Damron a tackling machine for CdM
Taylor Damron is usually the one who does all the wrapping up on the football field. He made 16 tackles for Corona del Mar High last week.
These days, Damron is wrapping up his left knee.
The safety missed his first game of the season on Thursday because of an injury he suffered last week. The injury happened with 35 seconds left in the Sea Kings’ 28-14 win against Woodbridge at University High. It wasn’t how Damron wanted to open Pacific Coast League play, going down at the end of the game.
Unlike the previous 15 tackles on that night, Damron didn’t get up right away. He stayed down near midfield, near the opposing sideline, in excruciating pain, and reaching for his knee.
“I was making the tackle and I was kind of spinning him around, trying to get him down on the ground, and I just felt my kneecap pop out,” Damron said. “I was very nervous. I was afraid that I was going to be out like I am now.
“I was afraid that I like tore an ACL or something.”
Damron said he had an MRI on his dislocated patella on Thursday morning. The result, he said, should be back in a couple of days. He’s hoping for the best.
Watching his team improve to 2-0 in league with a win against Beckman on Thursday night without him wasn’t easy. This is Damron’s first year starting for CdM, and this is his final year with the Sea Kings.
Damron has waited for this chance to contribute to CdM, which is 5-2 overall and ranked No. 3 in the CIF Southern Section Southwest Division poll. He was a backup cornerback as a junior and played on the junior varsity team as a sophomore. He missed being a part of CdM’s historic 16-0 varsity team two years ago, the one that became the first in the state to produce such a record, capping it off with a CIF State Division III title.
Damron’s football career did not begin with the Sea Kings. After his freshman year at JSerra, Damron transferred to CdM. Instead of having to sit out the first 30 days, Damron decided to play JV the entire year, to get better.
“It just wasn’t the right fit for me,” Damron said as to why he left JSerra. “It was really far away from my house, because it was so far, I didn’t get to spend as much time with the kids, so I wasn’t as close to them. Trinity [League] football is obviously a very high level, so I wasn’t playing a lot as well.
“When I came [to CdM], I just loved it. I fell in love with football again and I’ve just been having a great time ever since.”
Coach Dan O’Shea said he doesn’t believe there isn’t a player at CdM who doesn’t consider Damron a close friend.
“He’s about as nice a kid you will find in our program,” O’Shea said. “From a character and integrity standpoint, he’s what we’re trying to make CdM football all about, is trying to recognize your responsibility as a student athlete and recognize your responsibility as a man, as oppose to a boy.”
Damron isn’t as kind to the opposition. There’s a reason why through the first six games Damron led CdM with 47 tackles. The former cornerback isn’t afraid to hit.
Damron and CdM’s defense had their hands full last week against Woodbridge’s Connor McBride, a 6-foot-2, 225-pounder. McBride, running out of a Wildcat formation, rushed 35 times for 169 yards and one touchdown.
One of the six times Woodbridge didn’t run McBride in the second half, Damron made the Warriors pay.
The Sea Kings were holding onto a 21-14 lead midway through the third quarter when Woodbridge reached CdM’s 29. Faced with a second-and-eight situation, Damron figured the Warriors would throw. He was right, quarterback Chase Bradley overthrew the intended receiver and Damron picked off the pass on the 18 before going down two yards later.
The Warriors failed to get close to the red zone again and CdM produced a second-half shutout to keep the Sea Kings perfect in league. That was their 16th straight win in league, their 17th in a row came without his services.
“It’s a really big bummer,” Damron said. “I want to be out there playing with my brothers.”
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Taylor Damron
Born: June 4, 1998
Hometown: Huntington Beach
Height: 5-foot-11
Weight: 175 pounds
Sport: Football
Year: Senior
Coach: Dan O’Shea
Favorite food: Spaghetti
Favorite movie: “Dead Poets Society”
Favorite athletic moment: “Playing against Newport Harbor and we … just like shut them down.”
Week in review: Damron finished with 16 tackles and an interception in the Sea Kings’ 28-14 win against Woodbridge in a Pacific Coast League game at University High.
