutout. Romero ends the year with eight goals.
While the Panthers came up short in trying to reach the 3rd round for the first time in school history, they can move on knowing they were the most successful men’s team in Orange soccer history.
“It’s a testament to this group,” Bowman said. “They work they’ve put in over the years and all the guys who come through the program and imparted stuff on them that have been passed on.”