Editor’s Note: The following is the first of a two-part interview with Avery Vikings quarterback Alex Villanueva wide receiver Andy Gonzalez. Part one highlights the pair’s relationship with one another and influences growing up in Miami, Florida For local fans, the duo of Avery Vikings football senior wide receiver Andy Gonzalez and junior quarterback Alex Villanueva bring excitement to the gridiron and a renewed pride and passion.
The best pitch-and-catch combination since the duo of Garrett Sutphen and Josh Johnson in Avery’s storybook 2005 season that led the Vikings to the third round of the state playoffs, the current signal-caller and wideout have been lifelong friends dating back to the youth growing up on the same street in Miami, Florida. In fact, the pair considers each other to be about as close to brothers as a pair can be without the bloodline.
“Our parents have always been close. My dad was there when he was born, and his mom was there when I was born,” Gonzalez said of how long the pair had been connected as friends.
The pair played in Pop Warner football from the age of five or six years of age, but due to their size difference, they didn’t compete as teammates. “I was heavier than Andy so I was always on the older team,” Villanueva said. “He was old, but he had to stay on a different team because of being smaller, so I was always a year ahead in the league.”
Andy and Alex’s parents were best friends in high school, so their friendship has deep roots. Because of their long-time friendship, the pair knows each other extremely well on the field. It’s that familiarity that proves helpful when under the Friday night lights.
“Andy isn’t the biggest player, but he has great hands and we trust each other. He’s an all-around great player who never gives up. When something goes bad he gets back up and does what he has to do to make the team better,” Villanueva said of Gonzalez.
“Ever since we were little in Miami, Alex was a kicker. He grew up as a kicker in little leagues, and I played nose guard at 65 pounds. Over the years, we played almost every position on the field. As we grew older, he became a better athlete and in middle school he decided he wanted to be a quarterback. He worked hard, went to camps and has dedicated himself to becoming the best quarterback he could be,” Gonzalez said of his friend. “He started his first high school game as a freshman in the state playoffs and made a huge jump. He’s a tough kid and has taken some hits and is an aggressive player with a lot of heart.”
Off the field, the tandem spend a vast amount of time together and have a good idea of what makes the other person tick.
“We fight a lot and argue, but it’s good because in a way it brings us closer together. We get along well enough that we can have our arguments, but we can let them go and move on as if nothing ever happened,” Villanueva shared. “Andy is a nice guy that always has something good to say about people.”
“People are different, and sometimes Alex can be a little hard-headed. But I know Alex like a book, and I know what makes him angry and what doesn’t. He gets into a mode sometimes where I have to ignore him, but off the field we spend a lot of time together hanging out and watching game film. We walk out of practice together and work out together more out of habit than anything else,” Gonzalez said.
Alex and Andy were blessed to have family members and football coaches in their formative years that loved football and cared about them, and those relationships positively impacted their lives.
“Growing up, we played at a park called Tamiami Park. We played two or three years, and the head coach that coached us opened up an Optimist Park at another location. The first year we joined at that park we played together and had a couple of other really good players. We went on to go undefeated for three or four straight years, but lost in championship games,” Gonzalez shared.
“Football has made us like brothers. Without football I don’t think I would have known him,” Villanueva added.
Growing up in Florida meant playing the game of football with a different style and pace. That difference has served the pair well as they help lead the Vikings against the rough and tumble foes of the Western Highlands Conference and eventually into state playoff competition.
“In Florida the game was much faster. The game was all about speed there, where up here the game is more about power,” Villanueva explained. “I think playing there helped us. When we play teams up here the schools have these reputations of being undefeated and beating everybody, but that doesn’t bother us. We grew up playing in camps and against other teams that were so much better than we were, so we’re accustomed to rising to play that level of competition.”
Coming to Avery County has brought a sense of rescue to both Andy and Alex from an area where their lives could have taken different and less healthy paths.
“I came up here and started playing football using the talents from living in Miami and from the camps and playing with my buddies there. Up here I have earned these achievements that have made my family proud,” Andy shared. “Nobody thought down there that I could be successful here as I have. I wasn’t such a great student in middle school. I used to just care about football and didn’t care about school, but coming up here to Avery has changed my thinking and focus and I’ve been able to take it to another level.”
“The atmosphere here is so much different,” Alex added. “Down there drugs were prevalent and you were pressured from a very young age. It was a rough city to be around. You had all your friends close by and there were things to do. You were always able to hang out, but there were times where you had to choose between hanging out with your friends and doing the right thing. Fortunately, all my friends and I stayed together through football and we were pretty good kids. Football kept us together on and off the field and we were all close. Coming here it was a little hard for both of us to blend in, not being from here. But we’ve both met most of our friends the same way as in Miami, which was through sports.”
