Varsity/College Division
Kicking Competition
Chase McGrath (Mater Dei), who currently holds an offer from Army, came out on top of a very talented group of SoCal Kickers to claim the title at the 11th Annual Head to Head Kicking Competition. Like champions of the past, McGrath got hot at the right time as he was the 4th seed entering the elimination round and won all 6 of his matches. In the Semi Final, he beat 2012 All American and #1 seed Griff Amies (CDM/Rocky Mountain College) 6-5. Griff has made the Semi Final or Final in 7 of the 8 years he has participated. McGrath won the title by beating last year’s Rising Star’s champion Ryan Brosnan (Trabuco Hills) in a very close final. Brosnan who rarely misses in these competitions, knocked off the #3 seed and 2015 All-County kicker, Hayden McGinnis (Tesoro/Boise St), strong legged Junior to be Dylan Brady (Santa Margarita) in the Qtrs and the best kicker in the South Bay, Trevor Bowens (Redondo) in the Semis. Bowens, was able to knock off last year’s South Bay kicker of the year Kyle Coale (Palos Verdes/Western Ill) as coale suffered a quad injury. Coale had a great performance throughout the competition and also made the Punt finals. Bowens, then pulled a major upset by beating the #2 seed and strongest leg in the competition Daniel Bjurman (CDM/OCC) before losing to Brosnan. For the 2nd year in a row, Clay Eggeman (Capo Valley) performed well and won his group before being eliminated by McGrath in the Qtrs. McGrath is now eligible to be nominated for WCKA’s Hall of Fame once he graduates.
The group stage was extremely competitive and it took consistency in all 3 rounds to advance to the elimination portion.
Group Stage Winners:
Griff Amies (CDM/Rocky Mountain College) - #1 Seed
Daniel Bjurman (CDM/OCC) - #2 Seed
Hayden McGinnis (Tesoro) - #3 Seed
Chase McGrath (Mater Dei) #4 Seed
Clay Eggeman (Capo Valley) #5 Seed
Dylan Brady (Santa Margarita) #6 Seed
A few guys that were impressive throughout the competition but were knocked out early:
Harrison Avila (Laguna Hills)
Chase Berman (San Clemente)
Max Casper (CDM) - Won the Wild Card “Last Man Standing” by connecting on consecutive 50 yarders.
