LONG WAY BACK

In 1986, Todd Tackett was a starting sweeper for Rio Mesa High and helped the Spartans upset Channel League champion Ventura.

Fourteen years later, Tackett is the boys’ soccer coach at Ventura and helping rebuild a program that had been in decline since the mid-’80s.

“When I was playing at Rio Mesa, I never even thought of Ventura,” Tackett said. “When I coached at Rio Mesa, we used to put W’s next to Ventura before we played them. That’s the way it used to be. I don’t even know if it’s different now. I think we have surprised a lot of teams.”

Things have improved for Ventura (15-1-7, 2-0-5 in league play), which has clinched its first Southern Section playoff berth since 1986 and could win the Channel League title for the first time since Tackett, 31, was a junior that season at Rio Mesa.

Few teams expected much from Ventura, especially after its collapse last season. The Cougars started last season 5-0-4, but did not score a goal after Christmas and finished 5-11-5. They were winless in league play.

“If you would have told me in the beginning of the season we would be 15-1-7 and in position to win the Channel League, I would have had to snicker a little bit,” said Tackett, whose team is 1-36-3 against league rivals Buena, San Marcos and Santa Barbara in the last six years. “We were at the bottom of the mountain last year.

“I told the boys they are playing against tradition. Teams are thinking they are going to beat us 5-0. Defenders are asking if they can play forward.”

Once the doormat, Ventura is the only undefeated team in the league, arguably the toughest in the Southern Section.

The Channel is so tough that Buena, one of the region’s top teams, could miss the playoffs if it loses today to Ventura, which has a plus-31 goal differential.

Ventura has overcome adversity many times this season. Things looked bad for the Cougars when their top player, Mike Enfield, missed the first round of league play and three nonleague games to play with the under-18 national team in a tournament in Chile.

But midfielder Brian Anderson filled the void, contributing 11 goals and 11 assists.

Ventura has also benefited from the consistent play of senior goalkeeper Justin Carter, whose 13 shutouts lead the region. Carter has a knack for making the big save when the Cougars need them most.

Carter attributes Ventura’s success to the leadership of the team’s nine seniors, seven of whom have 4.0 grade-point averages.

“In the past, the senior leadership has been absent,” Carter said. “This year the seniors have provided great leadership for everybody and it’s made a big difference.”

The Cougars’ only loss was to Simi Valley, 1-0, in the first round of the Royal tournament, a game in which Ventura outshot the Pioneers, 17-3, but allowed a goal on a counterattack in the final minute. The Cougars had to be content with winning the tournament’s consolation title.

A victory today would match Ventura’s best-ever record (16-4-4), set in 1986. A tie or a San Marcos loss to Santa Barbara also would secure the title for the Cougars.

“We are all in high spirits,” Carter said. “Today it’s for everything. I still don’t feel we get the respect around school we should be getting. We have the ability to get the job done.”