Boese Grows Into His Sizable Talent

It was a subtle, but telling, moment.

The Mater Dei and Long Beach Poly football players had finished eating and sitting through team introductions during the Southern Section luncheon honoring the 12 teams playing this weekend for division championships.

As they prepared to leave the Sequoia Athletic Club in Buena Park, several Poly players looked toward Mater Dei’s Joey Boese. Quick smiles and nods of recognition followed.

Poly (13-0) will play Mater Dei (13-0) at 7:30 tonight at the Coliseum in the Division I championship game. The teams met last year in the semifinals, and the Poly players definitely remember Boese.

A cornerback and wide receiver for the Monarchs, Boese had the defensive game of his prep career against the Jackrabbits’ star receiver Ken-Yon Rambo. Boese, then a junior, was credited with holding Rambo, who is now at Ohio State, with one reception in Mater Dei’s 42-13 victory.

Poly will again run a strong unit of receivers at Boese and the Monarch defensive backs, and will be looking out for Boese while Mater Dei is on offense. Boese has 55 catches for 972 yards and 11 touchdowns. Add that to the play of quarterback John Leonard and tailback Mike McNair and it’s easy to see how this team has kept alive a 27-game winning streak.

“I think I have proven myself [over the course of] the year,” Boese said. “But this is the biggest game I’ve played in. I’d like to show everyone that last year’s game wasn’t a fluke. And this year, it’s more about the complete game; I want to do some things on offense and get my hands on some balls on defense.”

Boese is used to challenges.

He stands 5 feet 11 and weighs 175 pounds. But he was considered small as a child, and his parents, Leo and Barbara, did not let him play tackle football until his freshman year at Mater Dei.

Off the field there was another, more difficult obstacle.

At age 7 Boese was found to have dyslexia. His first-grade teacher at St. Jeanne DeLestonnac in Tustin told his parents that Joey was having trouble reading, and--though he presented no behavioral problem--”was not there mentally,” Barbara said.

Boese spent the next year in a class that concentrated only on reading, returning to a regular classroom at St. Jeanne DeLestonnac for third grade.

Putting a name on his problem didn’t make it easier for Boese. He still struggled with comprehension and would sometimes stutter when he read aloud in class.

“I had a bad temper,” he said. “If they laughed at me in class or called me stupid in the hall, there would be a fight at lunchtime.”

Sports became Boese’s release. He played soccer, baseball and basketball, but nothing satiated him like football.

It didn’t take others long to discover Boese was good at it.

“I remember a game Joey played while on the freshman team,” Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson said. “I kept watching this wiry little kid fly around and make plays. He was a little peanut out there. But he returned punts, and when [the quarterback] threw the ball, he ran under it.

“But what really intrigued me was his tenacity on defense. We brought him up to the varsity in the spring practices before his sophomore year on a look-see basis.

“If your sophomores are not going to make a contribution, then you want them to play sophomore football. But it continued to happen; every time we looked up, he made plays. And what jumped out at the coaches was Joey was not intimidated by the level of competition. He seemed to thrive on it.”

Boese spent his sophomore and junior years mostly playing cornerback. While he has enjoyed catching passes and returning kicks this year, he said he derives the greatest pleasure from playing defense. In fact, he credits it with helping him earn a football scholarship to Wisconsin.

“I like playing cornerback because I’m not supposed to be good at it,” Boese said. “I’m too small. I’m not fast enough. People have been telling me that ever since I started playing.”

Boese has proved he can play, not only to his teammates but also opponents.

“He’s a real big part of our defense,” Monarch linebacker Kevin Mitchell said. “I think he can cover anybody. I really believe that. I have seen him frustrate people to where they come back talking to themselves.”

Mission Viejo’s Bill Denny is one of several county coaches who believe Boese may be the county’s best “cover” cornerback.

“Even though he’s not gigantic, he has great tenacity,” Denny said. “He’s fearless, quite a hitter and goes for the football with reckless abandon. He has the athletic ability to be a finesse guy but also the temperament to be a tough guy.”

Boese is also a little apprehensive, but not about playing football.

One of the reasons he accepted a scholarship to Wisconsin is because of the school’s Fetzer Center, which aids students with learning disabilities.

“Handling the schoolwork will be the question,” Boese said. “It’s the first time it’s all on me. I know I have to put the time in to read more. I will always have trouble reading; it will take me longer than everyone else. But I’ve learned to cope.

“I’m very proud of the scholarship. My goal was not to have parents pay for my education. People told me I would not go to college, but if you want something bad enough, you find a way.

“To all those people who told me I can’t read or that the other kid is faster, I’d like to say, ‘What do you think of me now?’ ”