Canuto nets special season, wins county POY; Lumberton leads All-County selections

ST. PAULS — When Omar Canuto played the center back position on the defensive back line for St. Pauls last season, the plan was already in place to move him forward in 2024 as changing personnel allowed.

As he moved to play midfield and forward this season, the results thoroughly affirmed that decision.

Canuto nearly set a new school record for goals in a season with his explosive offensive play, and has been named as The Robesonian’s Player of the Year.

“As a team, we did pretty good,” Canuto said. “We’ve lacked sometimes, but we came back and fought hard for some of our games. Me individually, I feel like I did pretty good though. It was a good season.”

“He’s a heck of a player and what he was able to do this year was pretty amazing and I’m very happy for him,” St. Pauls coach Brent Martin said. “Very rarely do you have really good young men who are outstanding athletes coming through, and he personifies what it means to just be a good young man and an even better athlete. I’m super proud of him.”

Canuto scored 30 goals, narrowly missing the existing St. Pauls record of 31 set by Alexis Mendez in 2017. Canuto, who had eight assists this season, also matched a program record for goals in a single game, scoring five times this season against Pender to match a 2021 record of Anthony Sosa.

“I feel like probably just my IQ, the way I play (is what makes me an effective scorer),” Canuto said. “I think my shooting, that’s what really helps me a lot. And then taking players on, that’s it, and having the IQ of where to be at the right times and stuff like that.”

Canuto helped lead St. Pauls to a 11-11-1 record overall and a 3-5 mark in the Southeastern Athletic Conference, good for a third-place finish in the league. The team reached the first round of the 2A state playoffs.

“His strength, his technical ability, his size and his confidence have probably been the biggest assets to us this year,” Martin said. “He’s not afraid to take a team on his back and be a leader. He wasn’t a senior, but he led from a junior’s position, and led in his character and his ability.”

Canuto earned an All-County selection as a freshman midfielder in 2022. Martin moved him to a defensive position in 2023, and this season he played forward; he was listed as a midfielder but split time between there and forward.

“I promised him that if he would do it for me last year then I would turn him loose this year. He did what he needed to do, and to be a man of my word I had to set him free,” Martin said. “It didn’t matter where I put him, he could find the back of the net. He can shoot from distance. He’s a good close finisher and he can also shoot from distance.”

“Last year I had to play center back for the seniors that we had, so I had to let them play (in the front), but I was already used to playing striker so it didn’t affect me that much (this year),” Canuto said.

Playing in a conference that included Clinton, which won the 2A state championship Friday, Canuto even got the attention of the Dark Horses’ coaching staff.

“Even Brad Spell from Clinton was like ‘he’s the truth, man.’ If that guy says something about him, then that means something,” Martin said. “If there’s anybody I had that might be in that starting 11 (at Clinton), it would be Omar. That’s saying a lot.”

With a year of high school soccer still to play, Canuto knows next season will be different, with a large senior class graduating next spring. But he feels he’s ready to embrace the challenge.

“We have pretty good seniors leaving this year, so it’s going to be a challenge next year, that’s for sure,” Canuto said. “But hopefully we can keep our heads high and trust our gut and have a good season next year.”

“I’ve already spoken to him about it and we’ve talked about the change it will be,” Martin said. “Now that I’ve released him, he knows I’m not going to take his freedom away from him, I’m going to encourage him to continue to be who he was this year. But it’s something I think me and him are both looking forward to.”

Part of what Canuto can look forward to next year is the possibility of playing with his younger brother Joshue Canuto, who Martin expects will be on the varsity team in 2025.

Canuto wears No. 22 to honor his older brother Chris Canuto, who played in the Bulldogs program before graduating in 2020 and was a mentor for Omar’s soccer career. Now, he’s looking to be the same kind of influence on Joshue.

“Both Omar and I have talked about continuing the tradition, and next year him and I will look at it as what kind of mentor can you be to your younger brother, like your older brother Chris was to you,” Martin said. “

Goalkeeper of the Year

A year ago, Branlon Brooks won Robeson County Goalkeeper of the Year honors as a freshman. After a year of growth led to another season of solid play, the Purnell Swett sophomore has earned the award again in 2024.

“Branlon was our backbone there in the back,” Purnell Swett coach Alaric Strickland said. “He was very strong and effective this year, and is only getting better as the years go by. He seems to have better control of the back line and that’s only going to improve.”

Brooks made 221 saves in goal for the Rams this season, good for 9.2 per game.

“He took more accountability of everything that was going on in the back, and that was a progression we were hoping to see,” Strickland said. “That’s what you need from your goalkeeper, to organize the back line and organize the box, be strong back there, and he’s been able to do that this year.”

With two more years to go in the program, Strickland hopes to see that growth continue.

“Just the progression that we’ve seen from his first year to his second, we just hope we keep seeing that progression and that leadership from him as a goalie and a captain of the team,” Strickland said.

Coach of the Year

The Lumberton program lost a lot of talent to graduation last season. But after reloading to win a fourth consecutive United-8 Conference championship, Kenny Simmons has been named as Robeson County Coach of the Year.

“It was a fun season, it was a fun year,” Simmons said. “The guys bought into what we were doing in the offseason and committed themselves to get better, and I think that was a key for our success in the fall. You’ve got to give tons of credit to the players for making that commitment and putting in the work, and we reaped the benefits.”

Simmons, who is assisted by Lauren Caulder, won the award for the fourth straight season. The Pirates finished 19-6-1 overall, were 13-1 in the United-8, won the Robeson Cup and reached the first round of the state playoffs.

“We set some goals at the beginning of the year and we met a majority of those goals as a squad,” Simmons said. “I felt like with the way the bracket was set up we could’ve gone a little deeper than what we did (in the state playoffs). But you get to that point in the season, you’ve got to be good, but I think sometimes you’ve got to be a little lucky too and got to get some breaks and get some bounces to go your way.”

All-County Team

*^Korbyn Walton, Sr., F, Lumberton — The Pirates’ offensive leader score 17 goals, while also becoming a better passer this season to the tune of 14 assists.

Isaac Juarez, Jr., GK, Lumberton — Juarez made 94 saves and had 12 shutouts as the last line of defense in Lumberton’s strong back third.

*Dakoda Hunt, Sr., D, Lumberton — Lumberton’s defensive leader kept the Pirates organized and is a strong 1-on-1 defender, also scoring three goals with two assists.

*Emilio Carrera, Sr., MF, Lumberton — The Pirates’ most technical player who controlled the midfield, Carrera scored 15 goals with seven assists.

Robinhio Tanis, Jr., F, Lumberton — A breakout season up front saw Tanis score 20 goals with seven assists.

Alexis Adler, Sr., F, Lumberton — In his first and last year of high school soccer, Adler found success with 16 goals and 11 assists.

*^Covin Gomez, Sr., MF, St. Pauls — A strong complement to Player of the Year Canuto, Gomez scored 14 goals with 13 assists for the Bulldogs.

Kevin Lopez Tellez, Sr., MF, St. Pauls — The Bulldogs’ center defensive midfielder scored six goals with three assists.

Yordan Rodriguez, Sr., MF, St. Pauls — A key player on the wing, Rodriguez netted five goals with six assists.

Jacolby Locklear, So., MF, Purnell Swett — Part of a Rams sophomore class with three All-County selections, Locklear led the team’s midfield and dished 10 assists in addition to his five goals.

Phoenix Cummings, So., D, Purnell Swett — Cummings will continue to lead the Rams defense in front of Goalkeeper of the Year Brooks for the next two years; Cummings had two goals this season.

Marco Tellez, Jr., MF, Red Springs — A talented attacker from midfield, Tellez had 23 goals and 12 assists to lead the Red Devils’ offense.

Alfredo Capulin, Sr., D, Red Springs — The Red Devils’ defensive stopper also had three goals on the season.

* — denotes 2023 All-County selection

^ — denotes 2022 All-County selection

Honorable Mentions

Lumberton’s Justin Lopez, Joshua Badillo, Mario Robles and Bryan Macias, Purnell Swett’s Chase Harris and Red Springs’ Brian Villagomez Ruiz each earned honorable-mention selections.