On a chilly January evening at Bob Benson ’66 Stadium, the Central Catholic Buttons state champion varsity soccer team culminated the Soccer Senior Night shootout by handing a bruising and convincing 12-0 shutout to the Barons of St. Mary’s Hall. The chilled crowd in attendance included many parents of seniors on this year’s team that will be saying goodbye when this season ends.

Over the past four years, this senior class has amassed a record of 55 wins, 5 ties, and 11 losses in their career to date, which includes 2 state championships, and they have been ranked in the top 50 in the nation for 3 years in a row. In a tournament held recently in Coppell, TX, this team defeated the then ranked number one team in the nation, Loyola High School, from California.

This year’s varsity squad boasts 4 senior managers: Josiah Alanis, Jonathon Bouldin, Charlie Corona, and Brandon Romero, all earning their first varsity letter with soccer, and 5 senior players:

Angel Bacho, defender – 4-year varsity letterman, 4-year varsity starter.  Angel has committed to UNC-Greensboro to play Division I college soccer on scholarship.

Raymond Cantu, forward – 2-year varsity letterman.

Juan Jaen, forward – 2-year varsity letterman.

Luis Jaen, defender – 2-year varsity letterman, first-year varsity starter, team captain.

Franco Querido, forward – 4-year varsity letterman, 2-year varsity starter.

Impressively, all 5 senior players got on the stat sheet last night in their Senior Night game:

Franco Querido (center forward, team’s leading goalscorer):  1 goal

Angel Bacho (left back, team leader in assists):  2 assists

Luis Jaen (right back):  3 assists

Juan Jaen (center forward):  1 assist

Raymond Cantu (left forward):  4 goals!

Other notable efforts from some of the younger team members included Sean Fleming (junior, right forward) who also had 4 goals. Daveen Mazaheri-Campos (junior, left forward) scored our first goal less than 3 minutes into the match, and both our defensive midfielders, Sevas Rodriguez and Bryan Jimenez, each scored a goal as well.  Team captain, star (junior forward) Jose Gallegos, provided 2 assists for his teammates last night.

“The team was very motivated last night to have a strong performance in our last regular-season home game, for the sake of our seniors and for the sake of our injured players who are rehabbing to try to return to play in time for the playoffs – Jacob Jones, Erik Alvarado, and Noah Blackburn,” said Coach Edward Cartee.

With last night’s win, CC Varsity Soccer improves to 9-3-1 overall, and 3-0 in district play as they look to their next contest against the Antonian Apaches at Alamo Stadium this Wednesday night, January 30, at 7:00 p.m.