DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL MALE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK:Newport’s Beaudette fearless

Maneuvering side to side on the wrestling mat, Brian Beaudette strikes without wavering.

There’s no trepidation for his right knee. It feels like new, and in wrestling, unlike in football, Beaudette is sure no one will charge from behind and wreck the knee again.

Early on toward fully recovering from his first arthroscopic surgery, Beaudette worried if he’d be the same aggressive athlete. Functioning around the piles that often build up around the offensive line gave the guard jitters.

He survived, and he doesn’t fret over collisions anymore. It’s just Beaudette and whoever he’s tugging on the mat with.

“I can control one guy,” said Beaudette, assuring himself that he has no reason to be concerned.

He’s showing everyone why in his senior year.

Beaudette (17-5) has emerged as one of Orange County’s top heavyweights. He won the 27th annual New Year Classic, Jan. 6 at Estancia High, where he showcased his toughness and also reclusiveness.

Beaudette is not one to mix words with the opposition before matches. It takes him out of his routine, one of isolation and listening to his MP3 player.

The Game is one of his favorite rap artists, and Beaudette prefers to stick to the artist’s rhymes than his hand out to opponents.

“If you’re talking to some guy and being friendly,” you’re going to let your guard down in the match, Beaudette said. “Some people talk to guys at the tournaments. It’s just not my thing. I don’t like doing it.”

Figuring a way to avoid chatter is easy for the 6-foot Beaudette after a match. Wrestlers tend not to say much after receiving a pounding from him.

There’s been quite a few handed out by Beaudette. He has recorded 13 wins by pin, three of those coming at the two-day, 30-plus team Estancia tournament, where Newport Harbor placed 12th and saw three other of its wrestlers place, Josh George (third, 135), Bruce Hartshorn (seventh, 189) and Bryan Bennett (fourth, 215).

To reach the final, Beaudette needed to get past Santa Ana’s Josh Ortega, ranked second by the Orange County Wrestling Coaches Assn. before Beaudette would be jumpy going up against superior competition. Not anymore.

“Probably at CIF last year, when I was like, ‘I’m here with the best of them, so I might as well try my hardest,’ ” said Beaudette of learning at the Southern Section individual meet to get rid of his nervousness. “I’ve wrestled so many different sizes of guys that no one really intimidates me anymore.”

Even when Beaudette’s on his back, you can’t count him out.

For a brief moment in the third, that’s where Ortega had Beaudette. Positioning changed quickly, with Beaudette turning Ortega over to record the fall at 4 minutes, 25 seconds.

“When the matches are close, he doesn’t get panicky, nervous, and doesn’t make silly mistakes,” said Newport Harbor Coach Dominic Bulone, referring to Beaudette edging out Esperanza’s Casey Kiesling, 2-1, in double overtime to win the title. “It boosted his confidence, and he let him know that he could do it.”

Bulone saw a wrestler in Beaudette when the freshman entered his algebra class. Well, back then, Bulone was in dire need of wrestlers. The coach would take anyone, with only 20 wrestlers in the program.

At first, Beaudette took no interest in the math teacher’s announcement during class that he was searching for wrestlers.

“I just kind of thought football was my sport,” Beaudette said. “Before high school I didn’t know what I wanted to do.”

A familiar predicament for freshmen. Making Beaudette an easy target for someone like Bulone, an eight-year veteran, to sway his interest.

“I was suckered into it,” Beaudette admitted.

Once he slipped on the singlet and wrestled, the fun began. Noticing Beaudette’s determination on the frosh/soph level, Bulone knew he had someone he could rear into a solid wrestler.

“He wasn’t particularly a good athlete yet,” Bulone said. “Very motivated to win, but he didn’t win very much. Maybe like two matches.”

The wins came with the experience. Beaudette’s breakout year came as a junior, qualifying for the CIF Southern Section individual meet. He missed placing sixth at the event by one match, but then before summer it looked like he could miss all of his senior year.

Or so he thought.

“Yeah, a little [scared],” Beaudette said of undergoing surgery to repair his meniscus. “I was glad that I got it done early, so that I could rehab. I was back, even though I might not have been at full force. I came back right after hell week.”

Then it seemed to Beaudette like the misery he endured in his knee would never go away. Apprehensive about the knee and seeing it swell up, someone needed to convince Beaudette that everything would be OK.

Hearing from his offensive line coach Zach Biehl and his seven knee surgeries comforted Beaudette.

“I just told him, ‘You know what? You just can’t worry about it. You’re not going to hurt it again,’” said Biehl, whose first surgery came as a sophomore while playing catcher on the baseball team at Newport Harbor, where he also played football before graduating in 1995. “You question yourself after your first surgery, from being sore to taking a just a step.

“You have to experience that before you move on. Brian has, just look at him now. He’s fearless.”