Rouse forward Carlos Manzano was a nightmare for opposing defenses this soccer season
LEANDER — Rouse striker Carlos Manzano’s goal celebration of flashing his initials with his fingers was a frequent occurrence this season.
In playing a big role in the Raiders' winning the District 25-5A boys soccer title and making a run to the regional final, Manzano scored an eye-popping 30 times and dished out an equally impressive 17 assists. A menace to defenses who now holds every goal record in the Rouse program, Manzano is the American-Statesman’s Central Texas player of the year after tallying a nearly unheard-of 77 points.
“Last year I had 21 goals, so this year I had 30 as my goal,” said Manzano, who set the Raiders' single-season scoring record two years in a row. “I was aiming for that and thought I could do it because I have really good players around me who can help me create chances and score.”
Some of his goals came in Rouse’s biggest moments, including one vs. Leander in the regional quarterfinals and two during a win over Brownsville Lopez in the regional semifinals.
But Raiders coach Darrell Knight said Manzano's ability to distribute the ball for assists is what makes him a special player.
“Seventeen assists from a striker — that’s really impressive,” Knight said. “In our playoff win against San Antonio MacArthur, he had four assists while one of our other players had four goals. So, while he’s normally the goal-scorer, in that game he was setting up other people. And that’s what I’m proud of him about, is he’s not concerned about scoring, but concerned about his other teammates and the team winning.”
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A lightning-quick player who stands about 5 feet 7, Manzano, who finished with 60 career goals, notes that his game is the high school equivalent of when Belgium international Eden Hazard played for English Premiership club Chelsea.
“I’m a small-built player who is able to dribble and who has good finishing ability,” Manzano said. “I think I’m good playing with the midfield and the wingers, and I’m a good on-the-ball player and good at one-twos and where to move afterwards. I can see spaces and lines.”
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Rouse finished 22-3-2, its best campaign in school history, and Manzano was part of a three-headed monster along with midfielders Ryan Clanton and Brendon Fournier on the offensive end.
The Raiders averaged nearly 3.5 goals while using a style of play that started with possession before looking for big passes through the defense or taking advantage of counterattacks.
“What Carlos did on our particular team is amazing because we have so many other talented players,” Knight said. “People tried to man-mark him later in the year, but they were mostly unsuccessful when they did it. … He’s really hard to keep track of on the field, and he finds really innovative ways to get open in the box and put us up early in a lot of games. And if he wasn’t scoring, he was assisting one of our other players.”
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Manzano will attend Concordia University Texas in the fall to pursue a business degree and hasn’t decided whether he will try to play for the Tornados' soccer team. But he’ll always have found memories of what he and the Raiders accomplished this season.
“It was probably the most fun I’ve had playing in a long time,” he said. “We were like one family, and it was a good team to be a part of. It felt like we were dominant. We knew we were a good team going into it, and we wanted to win the district and get to the regional tournament.”
Soccer honorees
See who made the American-Statesman's All-Central Texas boys soccer team, ?C
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Rouse's Carlos Manzano's incredible season helped Raiders shine
