Hector Tenorio-Perez is hoping he can help the Lawrence High boys soccer team reach the kind of heights his father’s homeland recently achieved.
Juan Tenorio grew up in Barcelona, Spain, and brings his son Hector there each summer to train. This year, the Cardinals senior was in the midst of thousands of happy Spaniards when Ferran Torres scored in the 106th minute to give Spain a 1-0 win over defending champion Argentina in the World Cup final.
Tenorio-Perez was with his family in an empty parking lot in St. Andreu de la Barca, Barcelona, watching on a big screen amid a frenzied gathering.
“It was the best time of my life,” he said. “It was an exciting experience. It’s amazing. You’re connected with your people, your hometown. I’m so grateful to experience it. Everyone is all around town celebrating together. It just makes me love the sport so much more.
“When (Torres) scored that goal, everybody just went crazy. There was so much love around each other, the passion. Chairs were being thrown, fireworks were going off. Red and yellow smoke everywhere to represent the flags.”
Ironically, the game was played in Tenorio-Perez’s home state at MetLife Stadium. He was born and raised in Lawrence but is fond of calling St. Andreu de la Barca his hometown since he spends so much time there.
Lawrence coach Jeff Molinelli is just happy Tenorio-Perez is back home for his senior season.
“He’s our captain so he’s our leader,” Molinelli said. “We have him at the holding center-mid position, and he’s done a really good job of being able to organize the team on the field.
“Every part of the game from restarts to getting guys organized, winning tackles in the middle of the field to getting the ball to our feet is a big part of what we have to do. We want to knock the ball down a little bit. He does all that.
“Then you’ve got young players who are on and off with how much energy they have at practice every other day, so Hector’s done a good job as an older example to show you gotta practice hard every day.”
Although he has the ability to score goals, Tenorio-Perez’s main role is as a defensive midfielder who will move up on occasion. Having started since his sophomore year, he played outside back for two seasons, collecting three goals and five assists in 10th grade and a goal and four assists in 11th.
Through Lawrence’s 3-0-1 start this season, he had a goal and an assist.
“He’ll get involved in the offense a little bit, but his role is to hold,” Molinelli said. “Depending on the game he’ll get forward a little more. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets six or seven goals.”
Tenorio-Perez’s defensive responsibilities become even more important considering the Cardinals start three sophomores in the back, Trevor Cohen, Isidoros Milonas and Tyler Mullen, while senior Glyn Richards, junior Colton Schubert and senior Kevin Dominguez also rotate in.
With all that youth, Tenorio-Perez’s leadership ability comes in handy, even though he has faith in the youngsters.
“I feel like being a leader, it has always been something natural, something I’ve always aspired to be,” he said. “But I trust our guys in the back with everything. They’re loud, they communicate, they go hard.
“If they didn’t do that, obviously it would be more of a problem. But with me being able to lead them, they do the rest. They do their job in defending and we always help. I want to help everyone all over the field.”
He takes that same attitude in practice.
“They have talent but they have to get used to the speed at this varsity level,” Tenorio-Perez continued. “It all starts with how you work and how much attitude you put into everything. It’s not just about in games; it’s about every single minute of practice.”
As for games, Tenorio-Perez has been stellar in making sure the backs are where they need to be while connecting them to the forwards.
“He’s not a yeller but he’s definitely high energy, he talks a lot,” Molinelli said. “He’s definitely enthusiastic and definitely vocal.”
Another trademark is a high soccer IQ, which comes from training in Europe for numerous summers.
Tenorio-Perez comes from a soccer family. His dad played all his life before going to work to raise his family. His uncle was on FC Barcelona’s 16-18 B team and was on the verge of being called up to the A team before he also had to start working.
“It was just different times back then,” Tenorio-Perez said. “But my whole family has played. I swear my dad was training me before I could walk.”
His career started in rec ball with the Lawrence Hamnetts, and he credits his coach with giving him inspiration, saying, “I scored a lot of goals and realized what I could do on the pitch.”
Tenorio-Perez went on to the Lawrence Bulldogs travel team from ages 9 to 11 and then began jumping around to various clubs.
At age 14, Global Soccer Development staged nationwide tryouts that Tenorio-Perez attended. He was invited to the United Kingdom, where he played against Swansea FC and other Welsh academies before training with Chelsea Academy coaches. In three games, he was the leading scorer with four goals and an assist.
The following year, GSD invited him to serve as a captain for Cadiz CF in Spain.
“That was a great experience,” Tenorio-Perez said. “They were the best soccer teams I ever played in my life. We lost all our games but I was the only goal scorer. It was a learning curve for me, that’s where I learned a lot about leading a team.”
Following that, he went to the Barcelona Camp in Spain for two weeks and, after an evaluation, was recommended to a prestigious academy but could not attend for several reasons.
“It was still a great experience training there,” Tenorio-Perez said. “It gave me confidence that if I do it there I can do it here and I can do it good.”
He was very good his first two years on varsity, despite being moved to an unfamiliar position. A lifetime midfielder, Tenorio-Perez was switched to outside back as he increased his speed early in high school. He enjoyed the experience but is happy to be back in the midfield, where he is in his comfort zone.
Tenorio-Perez has combined his time at outside back with his midfield experience to make himself a solid defender.
“He’s athletic, he’s tough, he wins tackles,” Molinelli said. “He has a good mind for the game. His play at holding center mid is huge. Our first couple games he broke up a lot of plays in the middle of the field and offensively he helps us with possession.”
Tenorio-Perez feels the biggest attribute needed to shut down an opponent is remaining positive.
“You have to believe you can beat your man one-on-one whether you’re attacking or defending,” he said. “Your mentality has to be the most powerful thing and obviously the physical comes next. With a good mindset you’ll be the hardest working, the hardest defender and eventually you’ll naturally stand out. You don’t have to totally focus on defending. It’s focusing on working hard, on your positioning. That opens up to being good.”
Tenorio-Perez feels his team can be good as well. The Cardinals suffered some graduation losses from a side that went 12-9-1 and reached the CVC Tournament semifinals. Sophomore Julian Gonzalez got off to a hot start with four goals and two assists in the first four games, while senior Marcelo Tajiboy had three goals and two assists. Sophomore Luis Sepulveda was also solid at midfield and had two goals and two assists. Goalie Bernardo Gonzalez had allowed just two goals while collecting two shutouts and more than 20 saves.
“I think the sky’s the limit for us this season, and I say that with full confidence,” Tenorio-Perez said just prior to a gauntlet of a schedule that included CVC powers Steinert, Trenton and Princeton.
Once the season ends, Tenorio-Perez is looking toward continuing his career at the next level.
“Absolutely college,” he said. “The recruiting process is my full focus and what I’m striving for. I’ve been in touch with schools but there hasn’t necessarily been offers. It’s been small talks here or there. I think by the end of the season there will hopefully be some offers.”
Molinelli hopes so.
“He’s athletic,” the coach said. “He’s got energy and he loves the game.”
And he never loved it more than he did last summer watching Spain rule the soccer world.
