GONZALES — The streets of Gonzales were temporarily shut down last Thursday for a parade to honor the Gonzales High School varsity boys’ soccer team, which won both the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s Cypress Division and the Central Coast Section’s Division IV, as well as placed second in the California Interscholastic Federation Northern California Soccer Tournament.
Head soccer coach Miguel Vidauri was excited to participate in the March 20 parade with his team and with his 6-year-old daughter Ariana.
“The parade brought back memories and flashbacks to when our soccer team won the CCS championship in 2007,” Vidauri said. “Riding on the flatbed with my daughter and the boys was exciting. It was awesome to be recognized.”
Gonzales Police Department took the lead, guiding the parade participants that included the high school marching band and flag team; the soccer players and coaches with Martin the Spartan; the Gonzales Sports Med Program; and various decorated cars that were driven by the players’ friends and families.
Gonzales Fire Department was the last vehicle in the parade, which traveled along Fifth, Elko and Center streets in a circular route that began and ended at the high school around noon.
Parade participants were honored with cheers and homemade posters by the hundreds of students and staff that viewed the parade in front of La Gloria Elementary School on Elko Street, in addition to community members along the route.
