When Angelina College head soccer coach Freddy Drago arrived last summer, tasked with building a new program from scratch, he had little time to perform the normal recruiting duties associated with the job. He built his first team through tryouts and word of mouth, managing to put together a highly competitive unit that challenged established teams throughout the season in a tough Region XIV conference.
On Thursday, Drago and his assistants Jorden Smith and Sheharyar Khan celebrated the programs first big signing class, with 22 players from throughout the state on-hand to post their signatures on official letters of intent to join the team for the Fall 2017 season.
“Last year, we were fortunate enough to find some guys who were ready to play on short notice,” Drago told the crowd of signees, friends and families. “They helped get us moving forward, and we’re counting on you to step in and help raise us to another level.”
Drago continued his focus on recruiting locally while spreading the Roadrunner reach across Texas. Those signing on Thursday included midfielders Joel Barrientos and Chris Burgess from Poteet High School in Mesquite; Nathan Diaz, defender, from Langham Creek High School in Houston; Abraham Escamilla, defender, from Lewisville High School; Matthew Flaherty, midfielder, from Kingwood Park High School in Houston; Harrison Foulkes, forward, and Dylan Leffert, defender from Atascocita High School in Humble; Caio Lira, forward, from Humble High School; Jack Martinez, forward, from Rowlett High School; Victor Pereira, midfielder, from Lewisville High School; Kevin Perez, midfielder, and Nataniel Villavicencio, forward, of Mount Pleasant High School; brothers Damian Ramirez, defender, and Julian Ramirez, goalkeeper, of Naaman Forest High School in Garland; Luke Sommers, defender, from Central High School in Keller; Jacob Beacham, midfielder, from Tomball High School; midfielders Juan Rios and Josue Salazar and forward Oscar Cordero of Lufkin High School; Jair Ruiz, forward, from Diboll High School; Jesus Zarate, midfielder, from Nacogdoches High School; and Gabriel Tellez, defender, from Taylor High School.
The Roadrunners will open the regular season in August.
