For Shoemate, it’s time to shine

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The big game in Orange County this week is Servite vs. Edison Friday night.

Two years ago, Dave White, the Edison coach, told me, ‘His senior year, D.J. Shoemate is going to be the best player in Southern California.’ He may have actually dropped ‘Southern’ and included the whole state -- I didn’t write it down in my notebook, I just chalked it up to memory. I was young then, and thought I could remember it. But I’m old now, and I don’t remember the quote exactly.

But you get the idea.

Things haven’t exactly worked out for Shoemate, a wide receiver/defensive end. Sure, he’s going to USC. But a foot injury last year in the first game sidelined him for his entire junior season, and now his senior year is here. Servite, one of the most highly-regarded teams in the Southland, needs him to perform like the star he is in order to meet expectations.

‘He makes big plays,’ Servite Coach Troy Thomas told me last week. ‘When he gets the ball, he does good things with it. He looks great, and he’s doing a lot of good things. But he’s still a couple weeks from being the guy he can be.’

It would be great for Servite and its fans if Shoemate is that guy Friday at Orange Coast College, 7:30 p.m. Meanwhile, Adam Maya’s terrific profile in the Register is must reading before game time, and there’s video, too.

- Martin Henderson