Woodstock
It becomes especially unique when shared interests are involved. White River Valley boys soccer coach Alex Montano and his son, Woodstock High senior captain Emilio Montano, both share a common interest in the game. On Wednesday afternoon, that shared interest brought father and son onto the same field as rivals.
Son got the better of Dad in a 1-0 Woodstock victory at Woodstock Union High School.
“It is fun playing the type of team he plays, and I have played for him for a long time,” Emilio said of his father. “We’re looking to make a deep playoff run, for sure. We are working to get better every day and hope it will be a good season for us.”
The game started off like any other, two teams battling it out for a victory. But the contest had an extra meaning to the Wildcats. White River Valley, the merger of the former South Royalton and Whitcomb high schools, is playing in VPA Division III with a schedule composed mostly of D-IV teams. Woodstock plays in D-II, so the Wildcats wanted to prove themselves as a team that not only belonged on the field with the Wasps, but could make a push come playoff time.
In a heavily contested affair, the Wasps controlled play for much of the first half, pushing forward and putting seven shots on net. The Wildcats did not look fazed and battled back, keeping Woodstock out of the penalty area and returning the ball down the field to generate offense.
With 1:20 left in the half, speedy Woodstock forward Isaac Emery broke through the WRV defense. Emery found the ball pop out in front of him off a turnover for a breakaway down the middle of the field. Only Wildcats goalkeeper Sam Fisk was left to beat and Emery shot low and left of the keeper for the score.
The goal energized the Wasps, and they easily could have extended their lead before halftime. With 10 seconds left in the half, Emilio Montano drew a foul when Fisk collided with him in the White River Valley area. Montano stepped up to take the kick, knowing his dad was on the sidelines coaching the opponent.
The shot went high to the right, beyond the goal.
“He gets dinner tonight,” Alex Montano joked on the sideline following the miss.
“It was weird; I wanted Emilio to miss, or I wanted Sam to stop it,” the Wildcats’ coach said. “And, once he missed it, I couldn’t help but feel bad. It was strange.”
Emilio Montano focused on the play at hand.
“I don’t let things like that affect me,” he said. “I know his eyes were burning into the back of my head, but the game felt the same.”
Emilio Montano is very familiar with the Wildcats. White River Valley only has 25 players on the roster, not enough for a junior varsity team, so they occasionally have eight-on-eight scrimmages against the Wasps’ JV team.
Over the summer, Emilio and the Wildcats organized a couple of scrimmages with Woodstock as well.
The Wildcats played a strong game; they just couldn’t find the back of the net. They proved they can make noise in D-III.
“We didn’t have a lot of depth; we had four or five kids who played the whole game,” Alex Montano said. “They were still pushing hard at the end. It showed a lot of willpower.”
Woodstock coach Tom Avellino also was happy with his team’s effort in victory.
“(The Wildcats) did a good job possessing the ball, so it forced us to play defense longer at times in the second half,” he said. “I think we met that challenge fine.”
Woodstock improved to 3-1-1 on the season and travels to Leland & Gray today. White River Valley (4-1-0) looks to start another winning streak on Friday against Blue Mountain.