Boaz’s Dedication Is Rewarded

This year, Shawn Boaz decided, would be different.

Though he had improved as a wrestler and football player during his first three years at San Dimas, a persistent, nagging voice inside his head told him he wasn’t getting the most out of his ability, and he didn’t want to be the guy asking “what if?” for the rest of his life.

So Boaz promised himself that no matter what, he would not slack off during his senior year. His commitment to hard work and dedication has paid off.

He earned All-Southern Section second-team honors in football as a receiver and has climbed to No. 2 at 160 pounds in the state wrestling rankings. He is the favorite at the section’s Masters wrestling championships Friday and Saturday at Fountain Valley.

Not bad for a guy who couldn’t crack the starting lineup on the freshman football team or junior varsity wrestling team as a freshman.

“It took me four years to finally realize however much work you put into it is what you get out of it,” Boaz said. “So I decided to go all out this year and see how good I could be.”

Pretty good, it turns out.

His individual title at the Eastern Division wrestling championships gave him a 35-1 record for the season. His only loss came against Zac Gentry of Alta Loma in early January, a loss he avenged two weeks later.

Gentry was ranked No. 2 in the state at the time and Boaz was unranked. However, his 4-3 victory in the Alta Loma tournament put Boaz on the map. He was No. 2 in the state by the time the next rankings came out.

“That pretty much served notice to everyone about how good he was,” San Dimas Coach Mike Seals said. “Even to him. I don’t think he realized how good he was until then. That’s when he started to figure it out.”

Seals could sense it coming. Early this season, Boaz put in extra time in the weight room, spent extra hours perfecting moves and ran dozens of extra miles to improve his endurance.

Soon after the season began, Boaz started beating the coaches in practice matches for the first time. When that happened, it sent a surge of excitement up Seals’ spine.

“Every coach looks forward to the day when you have a kid that’s better than you,” Seals said.

Boaz was a reserve on the junior varsity as a freshman but kept improving. He made the starting varsity lineup as a sophomore and advanced to the section individual championships. As a junior, he reached the Masters. An eighth-place finish or better this weekend will make him the first state qualifier from San Dimas “since the 1970s,” Seals said.

“Wrestling is 80% mental,” Boaz said. “I just have more confidence this year. Last year, I’d go up against some big-time guy and let him wrestle his match. This year, I’m trying to control things.”

As he did in football. San Dimas’ Mr. Everything, Boaz started at receiver and defensive back, returned punts and kickoffs and was the kicker. His 49 catches for 733 yards, 115 tackles, four interceptions, five field goals and 27 extra points helped San Dimas earn its first league title in 28 years.

“He was one of the main reasons why,” football Coach Roland DeAnda said. “This was a guy we couldn’t find a place for on the freshman team a couple of years ago, but he finally put everything together this year and the reason why was because his work ethic was better than anyone else, bar none.”

His goal of becoming a fireman says a lot about what kind of person Boaz is.

“Just think about how awesome it would be to save someone else’s life,” he said.

And his newfound commitment to working hard suggests that he is the fireman you might want coming to help in an emergency.

“This year I’ve learned the value of working hard,” he said. “I think I’ll apply that to everything I do. I don’t want to be all my life thinking that I didn’t do my best at something. What kind of person would you be if you don’t step up to a challenge?”