A real youth movement at NTXES

The North Texas Elite Showcase kicks off the first weekend of the Texas high school season, and this year’s Marcus venue featured a number of sophomores and a freshman standout. <strong>M Cesar Batres, McKinney Boyd (Texas), So.</strong> — Batres is a young spark in this senior-led group. He is technical, smooth, and has great recognition and awareness. His future is bright based on his current performances. <strong>M [player_tooltip player_id="15923" first="Caleb" last="Centeno"], Irving (Texas), So.</strong> — Caleb is very composed and smooth on the ball with great passing technique. His great first touch and fantastic vision should be a great indication of a potentially strong future. <strong>F [player_tooltip player_id="15771" first="Alejandro" last="Gallegos"], Central Catholic (Texas), So.</strong> — Gallegos, the younger brother of San Antonio FC’s Jose Gallegos, led the way in form of attacking chances for Central and assisted on the go-ahead goal midway through the first half. He is strong with the ball and puts some dangerous services in the box. His work rate and young leadership were enjoyable to watch. Alejandro is among a group of three sophomores that really looked strong for Central Catholic, they are definitely a great look at what the future can be for CC. <strong>M [player_tooltip player_id="33381" first="Sebastian" last="Gonzalez"], Irving (Texas), So.</strong> — Gonzalez is so quick, agile, and clever. He is extremely fun to watch, drives at defenders, and can take them inside or outside. Always looking to get on the ball and impact the game, this young man is someone to watch for the future. <strong>F Evan Pacheco, Central Catholic (Texas), So.</strong> — Pacheco put in a shift against Marcus and really stayed strong with the trend of high work rate amongst this entire Central Catholic team. Aside from his effort to press and help win the ball back, he scored the opening goal by continuing his run and getting to where he needed to be. He is also part of this promising group of sophomores in this Central Catholic squad. <strong>F Aaron Pondeca, Marcus (Texas), So.</strong> — Pondeca is electric and brought a definite spark to the attack when he stepped on. His confidence on the ball glows the minute he touches it, he showed some great moments of individual skill to take on defenders and also set some nice passes to share opportunities with his teammates. It will be interesting to see where he takes his game, but if he takes it to the next level then defenders are going to continue to struggle against him 1v1. <strong>M [player_tooltip player_id="16519" first="Matthew" last="Sanchez"], Keller (Texas), So.</strong> — Sanchez has great understanding and anticipation for the game happening in front of him. He reads cues and closes the ball down really well to cut out penetrating passes between midfield and the back line. <strong>M Alessandro Sierra, Central Catholic (Texas), So.</strong> — Sierra rounds out this top group of young sophomores with a nice showing of confidence and composure on the ball in tight spaces. He had some nice moments of reading cues and helping his group cut out some passes in the center of the park and then using his shifty feet to get out pressure and help in the counter. Really excited to see how this Central Catholic team looks over the next few years. <strong>M Chris Urvina, Grand Prairie (Texas), So.</strong> — Urvina is exciting to watch on the ball as he likes to take defenders on and he is pretty shifty. He has decent vision and good ideas, which along with his high work rate make him an exciting prospect of the future. <strong>M [player_tooltip player_id="16603" first="Owen" last="Gall"], Marcus (Texas), Fr.</strong> — Owen is a bright young star and the future of Marcus soccer. He was so technically clean and quick with a great understanding of how to find the pockets in order to make himself available for the player on the ball. He was really elusive and smooth with the ball at his feet, he also scored a fantastic goal to bring Marcus level before halftime. This young man is definitely someone we should keep an eye on as his development continues.