Last season was special for Scotts Valley High junior Allan Aragon, who battled his way to the football varsity team and into the end zone for his first career touchdown.
In fact, last year was the first time he’d ever played football at any level.
Aragon, who moved from Guatemala to Scotts Valley just before his freshman year, said he was loving every minute of it.
Aragon believes his first year on the team went well. He got called up from JV to varsity after just three weeks in the program, and the sport helped him lose 20 pounds over the course of last school year’s shortened Covid-19 season, which ran from March to April.
“I thank the coaches that train us hard and spend time practicing with us,” Aragon said in an interview in May.
On top of football, he works on the weekends at his dad’s restaurant, Taqueria Los Gallos in Scotts Valley. Aragon also held onto a 3.25 grade point average, and he stayed an hour after class to get English lessons during his transition to the United States.
“It was a little bit difficult because of the language barrier but I understood what was going on,” he said.
He still recalls the time he first tried out for the team as a sophomore. He didn’t know any of his peers and was admittedly nervous because of the language barrier. But once he stepped on the field it wasn’t exactly what he expected.
“Everyone on the team supported me,” he said. “They helped me push through it, gave me that courage to get to where I’m at today.”
Timo Velez, an assistant coach, took Aragon under his wing. Aragon said he has been extremely helpful because he knows how to speak Spanish, and he can connect with him. Velez’s son, Isaiah, a star senior running back, has also been instrumental in helping him decipher the easy-to-follow but tough-to-master sport.
His relationship with the Velez’s has developed from teachers to more like family members.
“I don’t have much family here and I’ve always gotten along with him and his son, Isaiah, who’s been cool with me, too,” he said. “They’ve invited me over to their house several times and we’d go eat after our games.”
Falcons coach Louie Walters said the team is one big family and Aragon is now part of that group.
“The kids have embraced him and he really didn’t know anything about football, but now he knows things and he scored a touchdown,” he said.
Aragon was thankful they were able to have a season during the pandemic. He said at times the coaches thought the players might not even get to play a single down.
“But thank God we still had one and I believe it was a great season. We finished undefeated,” he said.
The Falcons will try to keep the streak going today in their season opener at Soquel High. The kickoff is set for 7:30pm.
The transition still hasn’t been easy for Aragon. He’s been playing soccer since he was 5 and only started watching football a little more than two years ago. His love for soccer will always be there, but he says there was something about football that drew him to the gridiron.
Aragon’s number was called during a Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League “B” Division game against Harbor High. He remembers the coaches loaded up the right side of the offensive line so he can have a lane to run through.
“When I was running, that’s when I saw a blocker in front of me and enough space to run through,” he said. “I saw a tackler in front of me, I moved to the right and someone grabbed my leg but I was still able to jump in [the end zone].”
The week prior he recorded a fumble recovery against Pajaro Valley High. Those are the moments Aragon will never forget, and he hopes to create more this season.
The Falcons kick off the season at Soquel High on Friday at 7:30pm.
