Cristian Roldan wasn’t just choosing for himself when he opted to play out his final year of high school.
El Rancho High is the focal point of Pico Rivera, Calif., a town of 63,000 residents packed in over nine square miles just east of Los Angeles. The close-knit community, more than 90 percent Hispanic, uses El Rancho as its scholastic, sports and social hub, the school’s lights often on late into the night hosting one event after another.
So, the locals noticed in 2012 when an emerging El Rancho soccer star turned down joining academies run by the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA to give his school a title shot.