Athlete of the Week: Serra's Jimmy Wohrer

Serra won two key West Catholic Athletic League games last week, and Wohrer was a big reason why. After the Padres’ 33-32 win over Riordan last Wednesday, the highlight of Wohrer’s week was a 24-point outburst in Saturday night’s 72-63 win over Sacred Heart Cathedral in which he hit six 3-pointers.

Because Wohrer’s dazzling rainbow jumper was the Padres’ most dangerous weapon in Saturday’s key win, he has been named San Mateo Daily Journal Athlete of the Week.

“I’ve always loved shooting,” Wohrer said. “Three-pointers, you know when you’re a little kid, you love shooting the long shots. Ever since, I’ve just kept practicing. It just came natural.”

Coming off a 62-50 loss Jan. 10 to first-place St. Francis, last week’s back-to-back victories were critical in keeping Serra in the thick of the WCAL race. Now a third of the way into their league schedule, the Padres are tied for second place with Mitty, trailing archrival St. Francis by one game.

With one more scheduled matchup with the Lancers set for Jan. 30 at Serra, the Padres still have the ability to control their own destiny in the WCAL. So, Wohrer and his teammates are poised to stay within themselves to make a run at Serra’s first WCAL championship since 2004-05.

“Really, it’s [in our hands], if we want to win a championship,” Wohrer said. “We can control it ourselves. If we win the rest of the games, we can win league. We don’t want to have to depend on other teams beating other teams at the end.”

Wohrer’s natural touch from the outside is a product of nearly a decade of playing the sport competitively. Now a second-year varsity starter as a senior at Serra, the Redwood City native has been playing AAU basketball since the third grade. Since his fifth-grade season he has played for Redwood City’s National Junior Basketball AAU team where he played for head coach Gary Plummer.

And when he arrived on the Serra varsity scene as a junior last season, Wohrer’s shooting prowess made a quick impression on Padres head coach Chuck Rapp.

“He can really shoot,” Rapp said.

In Saturday’s victory, Rapp was creating plays at the outset of the second half to take advantage of Wohrer’s hot hand. The Padres went into halftime clinging to a 24-23 lead, but Wohrer’s back-to-back 3-pointers were part of Serra’s 10-2 run to start the second half. He later knocked down another trey to give Serra a 39-29 lead; the shot was a result of a baseline inbound pass directly to Wohrer in the corner.

“You want to run the shooter,” Rapp said. “He was hitting some shots. We were trying to get him some looks.”

For Wohrer, the Jimmy Chitwood-esque zone is something he can sense. And once he finds it, his ability to execute is just a matter of his teammates getting the ball into his hands.

“Early third quarter after I hit a couple of 3s, I felt it a lot and knew every shot was going in,” Wohrer said.

Don’t mistake Wohrer for arrogant though. Somewhat soft-spoken and careful with his words, he’s anything but. He’s quick to credit his teammates, especially the strong play of Serra’s post players thus far this season, as one of the secrets to his success.

If Serra is going to make a Hoosiers-like run this season though, it is going to do so riding the hot hand of Wohrer.