Benefield: Montgomery soccer team's manager will never forget this game

When Montgomery boys soccer coach Jon Schwan posted the list of players who had made the team on the eve of this season, senior Josh Vieyra’s name wasn’t there.

It wasn’t the first time Vieyra approached the final team roster, posted for all to see, and came away disappointed. He was cut his freshman year, too.

After that first disappointment nearly four years ago, Vieyra went to Schwan and asked him what he needed to work on to get better. He didn’t argue the fact that he’d been left off. He asked what he could do better.

“My touch on the ball really wasn’t that good,” Vieyra said. “I did wall passes with both feet to control the ball better.

“He told me, that, basically not to give up and keep trying,” Vieyra said of Schwan’s advice. “He was coach of varsity, so that motivated me.”

Vieyra said that grades and paperwork kept him from trying out his sophomore and junior seasons. But this year, he decided he’d give it a go for his senior campaign.

Again, he was left disappointed.

“I wasn’t mad at all. I knew where he was coming from,” he said. “I was disappointed in myself for a while, but that went away.

“But I remembered that coach said that there was a position open, team manager,” Vieyra said. “I took it because I just wanted to be part of a team, a family.”

It was the first time since Schwan took over in 2011 that any player not picked for the team had taken him up on the offer to become team manager.

“He has lots of friends on the team. He wanted to be part of the program,” Schwan said.

So Vieyra has spent this season collecting and distributing balls, filming games, managing the water cart and, occasionally, when the numbers call for it, jumping into a drill at practice.

“Those players have more talent than I do, so I thought it was a good idea to learn off them,” he said. “They help me out.”

Schwan has come to count on his first-ever manager.

“He’s totally reliable,” he said. “He’s a really good kid.”

About halfway through the season, as the Vikings were building on what has become an 18-0-2 record, Schwan called a meeting with his team. There were various topics on the agenda, but at one point, he asked the players to share what Montgomery soccer means to them. Vieyra chimed in.

“Josh spoke up and got a little emotional and just thanked everyone for letting him be a part of it,” Schwan said. “At that moment right there, I just remember thinking, ‘We are going to add this kid.’”

So while Vieyra continued his managerial duties, Schwan started planning. He wanted Vieyra to make an appearance at the Vikings’ final North Bay League-Oak Division game against Santa Rosa on Feb. 9, when all seniors would be honored and walk onto the field with family members. But he also wanted to keep it a surprise.

That surprise was almost thwarted when he didn’t have an extra white jersey. He had to ask junior Noah Warnell, who was out with a broken foot, for his No. 33. He told him it was for a JV player he was planning to pull up for the postseason.

So when the team gathered in a classroom on Friday for a team meeting, the day before Senior Day, Schwan pulled out the No. 33 jersey. An assistant coach covertly recorded the moment with his phone.

“If there is anyone in this program who deserves a jersey for tomorrow, he’s already in this room. Right?” Schwan said before pausing just a beat. “Josh, you wanna suit up tomorrow?”

“You’re lying,” Vieyra said.

The room erupted. Senior Oscar Roque did a little dance. Junior Zack Batchelder pumped his fist. Every Viking in the room pounded the tables.

“This is our new signing right here,” Schwan said while Vieyra took hold of the jersey.

Schwan asked him if there was anything he wanted to say. Teammates chanted “Speech!”

Vieyra lifted his glasses and wiped his eyes.

“Thank you to everyone for believing in me,” he said. “I love all you guys.”

The following day, in a torrential rain, Vieyra walked out on the field with his mom, Dora, on one arm and his dad, Hugo, on the other.

“It meant a lot to me,” he said of his parents being there. “They were my main support system.”

Schwan started Vieyra at striker. He made some runs, got a few touches. Schwan subbed him out after 12 minutes, but as Vieyra came off the field, the coach told him, “Put your parka on; you’re not done.”

Vieyra went back in at the end of the first half, and again at the close of the second.

This story would be pure magic if Vieyra scored. He didn’t. But he got his moment.

“It was amazing because they’ve been my friends since middle school, some since elementary,” he said of his Vikings teammates. “Just to be on the same field with them, it meant a lot to me.”

There is some irony in that when asked about his favorite moment on the field, Vieyra didn’t talk about a run or pass or a shot (he didn’t take any). He said the best moment was when he was subbed out.

The guy who waited four years to take the field said his heart soared the most when he came off.

“Because all of our side was clapping for me and it really made me feel good,” he said. “Being out there with my friends that are seniors - being out there meant the world to me.”

You can reach staff columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com, on Twitter @benefield and on Instagram at kerry.benefield. Podcasting on iTunes and SoundCloud, “Overtime with Kerry Benefield.”