Rallied by Band of Brothers

Eli Meschures of Beverly Hills High has plenty of reasons for wishing the Southern Section soccer playoffs would never end.

Meschures is a senior who will play in the first playoff game of his three-year varsity career Friday when Beverly Hills (17-6-2) travels to Pasadena (16-1-4) for a first-round Division III game.

Beverly Hills is making its first playoff appearance since the 1995-96 season.

And, perhaps most important to Meschures, he relishes playing on the same team as his brothers, freshman Michael and sophomore Harry.

“This has been like a dream come true,” Eli said. “To be able to play on the same team with my brothers and to have the team make the playoffs for the first time in seven years has been really special.”

Eli, a third-team all-section Division II selection as a sophomore and junior, is a center midfielder on a Beverly Hills team that is one victory away from tying the school record for wins in a season.

Michael is a starter at left midfield, and Harry is a reserve midfielder and played forward.

“It’s been really easy coaching them,” Coach Steve Rappaport said. “Eli has been our team leader the last couple of seasons and his brothers try to emulate him. Eli is not a vocal leader. He goes out and plays hard and the brothers just follow suit.”

Although this is the first season that the brothers have been on the same team, the three of them have practiced together often.

“It’s like you always know what the other guy is going to do,” said Michael. “We’re not really the talkative types on the field, but we’re able to communicate with each other without saying anything.”

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Back on the right track: La Puente Nogales (17-4-2) was ranked among the top 10 teams in the region for the first two months of the season, but dropped from the rankings after going 2-3 during a five-game stretch last month.

Coach John Rodriguez said internal problems contributed to Nogales’ swoon.

“The Damien game was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Rodriguez said about a 1-0 loss. “There were a few players on the team who felt I was doing the wrong things at times. We had a meeting the next day and I basically told them that I was the coach and we were going to do things my way.”

Nogales is 2-0-1 since.

John Ortega