A healthy Jonatan Santos off to a sizzling start for Cedar Rapids Rampage

CEDAR RAPIDS - When Cedar Rapids Rampage coaches arrive at the team's workout facility, it's a good bet Jonatan Santos already is there.

After the 32-year-old Rampage defender had all or parts of four seasons limited with a pair of knee injuries, Santos powered through the arduous rehabilitation and now is healthy and on pace for his most productive season in years.

'I'm feeling very strong,” said Santos, who will help the Rampage (1-2) face the Milwaukee Wave (1-2) in a Major Arena Soccer League Central Division game Friday at 7:05 p.m. at the U.S. Cellular Center. 'I think this season will be my year for sure. We will prove that on the field.”

Through three games, Santos already has collected a goal, five assists - which ranks third in the MASL - and two blocked shots. Only forward/coach Hewerton Moreira (four goals, two assists) has equaled Santos' point total on the team. The Brazil native was acquired in the offseason via a long-negotiated trade with the San Diego Sockers to provide Cedar Rapids with an element it sorely lacked last season - the ability to provide bursts of offense from the defender position.

'I love to score,” Santos said. 'I'm not a striker but I try to do my best all the time. First thing, I have to be better on defense. I know what I can give to the team.”

Santos and Moreira - two of eight former Milwaukee players on the Rampage roster - were Wave teammates for four years and won back-to-back MISL championships in 2011 and 2012. Right ACL tears in 2010 and 2013 limited Santos to 43 games in his last four-plus seasons in Milwaukee, and he did not play at all two seasons ago. After a healthy 15 games with San Diego last season, Moreira aggressively pursued the 6-foot, 186-pound Santos as an addition to his first roster as player/coach.

'He is a very intense player,” Moreira said. 'He's very passionate, as well. ... Being a futsal player, he is used to the short space, a lot of touches on the ball and finding the spaces between players. ... Clearly he has the intensity in the back. He blocks shots. He would jump in front of a bullet for his team. That's the type of player he is.”

Cedar Rapids also welcomes back second-year defender Charlie Bales Friday. The former Cedar Rapids Xavier prep missed the first three games and rejoined the Rampage following the conclusion of the Western Illinois University men's soccer season, where Bales served as a graduate assistant for his alma mater.

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com