In the history wing of Pattonville High School, history walked down the hall.
It was 9:10 a.m. Monday. History teacher Marcus Christian spotted the grinning 17-year-old.
“It was surreal,” Christian described on Monday afternoon. “You can tell when he turns the corner that everyone takes notice. He has that energy around him. And a presence. When he arrives, you can kind of feel it. Palpable excitement that you can just feel from the kids — and the teachers.”
The teenager was Miguel Perez, who’s not just the talk of Pattonville, but, really, the talk of St. Louis. Perez is the first homegrown player to suit up for St. Louis City SC of Major League Soccer. And last Saturday, in the club’s third game ever, Perez was a starter — and played valiantly in the victory. Come Monday, he was back at high school.
“I go to school the first part of my day,” said Perez, who has played in all three games for undefeated City SC, “and then I go to training. And then, after training, I just go back home and do some homework.”
It’s an incredible story — two years ago, he was playing for Pattonville High and now he’s starting in America’s top soccer league.
Perez goes to school with 15-year-olds … and his oldest teammate, Roman Burki, is 15 years older than is Perez. And in Saturday’s game, Perez played against Portland’s Larrys Mabiala, who is 35 — more than double Perez’s age.
In that game, played at one of the most intimidating venues in MLS (Providence Park in Portland, Ore.), the unflappable Perez admirably manned the defensive midfielder position for the visitors.
He made numerous smart touches and played well in space. He stood up for himself as some opponents talked trash. He played aggressively, even earning a yellow card. He did misplay a ball in the 37th minute, which led to the visible ire of teammate Klauss. And in the 52nd minute, an opponent outraced him in what was almost a dangerous situation for St. Louis. But all in all, it was a quality performance by Perez — and that’s regardless of his age or MLS experience.
“Unfortunately through the week, we lose Njabulo Blom (to injury),” City SC coach Bradley Carnell said after the game, “but we were very confident that there was one name to go in there — which was Miggy Perez. I thought he battled. He worked hard. He committed to what we want to do. Nothing seems to faze him. These moments and these experiences are only going to get better for him — and he’s going to lap this all up. And it’s something for him to go back to school on Monday morning and to share with his friends in the school.”
The story of a St. Louis high school kid on St. Louis’ pro team is as improbable as the story of how the City SC staff spotted him in the first place.
Perez played varsity for Pattonville as a freshman and sophomore (his older brother, Louie, is the school’s all-time leading scorer). Perez also played for clubs JB Marine Academy and St. Louis Scott Gallagher — and was involved with the Olympic Development Program.
The date was November 21, 2020.
City SC sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel, along with director of team operations Vin Ko, planned to drive to the mid-Missouri town of Boonville. They were scouting talent for City SC’s academy teams and there were some intriguing games involving club teams. But before the games, there would be two training sessions with some Olympic development players.
“So we said, ‘OK, instead of leaving it at 7 a.m., let’s leave at 5 a.m. and watch this ODP, because you never know,” Pfannenstiel said. “It was this foggy, rainy, really, really cold, ugly, windy day.”
It was like something out of “Seabiscuit,” when the old trainer first spotted the unpolished horse in the morning fog.
While the Olympic development soccer talent level — relatively speaking — wasn’t that great, there was this intriguing talent out there.
A 15-year-old Perez.
“He just looked like he had something,” Pfannenstiel said.
If they had left at 7, they might’ve never crossed paths with Perez. Instead, they spotted the confident and calm player and invited him to their academy trials for City.
He made it in the program and accelerated through the system. And now, the high school senior is also a professional soccer player.
“There are a lot of words you can use to describe it, but I think ‘unreal’ is as perfect as you can get,” Pattonville athletics director Jason Sellers said. “Unexpected for sure. I got to watch Miguel play for a couple of years for our team — and got to see the growth that he’s shown, not just physically, but mentally with the game. But I would not have picked this pathway — I don’t know too many people that would have. It’s a surprise, but one of the one of the coolest surprises as an administrator I’ve ever been around.”
And on Monday morning at Pattonville, there was the student Perez. He walked the hall of the history wing to greet Christian, the teacher who was Perez’s varsity soccer coach.
“He’s a very remarkable young man,” Christian said. “I mean, he’s still very much grounded. Even though there is this incredible hype, he seems to be handling it all really well. ...
“He comes by my room on Mondays after second hour and talks about the games. We chat for 5-10 minutes about the last game. Selfishly, for me as a coach, it’s probably the highlight of my coaching career — to chat with a player about his MLS experience.”
