Andrew Daschbach Named Daily Journal Athlete of the Year
Daschbach Leaves Impressive Legacy
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For 2015 Daily Journal Boys’ Athlete of the Year Andrew Daschbach, raising the bar was as much about proving his versatility as it was improving on his game.
The latter was difficult to do, as through his first three years at Sacred Heart Prep, Daschbach had already reached such heights as an athlete that he had earned a full baseball scholarship to Stanford. Also, he had already realized his vision of helping put Gators athletics on the map, leading each of the teams he played for as a junior — football, basketball and baseball — to the Central Coast Section playoffs, with titles in both football and baseball.
“When I went to Sacred Heart, my goal was to help kind of put them on the map sports wise,” Daschbach said. “Having had a lot people tell me, friends that go to St. Francis and Bellarmine that Sacred Heart couldn’t compete with them. That kind of frustrated me and made it my goal to help Sacred Heart be able to compete with those powerhouses.”
As a senior, Daschbach managed to up his game in each of the three sports.
This alone made him a clear choice as the Daily Journal Boys’ Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive time. What made his senior year so special, though, is how versatile he proved to be, becoming a force to be reckoned with on both offense and defense in each of the three sports.
“That really surprised me how he played on the defensive side of the ball,” said Pete Lavorato, Sacred Heart Prep head football coach.
Daschbach played an exemplary role in shoring up the SHP defensive line. After serving last season as a part-time linebacker, the 6-3, 210-pounder shuffled to a defensive end spot where he played all 15 games for the Gators. In addition to ripping 57 tackles, he also ranked second on the squad with five sacks.
Need a big play? Dial up Daschbach
But it was his offensive prowess that earned Daschbach All-Peninsula Athletic League first-team honors as a tight end.
It was a banner year for the gridiron Gators, who won their fourth straight CCS championship, this time in the Open Division 3 bracket. And it was a season like no other for the SHP aerial attack, as quarterback Mason Randall navigated a pro-style offense to throw for a program-record 2,894 passing yards.
Daschbach was Randall’s most prolific target, as the senior tight end also established a program record 1,284 receiving yards. He also set the single-game receiving record with 250 yards by air Oct. 30 against Burlingame.
It’s just such a performance that gives Daschbach pause when pinpointing a favorite sport. Ultimately, it is still baseball, he said. But in the heat of battle, the adrenaline that differentiates the two sports is something he revels in come game days.
“In the moment of battle it is my favorite sport,” Daschbach said. “It definitely gives me the best adrenaline rush and can be the most fun in that respect.”
The legacy of Daschbach’s big-play dynamic can actually be narrowed down to one play, as he made the dramatic game-winning catch in the CCS championship game against Riordan. With the game tied 28-28 with under three minutes to play, the Randall-to-Daschbach connection saw the Gators plow across midfield with a 35-yard screen pass.
Then with under a minute to play, facing fourth-and-8, SHP reached into its bag of tricks for a double-reverse flea-flicker designed to go to Daschbach. The misdirection left the speedy tight end wide open downfield, with Randall hitting him for a 33-yard game-winning score.
Lavorato said it was a play the team worked on all the time in practice, but had never run in a game. But it was clear to Lavorato and offensive coordinator Matt Moran who the play should go to. In fact, many times during the season, Moran would defer to Lavorato for a play call, so long as it went to the team’s keystone set of hands.
“The joke was, anytime it was third-and-long or a situation where we needed yards, I’d say give me a play,” Lavorato said. “And he’d say, ‘Just throw the ball to Daschbach.’”
Breakout basketball season,
Despite living the dream for SHP football, at the end of the day, baseball is Daschbach’s ticket to the collegiate ranks. And he would have it no other way.
“Some of my best memories were playing catch with my dad in the backyard or going to games with him … so this has kind of always been my favorite,” Daschbach said. “I just love doing it. When you love practicing something, you know you love doing it.”
Daschbach has always been able to keep the two sports separate. And through his prep career, that divide can be summed up by one simple word — basketball. As a senior hoopster, Daschbach enjoyed his best individual season in 2015-16, scoring a career-high 8.1 points per game, and grabbing a team-high 8.3 rebounds, providing the muscle behind Randall’s team-high 15.8 points per game to carry SHP to a co-West Bay Athletic League championship and into the second round of the CCS Division IV playoffs.
Come baseball season — between his late run into basketball season, a nagging knee injury, and not having played baseball since the summer — Daschbach had every reason to get off to a slow start. And he did.
Coming off a junior year in which he hit a career-high .443, he missed the first five games of his senior year due to basketball, then started the season hitting .280 (7 for 25) through his first 12 games.
Then SHP baseball manager Anthony Granato set in motion an interesting experiment by taking the slugging Dashcbach — who was getting pitched around so much, he would earn a league-leading 20 walks — and moving him into the leadoff spot. He also shifted Daschbach’s defensive role, moving him from the corner infield to shortstop.
The experiment paid off in spades, as Daschbach went on to hit .418 while playing exceptional defense, leading the Gators to a PAL tournament championship and a berth in the CCS playoffs.
Now, Daschbach is off to Stanford where he will get the opportunity to play one season for longtime Cardinal manager Mark Marquess, who announced his plans to retire following the 2017 campaign.
“Hearing the news, I was kind of bummed out,” Daschbach said. “Just how legendary a coach he is and how big a part of building that program he is. … But it’s a great honor and I’m really appreciative that I get to play under him at all. My goal is just to make an impact and be able to help him finish his career on top.”
Finishing on top is something for which Daschbach will be remembered at SHP, helping build the entire athletic department into a program of perennial contenders.
“I’m proud to be a part of some of those legendary teams and teams that will be remembered at the school forever,” Daschbach said.
Back
When an elite high school athlete achieves the pinnacle of success as a junior, how does he go about raising the bar as a senior?
For 2015 Daily Journal Boys’ Athlete of the Year Andrew Daschbach, raising the bar was as much about proving his versatility as it was improving on his game.
The latter was difficult to do, as through his first three years at Sacred Heart Prep, Daschbach had already reached such heights as an athlete that he had earned a full baseball scholarship to Stanford. Also, he had already realized his vision of helping put Gators athletics on the map, leading each of the teams he played for as a junior — football, basketball and baseball — to the Central Coast Section playoffs, with titles in both football and baseball.
“When I went to Sacred Heart, my goal was to help kind of put them on the map sports wise,” Daschbach said. “Having had a lot people tell me, friends that go to St. Francis and Bellarmine that Sacred Heart couldn’t compete with them. That kind of frustrated me and made it my goal to help Sacred Heart be able to compete with those powerhouses.”
As a senior, Daschbach managed to up his game in each of the three sports.
This alone made him a clear choice as the Daily Journal Boys’ Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive time. What made his senior year so special, though, is how versatile he proved to be, becoming a force to be reckoned with on both offense and defense in each of the three sports.
“That really surprised me how he played on the defensive side of the ball,” said Pete Lavorato, Sacred Heart Prep head football coach.
Daschbach played an exemplary role in shoring up the SHP defensive line. After serving last season as a part-time linebacker, the 6-3, 210-pounder shuffled to a defensive end spot where he played all 15 games for the Gators. In addition to ripping 57 tackles, he also ranked second on the squad with five sacks.
Need a big play? Dial up Daschbach
But it was his offensive prowess that earned Daschbach All-Peninsula Athletic League first-team honors as a tight end.
It was a banner year for the gridiron Gators, who won their fourth straight CCS championship, this time in the Open Division 3 bracket. And it was a season like no other for the SHP aerial attack, as quarterback Mason Randall navigated a pro-style offense to throw for a program-record 2,894 passing yards.
Daschbach was Randall’s most prolific target, as the senior tight end also established a program record 1,284 receiving yards. He also set the single-game receiving record with 250 yards by air Oct. 30 against Burlingame.
It’s just such a performance that gives Daschbach pause when pinpointing a favorite sport. Ultimately, it is still baseball, he said. But in the heat of battle, the adrenaline that differentiates the two sports is something he revels in come game days.
“In the moment of battle it is my favorite sport,” Daschbach said. “It definitely gives me the best adrenaline rush and can be the most fun in that respect.”
The legacy of Daschbach’s big-play dynamic can actually be narrowed down to one play, as he made the dramatic game-winning catch in the CCS championship game against Riordan. With the game tied 28-28 with under three minutes to play, the Randall-to-Daschbach connection saw the Gators plow across midfield with a 35-yard screen pass.
Then with under a minute to play, facing fourth-and-8, SHP reached into its bag of tricks for a double-reverse flea-flicker designed to go to Daschbach. The misdirection left the speedy tight end wide open downfield, with Randall hitting him for a 33-yard game-winning score.
Lavorato said it was a play the team worked on all the time in practice, but had never run in a game. But it was clear to Lavorato and offensive coordinator Matt Moran who the play should go to. In fact, many times during the season, Moran would defer to Lavorato for a play call, so long as it went to the team’s keystone set of hands.
“The joke was, anytime it was third-and-long or a situation where we needed yards, I’d say give me a play,” Lavorato said. “And he’d say, ‘Just throw the ball to Daschbach.’”
Breakout basketball season,
but baseball still his first love
Despite living the dream for SHP football, at the end of the day, baseball is Daschbach’s ticket to the collegiate ranks. And he would have it no other way.
“Some of my best memories were playing catch with my dad in the backyard or going to games with him … so this has kind of always been my favorite,” Daschbach said. “I just love doing it. When you love practicing something, you know you love doing it.”
Daschbach has always been able to keep the two sports separate. And through his prep career, that divide can be summed up by one simple word — basketball. As a senior hoopster, Daschbach enjoyed his best individual season in 2015-16, scoring a career-high 8.1 points per game, and grabbing a team-high 8.3 rebounds, providing the muscle behind Randall’s team-high 15.8 points per game to carry SHP to a co-West Bay Athletic League championship and into the second round of the CCS Division IV playoffs.
Come baseball season — between his late run into basketball season, a nagging knee injury, and not having played baseball since the summer — Daschbach had every reason to get off to a slow start. And he did.
Coming off a junior year in which he hit a career-high .443, he missed the first five games of his senior year due to basketball, then started the season hitting .280 (7 for 25) through his first 12 games.
Then SHP baseball manager Anthony Granato set in motion an interesting experiment by taking the slugging Dashcbach — who was getting pitched around so much, he would earn a league-leading 20 walks — and moving him into the leadoff spot. He also shifted Daschbach’s defensive role, moving him from the corner infield to shortstop.
The experiment paid off in spades, as Daschbach went on to hit .418 while playing exceptional defense, leading the Gators to a PAL tournament championship and a berth in the CCS playoffs.
Now, Daschbach is off to Stanford where he will get the opportunity to play one season for longtime Cardinal manager Mark Marquess, who announced his plans to retire following the 2017 campaign.
“Hearing the news, I was kind of bummed out,” Daschbach said. “Just how legendary a coach he is and how big a part of building that program he is. … But it’s a great honor and I’m really appreciative that I get to play under him at all. My goal is just to make an impact and be able to help him finish his career on top.”
Finishing on top is something for which Daschbach will be remembered at SHP, helping build the entire athletic department into a program of perennial contenders.
“I’m proud to be a part of some of those legendary teams and teams that will be remembered at the school forever,” Daschbach said.
Sacred Heart Schools Atherton
Founded by the Society of the Sacred Heart, SHS is a Catholic, independent, co-ed day school for students in preschool through grade 12
