Cervantes Weathers Long Ride to Playoffs

For Rio Mesa High soccer player David Cervantes, the road to the playoffs was fraught with twists and turns.

The junior forward’s odyssey began last October and included a cross-country bus ride and a Southern Section violation that cost his team a victory.

But Cervantes never strayed off course, scoring 28 goals in 22 games.

“He’s totally dedicated to being on this team,” Rio Mesa Coach Brent Kruk said. “No one wants to be a part of it more than David.”

Cervantes and the Spartans, who finished fourth in the Channel League and earned an at-large playoff berth, play at Foothill League champion Canyon in a Southern Section Division II first-round game today.

Cervantes helped Rio Mesa win its first league title in the program’s 19-year history last season. Two months later, his family moved to Dardanelle, Ark., a small town near the Ozark Mountains where his father works at a chicken-processing plant.

Attending a new school which didn’t field a soccer team convinced David to return to Rio Mesa. His mother was against the move, but David gradually changed her mind and in October boarded a bus for a 40-hour trip back to Oxnard.

“I was kind of scared because I was alone,” Cervantes said. “It was tough and boring and there were a lot of weird people [on the bus], but I wanted to play for my teams.”

Cervantes lives in Oxnard with his sister Rosalba, a 1993 Rio Mesa graduate. After the high school season, he plays for an under-18 team.

During the high school season, which begins in December, players are prohibited from participating in other organized games. Cervantes violated the rule in early January.

Cervantes, who was turned in by Oxnard High administrators investigating a similar violation by an Oxnard player, at first denied any involvement. But the violation was verified, forcing Rio Mesa to forfeit a league victory. Cervantes was suspended a game for lying.

“I felt terrible,” said Cervantes, whose action gave the Spartans an 0-3 league start. “I lied because I didn’t want to get the team in trouble. I learned, though.”

Rio Mesa finished in a third-place tie with Buena and lost a tiebreaker game to the Bulldogs last Friday for the league’s final automatic playoff berth.

In 1995, Rio Mesa overcame an 0-4 league start to earn an at-large Division II playoff spot before advancing to the semifinals. For such a run to be repeated, Cervantes must be on top of his game, as he was Friday when he scored on a diving header.

“It was a bullet, he shot it like he had a gun on his head,” Buena Coach Sean Roche said.

Cervantes, 5 feet 5 and 134 pounds, needs three goals to break the Rio Mesa season scoring record.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re big or small if you can dribble and run,” he said.