By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
Friday will always be an important day to remember for six Pace boys soccer players who signed college scholarship agreements to continue playing at the next level.
The six graduating seniors, all standouts from Pace’s 2016 Region IV-5A runner-up squad, are Benlly Galvan, Juan Garza, Hector Rojas, Johan Rios, Alejandro Castaneda and David Morales.
A signing ceremony was held in the school auditorium with family, friends and Brownsville ISD personnel on hand to witness and celebrate the occasion. Five girls athletes for Pace also signed scholarship agreements at the ceremony, boosting the total number of Friday’s honorees to 11. Ten of the 11 signed to play soccer.
Galvan, Garza and Rojas will play for Cayuga Community College of Albany, New York, while Rios and Castaneda are headed to Texas College in Tyler and Morales is going to Lindenwood University in Belleville, Illinois.
“I’m very grateful and blessed to have this chance to play college ball,” said Garza, a two-year starter at forward for the Vikings. “I’m excited to meet new people and new friends over there and get to play soccer in a different state. It’ll be a different environment. It’ll be awesome.”
Rojas said he’s leaving Pace with plenty of good memories of playing for the Vikings. Now he’s looking forward to what’s ahead in college with two of his teammates there as well.
“We’re like a family, so we’re pretty comfortable going over there to New York,” said Rojas, a four-year starter in the midfielder who plans to study engineering. “I’m really happy about the good memories I have of playing here at Pace, and now we’re going to another level to see what we can do.”
Pace boys coach Mario A. Zamora relived an important day from his past on Friday as in 2004 he signed with Lindenwood as a graduating soccer standout for Hanna.
“Besides winning championships, I think it’s the most essential part of our jobs (as coaches) to get these student-athletes to college,” Zamora said. “And why not go to college and continue playing soccer? It’s something these guys love to do.”
Morales was in total agreement with his coach.
“You take time to think about it and it’s really pretty exciting, right?” said Morales, a midfielder who plans to study biology with the intention of eventually going to medical school. “I want to do well in college academic-wise and raise up my grades while showing my ability sports-wise and help out the team. I just want to thank my parents, my friends and everyone who has supported me from the beginning. There are people who are special to me and they know who they are.”
While the other boys signees are going to college out of state, Castaneda and Rios will be staying in Texas to continue their educations, albeit at the opposite end of the state at Texas College in Tyler.
“Since my freshman year I’ve been on the varsity and I’ve experienced a lot, so there are a lot of good memories,” said Rios, a three-year starter at defender who plans to study education so he can come back to his alma mater as a teacher and coach. “We weren’t that great when I started four years ago, but the program has come up and there are a lot of good memories. Now I just want to get better, get to play and graduate with a college degree.”
Castaneda said at one time he didn’t think he’d ever receive an opportunity to play his sport in college.
“This day is really amazing for me because I wasn’t thinking about signing, but thanks to God, everything came out great,” said Castaneda, a four-year starter in the midfield who plans to study engineering. “Every one of my teammates loves soccer and would like to have the chance to play at the next level, so I’m super happy. I just thank every single one of the coaches for giving us the chance to play. Because of them, we’re here.”
Galvan, who wants to become a radiologist, is another Pace player who has made quite an impact for the Vikings during his multiple seasons on the varsity. He played in the midfield and on defense.
He summed up the feeling of the day by saying, “I love playing soccer, so this is wonderful. It’ll be awesome playing with my teammates in New York. We know it’ll be tough, but we made it here, so we’re going to make it over there. I feel blessed to have played for Pace. I loved wearing the (school) colors. My senior year has been the best. I’m blessed and now I’m just ready to start playing in college.”
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess