ROGERS — Graduation hit the Rogers High boys soccer team hard. The Mounties had nine seniors in starting roles and 13 total on last year’s team that advanced to the semifinals of the Class 7A State Tournament.
But rebuilding is not the first word out of Rogers coach Steve Peck’s mouth when talking about the 2011 season. No, this year’s team is more reload than rebuild.
“I have a deep team,” Peck said. “Man, my junior varsity team would make a good varsity team. I think we are going to surprise a lot of people. Everybody is going to think we are way down.
“But I still have some highly skilled players. I’m excited about this year. I think we can go just as far this year, and hopefully we can go farther.”
That skill level has created a good problem called competition. Peck is having a hard time settling on a starting rotation. In fact, many players are getting a look outside their previous positions with the varsity or junior varsity.
Rogers does have experience and skill in goal as keeper Juan Hernandez returns for his junior season. Senior Cornelio Picazo is back at center-midfield and Isaias Morales saw extensive playing time as a defender.
“Morales will help us on the defensive end because he talks nonstop,” Peck said. “He is very aggressive but he is still a smart player.”
Senior Jose Valdez may return to center-midfield but could be moved to shore up the Mounties defense. Logan Carroll and Ivan Hernandez are also in the mix at defender. Picazo is also a possibility but Peck may want to keep him at centermidfi eld.
“Jose played defender as a sophomore and he is just a strong defender,” Peck said. “I lost two strong defenders from last year and outside defenders are my question mark right now.”
Christian Garcia, Eduardo Ramirez, Humberto Jimenez, Alexander Matute and Danny Garcia are also battling for starting positions.
“I have a bunch of kids that are really looking good,” Peck said. “Garcia is the one that scored our winning goal against Heritage when we played them in overtime. I expect a lot out of Garcia this year.”
Peck likes the skill level and athleticism of his team but Rogers will be at one disadvantage when the season begins.
“We will be vertically challenged,” Peck said. “We are not very tall as an overall team. We will match up fine with some teams. There will be other teams, if they figure it out, we will have a hard time. It’s game of matchups.
“We have the skill to get around them. But if they get the ball up in the air, we could be at a disadvantage.”