Grady’s Passing Lifts Public to Shrine Win

Tommy Grady has the size and arm strength. On Saturday, with a bevy of receivers and the time to read the defense, the quarterback showcased the skills that earned him a scholarship to Oklahoma.

Grady completed 17 of 27 passes for 223 yards and a touchdown to lead the public schools team to a 20-13 victory over the private schools at the Shrine All-Star game at Mt. San Jacinto College.

Grady, 6 feet 7 and 220 pounds, won over Los Alamitos High Coach John Barnes, the coach of the public schools team.

“He’s the best passer I’ve ever seen in 33 years of high school coaching,” Barnes said. “I’d like to be able to be his agent in about three years. I told him he’s wasting his time going to college. I told him he should pull a LeBron [James] and go pro.”

Grady, of Huntington Beach Edison, played on a 4-7 team last year, a season after he guided the Chargers to the Southern Section Division I championship game.

Grady’s 59-yard pass down the left sideline to Mark Bradford set up the winning touchdown on the next play, a nine-yard throw to Bradford with 7:57 left. Bradford, who has signed with UCLA, led public school receivers with five catches for 113 yards.

Grady wasn’t the only player on the public school team with a touchdown pass.

Brandon Tripp, who will attend Cal State Fullerton on a baseball scholarship, took a pitch on a reverse and connected with Chris Miller down the left sideline for a 65-yard touchdown with 1:26 left in the third quarter to give the public schools a 13-6 lead.

The top player for the private school team was receiver Joe Cowan, who had nine catches for 184 yards. Cowan, who will attend UCLA, caught a 55-yard pass from Terry Mermer with 8:41 left to tie the score at 13-13.

Michael Allen, who will attend Holy Cross, made a 53-yard field goal with 10 seconds left in the first half for the private school team. He also made a 43-yard field goal.

The private school team had trouble slowing Junior Lemau’u, a defensive end at Long Beach Poly who signed with UCLA. Lemau’u had four sacks.

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Shalonda Solomon, Dawn Harper and Sharon Day turned in impressive victories for the United States at the Pan-American Junior track and field championships at Bridgetown, Barbados.

Solomon, the state high school and National Junior champion at 100 and 200 meters from Long Beach Poly, won the 100 in 11.35. Harper, who just completed her freshman year at UCLA, won the 100-meter high hurdles in 13.42 and Day, the two-time state champion from Costa Mesa High, won the high jump with a mark of 6-0 3/4.

From Times Staff Reports