Reseda’s Fab Four Have Time on Their Side

It’s been almost a year since the Reseda High boys’ soccer team, top-ranked in last season’s City Section playoffs, was upset by No. 17 seed El Camino Real in the second round.

This season, the Regents (11-0-3, 9-0-2 in conference play) are back for another try. They are closing in on their third Valley Pac-8 Conference title in the past four campaigns and are setting their sights on the postseason’s pole position.

Last season’s team was led by a cast of brilliant and emotionally erratic seniors but the fortunes of the 1997-98 Regents depend largely on four underclassmen.

When in sync, midfielders Carlos Morales and Jesse Servin and forwards Oscar Sims and Rocky Monzon form a quartet that spearheads their team’s attack.

When their minds wander, Reseda’s fortunes plummet. For every blowout victory there seems to have been an underwhelming performance to match, such as a recent tie with perennial conference doormat Canoga Park.

“That’s when you can tell they’re still young; when they lose their concentration,” Coach Julio Castillo said. “But going to the finals and winning is still our main goal. We have to concentrate on what didn’t work the last few years and get over those negative things.”

Castillo and assistant Terry Davila, who took the Regents to the 1995 section semifinals as their coach, have instilled discipline and teamwork to cut down on the outbursts and sloppy defense that undid Reseda the last two seasons.

Nowhere are those lessons more obvious than with Sims, Servin, Monzon and Morales. Without a guiding hand, the four would have been unlikely to have experienced such success as underclassmen.

Sims and Monzon, juniors from Guatemala, have combined for 29 goals on the front line. Morales, a native of El Salvador, has five goals as an elusive outside midfielder. Servin is the largest of the four at 5 feet 10, but is only a sophomore.

“Jesse and Carlos spread teams out in the midfield, then [either Sims or Monzon] checks back while the other one waits up top,” Castillo said. “That gives us a lot of opportunities.”

Sims uses his speed to blow past defenders but tends to speak only when spoken to. Monzon is a jokester with a penchant for scoring off goalmouth scrambles. Morales is the most creative player and Servin the youngster being groomed as a future team leader by his coaches.

Fast friends off the field, the four bond at movies and Reseda basketball games, over food and through fierce arguments on a variety of topics. But they agree the time is at hand to exorcise memories of last year’s playoff loss.

“I think that game is going to pay off for us big time this year,” Morales said. “We just feel we gotta [win the City title] this year. Next season we’ll have to start all over, so we want it now.”