Collegiate goal needs assist

Most of the phone calls made by Gannon Burks lately are for Rony Argueta, the heart and soul of the Estancia High boys’ soccer team.

Burks is in awe of Argueta’s special abilities on the pitch and the coach wants other coaches to be aware of them.

In order to recognize them, you just have to watch him play center midfielder.

The players colleges are recruiting from Estancia are the first to tell you why the Eagles have only lost once in 14 matches this season.

Argueta’s play and leadership are the reasons the Eagles (8-1-5) believe they have their best chance to win their first CIF Southern Section championship since 2000.

Despite all of this, no college program has paid attention to the senior and it frustrates Burks.

This is why the sixth-grade teacher from Rea Elementary makes those tireless daily phone calls on behalf of Argueta.

Each call Burks makes to an NCAA Division I coach starts and ends the same way. Each time no one has picked up the phone.

Burks waits for the ringing to stop and listens to their voicemail before preparing for the beep. His chance to campaign for Argueta has begun.

“I have a young man, Rony Argueta, Hispanic male, 17 years old, 5-foot-6,” Burks starts off saying before wanting to state the obvious about Argueta’s life.

His life hasn’t been easy.

Raised by a single mother in a low-income house, Burks said Argueta has defied the odds and at the same time has lifted the bar at Estancia.

Paulina still has never seen her son play for Estancia.

“She works,” said Argueta, who plans to lead the Eagles to their third consecutive Orange Coast League championship. “I’d love for her to come. It would mean a lot. If I would see her in the crowd, I think I’d play harder, just for her to see me play and be proud of me. It would be a good feeling.”

Argueta understands why his mom can’t afford to miss work as a housekeeper.

If Paulina can’t attend a match in his final season, Burks is doing his best to further Argueta’s playing career so his mom can one day see him play in college.

Burks and other coaches before him at Estancia have coached players with Division I talent. Grades usually got in the way of their goal to compete on the next level.

In Argueta’s case, he has treated the 4.0 grade-point average the same way a player usually approaches a goalkeeper on a penalty kick.

Argueta has always scored in the classroom.

Argueta said he boasts a 4.5 cumulative GPA and Burks, like any teacher, is proud of him. Argueta’s academic excellence has rubbed off on teammates as Burks said the team’s overall GPA is around 3.0.

This is why Burks said he continues to recite Argueta’s inspiring story to a college coach’s voicemail instead of hanging up. Burks believes Argueta’s achievements on and off the field can only enhance Argueta’s opportunity to earn a scholarship.

So far, no coach has returned Burks’ messages.

“Can he play Division I? Yes, he can,” Burks said of Argueta, a first-team all-league performer at sweeper last season. “Can he succeed in their school? This is a Hispanic male with a [4.5 GPA]. How many Hispanic males out there have a [4.5] that can also play soccer [at a high level].

“I’m frustrated for this young man because he has the aspirations. He set them high.”

Argueta’s goal is to become the first in his extended family to graduate from college.

He has submitted applications to seven colleges. On top of the list is UCLA.

In March, Argueta said he’ll learn which schools accepted him.

Chances of Argueta getting into UCLA are good. Burks said his GPA and SAT and ACT scores put him on par with the top of his class.

Whether Argueta receives an opportunity to play for the Bruins is a different story.

UCLA, a four-time NCAA national champion, has one of the premier men’s soccer programs in the country. This past season, the Bruins won the Pac-10 Conference championship, their fifth conference title in the last seven seasons, and qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the 26th straight season.

At this time in the recruiting process, UCLA, like every decorated program, has its prospects. This is something Burks, in his sixth season at Estancia, has recently learned.

“They got their recruiting list for 2010,” Burks said. “They start looking at these boys when they’re … in club.”

That’s where the problem lies for Argueta if you ask assistant coach Robert Castellano, a 1999 Estancia graduate, who went on to play at Chapman University.

Club-based teams offer far more exposure to players compared to high school-based teams. College coaches come out to see club players compete in competitive in-state and out-of-the-state showcases, unlike on the high school level.

The Eagles’ lineup has some skilled players involved with top Orange County-based clubs, senior strikers Jorge Olivas (Pateadores) and Jesus Garcia (Irvine Strikers), senior midfielder Danny Martinez (United Futbol Club) and junior defender Earvin Bahena (West Coast Futbol Club).

Burks said colleges are pursuing each of these players.

Olivas, a friend of Argueta since first grade, is leaning toward UNLV. Olivas said Argueta has what it takes to play in college.

Castellano agrees.

“Rony is every bit as good as [our] players [being recruited], if not better,” said Castellano, who has watched other talented players lose out on college opportunities due to lack of club publicity or grade issues in 10 seasons of coaching at his alma mater. “Rony plays for a club [called the Pacific Sharks] that is pretty good, but it’s not one of the premier clubs. [Division I coaches] tend to look at the bigger clubs and Rony plays for a smaller club.

“It’s too bad. Rony is probably the smartest kid we’ve had in this program since I’ve been here. All the kids look up to him. I admire him a lot. If we had a bunch of Ronys, we wouldn’t lose a game. He has a great attitude and never complains. I wish we had more kids like him.”

In many ways, Argueta is the son Burks, who has two little girls, never had. Burks is the father figure Argueta said he lost at age 8.

Argueta said he lived with his father until that age. His parents divorced and he said he moved in with his mother and brother, Eduardo, when she came from Honduras.

It was then Argueta tried playing soccer. Soccer became a fixture in his life and so was Eduardo’s presence.

Eduardo, now 25 and living in Anaheim, played a vital role in shaping Argueta. The advice he offered at an early age stuck with Argueta.

“School should be your priority,” Eduardo said.

School is Argueta’s ticket to a better life.

Teammates ask Argueta how he excels with his challenging course work, which includes three advanced placement classes.

“I just tell them you don’t have to be [a genius] if you want to do it. It is hard work,” said Argueta, who plans to study mechanical engineering or criminology in college. “I look at the situation my family is in. We don’t have the best stuff. I want to experience something my family never experienced, a college education, a great job, a career, something my family never reached. I want them to be proud of me.”

Between Burks, 37, and Argueta, who turned 18 on Jan. 4, there are a lot of similarities.

Both come from single-mother homes and have one sibling, a brother.

Burks said there isn’t a lot of money around when one parent’s income has to support two boys. Paying rent and feeding the family, he said, takes priority over spending thousands of dollars to be a member of an elite club team.

“I know exactly what he’s going through,” Burks said. “He plays for himself. He wants to prove to himself that he can succeed. He wants to show people that you can come [up] from the bottom. He plays for his mom. His mom is the foundation of his success.”

Burks is still waiting for college coaches to return his calls to ask him about Argueta.

He can’t understand why no one has yet.

His wife, Jenny, also a teacher, has encouraged Burks to keep calling. She played soccer at Newport Harbor High and went on to play at UCLA in the 1990s, back then under her maiden name, St. Sure.

“I actually took the time to write a little nice synopsis just so I was professional when I spoke [to the voicemail],” Burks said. “My wife told me that would be the best way to do it.

“I don’t want Rony to think that I’m failing him as a coach.”

Reach DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA at (714) 966-4612 or [email protected].