K.C. Rawlins

Barry Faulkner

It wasn’t long ago that the player Corona del Mar High football

coaches call “Herc,” short for Hercules, looked more like a jockey

than a defensive force. And though senior safety K.C. Rawlins checks

in at a modest 5-foot-9, 165 pounds, down 10 pounds from where he

started the season, he is usually the one left standing, and

grinning, after the inevitable collisions in the secondary.

“I love the big hits,” said Rawlins, who has made plenty as the

center fielder in the Sea Kings’ defense. “I try to make it so the

receivers start thinking about me when they come over the middle.”

Rawlins was forced to do some thinking of his own as a 142-pound

sophomore debuting on the varsity.

“I started a couple games and got knocked around a little bit,” he

recalled. “It was kind of a wake-up call for me. I started hitting

the weights pretty hard from then on.”

Rawlins built himself up to about 160 pounds as a junior and

packed on another 15 pounds of muscle during the most recent

offseason. Hours spent surfing also helped define his burgeoning

upper body and, suddenly, it was Rawlins who was metaphorically

kicking sand in the face of opponents.

“He’s real physical,” CdM Coach Dick Freeman said of the Daily

Pilot Player of the Week, whose solid work at safety and returning

kicks helped the Sea Kings defeat Tesoro, 48-28, to wrap up second

place in the Pacific Coast League. The win propelled CdM into the CIF

Southern Section Division IX Playoffs, in which the Sea Kings (6-4)

visit Pacifica (8-2) Friday night at Bolsa Grande High.

Rawlins crushed a receiver along the sideline on an incompletion

early in the Tesoro game and made the big defensive play to terminate

the Titans’ 13-play, first-quarter drive.

After a high snap on a would-be 26-yard field goal sailed over the

holder and kicker, Rawlins knifed through and tackled the kicker as

he was falling on the loose ball for a 25-yard loss.

On the next play, CdM tailback Mark Cianciulli bolted 67 yards for

a touchdown to give the Sea Kings a 7-0 lead.

Rawlins was also a catalyst for two other CdM touchdowns. He

returned a punt 17 yards to the Tesoro 34-yard line and CdM completed

a touchdown pass on the subsequent snap.

Three plays after the ensuing kickoff, Rawlins recovered a fumble

after a Tesoro reception and the Sea Kings cashed in six plays later

with their third touchdown to build a 21-7 lead.

Rawlins, added as a kick returner at his own insistence before the

Tesoro game, also returned a kickoff 27 yards.

The team’s former place-kicker, he has given up those duties as a

concession to a severe groin pull that sidelined him for two

nonleague games. Rawlins recalled his time on the sidelines (missing

the Cypress and La Habra games) as the most frustrating part of his

career.

Rawlins, injured early in a 17-0 loss to Back Bay rival Newport

Harbor (he played through the discomfort for two quarters, before

finally being taken out late in the game), returned for the

league-opening 14-13 win over University. The University victory

started a three-game winning streak for the Sea Kings, who are 6-1

this season when Rawlins has played the entire game.

“He tackles very well and he covers well,” Freeman said. “We can

use him in cover zero -- matching him up man-to-man on a receiver, so

we can blitz our linebackers -- because he covers so well. And he’s

one of our leaders by example. He doesn’t say a whole lot, but the

way he works is just amazing.”

Rawlins, who did not play youth football, missed all but two games

of his freshman season after breaking and dislocating a shoulder.