Standout Defender Wasn’t All Talk

Zach Feldman was watching a soccer game with his El Camino Real High teammates late in the season when he approached Reseda Coach Julio Castillo in the stands.

“You see this?” asked Feldman, showing Castillo his City Section championship ring from 1999. “In a few weeks, I’m going to have another one.”

Unimpressed, Castillo put down his cell phone and showed off the ring he won for coaching the Regents to the City title in 1998.

That was then. Castillo is impressed now.

Feldman backed up his words by leading El Camino Real to a 1-0 victory over University in the City final and putting a second championship ring on his hand.

“The kid is determined,” Castillo said. “He told me he was going to get the ring and he got it. That’s the kind of player I’d like to coach.”

Feldman, The Times’ regional boys’ player of the year, is a cocky, loud and physical defender who has the heart of a lion. He is unlike any other player David Hussey of El Camino Real has coached.

“He’s a player every coach would love to have on his team, but I know that every other player and coach hated to play against him,” Hussey said. “He brought so much intensity and physical play to the game. No one else could match what he brought day in and day out.”

Feldman’s confidence and leadership motivated the Conquistadores, who won two tournaments and recorded a school-record 19 shutouts.

El Camino Real was the preseason favorite to win the City title, but without Feldman things may have fallen apart. The senior captain held together a team of superstars on and off the field.

“By far this is the best team El Camino Real has ever produced and it may be the best team ever to play high school soccer,” Feldman said. “We dominated Los Angeles and Hawaii [in the Iolani tournament]. I guess we didn’t know how good we really were until we went to Hawaii and [faced] their best. We handled them. At that point we knew we were on our way to a City championship.”

Feldman, a quick player known for his hard tackles, excelled from the start. He was always a threat to make runs out of the back.

“As a team, we had to make sure he tried not to do too much at times,” Hussey said. “He was dangerous every time he went forward. But when he stayed back, no one could score on us. That’s why we had the 19 shutouts.”

Feldman was at his best in big games. In the City final, he headed away a shot that had beaten goalkeeper Raul Calderon and would have given University a 1-0 lead.

With the Conquistadores clinging to a 1-0 lead in the 70th minute, Feldman headed away another shot to preserve the victory.

“You hardly see teams ranked No. 1 at the beginning of the season and finish No. 1 at the end,” Feldman said. “We did it.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Top 10

Final rankings of boys’ soccer teams in the region

*--*

Rk School (League) Rec. 1 El Camino Real (West Valley) 27-3 2 St. Francis (Mission) 23-5 3 Notre Dame (Mission) 16-9-1 4 Crespi (Mission) 19-6-1 5 Quartz Hill (Golden) 24-3-2 6 Rio Mesa (Pacific View) 14-9-2 7 Reseda (Valley Mission) 21-7-2 8 Ventura (Channel) 14-7-4 9 Royal (Marmonte) 23-4-4 10 Newbury Park (Marmonte) 19-5-2 San Fernando (Valley Mission) 11-8-1

*--*