At 9.04 p.m MT on Saturday, October 25, a substitution was forced upon Colorado Rapids' head coach, Pablo Mastroeni. Right back Marvell Wynne limped out of the contest at the Vancouver Whitecaps with a hamstring injury, to be replaced by Davy Armstrong, and it was at this point that club history was made.
For the first time in a MLS match, the Rapids had all three of their Homegrown Players on the field, with Armstrong (Aurora) joining Shane O'Neill (Boulder) and Dillon Serna (Brighton) in their end-of-season battle with the Whitecaps.
"I didn't really think about it at the time, but now you mention it, yes of course," admitted Serna. "That's pretty awesome, and says a lot about the club."
For the Rapids Senior Director of Soccer development, Brian Crookham, this was a significant moment.
"The end product of our Development Academy program has to be players that can play meaningful minutes and contribute to the club achieving great things," he said. "Seeing the three of them on the field together was special and it is our job to ensure that it becomes a regular occurence in the future."
Armstrong featured as a second half substitute in the Rapids' previous game, a 1-0 home loss to FC Dallas, playing just nine minutes. Neither O'Neill (suspended) or Serna (unused substitute) saw playing time on that occasion.
The only other time that 22-year-old Armstrong had stepped into a first team game was the final outing of the 2012 season, when he managed the last four minutes of the home game against Houston Dynamo.
O'Neill had become the club's first Homegrown Player to make his MLS debut a month earlier when he played the last four minutes of a 3-0 home win over the Portland Timbers.
Serna had to wait until the last game of the 2013 season for his MLS debut, which was also at the Whitecaps.
"Obviously I was excited because I couldn't recall playing alongside Davy before, so I knew that was probably a first," O'Neill explained. "It's a big moment for Davy in his career. I think he played really well. It was great for him and, obviously, great for the club to have us all on the field together."
O'Neill and Serna had previously featured on the same field for the first team, but the club's first three - and so far only - Homegrown Players had never appeared together, until that moment on Saturday night in British Columbia.
"It was great for us," said Armstrong. "It was really enjoyable. I wasn't really thinking about the history element too much. It was my first real minutes in a game and all I was thinking was to get my job done, but I'm happy to hear that and happy that those guys (O'Neill and Serna) are having successful careers.
"It was just a joy out there."
