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Sports

Palihi's Jawanza Preparing for Next Step on Gridiron

Palihi's senior captain Hakeem Jawanza will continue his football career at West LA College.

Ask anyone close to the Palisades High football program which player was most pivotal in the Dolphins' turnaround 2010 season and they will say senior captain . 

He was not the team's best player statistically. That would be Colorado-bound , who rushed for 1,270 yards and scored 21 touchdowns. What Jawanza meant at practice, on the sideline, in film study, in the locker room, in team meetings and in the huddle, though, cannot be found on any stat sheet.

"Hakeem is one of the guys who laid the first brick to our foundation," said first-year head coach , who discovered the leader he was looking for in the ever-smiling Jawanza. "He was willing to take on the challenge and he did a great job. He's such a good performer on the field and such a good person off the field that I knew the other players would respect him. I knew he'd be someone they could talk to when they had a problem."

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Jawanza put up impressive numbers to be sure, averaging 9.12 yards per carry and rushing for 602 yards and six touchdowns as the second option in Palisades' wishbone offense. The 5-9, 185-pound running back gained over 100 yards four times, including a season-high 145 in the Dolphins' 50-40 victory over Sun Valley Poly in the quarterfinals of the City Section Division II playoffs.  

His role as captain, however, is one he will remember and cherish forever.

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"It taught me a lot about life and responsibility," said Jawanza, who lives in Inglewood. "It helped me handle situations and deal with drama everyday. Guys are looking to you for decisions and you have to know what to say. It was a challenge but it was fun and I loved every second of it." 

He hasn't even graduated--that will happen next Thursday--yet Jawanza is already impressing the coaches at , where he is going to be strapping on the pads next season. 

"I really like it there," Jawanza said. "The coaches want to get everyone recruited and they're not just worried about football. They want to make sure that credits are transferable and all that. They are really high on academics. Coach Jones had grade checks every week, so I'm used to that."

Jawanza can't wait to get back on the gridiron, even if it won't be in Division I. 

"It's still college football, just with a 'junior' in front of it," he said. "It's not much different than Division I or II. I'll get playing time. I just have to work my way up the depth chart. Just from the practices on the weekends I can tell it's a lot more intense [than high school]." 

West LA head coach was impressed with Jawanza right from the beginning. He will be working closely with his new recruit because Miller is also the Wildcats' offensive coordinator and running backs coach.

"Myself and other coaches had a chance to see Hakeem a few times and I really liked his athletic ability and the style in which he ran," said Miller, who is anxious to start his fourth season. "How much will he play? As with all high school kids it all comes down to how fast they learn." 

One immediate adjustment will be having to learn a whole new playbook. West LA runs a spread offense, whereas Palisades ran the wishbone under Jones last fall. Jawanza is looking forward to catching more passes out of the backfield as the 'A' back at the campus in Culver City, where he will play on a synthetic turf field similar to the one at Stadium by the Sea. 

Jones is confident Jawanza will succeed at the junior college level.

"Hakeem is fast enough, he's big enough and he's strong enough," Jones said. "Not only that, he's a great blocker and he picks up the edge rushers really well. And learning a new offense? That's nothing new. He had to do that when I got here. He picked it up real fast."

Looking back on his senior season, Jawanza's fondest memory is from his very last game, when quarterback scored a touchdown and ran for the two-point conversion to tie host Chatsworth with 3.7 seconds left in regulation. Palisades lost 35-28 in overtime, but the captain was proud of his team's fight.

"Coming back like that showed the character our team had," Jawanza said. "Everyone was upset that we lost because we wanted to go further. We didn't want the season to end."

Jawanza also enjoyed competing on the track & field team, placing 14th in the triple jump at the City preliminaries and serving as an alternate on the 4 x 100 relay team. 

Palisades has been a pipeline to West LA College in recent years. A number of Dolphins have gone on to play there and four were on the Wildcats' roster last season: All-State wide receiver , who is headed for Missouri S&T; wide receiver , who is walking on at Utah; offensive lineman , who is headed to Morgan State; and defensive back , who is transferring to Whitworth University.  

Before that, 2007 Palisades High graduates and each left West LA with his AA degree. Cofield went to Arkansas State (he later transferred to San Jose State) while Elie went to New Mexico State. 

"I really like what Coach Miller is building over there," Jones said. "I like his coaching philosophy. It reminds me of the mentality all the coaches had back in Oklahoma. And West LA has great facilities. It's a good place to play football." 

Miller has turned around a program that was 3-27 in the three seasons prior to his arrival. Since he took over, the Wildcats have won 14 games. Last fall they were 6-4 and finished in second place in the Pacific Conference behind Los Angeles Pierce College in Woodland Hills. 

Now Jawanza hopes to play an integral role in West LA's resurgence, just as he did in captaining the Dolphins to their first winning season in a decade.

"Look at where the program is now compared to where it was before," Jawanza said. "I'm proud to have been captain of the team that turned Palisades around. We laid the foundation and now they'll just keep building."

Click here to watch video highlights of Hakeem Jawanza's Palihi career.

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