Getting to state ‘redeeming’ for Mendota brothers

MENDOTA – In 2021, the Mendota boys soccer team had the most successful season in program history to that point.

The Trojans won their first 23 games and captured the program’s first sectional championship before losing in penalty kicks to Bloomington Central Catholic in a supersectional, just one win shy of a state berth.

Yahir Diaz and Johnathan Cortez were two of the standouts on that Mendota squad.

Diaz broke school records with 46 goals and 20 assists as he was named NewsTribune Boys Soccer Player of the Year, while Cortez had 17 goals and eight assists and was NewsTribune All-Area.

Now their younger brothers are two of the stars on the 2024 Trojans team that broke through to earn the program’s state berth.

Isaac Diaz scored a goal in Mendota’s 2-0 win over Aurora Central Catholic in the Class 1A Mendota Supersectional and has four goals and an assist in the postseason, while Johan Cortez has five goals and three assists during the postseason.

“It’s great. It feels like I’m almost redeeming for him,” Diaz said about helping the Trojans reach state after his brother came so close.

The Trojans have been close to reaching state several times over the past six seasons.

Mendota has won six consecutive regional finals, lost two sectional finals and lost the supersectional on penalty kicks in 2021.

The Trojans (24-2-1) will play Normal U-High (24-5-1) in the state semifinals at 7:15 p.m. Thursday at Hoffman Estates High School after the first semifinal between Columbia (24-3-1) and Chicago Cristo Rey Jesuit (20-4-2).

“Finally being able to achieve it is great,” Mendota coach Nick Myers said. “It’s like the big monkey is off our backs. We’ve been close the last four or five years. We’ve made multiple sectional title appearances, and we could just never get over the hump. There was just something about this group from the beginning of the year. It was great vibes all season.

“I just felt like this was going to be the group that was going to finally do it.”

Junior Cesar Casas attributes this team’s success to their long history together beginning when they were about 9 and going through Mendota Youth Soccer League, indoor soccer and club soccer.

“This team has played together for our whole lives nonstop,” said Casas, who had a goal and an assist in the supersectional and the game-winning goal with less than a minute left in the sectional championship. “The chemistry is just 100% between all of us.”

Myers said he felt this would be the group to break through because of their motivation and the experience they gained last year.

“Their focus and determination in the weight room in the summer is where I first noticed it, and I was like, ‘I really think this is going to be the group that does it.’ They were all super motivated and everybody was on board with the same goal,” Myers said. “Last year, I thought we were a lot more talented than a lot of teams we played, we just lacked experience in big games and nerves got to us. We bulked up our schedule this year, and we started seeing these guys are no longer afraid of those types of teams.

“When it comes to big games now, we’re ready for the moment.”