PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Temitope Sonuyi knew he could do it. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind.

As he sat in his living room last August, discussing his hopes for his senior season, the Esperanza running back talked about how a wrist injury the year before had kept him from displaying his abilities.

“I feel like a lot of people haven’t seen what I can do,” he said.

It took only one game for them to find out.

Sonuyi rushed for 250 yards in Esperanza’s opener against Upland, but the breakthrough game was only a taste of things to come.

Against Fountain Valley, Sonuyi rushed for 328 yards and five touchdowns.

Then came his finest moment, in a game against Edison that would determine the Sunset League champion. With the Aztecs trailing, 43-42, in the waning moments, Sonuyi took a handoff at the four-yard line and charged up the middle for the winning touchdown.

“That was one of the biggest games I’ve ever played in,” said Sonuyi, The Times’ Orange County Player of the Year. “When you’re losing with [less than 10] seconds left and they hand you the ball and you have a chance to decide the outcome, it’s great.”

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Sonuyi is his ability to balance schoolwork with athletics. He is No. 1 in his class of about 700 and has already been accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard. He is also considering Stanford, California and Oregon State.

Sonuyi said he hasn’t decided whether to play football in college. He may concentrate on his studies for a year, then try to walk on.

For the moment, Sonuyi is more concerned with keeping up his high-school grades. He’s never made less than an ‘A’ but fears that could change because he’s hovering around a ‘B’ in economics. He’ll know for sure when report cards come out later this month. If Sonuyi becomes valedictorian, he’ll certainly hold the attention of his classmates during his graduation address in June.

“If it happens,” he said, “it will be amazing. Just another way to cap off a dream season.”

HIS STATS

12 games

363 carries (leads county)

2,492 rushing yards

66 receiving yards

30 touchdowns

180 points

-- BEN BOLCH