Winter athletes of the year

In boys' and girls' basketball, six county teams — Aragon, Carlmont and Mills girls, Burlingame, Serra and Woodside boys — qualified for the CCS championship game. The Serra boys came away with a section crown. Those six teams also qualified for the Northern California tournament. Aragon, Mills, Serra and Woodside all advanced to the semifinals with the Padres reaching the state championship game.

The soccer season was equally compelling, with the Carlmont and Notre Dame-Belmont girls' teams each winning a CCS title. For the Scots, it was their first title after dominating PAL play for the better part of a decade while for the Tigers, their championship was a validation for their team after losing a number of key players from last year's CCS-winning squad.

On the boys side, there was no section champions, but there was plenty of excitement. Both the Bay and Ocean Division titles came down to the final day of the season. Woodside and Westmoor tied for the Bay championship while Hillsdale captured its second Ocean title in three years.

The fall season set the bar and the winter raised it. What can spring sports do to soar over it?

Boys' basketball: Drew Shiller — Burlingame

Coming into his senior season, Burlingame point guard Drew Shiller was a marked man.

He was the Big Man on the Peninsula — led the Panthers' football team to its first-ever Central Coast Section title and earned a basketball scholarship to the University of San Francisco.

Opposing teams designed defenses to stop Shiller — which didn't work too well. He scored 45 in the Peninsula Athletic League opener against Woodside and had 22 second-half points against Seaside in the first round of the CCS playoffs. He ended up leading the CCS in scoring at 22.6 points per game while averaging 4.4 assists. Not your traditional point guard numbers.

Shiller's performances may have shown off his skills as a shooting guard, but he still had that point guard mentality.

His favorite play?

"I take most pride in taking the ball at the top of the key … and hitting a guy with a pass on the baseline," Shiller said. "I have not been playing like a true point guard. I know what it takes to be a true point guard — a guy who is going to make teammates better and at any time capable of taking the game over."

Burlingame coach Jeff Dowd has no doubt Shiller is a true point guard. Dowd said Saturday practices were mostly spent as intrasquad scrimmaging. Dowd would break the team up into two separate teams, with Shiller and another starter serving as the opposing team captains. The other captain invariably would take the three remaining starters and the squad's top reserve. Shiller would then draft four guys left over.

Shiller's team, more often than not, won.

"[Shiller] takes guys and has them play at another level," Dowd said. "He has so much confidence that other guys feed off that.

"I'm not sure people see what a great passer he is, or his competitiveness and leadership. He helped raise the level of basketball at Burlingame."

- Nathan Mollat

Boys' soccer: Jose Mejia — Hillsdale

Hillsdale boys' soccer coach Andy Hodzic fully appreciated the versatility Jose Meija brought to the pitch.

Hodzic, who played professionally in Bosnia, was asked to move from defender to forward one season. He gave it a shot and realized he couldn't do it.

"I felt like there were 11 guys surrounding me (on offense)," Hodzic said. "Some players just have the feel (to change positions)."

Meija had no such problems. The junior started the season as the Knights goalkeeper as he nursed a pulled muscle. He allowed two goals in three games. He then was moved to forward, where he scored 17 goals this season. He also was an integral part of a Knights defense that not only won the Peninsula Athletic League's Ocean Division championship but advanced to the Central Coast Section semifinals.

To illustrate how skilled Mejia is, Hodzic said he played defense for the first half against Aragon where the game was scoreless at halftime. Mejia was moved to forward in the second half and scored three times in a 3-0 Hillsdale win.

"Some kids don't like to be put from offense to defense. When you score, you're popular," Hodzic said. "But he accepted wherever we needed (him). I think he respected my opinion. Wherever he played, he played with full heart."

The Knights run deep into the playoffs was even more surprising considering how last season ended. The Hillsdale coach was fired near the end of the season and the team was full of players more interested in getting even with the opposing team than winning games.

"[Last year] the team was a mess," Hodzic said. "The game, the attitude, discipline, everything."

When Hodzic took over, he concentrated on getting the players in the right positions to be successful. Mejia was easy — put him wherever he was needed.

"Jose is actually probably the most skilled player in the league," Hodzic said. "He knows what I'm doing. We're on the same page."

- Nathan Mollat

Girls' soccer: Andrea Carrara — Carlmont

When you score a school-record 23 goals in 25 games, including 14 tallies in 14 Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division games, as Carlmont's Andrea Carrara did this past season, it leaves many to wonder. Andrea Carrara: You can't stop her, you can only hope to...The Daily Journal girls soccer player of the year was that good, leading the team to its first-ever CCS championship and sixth consecutive league title. The Scots' forward also had a team-high 10 assists.

The University of the Pacific-bound Carrara always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Her speed, athleticism and soccer instincts were undeniable, and her penchant for making plays always put opponents on the defensive. Not bad coming from a player who didn't make the varsity as a sophomore. Needing an extra year to get stronger and refined, Carrara kept on growing — from 5-foot-3 as a freshman to her current 5-9 frame — and her game did as well. Despite the individual accolades, Carrara said nothing could beat the feeling of beating Santa Teresa 4-0 in the CCS Division I championship match.

"As a senior, you want to win your last game and go out on top," she said. "It's a great feeling to have."

- Emanuel Lee

Wrestling: Tony Joyce - Hillsdale

One year ago, Hillsdale's Tony Joyce didn't even place in the Peninsula Athletic League championships.

"It was such a big disappointment," Joyce said, "and I thought the whole year was a waste."

Joyce used that bitter ending to fuel his run to a third-place finish in league this season and a spot in the Central Coast Section semifinals. For that, Joyce is the Daily Journal's wrestler of the year. The junior standout finished 30-9 at 171 pounds in leading the Knights to their best season in recent memory. Relying more on technique and savvy than overall brute strength, Joyce routinely put on a clinic in wrestling 101. He started wrestling in the eighth-grade, and was hooked on the challenges the sport presented.

"Wrestling is probably 95 percent mental, and I relied on my ability to prepare well, train hard and use certain moves in different situations," he said.

Joyce often used his favorite move, the fireman carry — Joyce would underhook opponents and flip them on his shoulder — setting himself up for immediate pins. Disciplined in his eating habits and training regimen, Joyce also is a starter for the four-time national champion San Francisco Irish Football Youth League team, a sport that combines the elements of rugby and soccer.

- Emanuel Lee

Girls' basketball: Lavinia Fanaika - Mills

Lavinia Fanaika entered the 2004-05 year motivated by the loss of her former coach. Then the Mills High star went out and had the best season of her prep career. The Daily Journal's girls basketball player of the year was simply spectacular, averaging 23 points per game in leading the Vikings to one of their greatest seasons in school history. Mills finished 29-4 and advanced to the Central Coast Section title game and the first round of the Northern California playoffs. All season long, Fanaika said she was inspired by Kelly Shea-Gallo, the former Mills coach who passed away in May after a lengthy battle with breast cancer.

"Whenever things got tough, you always thought of Kelly," Fanaika said. "We wanted to dedicate the season to her and the best way to show that was in the way we played."

At times, the 5-foot-9 guard/forward/center — Fanaika can play any position on the court — was downright inspiring, showing nerves of steel when the game was on the line. In the Vikings' two biggest wins of the year — against Aragon on Jan. 28 and versus Soquel in the CCS Division III semifinals — Fanaika combined for 47 points, 17 rebounds, 10 assists and seven steals.

- Emanuel Lee