Back With a Bang : Soccer Standout Returns to Football Team at Fountain Valley

FOUNTAIN VALLEY —  Fountain Valley football Coach George Berg has never played favorites and he has never asked back anyone who voluntarily left his program.

Joey Vazquez, the school’s best all-around athlete, was no exception.

After playing freshman and sophomore football, Vazquez left Berg’s program last year to concentrate on soccer, his first love. Vazquez’s dedication to soccer paid off; he was named Times Orange County boys’ soccer player of year.

Even Berg was impressed: “I cheered for him as much as anybody. He’s just real talented. He played the game real physical. He’d have two or three guys on him, but most of the time, it wouldn’t matter. He’d score anyway.”

Berg had a strong sense that Vazquez’s skills would allow him to score on a football field too, but he wasn’t about to tell Vazquez.

“I don’t go out and recruit kids who have left the program, but I’ll talk to anybody who’s man enough to come up and talk to me,” Berg said.

Vazquez talked, Berg listened and suddenly the Fountain Valley football team is winning again. The surprising Barons, who were only 4-6 last year, are 3-1 and ranked ninth in the county entering tonight’s home game against fourth-ranked Santa Margarita.

Vazquez has been solid at cornerback and nothing short of spectacular at wide receiver. Last week, he caught five passes for 88 yards and a touchdown and had two long receptions--40 and 60 yards--called back. In four games, Vazquez has caught 16 passes for 367 yards and six touchdowns. He is averaging nearly 23 yards a catch, which ranks third in the county.

“He has a very good sense about the game even though he didn’t play it last year,” Berg said. “He has a natural sense for getting to the ball.”

Berg, who has spent 24 years coaching football at Fountain Valley, the last five as head coach, isn’t the only person who missed seeing Vazquez on the football field last season.

“I missed it,” Vazquez said. “The excitement, the contact. You have to get that emotion out some way.”

But after last year’s soccer season ended with a heartbreaking 5-4 loss to Simi Valley Royal in the Southern Section Division I final, Vazquez was unsure of his plans. He wavered for a month before deciding to speak with Berg.

He thought about risking a certain Division I soccer scholarship on a football injury, and he worried that his soccer skills might get rusty. But finally, Vazquez’s sentimental side took over.

“You know how it is,” he said, “It’s my senior year. I wanted to have fun. If I didn’t play, I’d have regretted it. Soccer’s my No. 1 love, but I like football and I wanted to play.”

But playing football again required more work than simply asking Berg’s permission. It also required extra hours of workouts during the summer and there was the problem of returning to a team he abandoned a year ago.

“Coach Berg treats everyone equal,” Vazquez said. “He has no favorites. I guess I had to work a little harder than everybody else to get my position back.”

Vazquez played more than 40 games for Fountain Valley in the summer passing league, but he didn’t come into the season thinking he was his team’s savior.

“I hadn’t played in a year and I didn’t know what I was going to do, but it all came back to me pretty quickly,” Vazquez said. “I didn’t come in there with an attitude and the team accepted me because of that.”

But Vazquez admitted he didn’t return to football so he could be only a part of the team. He wanted to make a difference.

“If I’m going to do something, I’m going to go full bore,” he said.

Kevin Smith, Fountain Valley’s soccer coach, is aware of Vazquez’s aggressive nature and says he worries about his star player.

“I just cross my fingers and hope he’s still walking the next day,” Smith said with a chuckle. “But he’s a tough guy and he can take care of himself.”

Smith, a permanent substitute teacher at Fountain Valley, has yet to see a Baron football game this season. But he’s not surprised by Vazquez’s exploits.

“He’s simply a great athlete,” Smith said. “In soccer, his great ability is being able to improvise. In football, that’s probably where he’s limited a little . . . until he gets the ball.”

And Berg said no one runs like Vazquez with the ball. “He’s so quick. We’ve had a lot of receivers at Fountain Valley with more top end speed, but his quickness is unbelievable.”

Vazquez, a solid 5 feet 10 and 170 pounds, runs a 4.63 40-yard dash; Berg said he seems much faster.

“His speed is deceiving and he’s hard to find,” Berg said. “He’s real adept at body movement and balance.”

Vazquez isn’t so sure he’s worth all the praise.

“It’s a team thing,” he said. “I feel as though we’re one heartbeat. In a way, it’s more a team sport than soccer. I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing without the offensive line and the quarterback [Mitch Ryerson].”