By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
It’s the streak that keeps on going.
With a 3-2 win against Logan-Rogersville last November, the Monett boys soccer team clinched its ninth-consecutive district championship. The Cubs fell a few days later in the Class 2 quarterfinals, but still finished the year with a 16-8 record.
The success was largely because of a strong senior class. Monett graduated nine players who earned postseason honors, including Big 8 first teamers Jonathan Perez, Eduardo Rodriguez, Lizandro Villa and Joshua Patino. Rodriguez was also an All-Area midfielder and earned honorable mention All-State honors. Patino was named All-Area goalkeeper of the year and Class 2 goalkeeper of the year. And Jony Perez was an All-Area and second team All-State forward.
“We lost a good group of seniors and when you have that big of a class obviously the more minutes you give them the less minutes you give your other players,” said head coach Cristobal Villa, who was named All-Area public school coach of the year. “We had a good JV team, you just never know how they will step up into the varsity level and get those actual minutes. They did awesome, they did great. We’re known as having a culture, we’re a good program now and obviously those seniors didn’t want to be that class that didn’t win a district championship.”
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This fall the Cubs return just one starter in junior Mu Ku, who played in the middle of the field last year but will play defense this season. Moo Say was fighting for a starting spot last season and he’ll also play defense this year.
“They obviously bring a lot of experience,” Villa said. “We tend to play one of the toughest schedules in the area with Class 3, Class 4 teams and they got to see the best of the best. They obviously helped their teammates to conquer another district championship and they know what it takes to win. They play hard, they’re very coachable. That’s the type of kid we want to have around our younger kids.”
“As of right now we’ve got a lot of open positions to fill in,” he said. “We’re going to see how all the other guys fit in. If we have that right defender we might give Mu Ku a chance to go up as a midfielder again.”
Monett will have 35 to 40 players on the roster this year with the bulk of those numbers in the lower classes. Villa has 14 freshmen on the team and as many as 18 sophomores.
“We have the biggest class of freshmen we’ve ever had and there’s a lot of young talent and they’re hungry,” Villa said. “They’re fighting for a varsity spot. It’s too soon to tell who’s going to play where but they’re hungry.”
Junior Roberto Perez could start in the midfield along with his cousin Alex Ramirez, another junior. Sophomore Grason Mahl is fighting for a spot there, too. Senior Misael Villa could play keeper or forward depending on how things shake out. Senior Cade McCollough will play on the defense after spending three years at the JV level.
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Villa isn’t yet sure what the 2021 team’s strength will be, but expectations remain the same and he’ll be looking for young players to adjust to the varsity level early on.
“We like to have speed, we like to carry the ball, we like possession of the ball,” he said. “We’ve got to be able to move the ball pretty well. That’s what we’re going to be working on especially with the younger kids. That’s what we’re known for. We like to be a threat on top, be dangerous with forwards and midfielders who can shoot from 15, 20 yards if needed but obviously we’ve got to have a finisher that can finish on top.”
Monett opens the season with home games against Parkview and Webb City. The Cubs will travel to the Rock Bridge Invitational in October after missing that event last year due to COVID. The team will head to Joplin with Carthage for its jamboree.
Through it all that district winning streak will hang over the Cubs until November at least, even with just a few juniors and seniors back on the roster.
“Sooner or later that’s going to be broken and we don’t want it to be this year,” Villa said. “We want to challenge every team out there. We want to play competitive. I’m a big believer that a tough schedule pays off in the end.”
