Millennium profile: Josh Wojtkiewicz, Estancia

Barry Faulkner

One of two Most Valuable Players on the best football team in

Estancia High history, former Eagle tailback Josh Wojtkiewicz always

faced defenses head on.

“I was pretty much a north and south runner,” Wojtkiewicz recalled. “Most

of my game was power, without much finesse, and I did have some speed.”

Wojtkiewicz, now 27, takes the same straightforward, aggressive approach

to life these days as a paramedic-fire fighter for the City of Sausalito,

a quaint seaside town nestled just north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

And his current hobby -- triathlon -- indicates the latest member of the

Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame hasn’t lost his desire to meet athletic

challenges.

Wojtkiewicz, 5-foot-10, 185 pounds as a senior, helped the 1989 Eagles

win all 10 regular-season games, reigning atop a Sea View League which

included eventual CIF Southern Section Division VI champion Corona del

Mar. It remains only one of two league championships the school has

collected in 34 varsity seasons.

Wojtkiewicz rushed for 1,088 yards and 13 touchdowns on 199 carries en

route to All-CIF recognition that fall. The Sea View League Player of the

Year also caught 13 passes, returned kicks and saw spot duty as an

outside linebacker on defense.

“He was an athlete,” recalled former Estancia football coach John

Liebengood, who keeps a picture of Wojtkiewicz, as well as fellow MVP Dan

Petrone, on the wall of his garage. “Josh was very competitive, very

tough, and he never complained. He got every inch on every carry he ever

had for us.”

All those inches added up to 2,501 career yards on 478 carries for the

three-year varsity starter. He compiled 10 games of 100 yards or more

rushing, added 283 yards on 25 receptions and scored 23 touchdowns.

The euphoria over a perfect regular season, however, was dampened when

the top-seeded Eagles were stunned, 15-12, by La Mirada in the first

round of the playoffs.

“It was the biggest disappointment you could possibly imagine for 17- and

18-year-old kids,” Wojtkiewicz said by phone from his home in Corte

Madera, a Marin County locale just north of San Francisco. “We weren’t

mentally prepared for that game and we were way too confident. We were

concentrating on the finals, instead of the steps it would take us to get

there.”

Wojtkiewicz, however, does not dwell on the disheartening end, when he

reminisces about his prolific prep career.

“The good memories definitely have washed away the disappointment,” he

said. “When CdM went on to win CIF, after we beat them, it validated our

abilities.

“That whole team basically grew up playing together since the third

grade, which is pretty unique. We were all friends all playing off the

same music sheet.”

Wojtkiewicz, who also lettered in track and field and volleyball at

Estancia, attempted to continue his football career at Orange Coast

College. But he quickly decided fire service, not football, would

dominate his future.

“I took a year off (football) and I started doing some distance running,”

he recalled. “I lost a lot of speed. I went from running the 40-yard dash

in 4.3 (seconds) to 4.9 and I just wasn’t the same player I was coming

out of high school.”

He put himself through paramedic school and obtained his fire technology

certificate. He has been working full time in the field for nearly two

years and enjoys the daily challenge his job provides.

“We do a lot of work on the water. We’re assigned to the Golden Gate

Bridge, so when people fall off, or jump, we pick them up in the water.”

Wojtkiewicz said he plans to marry Tina Antonucci some time in 2000 and

he would eventually like to return to Orange County.

“I’d like to work for the Huntington Beach Fire Department,” he said.