Royal Rides Auto Pilot to Shut Out Simi Valley

Royal High, ranked No. 3 in the Southern Section 4-A Division, traveled coachless to play crosstown rival and No. 7-ranked Simi Valley on Thursday and held the Pioneers goal-less, 2-0, in a key Marmonte League match.

Peter Schraml, Royal’s first-year coach who is also a commercial pilot, was required to fly out of town Wednesday, so assistant coach Frank Parodi took over.

Such a change might unravel most teams, sending them on a one-way jet stream out of sync, but not the Highlanders, who have 16 players back from last year’s team that shared the Marmonte League title and advanced to the Southern Section quarterfinals.

“Most of us have been friends since we were 7-year-olds,” said senior striker Matt Rast, who scored both of the Royal goals. “We’ve been playing soccer together almost since that age, which helps because we know so well what each other will do.”

Royal (15-1-2, 5-1-0 in league play) has now defeated Simi Valley four consecutive times in two years.

One minute into the game, Rast took a pass from Pedro Espinoza, dribbled down the left sideline one-on-one with a defender and directed a shot into the right corner of the net past Pioneer goalkeeper John Pertritz.

Rast added his 14th goal of the season with one minute left in the half and junior goalkeeper Kenneth Mikels recorded his 12th shutout.

Simi Valley (13-4-2, 2-2-1) attempted nearly one-third less shots than Royal (26-10).

Coaching in Royal’s biggest game of the season, how did Parodi feel about the win?

“It feels great,” he said. “Peter would be proud.”