NATHANIEL MATA | STAFF WRITER
HIDALGO — Valley View graduate Damian Magallan Jr. is used to taking a different path in his soccer career.
He played the majority of his high school years on a club team in Central Texas before finishing high school playing for his father as the Valley View Tigers’ central midfielder.
After graduation, instead of immediately entertaining his college offers, he moved on to the Houston Dynamo’s U-19 development academy.
“High school was challenging, but DA (development academy) is faster and more aggressive. They’re strong,” Magallan Jr. said. “I had to get used to it, but by now I’ve been scoring more and more goals. It’s going well.”
The Dynamo experience has taken him to Colorado, Kansas and North Texas to face development squads in other Major League Soccer markets.
He’s made 16 appearances with four starts and netted three goals as a midfielder.
“I think it was good to go to Dynamo first to get faster and stronger,” Magallan Jr. said. “I think it’s a good decision to come here to UTRGV, because it’s my hometown.”
Magallan Jr. will be the fourth RGV native to play on the team since the program was reinstated in 2015, and just the third true freshman to be recruited since then.
“It’s good, because there’s a lot of challenging (high) schools here,” Magallan Jr. said. “And the coaches really don’t see the high school players here. They want to go abroad. Now, the high schools are getting better every year, and the coaches are seeing the Valley kids.”
Damian’s father, Damian Magallan Sr., said he was happy his son’s dedication to soccer turned into an opportunity to earn an education while improving.
“I’m proud of him,” the elder Magallan said in Spanish. “I’m always pushing him to give maximum effort. I knew he can be playing Division I, and now he is.”
Through the rich legacy of strong teams and talented athletes at Valley View, Magallan Jr. is the first to sign to an NCAA Division I university. The team’s coach said the milestone can inspire future classes of players.
His current team, which is preparing for the regional semifinals against Marble Falls this Friday in Corpus Christi, filled the room to share in the accomplishment of a former teammate.
“It’s a very special thing for my players to see him sign,” Magallan Sr. said through his son. “It gives them the motivation to go chase what their dreams are, to be scouted also, and that anything is possible.”