‘It was so hard keeping the secret.’ Livingston player gets surprise pregame reunion.

Daniel Ramos knew something was going on, he just didn’t know what.

The Livingston High senior, who’s been called “Tarzan” by his teammates, friends and football coaches since his freshman year because of his long hair, noticed all his teammates were looking at him.

Everyone seemed in on something, but what?

Ramos,17, was one of the Wolves team captains getting ready to go to midfield for the coin toss before Livingston’s game against Ripon on Sept. 28th.

“He was looking at me beforehand and he was like, ‘Coach, what’s up?’ I told him nothing,” Livingston coach Alex Gonzalez said. “He says, ‘Nah, something’s up. Everyone is looking at me.’

“That’s when I told him someone special was here to say hi.”

That’s when Ramos saw him. Hiding in a crowd of Livingston cheerleaders was Ramos’ older brother, Mario, 20. Livingston brought out Mario as an honorary captain for the pregame coin toss.

“I was very surprised,” Daniel said. “I didn’t know he was coming down to visit.”

The Ramos brothers hadn’t seen each other in over 2 years since Mario joined the Marines after graduating from Livingston High in 2016. Mario is a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, defense specialist stationed in Okinawa, Japan.

“I was ready to line up with the other captains and everyone was looking at me,” Daniel said. “I was kind of wondering what’s going on? Everyone was smiling. All the cheerleaders were hiding him. When I saw him, I was surprised. I got a little emotional. I got happy.”

It was mom, Angelina Sears, who set up the reunion for the brothers. Sears contacted the school and talked to activities director Linda Gonzalez and athletic director Scott Winton to see what they could do to surprise Daniel.

Keeping the secret from Daniel and her other children was the hardest part. Mario was scheduled to come home last weekend, but Sears told her kids that Mario’s visit was postponed.

“It was so hard keeping the secret,” Sears said. “I actually kept it a secret from all of my kids. I told them that something happened and Mario won’t be able to visit until next week. My oldest daughter (Jasmine) was so upset, I eventually had to let her in on it. Daniel gets quiet when he gets upset. It was hard keeping the secret from him.

“It was such a nice moment for my two sons. They both enjoyed it.”

Mario says the toughest part of being in the military is being away from family, missing your siblings’ birthdays, holidays and just seeing them grow up.

“It was really a big moment,” Mario said. “We’re very close, but we’re not the emotional type of brothers. The biggest thing for me was seeing his smile and how happy he was to see me.”

Gonzalez was happy to be a part of it.

“Tarzan, he’s such a tough-minded guy,” Gonzalez said. “I know he was super excited. He was grinning ear to ear. Seeing him happy was good to see because he’s such an influence on our team. He’s really taken all of our younger players under his wing. Even though our record isn’t what we’d like it to be, he’s been a positive influence.”