Playing Through Pain, Staying Positive About the Future

Sometimes, life just isn’t fair.

It certainly hasn’t been fair to Redondo senior Brandon Boyd, a gifted athlete whose high school career should have been one of unbridled success and a lifetime of glorious memories. Instead, two serious knee injuries in the past two years kept him out of two football seasons, at least temporarily took away the speed that made him a standout on the track and sabotaged his senior year on the basketball team.

Through it all, however, Boyd kept a stiff upper lip and kept trying – for himself and his teammates.

A fun-loving guy with plenty of charisma, Boyd raised his teammates’ spirits from the bench when he couldn’t play basketball in December. He was funny, he was encouraging, he was a team leader without stepping on the court.

Then he gamely played on a sore right knee that he rehabbed in a hurry and helped the Sea Hawks reach the second round of the CIF playoffs. He limped noticeably at times, but he never stopped playing defense or attacking the basket with an “I won’t back down” passion that helped Redondo finish second in the competitive and talented Bay League.

“I was probably no more than 75 percent myself this year,” Boyd said Thursday. “The second knee injury was a lot more serious because I had a micro-fracture. I came back too soon, but I didn’t do any permanent damage.

“By next year I should be myself again.”

Boyd’s return gave the Sea Hawks the lift they needed to go from a Bay League also-ran to second place behind unbeaten Peninsula. His defense and ability to go to the basket even without all of his impressive leaping ability made a big difference.

When it ended a week ago with an overtime loss to second-seeded Mission Viejo in a CIF-2A playoff game at Redondo, Boyd had to be consoled by his father. And that wasn’t just because his high school career was over, it was because the Sea Hawks let a golden opportunity get away.

“It still bugs me,” Boyd said. “Knowing they beat the next team they played by 20 and we had a chance to beat them.

“That was my last high school career game. Our team was expecting to win CIF. We had all the right tools. We didn’t execute well that night.”

In the back of his mind, Boyd knows that if he was healthy the Sea Hawks would have won that game. And they probably would have won some big football games, too.

“It’s been a struggle not to think about ‘what if,’” Boyd said. “Some days people say to me ‘Man, if you wouldn’t have gotten injured. You would have been beastly.’ They mean it as a compliment, but it makes me look back.

“I wish I would have built my body more, maybe not run track. I went year round. I never took a break, gave my body a chance to rest.”

Yet all is not lost for Boyd. There is still hope he can come all the way back by the time the next school year begins in September. If his knees cooperate there is no doubt Boyd has the will and the athletic ability to enjoy his college years as a student-athlete.

“He’s a goofball at times, a vocal kid you have to love,” Redondo basketball coach Tom Maier said. He’s got some real spunk to him. He’s got that testiness. He won’t back off.

“Brandon’s gonna do therapy with some professionals. He needs to develop a jump shot if he plays basketball, but he can do that if he works at it and sticks to one sport. I think he can play somewhere.”

The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Boyd will go to a junior college and see if that leads to an athletic scholarship. He may go to Harbor College or he may go out of the area if he chooses to give football a try.

No matter what happens, though – and he could become a pretty good guard if that jump shot comes along – it says here Boyd will be a success at the game of life.

TOPSY TURVY SEED GAME – No. 1-seeded Peninsula faces Mayfair in the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section 2A playoffs Friday night at Cerritos High, a so-called “neutral site.” 

It’s the third consecutive road game for the Panthers, who are 28-1 and going for their 27th straight victory tonight against their first truly dangerous opponent in the playoffs. Understandably, Coach Jim Quick is disappointed by the fact his Panthers will have to be road warriors to make it to the CIF’s Championship Week March 2-5 at the Anaheim Arena.

"I don't know what the hell that No. 1 seed is for," Quick told a reporter after Peninsula earned a 60-47 victory Tuesday night at Segerstrom High in Santa Ana. "That's been the big joke on our coaching staff."

Peninsula is not being treated unfairly. The system is the same for everyone. Peninsula was just unfortunate to lose a couple of coin flips. But Quick has a point.

The CIF should consider changing its playoff system so that the teams that excel during the regular season and earn a high seed are rewarded. Instead of a coin flip when the site is not determined automatically, the higher seed should get the home game. Peninsula should have gotten a home game in the quarterfinals.

Taken a step further, perhaps the higher seed should always get the home game after the first two rounds. Or, at the very least, the semifinal game should be at a truly neutral site, not a gym just a few miles from one of the schools.

TOUGH ON PAPER – Palos Verdes’ girls’ basketball finished its season with a quarterfinal loss to No. 2 seed Bonita for the second year in a row on Wednesday night. But the Sea Kings still look like the team to beat in the Bay League next year.

While Redondo, Mira Costa, Peninsula and West Torrance all had key seniors on their roster, the Sea Kings’ best two players are back. Juniors Kelsey Brockway and Victoria Yutronich should form a potent inside-outside combination as seniors.

Just as important, the Panthers have several younger players who should mature into quality players next season, giving them some depth they lacked this season. Freshman guard Megan Takahashi and sophomore Audrey Yutronich should be much improved.

“We stubbed our toes last year and this year we broke our toes in league,” Brockway said, referring to the team’s third-place finish. “We have to do it next year. I think we’ve got a good chance with the roster we have.”

Don’t count out Mira Costa or Redondo, however. Good programs tend to reload rather than rebuild.

BRIGHT FUTURE -- Based on the way its young roster and how it finished the season, Mira Costa’s girls’ soccer team has a bright future.

The Mustangs’ season came to a heartbreaking end on Tuesday when third-seeded Long Beach Wilson scored a goal in the final two minutes and then won their second-round CIF playoff games, 2-1, in sudden-death overtime. But that shouldn’t detract from the play of the Mustangs, who finished the season on a high note and have many key players back next season.

The Mustangs beat Bay League champion Palos Verdes to make the playoffs, then won their first-round game before falling to LB Wilson in a game that could have gone the other way. They have 10 freshmen or sophomores, many of whom contributed this season.

“A lot of people, myself included, didn’t think we’d make it to the playoffs,” senior goalkeeper Dana Eisenhauer candidly told a reporter after the playoff loss. “We were such a young team, to make it past the first round is a big success for us.”

DYNAMIC DUO -- Because this is a special vacation week for the Manhattan Beach school district, Henry Myar won’t find out until next week (at the earliest) if his seven-year run as Mira Costa’s boys basketball coach is over.

In the meantime, Myar was kind enough to reflect on a frustrating season. What he’ll remember, he said, are a lot of close losses, the competitiveness of the Mustangs, who came within a couple of free throws of reaching the CIF 2A quarterfinals, and two seniors (Elliott Ozer and Thomas Johnson Jr.) who still managed to produce memorable seasons.

"Despite the record (10-18) we were extremely competitive," Myar said. "We lost a lot of very close games. I was really proud of the kids, that they stayed competitive to the very end. I was very happy for 'em, the way they finished up the  playoffs."

The 6-3 Ozer averaged 20 points and 7.0 rebounds a game. The 6-6, 235-pound Johnson averaged 13.5 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks a game. Those numbers were produced despite the fact both young men were the focus of the other teams' defenses.

"Elliott had a terrific career," Myar said. "He was playing well last year during the regular season, but his game just elevated during the playoffs. He averaged 22 points a game and that just continued through this year."

“Thomas was a unique high school basketball player. People always thought he played basketball after football season ended. But he was just basketball and he was a very talented guy in terms of rebounding and blocking shots. He had a real knack for that.”

LONG WEEKEND – The best wrestlers from Peninsula, Redondo and Mira Costa didn’t survive the individual sectionals last Friday and Saturday. Twenty-eight wrestlers from the Bay League competed and 12 made it to Saturday in the consolation bracket, but only West’s Mat Boesen made it to the Masters Meet by finishing in the top five of his 171-pound weight class.

Peninsula's Stefano Alvarado (103) and Danny Powell (125), as well as Mira Costa's Joey Beck also competed on the second day but failed to qualify for Masters.