Gray Matter: Pioneer boys’ soccer led by prolific college-bound star
Michael Gray feels his soccer experiences.
Every single day.
The prolific senior for the Pioneer High School Patriots of Woodland is a marked man as one of the region’s most prolific scorers, and come game day or night, Gray wards off defenses designed to stall him. Waves of opponents swarm his way. Gray will absorb shots to the shins, to the calves and forearms to the back. It’s not dirty, generally speaking, it’s typical soccer warfare in fast forward when you’re a marked man. Gray goes home bruised and swollen, but rarely buckled or beaten.
On Thursday night in Yolo County, Gray’s first-half goal and his team’s spirited defense was enough to boost the No. 6-seeded Patriots past No. 11 Venture Academy in a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoff opener, thus earning another shot at Stockton school in third-seeded Weston Ranch, a 1-0 winner over El Dorado. The quarterfinal match will be Tuesday at Weston Ranch.
“We have the talent to win it all,” Gray said, adding, “and we can win it all.”
Gray certainly will be the focal point. He has 29 goals this season and 56 points for a team that is 13-2-1 and has gone 10-1-1 down the stretch. A four-year varsity player, Gray has signed a letter of intent to play at Sonoma State in Rohnert Park in Sonoma County, where the 3.6-GPA student plans to study biology and pursue more goals.
Gray started playing the sport at the age of 4, and he’s grown into a top player, competing for high-profile club programs such as Sacramento United and the Davis Legacy. It’s a year-round passion for a guy who never seems to slow down or even tire.
But Gray is human. He pulled himself out of Thursday’s match for a moment as he dealt with cramps.
“A great player, a great teammate,” is how coach David Jimenez described his star. “Even while cramping, he’s going, ‘Put me in! Put me in!’”
At a solidly built 6-foot-1 with a curly shock of hair, Gray is quite a soccer act, magic with his feet, in continuous motion as he maneuvers around defenders. He came into this match having come off a seven-goal outburst in a Golden Empire League victory over Casa Roble.
Throughout Thursday’s match, there were continuous yells, chants or shrieks of, “Go Michael!” The shrieks resonated and amused those nearby. It wasn’t the sound of a raccoon or opossum that got stepped on in the nearby orchard that is a backdrop to the cozy Woodland Sports Park that Pioneer calls home. It was the sound of Gray’s fan base.
“Yeah,” he said with a laugh. “Lots of family and friends.”
Jimenez said Gray is worth a peek.
“Michael’s a special player, a special kid,” the coach said. “Always been a stud. One of the most creative players you’ll see. He’s just a positive, good team leader, and he’s fun to coach.”
Soccer also means the world to Jimenez. He, too, grew up in Woodland and played the sport from the time he was young. He stopped at 20, after two seasons at American River College, when he finally “hung up my cleats.” Jimenez is in his fourth season with the Pioneer soccer program and first as varsity head coach.
“He’s done a great job with the kids,” Pioneer athletic director Megan Ussery said.
As a Pioneer soccer player last decade, it wasn’t uncommon for Jimemez to coach as he competed, offering insight, instruction and words of motivation. Coaching was in him. He knew what his calling was. He is inspired by his hard-working father, Jesus, who rarely misses a game, and the loss of his mother, Monica, who died a year ago at 48 from a sudden illness while she was visiting family in her native Mexico.
Jimenez said soccer is similar to life lessons, which he said is ideal for teenagers trying to navigate their way, or a coach dealing with deep personal loss.
“There’s the value of hard work, of sacrifice, of the team working together, of coming together, of working hard or a common goal,” Jimenez said. “Sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t. Just like life.”
Jimenez isn’t married and has no children, so coaching is a full-time commitment. He explained, “I wake up each morning and the first thing I think of is how can I make the team better?”
For starters, he has an anchor in Gray and a goalkeeper in Matthew Nunez at the other end of the pitch. Gray is often a one-man offensive machine, but he reminds that he cannot do this alone. Jimenez sends out waves of players to create or defend, and on Thursday, that included: Oscar Ayala, Raul Barajas, Jair Cortes, Miguel Jamarillo, Edgar Martinez, Osvaldo Oliva, Josue Peniche, Evan Perez, Isaac Ramirez and Carlos Raya.
Gray was spent after this match, trying to stretch out that left calf. But he was all smiles, speaking of the joys of this sport. He dines on pasta the night before a match and salad and chicken hours before taking the field, with a quick gym visit to work out his arms. The legs are fine. He’s in shape.
The proof is in his wrist wear. He wears an Apple Watch, which offers all sorts of cool things, including how many miles he logs: a ton.
“I go about 7 miles in a practice and 8 in a game,” Gray said. “I was nervous all day, until the game started.”
And then he was in his element.
This story was originally published February 11, 2022 at 6:23 AM.