Spotlight: Defense coming naturally to Rochelle senior Herrera

Hub captain helping RTHS achieve historic feats

Russell Hodges
Posted 10/11/18

Ruben Herrera’s began training him to play goalkeeper when he was in first grade, but a pair of arm injuries led Herrera to move away from the net and start playing defense.

It’s safe to say his transition has worked out splendidly in the long run.

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Spotlight: Defense coming naturally to Rochelle senior Herrera

Hub captain helping RTHS achieve historic feats

Posted

Ruben Herrera’s began training him to play goalkeeper when he was in first grade, but a pair of arm injuries led Herrera to move away from the net and start playing defense.

It’s safe to say his transition has worked out splendidly in the long run.

Herrera has been an anchor on the back line for the Rochelle varsity boys soccer team, playing an integral role at the center back position while hardly ever coming off the field. The three-time varsity player has been a team captain for the last two seasons, and his efforts on the back row have helped Rochelle record shutouts in 11 of the team’s 18 games this year.

“My dad has always given me confidence and he gives me advice after games,” Herrera said. “I started playing soccer when I was 5 years old. I broke my arm a few times so I stopped playing keeper, but I fell in love with defense... I feel like I can win headers easily, and I like pushing people around. I enjoy the physicality of playing defense.”

The Hubs are rolling through one of their most successful seasons in school history, carrying a 17-0-1 record into regional play next week as well as a conference championship for the first time since 2004. Rochelle opened its season by winning the War on 34 Championship at Earlville, and the Hubs have been nearly flawless since.

Rochelle’s regular season culminated with an emotional Senior Night win against Sterling on Thursday, as Herrera and many of his close friends were honored after the game. Herrera has played with many of his senior teammates including his cousin Jessee Infante since elementary school, and their bond has been a big reason why the Hubs are on the verge of becoming Rochelle’s all-time winningest team, needing two victories to set a new record.

“Senior Night was very special since that was the last game on our home field,” Herrera said. “I’ve known guys like Jessee [Infante], Adolfo [Flores] and Josue [Almaraz] since I was little… Our chemistry has been there for so long, and we started playing together at a young age. Jessee and I live right next to each other, and we’ve played soccer together for basically our whole lives.”

Herrera has been with the Rochelle boys soccer program for four years, playing junior varsity soccer for nearly two seasons before he was elevated to the varsity team at the end of his sophomore season. He said his confident has grown tremendously since his underclassman years as well as some encouragement from his teammates.

“I became more confident in myself,” he said. “I wasn’t very confident over my freshman and sophomore years but people kept telling me that I was a good player… I gained more confidence and that helped me a lot.”

Rochelle has outscored its opponents 111-9 this season, and the Hubs have been so consistent on defense because of some changes to their alignment that started before their regional victory over Sterling in 2017. Herrera said the team moved from a flat-back formation to a diamond, allowing more help on the back and preventing opponents from crashing the middle on through balls.

“We had confidence that we were going to be really good during our senior year,” Herrera said. “We know we have to go all out because this is our last year. We attack right away and our defense hasn’t allowed Mason [DeLille] to see many shots on goal… We played a flat-back four during our junior year but we kept getting beat through the air, so we started playing a diamond and we started winning almost every ball.”

A regional championship victory would be Rochelle’s first since 2012, and along with setting a new single-season wins record, the Hubs could make even more history as the postseason progresses. Rochelle has never won a sectional championship, a supersectional or made an appearance at the state championships, but the Hubs are on a mission to climb their way up.

“We can’t get overconfident because that’s when our game becomes really bad,” Herrera said. “We’re trying to set our goals to reach state and we want to finish as the best team Rochelle has ever had.”