Gilroy’s skill players face off against linemen in soccer
match
Gilroy – They can play football.
Futbol, however, is another story.
One wouldn’t normally find the Gilroy football team kicking around a soccer ball. But that’s part of what has made this spring’s season of the GHS Latinos Program Indoor Soccer Tournament a popular lunchtime activity.
“Each tournament has its own feel,” said Latinos Program advisor Jose Hernandez, who organizes the tournament. “This one is a little more diverse.”
As diverse as the Mustang linemen’s “U.S. Hoggys” team taking on the skill players of “Team Fabulous” – the running backs, wide receivers – in a Group C matchup of the Mustang League Friday in the Gilroy High gym.
The lunchtime soccer tournament happens twice during the school year, once in the spring and once in the fall. It usually fills up within the first couple hours of registration. One game is played during the lunch period and GHS students pay a quarter to watch fellow classmates play. The proceeds go to the Latinos Program.
The teams consisting of varsity soccer players usually dominate the tournament. But for the spring tournament, which began the second week of March and ends the second week of May after playoffs and a championship, Hernandez said the soccer players were broken up to even the playing field. So there are more “non-soccer players” participating – like the football players.
The U.S. Hoggys, many of whom wore their GHS football jerseys to play, hoped their size and power would help them defeat the fleet Team Fabulous, clad all in black. And plenty of power was put to use. Where soccer skills failed, friendly pushing and out-muscling and scare tactics (like yelling) prevailed. All of it pleased the crowd of students that filled the east side of the bleachers in the Bob Hagen gymnasium.
“(This tournament) has more of a WWE fusion,” admitted Hernandez, laughing.
In the end, speed prevailed over power, with Team Fabulous winning 3-0 and earning the gridiron bragging rights behind running back Vince Giacalone’s two goals. Tyler Maslanka scored the team’s other goal.
Team Fabulous has played in the lunchtime tournament, which has 110 students and 16 participating teams this season, once before.
“We got some better players (this time),” Giacalone said. “We’re going to the playoffs.”
As the game started, U.S. Hoggys member and GHS lineman Efrain Salinas proclaimed his squad to be the “George Mason” of the tournament.
“They’re like the guys that get all the glory (on the football field) while we’re on the line in the trenches. We wanted to see what they had,” said Salinas, who had two stops in goal. “We tried to out-power them. We don’t have speed at all.”
Through three weeks of competition, the Mustang League is led by Team Fabulous (Andrew Diaz, Maslanka, Marc Vegas, Giacalone, Bernard Salgado, Jacob Cantu, Dustin Robinson and Travis Garman) in Group C and Mexico (Alberto Reyes, Kaka Pineda, Humberto Pineda, Francisco Lopez, Nubia Diaz de Leon) and Toros Neza (Jesus Tellez, Marcial Gonzalez, Jorge Montero, Edgar Hernandez, Sergio Hernandez) in Group D. In the Gilroy League, Latinos (Luis Romero, Ricardo Cortes, Cesar Calvo, Jose Elizando, Francisco Herrera, Conrado Chavez, Edgar Barron, Victor Mendoza) and Shakarron Club (Moises Becerra, Andy Moya, Robert Celestino, Fernando Callo, Anthony Velasquez, Hugo Arriaga, Jesus Diaz) lead Group A and Cruz Azul (Jose Velasquez, Joann Pedroza, Jose A. Hernandez, Jason Pedroza, Andres Leon, Jairo Rodriguez, Jorge Montano) lead Group B.
