In a year during which his team faced a multitude of injuries and suspensions due to red cards, senior center-mid Edgar Morales stayed on the field for the entire season for the Plant City boys soccer team. He finished his final season with the Raiders with eight goals and four assists. Morales was one of the senior leaders for Plant City, which fell 3-2 to Hillsborough in the opening round of the Class 4A District 9 tournament Tuesday.
What was it like dealing with all the adversity this season?
We had a lot of players back from previous years and thought that we would have a good year. We had a lot of seniors and juniors, and unfortunately, they had a hard time not only with injuries but also red cards and some indiscipline. We had a lot of players on the bench that were ready to come in and play, so I had faith in the team.
Being a senior, what was your role through all that?
I told them that is just a part of soccer and you can’t expect everything to go your way. If you go against them, they’re just going to fall down worse, so my role was to learn from everything that happened on and off the field and be able to deal with that.
How many years did you play at Plant City?
I played my freshman, junior and senior years.
What are some moments you will remember?
I don’t just look at the good things, I also look at the bad. I want to think about what I did good and also the bad moments, because those are the things that make you a better player.
What are some things that you’re going to miss?
I’ll miss teaching the players during practice. I always like to stop when something didn’t go our way and pull them to the side and tell them what they did good and also how they can do better. Just teaching them how to be team players.
Do you have plans for college?
I’d like to go to a four-year school. I’ve looked at maybe going to Florida Gulf Coast and maybe walking on the soccer team there.
Do you know what you’d like to study?
Ever since I was little my main interest was engineering, so I’d like to do something with that. I really like aeronautics, so I’d like to maybe be an air-traffic controller or something like that one day.