Time to Shine
By Michael Ashford
Originally published 03:44 p.m., October 23, 2007
Updated 03:44 p.m., October 23, 2007
All Adrian Trujillo wanted was one healthy year.
The senior Emporia High soccer player had gone through the pain of a broken leg as a sophomore and a nagging ankle injury as a junior, and entering his senior year, he just wanted a break for his body.
He wanted an injury-free season not just for himself, but because he knew something special could be in the works for the Spartans this season.
“I knew going into this year that we had a chance to be really good,” Trujillo said. “Other seasons, I’d gotten hurt and hadn’t been able to play to my full potential.
“This year, it’s a lot different.”
No doubt its been a season of change for the Spartans.
Entering Regional play tonight with a home game against Highland Park, the Spartans have compiled an 11-4 record after a 3-13-2 a season ago.
And the Spartans have reaped the benefits of a healthy Trujillo.
The senior midfielder — who sometimes moves up to one of the forward positions — is second on the team in goals with five.
But perhaps more important for the Spartans is Trujillo’s ability to pass. He is considered the team’s best passer and takes nearly every corner kick. As such, he leads Emporia in assists with 15.
“Direct kicks are his thing,” EHS soccer coach Steve Pearson said. “He practices, he practices, he practices. Whether he’s with us or on his own, that boy works hard.”
This season has been a fun one for Trujillo and his teammates, especially considering few expected such a turnaround from a roster made up almost entirely of returning players. Fourteen players returned off of last year’s squad, nine of which were seniors.
Trujillo said once he saw the team come together for the start of conditioning before the season, he knew things would be different this year.
There weren’t many believers at first, though.
“Nobody would believe me that we were going to be good, and why would they? Not when you win three games,” Trujillo said. “But in the offseason ... I saw the level that we were playing at. It was a very different level than what we had been playing at.
“From the beginning, I was like, ‘No, we’re going to State. We’re going to have a good year.’”
For Trujillo, being that outspoken has been yet another change for the Spartans. Before, he said he had been content to lay back and let others do the talking, the motivating, the directing.
Not so this year. Not after he was named one of Emporia’s four team captains.
“He’s more vocal than he used to be,” Pearson said. “He’s becoming a little demanding, and that’s not always a bad thing, not when you’re a captain. That’s been something we could use more of out of him — being more commanding.”
Added Trujillo: “Coach told me at the beginning of the year, ‘You’re a captain, they’re going to listen to you and you need to be a leader.’ I’ve really tried to let my teammates hear me out there. Communication is important.”
The Spartans head into Regional play expecting nothing less than making the State tournament. The very thought of not making it to State is unacceptable.
“We’ve been saying we’re going to do it, and now we have to do it,” Trujillo said. “We have our chance.”
For Emporia, it could come down to Trujillo continuing a recent run that has seen him score four goals and dish out three assists in the last eight games.
“In the last month or so, he’s really been on fire,” Pearson said. “He controls the center of the field for us, and we’ve got to control the center.
“If he stays on fire, we’ll get there (State).”