Downey soccer coach dedicates MMC title to friend killed in car accident

Downey High School boys soccer coach Misael Torres fought back tears, turning a surreal moment into a serious one.

The Knights just clinched their first Modesto Metro Conference championship in five seasons with a resounding 5-2 victory over Davis on Tuesday, and chants of “MMC! MMC!” rang out all over Chuck Hughes Stadium.

Amid the fervor and excitement, Torres found a quiet place and remembered a friend – Julio Chavez, a true soccer talent lost to this world far too soon.

“I wanted to get a title for him,” Torres said.

During the lean years, Torres, a third-year coach, was the link to Downey’s golden era. He won three league titles from 2008 to 2011, but none of those championships stirred emotion like Tuesday’s.

“This one is better because when I got the job, I made a promise,” he said, “a promise I wasn’t sure I could keep.”

When Torres took the post, he promised the administration he’d return Downey (15-4-3, 8-2-2 MMC) to the top of the table, breaking up the monopoly Modesto High had created.

Torres also made a silent vow to Chavez, an important player in the Knights’ decorated past.

Chavez was an all-league performer who helped Downey knock off Central California Conference champion Merced in the first round of the 2009 Sac-Joaquin Section Division I tournament.

Chavez had an assist in the 2-1 victory. The Bears were coming off a surprising Division I championship and featured a U.S. National Team pool player in Cristian Alvarez.

In 2010, Chavez led the Knights in scoring as a junior with 15 goals in just nine games.

“If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have won any titles,” Torres said. “I told the boys that all he did was play soccer. He had fun and he was a big-time prospect, but he didn’t get a chance to accomplish his dreams.”

Chavez was killed in a car accident on June 15, 2013. Torres was also in the vehicle and sustained back and knee injuries that altered his playing career. At the time, Chavez was playing for the Chivas USA academy team and bound for Cal State Los Angeles. He was 18.

“We had a beautiful friendship,” Chavez recalled. “We weren’t mad at each other because one had more goals or more assists or more colleges looking at them. ... He was always a great friend. We played a lot and traveled a lot. He would push me to my limit, because he was always the better player.”

Torres visited Chavez’s grave at Ceres Memorial Park before Tuesday’s match.

“This season, a lot of the work we’ve been doing has been guided by him,” Torres said. “I think about him a lot. Yesterday, before the game, I went to the cemetery and told him, ‘We can’t do this without you.’ ”

Downey stumbled into the regular-season finale on a two-match losing streak but took a different tack against Davis. Torres abandoned his defense-first approach for an aggressive attack. He moved his leading scorers, Angel Navarro and Daniel Martinez, into the forward line with the hope they’d create early chances.

The shots came hot and heavy. Navarro banged a low shot off the post, and Jose Tafolla blasted a point-blank shot over the goal.

It took 30 minutes and 10 misses, but Downey finally solved its accuracy issues.

Tafolla, Navarro and Martinez found the back of the net as the Knights scored three goals in a two-minute span and four in the final 10 minutes of the first half. Martinez finished with two goals and an assist.

As the final whistle sounded, the sideline erupted. Players chased Torres about the field, dousing the coach in water.

They bounced and chanted, celebrating a title Torres said few saw coming – except for maybe himself.

Chavez would have enjoyed watching Tuesday’s effort, he said. Today’s Knights may not be as talented as the championship teams for which Torres and Chavez starred, but they play with the same passion and intensity.

“He would have loved this,” Torres said.

MMC playoff picture – Gregori clinched the MMC’s No. 2 playoff berth with a 1-0 victory over Enochs on Tuesday evening. Sophomore striker Axel Lomeli scored the goal, and Cristian Martin preserved the shutout with four saves.

Lomeli has 19 goals and nine assists for the Jaguars (14-4-1, 8-3-1), who take a five-match winning streak into the postseason.

Despite the loss, the Eagles (16-7-1, 6-5-1) advance as the No. 3 seed.

Modesto (9-8-6, 5-4-3) had a chance to overtake Enochs for the final playoff berth, but the Panthers were beaten by Beyer (5-11-2, 3-8-1), 2-1.

The section is expected to release the playoff brackets Friday.

This story was originally published February 15, 2017 at 11:30 AM with the headline "Downey soccer coach dedicates MMC title to friend killed in car accident."