Growing up playing together on the Norwalk Saints, from left, Richard Munoz, Dominic Rubio, 23, Mason Viramontes, Carlos Alvarez, 20, and Matthew Salazar, 66, continue to play in high school at Bishop Amat. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)

NORWALK – Next month, the Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs (NSFS) Saints youth football program will celebrate its 60 years as an organization, which has been a big part of those two communities.

For the first time in three years, there will be an opening ceremony, as teams from all levels will gather at Little Lake Park in Santa Fe Springs on Saturday Aug. 20, at 10 am for an afternoon of scrimmage games to open the 2022 season.

After the final conditioning, which was held in June, the first official practices will take place on Monday July 25.

However, for five young athletes, the program has been a springboard to a higher level of competition, which could go even higher in the future.

In fact, all five are at the next level playing for the same team – Bishop Amat High School in La Puente.

Those five players – seniors Carlos Alvarez, Jr., Dominic Rubio and Mason Viramontes and juniors Matthew Salazar and Richard Munoz – have or will be starters for the Lancers and hope to have a breakout season.

In fact, two (Alvarez and Munoz) of the five were named to the All-Mission League for Bishop Amat and all five were named to youth all-conference teams throughout their years.

Three of the players (Alvarez, Viramontes and Rubio) have had a bond since 2014 until now and the other two (Munoz and Salazar) joined forces with the Saints in 2016 season, which was a championship year for the Saints.

The coaches for those years were head coach Jose Alvarez, David Jaimez (Offensive Coordinator), Mike Weltz (Defensive Coordinator), George Martinez (Offensive Line Coach) and others.

Coach Alvarez remembers those early days, playing at Santa Fe and St. Paul, when he first started with the Saints program.

“It started in 2011 with myself and a few random dads signing up our 6-year-old kids at a NSFS stand at a Holifield Park baseball closing ceremony,” said Alvarez, who eventually teamed up with Jaimez. “They apparently had too many kids signed up and were looking for coaches to coach up a few kids on the waiting list. We all looked at each other knowing we all played for NSFS as kids and decided what the heck, let’s do it.”

And it all started from there.

After the two coaches joined forces, they eventually finished 7-1 and made it to the Super Bowl, but lost to powerhouse Lynwood Knights.

This would all lead to a building of a better team after a summer of winning multiple championships on the 7-on-7 11U team.

Enter Munoz to the team. He started out as a linebacker and his arm helped him play the quarterback position. He was nicknamed “the Mexican LeBron James”, because of his freakish athletic things on both sides of the ball.

**Carlos Alvarez, (20) and Dominic Rubio (23) playing with the Norwalk Saints. (Courtesy Photo)**

“The boys all instantly had a vibe and created a brotherhood, which is where I believe most of our success came from,” added Alvarez.

That success ended with a 2016 championship, as the 11U Saints began to receive plenty of recognition in Southern California as coaches across the Snoop League, Pacific Coast Conference (PCC), Orange County Junior All American (OCJAAF), AAU, Pop Warner and others ranked them in the top 10.

They completed the regular season undefeated and capped it off by winning throughout the playoffs, finally receiving a bid in the championship and winning the PCC 11U title against the Lynnwood Knights that year.

The coaches and many other people knew this team was special, as they were beating teams by 40 or 50 points and finishing 11-0.

Prior to the 2016 team, the ‘14 and ‘15, (9U and 10U) NSFS Saints had very successful seasons and went deep into the playoffs.

Winning the Super Bowl and getting the national ranking of No. 5 in 11U opened the door to nationally ranked tournaments, which were anywhere from 30-45 days away.

“At that point, we knew this team was too special to miss an opportunity like this,” added Alvarez. “Not often will a team coming out of Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs reach accolades like this.

“This team and parents came together and we raised $30,000 in 30 days to get these boys out to Florida to compete. This was pure family and passion for this team as we slaved away daily doing fundraisers.”

The next two seasons the core group of players decided to move up to the Vypers of Cerritos, an unlimited weight team and division to prepare for high school. That is where they went 20-2, losing in two championship games.

Fast forward to the September 2021 season with Bishop Amat playing Damien.

“All we heard on the speaker from the announcer on 90% of the plays were these names and it was one of my proudest moments as a coach,” Alvarez said. The names were: Rubio, Munoz, Devon Jones, Salazar, Carlos Alvarez, Jr. and Viramontes.

“Just a little insight in the journey of the “little Cinderella team from the NSFS Saints,” concluded Alvarez.

Assistant coach Jaimez said of that championship team: “First off, our Norwalk Saints team was a blessing to have,” he said. “We had a lot of coachable players. It was a coach’s dream come true. We preached discipline and hard work and were family on and off the field.

“We did a lot of activities off the field to make sure our boys were tight nit. That 11U season went 11-0 and I want to say we had eight shutouts and we averaged over 40 points a game. We went out to Florida for a National tournament and the boys were able to play teams from Ohio and Florida. It was definitely a great experience for them. It was the first time playing on a national level. But that’s what we always did for our guys. We made sure we played against the best, win or lose.”

What they said:

Babetta Gomez, President, Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs Saints: “This year marks 60 years for the Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs Saints Program. We serve the communities of Norwalk, Santa Fe Springs and surrounding cities.

“We have seen thousands of athletes go through our program, and continue on in high school and some have gone on to the college football level and continue to play the sport they are passionate about.

“It’s amazing to see them start at four to five years old, not knowing which way to run to becoming exceptional young men and women as scholar athletes. As president of the Saints, I’m proud to see these athletes gain a passion for the sport and continue their journey once they have aged out of our program. The NSFS Saints Board Members and Coaches wish these athletes all the best and definitely want them all to succeed at the next level. Hopefully they come back as adults to volunteer and keep our program going another 60 years.”

Mason Viramontes - Sr. Offensive Lineman: “Playing with these guys gave me a sense of somewhere I belonged so I didn’t fall into other things. It gave me somewhere to go after school. It carried over from (the Saints) to over here (Bishop Amat). They are probably my closest friends on the team. Our relationships kept building off of each other. We started in youth ball when I was about nine years old when I first started and to now when I’m 17.”

Comments from coach Jaimez on Viramontes: “Mason started on both the O-Line and D-Line for us on our Saints team. He was our best pass blocker and he made some big plays for us on defense. Mason is also a very athletic big man playing tight end in 7-on-7. His recruitment is also starting to pick up.”

Note: Viramontes’ cousin, Kayla Viramontes, was named Female Athlete of the Year at Santa Fe High. (See Norwalk Patriot July 1, 2022).

He transferred from Santa Fe after his freshman year and is a 3-year varsity (freshman through junior), standing 6 ft. 4 inches tall.. He is a life-long resident in Norwalk and also plays volleyball. Academics, along with athletics, is very important to the senior as he maintained a 4.06 cumulative GPA through his junior year.

“Looking into the future, I plan to apply to top tier colleges, such as Stanford, Cal Berkeley, Yale, Brown, Pepperdine, and Princeton,” Viramontes said. “As I look back on what allowed me to enter my high school years so strongly, I must emphasize that it had everything to do with the adults surrounding me.

“My favorite memory of my youth football years playing for the Saints is definitely seeing both the Spanish-speaking and English-speaking communities rally together to support our youth football trip to Florida. These amazing previous years and memories are definitely never going to be forgotten.”

Dominic Rubio - Sr. Wide Receiver: “It was really cool and we (Saints players) had a fun time. We made some great bonds together. We went to each other’s houses and went to Florida for the national championship. We also went to a Super Bowl and won it.”

Comments from coach Jaimez on Rubio: “While at the Saints, Dominic was definitely one of our better athletes and playmakers. He made plays on defense with hard hits and interceptions. On offense, he could catch, run and even play QB if we asked him to.

“He’s worked really hard in the off-season for this and his recruitment is starting to pick up. And he is also a great player on the basketball court.”

Rubio has a 3.4 GPA. He started playing football at four years old with the Saints. He is an all-around athlete as he plays basketball for the Lancers. He also played baseball for seven years.

His college interests are USC, UCLA, Oregon, Utah Tech, Duke and a few others.

Carlos Alvarez, Jr. - Sr. Safety: “It was fun playing on the Saints. We were just kids and we were all having fun. It just became a brotherhood and everyone bonded with each other. We learned how to be with each other and outside of football we would hang out with each other. It’s still fun now that we’re all older now but we still hang out like we were before. Everyone is still friends and the kids that were on the Saints together, we’re still closer than we are with most of the other kids that came here.”

Comments from coach Jaimez on Alvarez: “Carlos was always our lockdown cornerback and sure tackler on his side of the field. He made a huge touchdown-saving tackle for us in our championship game. Carlos also played some running back. He is a day one guy for me since he was six years old. He was also named to the All-Mission League this past year. Carlos is being recruited by Ivy League schools amongst others.

Alvarez has been on varsity all four years, including playing on the freshman team for Santa Fe. He was named Co-Freshman Defensive MVP at Santa Fe before transferring to Amat.

During his junior year, Alvarez was a 1st Team All-League with a 4.28 GPA.

Matthew Salazar - Jr. Defensive Line: “It was fun with the Saints. We had fun at every practice and mess around. There’s a saying, ‘Iron sharpens Iron’. We’d just go to practice and work hard every day. We’d get each other ready for now in high school.

“We have a good bond now in high school and we always talk a lot about our memories. It just kept us closer and coming here (Amat) we had people we knew already. It’s fun and when we take the field we talk about memories. We’ll probably all be friends forever. We went from youth to high school and that bond is there.”

Comments from coach Jaimez on Salazar: “Matt started both sides of the ball for us at the Saints on the O-line and D-line. He was one of our best run blockers and he is super athletic for a big kid. He’s played tight end and linebacker in 7-on-7. Matt has worked really hard and the results of that was starting as a sophomore at defensive end last season for the Lancers. I expect him to have a lot of accolades this season.”

Richard Munoz - Jr. Linebacker/Quarterback: “I feel like the Saints prepared us to play at this level of competition. The Saints played some good teams and now we’re playing good (CIF) D1 teams. It prepared us a lot. I like playing with these guys a lot. They’re my guys since day one. Now we’re like best friends.

“One of the memories was going to Florida with them. It was a good time and one of my favorite trips I’ve ever been to. It’s more of a brotherhood here and everybody is closer and that’s a good thing.”

Comments from coach Jaimez on Munoz: “Rich was our MVP (Saints). Football is the ultimate team sport, but by far Munoz was our best player. He led our team in tackles and interceptions playing linebacker. He was also our Quarterback. He was the leader of our team and his football knowledge was far beyond his years. He’s definitely a player you want on your team.”

Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs Saints celebrate 60 years of youth football

What they said: