(Have photos to go with this story? Email pics to Web and Content Editor / Director of News Dan Stickradt at stickradt@michigansoccernetwork.com and dstickradt@thepremiermediagrp.com and also list the photo credit as well.)
MICHIGAN SOCCER NETWORK: MSN NEWS: www.michigansoccernetwork.com/msnnews
MSN Presents the MIHSSCA All-State Dream Team Reveal Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JuhYeI3BkA
Courtesy Photo | Carson City Fellowship Baptist Academy Athletics
Carson City Fellowship Baptist Academy senior forward/attacking midfielder scored 60 goals this 2024 boys soccer season to lead all of Michigan and earn the Michigan Soccer Network's Golden Boot award.
With 60 goals this season, Carson City Fellowship Baptist’s Rodriguez leads Michigan in scoring
BY DAN STICKRADT
WEB AND CONTENT EDITOR | DIRECTOR OF NEWS
Michigan Soccer Network | Premier Media Group | National Soccer Network and affiliates
BUSINESS LINE: (248) 525-2349
CELL: (248) 884-1051
TW/X: @msn_stickradt @LocalSportsFans @MiSoccerNetwork
CARSON CITY, Mich. – Alex Rodriguez is a bit of a soccer junkie. He watches a lot of soccer.
Did we mention that he watches – a lot – of soccer?
“I watch games as much as I can,” laughed Rodriguez. “I am a big Arsenal fan – really, just a soccer fan. I watch as many games on TV as possible, from anywhere around (the world). I watch closely and I study the game.”
Rodriguez lives in the small rural Central Michigan town of Perrington and makes the commute westward about 20 miles along M-57 each school day to attend Carson City Fellowship Baptist Academy, which is one of the nearest high schools to offer boys soccer program in a remote area sprinkled with farms and small forests. Ithaca is the other high school about 15 miles northeast to offer boys soccer, as Carson City-Crystal only offers girls soccer and had yet to add boys soccer.
This is not anywhere near any of the state powerhouse programs or anywhere near any of the state’s largest club soccer programs. This is farm country along M-57, and some school districts and private schools in the area don’t even have boys soccer teams.
Rodriguez used to live near Ithaca but once his family moved to Perrington, which is located inside the Middleton-Fulton Schools district, he attended elementary school there briefly before his parents opted to enroll him into Carson City Fellowship Baptist Academy, located only about 20-25 minutes to the west of Perrington. This is where Rodriguez thrived and has grown into one of Michigan’s best kept secrets on the soccer field.
The 5-foot-11, 155-pound soccer-basketball combo athlete has exceptional speed out on the pitch and court, is silky smooth with the ball, deploys quick acceleration and speed – and has a knack for the goal. He led his team in scoring the last three years and simply rewrote the school records book this year.
Alex Rodriguez doesn’t come from a state powerhouse program or is not listed as a five-star prospect traveling the country on an elite club team.
“Everything is kind of small around here,” joked Rodriguez.
Let’s get back to that.
Rodriguez’s varsity soccer career actually started in the eighth grade – he was eligible under the sub-100 student rule which many small parochial and public schools in Michigan take advantage of each school year – as Fellowship Baptist Academy has well under 100 students in the high school. There are 21 players on the soccer roster in 2024 this school year, and the Falcons enjoyed one of their best seasons in school history.
After finishing third in the Great Lakes 6 Conference, Fellowship Baptist reached the state finals of the Michigan Association of Christian Schools Division II tournament for the first time in program history before falling to Gladwin Skeels Christian, 3-2. The small school, located just west of Carson City, has fielded multiple competitive teams in boys basketball, girls basketball and girls volleyball over the years, and those programs have collected numerous banners for league championships, state championships or state runner-up finishes from those sports to put up on the gymnasium walls. As for soccer, this year’s success story is the first.
And Alex Rodriguez was a big part of that.
After scoring a team-best 21 goals as a junior, Rodriguez exploded for a single-season school record 60 goals this season and added 13 assists for good measure. Fellowship Baptist scored 92 goals this season as a team, another school record, while Rodriguez posted 133 points and 10 hattricks this season as well, both which are single-season school records.
Rodriguez also scored 20 goals as a sophomore, 15 goals as a freshman and six goals as an 8th grader to finish with 122 career goals – another career school record. Rodriguez’s name is now engraved all over the school record books and has his name inside the top 10 in multiple single-game, season and career totals in a wide variety of categories.
There are around 520 high school boys soccer teams that suited up in all corners of Michigan this fall from schools of all sizes and talent levels. Those schools come from the Michigan High School Athletic Association (Division 1, Division 2, Division 3, Division 4), the Michigan Association of Christian Schools (Division I and Division II), the Michigan Christian Schools Athletic Association, the Michigan Home Schools Sports Association, and a scattering of independents schools which do not compete in a postseason. With his 60 goals this season, that grand total in 2024 gives him the most goals scored around Michigan by three goals over Bay City John Glenn’s Asher Clark and Lansing Christian’s Owen Resch, both who scored 57 goals this season.
Rodriguez’s totals rank in the top 10 in the nation and also gives the talented senior forward/attacking midfielder the Michigan Soccer Network’s Golden Boot Award, given annually to the state’s leading goal scorer each year.
Dalen McAlvey, who just finished his fifth season at the helm of the Carson City Fellowship Baptist Academy soccer program, watched his talented player grow up and shine bright since he was in middle school. But even McAlvey didn’t expect this kind of output – a barrier only breached a couple dozen times in the Michigan high school soccer scene over the years.
“Alex is a very talented young man, but he works hard,” offered McAlvey. “He made quite a jump going from 21 goals last year (as a junior) to 60 goals this season. He just matured. I know he watches a lot of soccer, and I believe he went to a camp this past year. But to score 60 goals in one season and to lead the entire state? That’s amazing. God has blessed him with some talent, and he works hard at it to get better. He’s one of our captains, too, working with a lot of the younger kids, so its not all just about scoring goals.
“We’re a small Christian school out in the country and we traditionally don’t get kids like Alex Rodriguez all the time, especially soccer players,” continued McAlvey. “You might expect that over in the Grand Rapids area, or down in Lansing or way down in the Detroit area. But being a small Christian school in the (MACS), having a player score that many goals is a blessing. Alex, along with the other (upperclassmen), led us to the (MACS Division II) state finals for the first time.”
Rodriguez has only played for some small AYSO teams on the club level and has attended some soccer camps in recent years. But a second-to-none work ethic, natural God-given speed and agility, and a nose for the goal has paid off, especially this year. Rodriguez also made the All-Great Lakes 6 Conference First Team for the second straight year, and is a candidate for conference MVP, which hasn’t been released. He led his team to a respectable 10-6-1 overall record, which is one of the highest win totals in school history as well.
“I would have loved to played on a really good big club team, but it just didn’t work out because there aren’t any in this area of the state,” noted Rodriguez. “The closest are down in Lansing or over in Grand Rapids (area). That’s at least an hour or more away and I don’t have the way to get there and back on a school night, and I also play basketball, too. So, it just didn’t work out. If there was a big club in our area, then I would have tried play there.”
Still, Rodriguez has drawn some college interest. Great Lakes Christian College down in Grand Rapids has been in communication, and Rodriguez said he is interested in continuing with that growing soccer program at GLCC. He also said that if anyone else that comes into contact with him, he will look into that school and program and see if it’s the right fit.
“I have a friend of mine from another school who is going to play there, and he told the coach about me and that I didn’t really have any offers,” said Rodriguez. “So, I’ve been talking to them about possible playing there.”
Between homework, soccer and basketball practice – he is a third-year starter combo guard in basketball – going to church, studying the bible and watching soccer games on TV, Rodriguez doesn’t have much free time. But he likes int that way.
“To be good at something, you have to put in the work,” admitted Rodriguez, who said that the extra time of practice, viewing and studying soccer, and getting into better physical shape were all reasons for his breakout season and much-improved explosive game on the pitch.
Fellowship Baptist currently does not have a track and field program, or else Rodriguez would be on the tail end of some sprint relays and breaking the tape in the sprints and middle distances.
“I was the fastest player on the field in all of our games this season,” he laughed. “I try to use that to my advantage, getting to the ball quicker and trying to get the ball (into open space). I really watched closely how teams move the ball and try to find open (space) and how they dribble the ball, what kind of shots they take, what kind of passes they make. How players move (without the ball). I really learned a lot the last couple of years just by studying the game.”
For being a student of the game, it has more than paid dividends for Alex Rodriguez.
— All Rights Reserved, Premier Media Group / Michigan Soccer Network / National Soccer Network
(Have a story suggestion for the Premier Media Group, National Soccer Network and the Michigan Soccer Network regarding club soccer, high school varsity, amateur soccer, collegiate soccer or professional soccer involving teams, players or coaches with Michigan ties, contact Communications Specialist/Web and Content Editor/Director of News Dan Stickradt via email at stickradt@michigansoccernetwork.com or dstickradt@thepremiermediagrp.com, or call 248-884-1051 or 248-525-2349. Dan Stickradt is a 31-year veteran of the Michigan Media circles and recently joined the staff full time in March of 2024. Want to schedule a broadcast game or live show, contact PMG/MSN Director of Broadcasting Jonathan Turner for availability and pricing at jonathan@michigansoccernetwork.com and jonathan@thepremiermediagrp.com.)
WATCH THE MICHIGAN SOCCER NETWORK YOUTUBE CHANNEL: www.youtube.com/@MICHIGANSOCCERNETWORK
— All Rights Reserved, Premier Media Group / Michigan Soccer Network / National Soccer Network
(MSN will compile a random sampling of game results from around the state each day. To send in results from high school varsity, club, amateur, pre-pro, semi-pro or professional soccer, email all pertinent details to Communications Specialist / Web and Content Editor / Director of News Dan Stickradt at stickradt@michigansoccernetwork.com and dstickradt@thepremiermediagrp.com or submit information right on the correct link on the MSN website at https://www.michigansoccernetwork.com/reportascore. Please submit the competing teams, location and date of game, final score, overall and league records, goals, assists, goalkeepers and saves, standout defenders, players of the match, and any other pertinent details of the game. If there are courtesy action photos available, feel free to submit them at the above-listed emails.)
MICHIGAN SOCCER NETWORK ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/misoccernetwork
Twitter/X: @MiSoccerNetwork, @msn_stickradt
Instagram: www.instagram.com/misoccernetwork/
(Have photos to go with this story? Email pics to Web and Content Editor / Director of News Dan Stickradt at stickradt@michigansoccernetwork.com and dstickradt@thepremiermediagrp.com and also list photo credit as well.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOYS SOCCER: MSN SUPER 50 TEAMS POSITIONS 41-50: www.michigansoccernetwork.com/post/boys-soccer-super-50-teams-positions-41-50
BOYS SOCCER: MSN SUPER 50 TEAMS POSITIONS 31-40: https://www.michigansoccernetwork.com/post/boys-soccer-msn-super-50-teams-positions-31-40
BOYS SOCCER: MSN SUPER 50 TEAMS POSITIONS 21-30: BOYS SOCCER: MSN Super 50 Teams Positions 21-30:
BOYS SOCCER: MSN SUPER 50 TEAMS POSITIONS 11-20:
BOYS SOCCER: MSN SUPER 50 TEAMS POSITIONS 1-10:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTERNSHIPS AVAILABLE
Interested in internships in broadcasting, communications, journalism, public relations or sales and marketing in the sports world? The Premier Media Group is seeking applications for current college students or students entering their senior or junior years of high school that have a career interest in working in different capacity of a constantly-evolving media world.
Contact both Broadcast Director Jonathan Turner at 248-525-2083 or jonathan@thepremeiermediagrp.com and Web and Content Editor / Director of News Dan Stickradt at (248) 525-2349 and dstickradt@thepremeiermediagrp.com.
Comments