SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFFS : Braxton-Brown Gaining Bulk, Confidence

At times, Jeremy Braxton-Brown is one of the most dominating water polo players in the Southern Section, but the Capistrano Valley junior might be the last one to realize it.

Although Braxton-Brown’s growth from an average player on the frosh-soph team to the 6-foot-4, 215-pound team leader who helped the Cougars to the South Coast League title this season has been rapid, his ego hasn’t grown at the same pace.

For example, before the season many told Braxton-Brown he would be one of the best players around. His goal was more modest: To improve on his third-team, all-league selection of a year ago.

“He might have a problem envisioning himself to be the player everyone seems him as,” Capistrano Valley Coach Don Cholodenko said. “There’s a lot of responsibility there. I think he’d rather just play and not think about it.”

If the attention makes Braxton-Brown feel uncomfortable, it hasn’t hurt his performance. He scored a team-high 73 goals in the regular season and is one of the main reasons Capistrano Valley won the South Coast League title in a season that was supposed to be a rebuilding year. The Cougars (22-4 and the No. 2 spot in the Division 4-A playoffs) play Buena Park in the first round at 3 p.m. Friday at Saddleback College.

Entering the season, Capistrano Valley had lost to graduation three all-county players from the team that lost in the 4-A semifinals to eventual champion El Toro, 3-2. Cholodenko wondered if the Cougars could finish in the top three and qualify for the playoffs.

Nevertheless, the players set the league title as their goal. Braxton-Brown admits he was skeptical.

“In the back of my head, I didn’t think we were going to do it, but we did,” he said.

The Cougars did it largely because of Braxton-Brown’s development as a powerful two-meter man, Cholodenko says. Because of his size, Braxton-Brown is well suited to play at the two-meter spot, a position akin to post player on a basketball team.

But size isn’t all that matters. Although Braxton-Brown doesn’t like competitive swimming, he is quick and Cholodenko says he has more offensive moves than most high school two-meter men.

On defense, Braxton-Brown usually defends the opposing two-meter man and in league play he held scoreless three of the best--Dan Mathot of El Toro, Bryce Matthews of San Clemente and Alan Herrmann of Dana Hills.

On offense, against San Clemente’s Jeremy Laster, a U.S. junior national team member and possibly the league’s top defender, Braxton-Brown scored two goals and drew a four-meter penalty shot.

“He can be the best player in the pool no matter what team we are playing--if he wants to be,” Cholodenko said.

But there is another level at which Braxton-Brown sometimes plays. There are times he isn’t as aggressive as his coach would like and tends to rely on his talent without putting out extra effort.

Cholodenko says it might be less a matter of laziness and more a lack of confidence. As a sophomore playing varsity last season, Braxton-Brown sometimes seemed timid, as if he didn’t think he belonged at that level, Cholodenko said.

“But I think he has overcome that,” he said. “I only saw it in one game this season--against San Clemente--and that was only for the first quarter.

“He may be big and strong and be a great water polo player, but you have to remember he’s still young.”

However, because of water polo, Braxton-Brown, 16, is on his own in a sense. This summer, his father, Greg, accepted an administrative position with a community college in Spokane, Wash. The family moved but Jeremy stayed because there is no high school water polo in Eastern Washington.

Braxton-Brown, who is living with the family of teammate David Oliver, keeps in touch with his family by dialing the toll-free telephone number his parents set up.

He will join his family in Washington and attend high school there next semester. He plans to return in June for the summer water polo season and plans to complete his senior year and graduate from Capistrano Valley in 1993. Greg Braxton-Brown says the moves have been cleared with the Southern Section.

Water polo is a family tradition for Braxton-Brown. His brother, Jonah, who recently finished his fourth season of water polo at the University of Redlands, is a third-generation player. His father played at UC Irvine and his grandfather played at USC in the 1940s.

Braxton-Brown children are taught to swim as infants by Greg, who is still a Los Angeles County ocean lifeguard. The family’s beach lifestyle included time living in a camper near Zuma Beach and might have contributed to Jeremy’s laid-back disposition.

“He used to be into reggae music and that used to be his personality,” Greg said. “ ‘Don’t worry, be happy,’ that was him.”

If that attitude pervaded his water polo game, it may have been dampened during the Junior Olympics in Orlando, Fla., this summer. Jeremy scored 42 goals in six games and led the Capistrano Valley 15-and-under team, which was coached by his father, to the championship.

Section Playoffs: Water Polo

DEFENDING CHAMPIONS--Division 4-A: El Toro. Division 3-A: Riverside Poly. Division 2-A: South Pasadena.

TOP TEAMS--Division 4-A: Corona del Mar (24-2), Capistrano Valley (22-4), Long Beach Wilson (17-8), Dana Hills (20-4), San Clemente (22-4). Division 3-A: La Serna (23-3), Harvard Westlake (24-3), Edison (15-10), Marina (15-12). Division 2-A: Santa Maria (21-2), Walnut (17-3), South Pasadena (15-8), Brea-Olinda (18-4).

DARK HORSES--Division 4-A: Newport Harbor (18-8). Division 2-A: Costa Mesa (14-10), Laguna Beach (13-4).

KEY PLAYERS--Division 4-A: Jeremy Braxton-Brown (Capistrano Valley), Alan Herrmann (Dana Hills), Jeremy Laster (San Clemente), Luke Phair (Long Beach Wilson), Robbie Pike (Corona del Mar), Scott Seminoff (La Habra), Austin Weir (Corona del Mar). Division 3-A: Matt Braun (Marina), Chris Egan (Edison), Jack Kocur (Royal), Brian Pyle (La Serna), Jason Stanton (Edison). Division 2-A: Mustafa Hassan (Magnolia), Matt Hernandez (Santa Maria), Dan Miles (Walnut), Julian Popov (Costa Mesa), Matt Priess (Brea-Olinda), Tyler Rootlieb (Laguna Beach).

NOTEWORTHY: With three teams ranked in the top eight, the Sunset League is well represented in Division 3-A. Edison, the league champion, is seeded third, second-place Marina is No. 4 and third-place Fountain Valley is No. 8. . . . Although not usually known for a strong aquatic program, Brea-Olinda is seeded fourth in 2-A and Brea Coach Jim Armstrong is excited about the Wildcats’ prospects of advancing deep into the playoffs. “It would be great,” Armstrong said. “Now that Sunny Hills is back down to mortal status and even El Dorado is a little down, you would think that North Orange County water polo is dying out, but we’re better than we’ve ever been.” . . . Corona del Mar, which had won three consecutive 4-A titles before losing to Long Beach Wilson in the semifinals last year, wouldn’t face Wilson--one of two teams to beat the Sea Kings this season--until the title game. . . . El Toro, which has won three consecutive titles (4-A in last season, 3-A in 1988 and ‘89), missed the playoffs because it finished fourth in the South Coast League. However, the Chargers started four juniors and three sophomores and should challenge for the title next season.