PREP WEDNESDAY: FALL ALL-COUNTY TEAMS : Mathot Is a Standout on Another Outstanding El Toro Team

For anyone who believes that El Toro’s Daniel Mathot is merely a good water polo player on an outstanding team, here’s some evidence to the contrary:

--Mathot made 63% of his shots this season, scoring a school-record 132 goals against the toughest competition the Southern Section has to offer. More than half of El Toro’s matches this season were against teams ranked in the top 10 of divisions I, II and III. The Division I champion Chargers beat each of the other Division I semifinalists twice.

--Mathot was third on his team in assists (43), second on his team in steals (84) and the leader in drawing ejections (44).

--Late in the title match against North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake, Mathot took control for the Chargers. With 2 minutes 59 seconds left in regulation, he scored a man-advantage goal to bring El Toro within a goal. Seventeen seconds later, El Toro’s defensive specialist Dan Julson was ejected for his third personal foul, forcing Mathot to guard Harvard two-meter man Luther Weidner for the rest of the match. Although Mathot had two fouls of his own, he held Weidner scoreless and El Toro won, 10-9, in sudden-death overtime.

It’s true Mathot wasn’t El Toro’s leading scorer in the title match. But even though Brent Stoll scored three goals and John Simmons scored the match-winner in sudden death, it doesn’t diminish Mathot’s performance.

“Just because a guy is surrounded by decent players doesn’t mean he should be overlooked, and I don’t think Danny should be overlooked,” El Toro Coach Don Stoll said. “You could take Mathot off our team and we still would have been a good team, but we wouldn’t have won the championship.”

Mathot, however, says he has been slighted somehow. He continues to relish the championship and praises his teammates who helped him keep the Chargers top-ranked in the division and county for all but a week of the season.

“I was happy I had support there,” Mathot said. “We spent so much time together. There is no greed or selfishness or anything like that.”

He compares his postseason honors to those his brother, J.P., received after leading El Toro to the major division title in 1990. J.P. was the player of the year in the division and the South Coast League. This season, Harvard’s Jim Toring was named player of the year in the division and Capistrano Valley’s Jeremy Braxton-Brown was named the league’s player of the year.

Mathot, The Times Orange County player of the year, easily broke his brother’s single-season and career scoring records. J.P. scored 174 in two seasons; Daniel scored 267 in three. Daniel also set a record for most goals in a match (nine) and tied the record for most goals in a playoff match (seven).

But as is often the case in the college scholarship-poor sport of water polo, Mathot isn’t being recruited to play in college. At 5 feet 11 and 160 pounds, he doesn’t have the body type to attract Division I college recruiters.

“I just want to hopefully make it to a four-year college,” Daniel said.

But to play in college, Daniel has to clear another hurdle besides his size. He would like to join his brother at UC Irvine, but the first time he took the Scholastic Aptitude Test, he scored less than the 700 minimum he needed to be eligible to play as a freshman.

When he was younger, Mathot said, he had a learning disability that kept him in remedial classes until the sixth grade. As a result, he has been playing catch-up academically. But he says he has been making progress and points to a grade-point average of better than 3.0 last year as evidence.

“I hope that would help me,” he said. “I hope it’s not over with, but I’m still behind in lots of stuff.”

But not in water polo.

All-County Water Polo

FIRST TEAM

Player: J. Braxton-Brown School: Capistrano Valley Yr.: Sr. Position: Two-meter Comment: South Coast player of the year.

Player: Crosby Grant School: Corona del Mar Yr.: Jr. Position: Two-meter Comment: Helped Sea Kings to D-I semifinal.

Player: Craig Thomas School: Esperanza Yr.: Sr. Position: Goalkeeper Comment: Division II player of the year.

Player: Alan Herrmann School: Dana Hills Yr.: Sr. Position: Two-meter Comment: One of best hole sets in county.

Player: Daniel Mathot School: El Toro Yr.: Sr. Position: Two-meter Comment: Times Orange County player of year.

Player: Bryce Matthews School: San Clemente Yr.: Sr. Position: Two-meter Comment: Scored 93 goals for the Tritons.

Player: Todd Wines School: Santa Ana Valley Yr.: Sr. Position: Two-meter Comment: Scored 125 goals for the Falcons.

SECOND TEAM Player: David Hay School: Foothill Yr.: Jr. Position: Two-meter Comment: Century League co-player of the year.

Player: Ofer Horn School: Fountain Valley Yr.: Sr. Position: Two-meter Comment: Sunset League player of the year.

Player: Jeff Martell School: Los Amigos Yr.: Sr. Position: Goalkeeper Comment: Division IV co-player of the year.

Player: Jason Murray School: El Toro Yr.: Sr. Position: Goalkeeper Comment: Helped Chargers to 30-1 record.

Player: Eric Poole School: Esperanza Yr.: Sr. Position: Two-meter Comment: Helped Aztecs to Division II title.

Player: J.R. Porter School: Costa Mesa Yr.: Sr. Position: Driver Comment: Division III player of the year.

Player: Brandon Stout School: El Toro Yr.: Jr. Position: Driver Comment: Scored 91 goals for Chargers.

Honorable mention: Nate Andersen (Newport Harbor), Matt Braun (Marina), Robert Causee (Fountain Valley), Brandon Chastain (Esperanza), Brian Codori (Corona del Mar), Tom Davis (La Habra), Drew Douglas (Los Amigos), Gabriel Gardner (San Clemente), Sam Grayeli (Costa Mesa), Craig Gutjahr (Kennedy), Brad Harrington (Corona del Mar), Mustafa Hassan (Magnolia), Tim Hornig (San Clemente), Dave Isaacs (Los Amigos), Dan Julson (El Toro), Jon Kenyon (Marina), Michael Kerr (Canyon), Drew Leonard (El Dorado), Mark Magna (Sunny Hills), Lenny Malo (Villa Park), Brandon Martinez (Esperanza), Jeff Moloughney (Capistrano Valley), Brian McAllister (Newport Harbor), Brett McAllister (Newport Harbor), James Nakamura (Pacifica), K.C. Nance (Trabuco Hills), Brent Palluck (Foothill), Todd Pelkey (San Clemente), Eric Roberts (Los Alamitos), Eric Scholten (Tustin), Stan Shen (Esperanza), James Silberstein (Servite), Scott Simmons (Los Amigos), Brent Stanley (Esperanza), Jason Stanton (Edison), Brent Stoll (El Toro), Ryan Thacher (Trabuco Hills), Stephen Thornton (Capistrano Valley), Dru Wasson (Esperanza), Alden Weaver (Foothill), Jake Yokota (Capistrano Valley), Jason Young (Dana Hills).