TENINO — Twin City Union Football Club’s top men’s team may have had to leave the county for administrative reasons, but Centralia and Chehalis still have their fingerprints all over the club — and over TCU’s 2-1 comeback win over Thurston County on Sunday in Stone City.
Twin City Union, which plays in the Cascadia Premier League’s second division, boasts a roster nearly entirely of former Tigers and Bearcats, with the odd Rochester Warrior and Winlock Cardinal thrown in to boot.
“You can look up a lot of the guys on the roster and you’ll see them in articles from years past, because they made things happen in high school,” Twin City Union coach Noel Vazquez said. “Unfortunately they entered adulthood and started working and maybe not playing at the highest level, so giving them that opportunity to showcase what they can offer is pretty awesome.”
Sunday, those local faces snapped a four-game losing streak, with two goals from Centralia alums in the final 20 minutes giving TCU the win after it fell in an early hole.
“I think the guys today, instead of not thinking or believing that we could turn it around, they actually did this time, and it paid off,” Vazquez said.
For 70 minutes, Thurston County’s high and shifting defensive line kept the Twin City Union offense off-balance, trying to stay onside while still threatening.
Midway through the second half, though, TCU finally found the answer, with a ball over the top finding a late-breaking Andrew Ramez — who hadn’t planned on playing Sunday, only suiting up at halftime — and the former Tiger calmly lobbed a chip shot over the keeper to level the scoreline at 1-1.
The goal gave the Twin City Union attack a second wind, but that gave Thurston’s counter attack — which had already scored once on the day — its own chance in a game that sped up despite taking place on a black field in the heat of summer. A golden TCU chance went wide in the 86th minute, and Thurston County took the goal kick quickly, getting most of the way down the field before anyone in a blue jersey had time to track back. Up to the challenge stepped keeper Jesse Gonzalez, a W.F. West alum, who came up with one of his 11 saves on the day to keep things level.
“(He) is someone where I don’t think people realize how good he is for as long as he’s been out of school,” Vazquez said.
Coming right back down the other way, Mario Silva beat the offside trap down the wing, but had to hold up to let support show get to the box for a cross. When it came, it proved unnecessary, as Silva’s ball deflected off a defender’s leg and curled perfect over the keeper, who had no chance at reaching the go-ahead goal.
“It worked out for us,” Vazquez said, “We worked really hard in the second half to get back in the game and win it. I’m really proud of them. They’re really excited because we’ve been in a bit of a slump.”
Beyond the top men’s team, TCUFC also boasts a semi-professional women’s squad, coached by Horst Malunat, as well as youth travel teams.
The women’s team is nearly all college players, suiting up in their offseason before they go back to their respective schools in the fall. The men’s team has a few college players of its own, including Cameron Kunz (W.F. West) and Gabriel Stuard (Rochester), who will play at Saint Martin’s, and Jose and Victor Rojas, brothers from Centralia who will be playing for Vazquez on the inaugural men’s team at Centralia College this year.
In time, Vazquez — who is the Director of Coaching for all of Twin City Union, on top of coaching the top men’s side — thinks there could be a rise in college athletes donning the TCU jersey, with more Trailblazers staying local in the summer instead of going back to their respective hometowns. But for now, in the program’s second year, the hyper-local squad is a good fit for the area it represents.
“At the end of the day, we want to build something that people can feel proud about locally,” Vazquez said. “That’s the purpose of the women’s and men’s semi-pro teams.”
