Starting tonight, Chris Paul’s favorite baseball team — the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim — begins the American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees.
The Laguna Beach High junior hopes the Angels can make the World Series for the first time since 2002. He’s already seen them beat a team they’ve had trouble with in the postseason, the Boston Red Sox.
“I’m looking forward to this [series],” Paul said. “It’s going to be tough for us, but I think we can do it.”
Paul, though, has some different business to attend to tonight. The 2009 Orange Coast League MVP in baseball won’t be on the diamond, but on the gridiron, where the Breakers (1-4) open league play at Godinez.
His first passion may be baseball, but all year long, Paul’s been showing opposing teams how talented he is at football, too. And they can’t keep Paul out of the end zone.
The 6-foot-2 receiver has been junior quarterback Austin Paxson’s favorite target for two years now, and this year he has 34 catches for 503 yards.
He’s also caught eight touchdown passes, which brings his total to 16 for his career, surpassing Eric Fegraus’ school record of 14 touchdown catches (set from 1989-91).
Two weeks ago at Garden Grove, Paul had 15 catches, breaking Jeff Cummings’ single-game school record of 13 set in 1985. And Paul, a defensive back, is also one of Laguna Beach’s leading tacklers.
“He’s been the anchor of our defense and our offense,” Breakers Coach Jonathan Todd said. “He’s the best receiver I’ve seen since I’ve been here; he’s definitely one of the best in the county. He just makes circus catches. His body control is amazing.”
Not bad for someone who’s only in his second year on varsity and has only even been playing tackle football for three years. Paul has been playing baseball for much longer than that, though — as long as he can remember. The shortstop played club last summer with Rawlings Elite with several other players from Orange County.
It didn’t surprise Breakers baseball coach Jeff Sears that Paul, then just a sophomore, would be named the league’s best player last spring after hitting .440 with a team-high five home runs.
