SPECIAL REPORT: Brawley’s Signing Seniors

15 Brawley Student Athletes sign to play collegiate sports during the 2023-24 school year.

BRAWLEY, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - Brawley High School has a proud and storied athletic tradition, but the class of 2024 etched their names in school history with 15 student athletes signing to continue their academic and athletic careers at the college level.

"We usually have 6 or 7 kids every year, a minimum," Brawley athletic director Billy Brewer said.

After nearly three decades with the Wildcats, Brewer is used to seeing his athletes find success at the collegiate level, bit not this many all at once. 

"To have the number we've had this year, I think has been extraordinary," he said. "We just want to set that path for them and they have to make the choice and, we'll support them in whatever they do."

Brawley is a sports town and athletic excellence is a major part of the city's culture.

"There's not too much social activity going on in this town," Brawley baseball coach Pedro Carranza said. "We don't have a mall, we don't have a movie theater. We don't. So, what are the kids going to do? Go hang out with their friends, play games, do things like that. I think that's where we have the upper hand because of what we're limited in."

The strong bond between the city of Brawley and it's local high school teams is hard to find anywhere else in the country.

"The mayor and that city council is just as involved as our school board, our principal, our superintendent, and our vice principal," Brewer said. "I think it's just we have one, one thing in common and one goal, trying to push these kids to be the best student athlete they can be."

The community and the long lasting sports culture push these student athletes o always strive for greatness.

"When you have a culture built around sports, built around going to next level, when you have the whole community supporting that, it's it's hard to just not be a part of that," Brawley wrestling coach Sawyer Smith said.

"I think it gives those kids that extra little push, that little extra opportunity to first get their education and become a great student athlete," Brewer said.

The Brawley coaching staffs not only prepare their athletes for the current school year, but also for the collegiate level.

"We have meetings for the kids, and their parents talked about what steps, where to get signed up for so that they can get looked at," Smith said. "We take them to high profile events. Coaches talk and they have connections themselves. But the kids, when you have it pushed in this kind of community and you have that part of the legacy of your program, the kids are hungry. They're gonna look for it themselves also."

Despite being from a small town, the coaches at Brawley are extremely connected in the sports world which helps their athletes gain exposure.

"It's a byproduct of the networking that we've done through our time, from the people that have been here before," Carranza said. "Just look at our baseball program. We've got a world series champion. We've had numerous players play professional baseball, collegiate baseball. So, I can always pick up the phone and call somebody that knows somebody that can allow the the windows, the avenues, the doors to be open."

The class of 2024 is a special class, they are the final class that virtually lost a year of the their high school careers due to the covid-19 pandemic which created adversity that these athletes needed to overcome/

"We're still battling interpersonal communication on a daily basis for that year and a half, two years that we went through this," Carranza said. "It was difficult. So, these are things that they had to battle for battle during this time of development, not only physically but mentally, where they had to make up for lost time over a shorter period of time."

The gym is packed with student athletes at every Brawley signing. With so many athletes signing for colleges and a rich athletic history, it is easy for younger and future Wildcats to be inspired to follow in their footsteps 

"A lot of these kids have known each other since, you know, they're in diapers, and then you have them looking up to these kids, and you have brawley raising these kids to be leaders in the future, you know? So i think it goes back to just how the community is and it's just a culture." 

List of Signings:

• Tanner Currier - University of Redlands, baseball
• Tamara Carranza - New Mexico, softball
• Jazzlyn Zendejas - Domincan University, volleyball
• Jaedyn Lawson - Chaffey College, softball
• Anthony Tamay - Westcliffe University, wrestling
• Francsico Cota - Cuyumaca College, cross country
• Abraham Ceballos - George Fox University, football
• Chris Camillo - Willamette, football
• Delilah Cruz - Arizona, para swim
• Brooke Whittle and Kazley Caston - IVC volleyball

(More athlete names coming soon)