Mejia Is Difference for Reseda
Under pressure and surrounded by chaos, Jose Mejia stood tall for the Reseda High boys’ soccer team in a 2-0 City quarterfinal victory over Birmingham on Friday afternoon.
With the match scoreless after 55 minutes, the No. 3-seeded Regents had yet to put a shot on goal and were scrambling to keep the ball out of their own net.
Braves’ center midfielder Jaime Tinajero and stopper Gabriel Ortega made repeated runs at the Reseda goal, while outside midfielders Elvin Cruz and Andre Vorster threatened to score from the wings.
Through it all, Mejia was the variable sixth-seeded Birmingham could not control. Standing 6 feet 1 and racing from sideline to sideline with quick, loping strides, Mejia repeatedly denied his opponents with leaping headers, timely deflections and sheer intimidation.
“Jose’s the backbone of our team,” said Reseda Coach Terry Davila, whose team is at No. 2-seeded Banning in Tuesday’s semifinals.
“He’s so good in the air and he reads the game so well. No one got behind him the entire game.”
Reseda (22-2-5) was outplayed in the first 40 minutes, yet stayed with Birmingham (15-4-4) behind the defensive efforts of Mejia, outside defender Nelson Pinto and defensive midfielder Nelson Perelta.
The Braves bounced a long ball off the crossbar and another off the right post midway through the half, but couldn’t control the ball in the penalty area long enough to bury a shot.
“We usually control games because we’re a good passing team,” Birmingham Coach Jose Freire said.
“We just hustle, hustle, hustle and the guys kept playing, even when they were on the ground.”
Players from both teams got close-up looks at the turf throughout the match, as each side drew three yellow cards for rough play. Reseda’s Alex Acevedo was ejected after receiving his second in the 72nd minute.
“I was trying to calm the guys down,” Mejia said. “They were elbowing (the Birmingham players) back and we were pretty much panicking. I knew that whoever scored the first goal was going to have the momentum for the rest of the game.”
The Regents began the second half with a more-defensive style, hoping to gain the lead with a quick counterattack.
And after goalie Angel Larios turned Birmingham away on a pair of goal-mouth scrambles shortly after the break, the Regents got their opening in the 58th minute.
Reseda’s William Diaz seized a loose ball in the midfield and sprinted down the right sideline. Twenty-five yards from the goal, he passed to Acevedo in the center of the penalty area.
Acevedo’s shot was blocked by Birmingham goalie Basil Grant but Perelta slammed the rebound home for the Regents’ first shot on goal and his first goal of the season.
“They like to over-attack and once we went with more defensive play we caught them that one time,” Davila said.
Reseda clinched the victory in the 76th minute when Juan Cortes ran down a free kick by Luis Nunez in the middle of the penalty area and slipped a shot past backup goalie Edgar Delgado.
