Charley, a ‘great competitor’

Charley Bowman is in the midst of his final days of a highly successful high school sports career.

Yet as the prep basketball season maneuvers its way through the CIF-Southern Section playoffs and toward the end of its 2007-08 campaign in March, Bowman has been reminded of just what he brought to the football field last fall.

The Laguna Beach High senior has been named to the 2007 CIF-Southern Section Southern Division Football Team. That team was selected by the Southern California Football Coaches Assn.

It marks the second-straight year that Bowman has made the All-CIF team. He becomes the first Laguna player to earn consecutive All-CIF honors since Jonathan Todd accomplished the feat as a Laguna linebacker in the 1985 season and then as a running back in 1986.

“Charley is such a great competitor,” said Todd who was the head coach of his alma mater and for Bowman, for the first time this past fall. “He does everything well and is a great kid.

“He was the hardest worker on the team, by far. I’m so happy for Charley.”

The 19-year-old, who did just about everything on the gridiron for the Breakers — quarterback, running back, receiver and averaged 42 yards per punt during league play — was one of 20 players named to the defensive squad on the Southern Division team.

Last year, he made the team as an offensive team member.

“I’m really glad and it’s an honor to get the recognition, but I’ve got to give thanks to my coaches and teammates, first of all,” Bowman said. “My teammates made me a better player. This is an individual honor, but football is a team sport, and I share this with my teammates.”

Bowman moved with his family to Laguna Beach in 2005 before the start of his sophomore year. He walked on to the football team, then led by Jimmy Nolan, and won the job of starting quarterback. Laguna that year posted a winning record (5-4-1) in its final year in the Pacific Coast League.

Last year, as a junior, Bowman helped guide the Breakers to the initial Orange Coast League football championship in a season in that culminated with the school hosting its first CIF-SS playoff game in 19 years.

He was named All-CIF as a utility player in 2006.

Bowman is a three-time all-league quarterback, two-time Orange Coast League MVP (offensive player of the year 2006, special teams 2007) and three-time Laguna team MVP.

At the end of his junior year last year, Bowman was named Laguna’s male athlete of the year.

He’s also going to leave the school ranked among the top five football players in passing, rushing and scoring.

Bowman began his tackle football career while a fifth-grader in Whitefish, Montana. He went on to enjoy a 25-1 record as a quarterback that included an 8-0 mark during his freshman year at Whitefish High.

He also played varsity basketball at Whitefish during that freshman year, which would be his last at the school: the Bowman family, after spending 10 years in Montana, moved and settled in Laguna Beach.

“We made the decision to move to Laguna Beach from a small, rural town in Montana because we wanted to give Charley a more expansive educational experience and the opportunity to participate in a larger athletic arena,” Bowman’s father, Tom, said. “We chose Laguna as a great place to live, with good schools and a chance to live near the ocean. At the time Charley’s sister Brittany attended USC.”

The move suited Bowman just fine.

“I can’t believe it’s already been three years in Laguna,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed every minute of it and don’t want to leave.”

But it appears he will: Bowman, who had a 4.4 GPA during the fall, carries a 4.1 cumulative GPA and is a National Football Foundation Scholar Athlete in 2008, said he has narrowed his college choices to the University of Oregon, University of Colorado and Michigan State University.

For the past three months, basketball has dominated his life. A key member of Laguna’s team, Bowman’s play at point guard has been instrumental in the school’s winning back-to-back Orange Coast League championships and reaching the CIF-SS playoffs.

In his spare time — “for fun,” he said — he takes up golf.

“Football and basketball have pretty much been my life during my time here at Laguna,” said Bowman, who is involved with Teen Korps, a youth volunteer service organization. “I’ve learned so much through playing sports, such as patience and team camaraderie, not to mention the fact that I’ve met some unbelievable people here who I’ll be friends with forever.