Muheize and Goethel named CIF Players of the Year

12-18-2005

By Tom Shanahan, San Diego Hall of Champions

At El Cajon Valley, they accomplished something unexpected of the Braves in high school football.

At Vista, he added his name to a long list of expected accomplishments expected of a Panthers linebacker.

Jason Texler, El Cajon’s first-year coach, Abraham Muheize, El Cajon’s record-setting quarterback, and Travis Goethel, Vista’s dominant linebacker, earned the top honors in high school football on the All-CIF team for the San Diego Section. The Hall of Champions’ Breitbard All-CIF team is the official team recognized by the CIF San Diego Section.

El Cajon (11-3-0) lost in the Division II championship game to Oceanside (10-3-0), but just advancing to Qualcomm Stadium for the finals was a milestone for the school.

Along the way Muheize, a 5-foot-11, 170-pounder who also had 10 interceptions as a safety, finished the season with five San Diego Section offensive records and one state record.

The state and section record was for total offense with 5,203 yards. He threw for 4,050 yards and rushed for 1,153 yards.

Two other San Diego Section records he set were yards passing in a season (4,050) and completions (292).

Two San Diego Section records for a game he set were 591 total yards (171 rushing, 420 passing) against Castle Park in the Division II quarterfinals and 39 completions against West Hills in the regular season.

Muheize rolled up the yards while operating out of a five wide receiver offense that stationed him nine yards behind the line of scrimmage. Texler learned the offense from a tape he bought produced by an successful high school coach in Illinois.

“The reason it’s kind of embarrassing is everybody says this is a genius thing and how did you learn about it,” Texler said. “You want to say, ‘Oh, I talked to a Sid Gillman or a Don Coryell or whatever.’ But I bought a tape. But it went past that. I talked for hours with the coach on the phone and he sent me more tapes. It worked for him out there and it worked for our kids.”

In today’s high school football climate, many athletes in the enrollment area of a school such as El Cajon that has struggled to put together a winning program find a way to attend another school. But Muheize’s brother, Mohammed, played at El Cajon and his friends he grew up in El Cajon planned to play for the Braves, too.

“In Pop Warner, some guys were talking about going to different schools,” Muheize said. “But most of my friends were going to El Cajon so I said that’s where I was going.”

Muheize said a 34-33 loss to Santa Fe Christian was the turning point in the Braves’ season, even though it was their first loss after three wins.

“It gave us confidence because they’re a team that had gone to Qualcomm almost every year,” Muheize said of the 2004 Division IV champions that lost in the 2005 final while seeking a third straight title. “After that game we decided, ‘If they can make it to Qualcomm, why can’t we?’ ”

Texler, a 1991 El Cajon alumnus, spent his first year as a head coach after serving as an assistant the previous three at El Cajon. He also had been an assistant for one year in Iowa and four in Nebraska before returning home after playing college football at Nichols State in Louisanna and Southwestern College in Chula Vista.

“Abraham could have gone Santana or West Hills, but he wanted to go to El Cajon because that’s where his friends were,” Texler said. “When you have a team, you hope they’re friends because that makes for a tighter team. I think they were loyal to their friends, more so than the school, but it became a challenge to senior class they could prove they could win here.”

Goethel (6-3, 226) follows in the tradition of Vista linebackers and defensive players to win the CIF Defensive Player of the Year award.

Russell Allen, now at San Diego State, was the Player of the Year in 2003 and Pisa Tinoisamoa, now with the St. Louis Rams after a college career at Hawaii, was the Player of the Year in 1998. Salo Faraimo was the Defensive Player of the Year in 2002, but his career was ended at USC by injuries.

Other Panthers named CIF Player of the Year are defensive lineman Rusty Williams, 1997; safety Robbie Robinson, 1996; linebacker Darin Engles, 1995; defensive lineman Tamasi Amituainai, 1987; and the late Sal Aunese in 1985 as the Offensive Player of the Year as a quarterback who went on to play at Colorado before stomach cancer claimed his life.

“I remember when Russell won and thinking I hope I can win this award and play after high school,” Goethel said. “I wasn’t sure if I could win it, but it’s a nice thing to support your school.”

The Panthers won with defense and finished the year with a 9-3-1 record after losing in the Division I semifinals. Goethel’s goal as a senior was to be a smarter football player with a better understanding of X’s and O’x. He finished the year with five interceptions, including two he returned for touchdowns.

“If a defensive lineman was in the wrong place, I knew to move him,” Goethel said. “The interceptions were from doing what the coaches told me to do.”

He did what was expected; Muheize did what was unexpected.

OTHER PLAYERS OF THE YEAR

Other Players of the Year for fall sports were El Camino’s A.J. Acosta in boys cross country, La Costa Canyon’s Katy Andrews in girls cross country, Fallbrook’s Carli Lloyd in girls volleyball, Torrey Pines’ Rebecca Kwan in girls tennis, Bishop’s Nico Sardo in boys water polo, La Costa Canyon’s Lisa Maffucci in field hockey and Torrey Pines’ Angela King in girls golf.

Tom Shanahan can be contacted at 619-699-2334 or toms@sdhoc.com