THE UNION TRIBUNE: TPLAX Features Family Ties

By Don Norcross | Correspondent, San Diego Uniion Tribune
UPDATED: March 24, 2020 at 11:10 PM PDT

Miles Botkiss and Dewey Egan are sitting inside the trailer that serves as Torrey Pines High’s boys lacrosse team room. One wall is decorated with a mural of Falcons action photos. The other three walls are plastered with posters from every team since 2003, featuring a picture of every Falcon covering nearly two decades.

Lacrosse is a family affair at Torrey Pines and literally so for Botkiss, a senior, and Egan, a junior.

Botkiss’ brother, Beau, played at Torrey and is now a senior at Harvard. Two lacrosse-playing brothers preceded Dewey at Torrey Pines. Brandan is a junior at Bucknell, Evan a sophomore at North Carolina.

“My brother was like a mentor to me,” said Botkiss. “He was always that big brother I could reach out to. He paved the way for me, 100 percent, in many ways of my life.”

“Lacrosse was the sport my brothers always loved and that drew me to it,” said Egan. “That was the sport we played in the backyard growing up.”

Like big brother Beau, Miles is Harvard bound.

“When he committed as a sophomore (in high school), that was the expectation in my head,” said Miles. “Harvard, you can’t do much better than that.”

Dewey, too, plans to follow one of his brother’s paths. Like Evan, Dewey has committed to North Carolina.

Botkiss and Egan are two big reasons why Torrey Pines began the season as the section’s No. 1-ranked team and is favored to win its third straight San Diego Section Open Division title — when and if the season resumes following the COVID-19 outbreak.

Botkiss is a 6-foot, 170-pound athletic left-handed midfielder.

Egan is a 6-4, 225-pound attacker with a lethal ability to put the ball in the back of the net. He scored a team-best 14 goals in the Falcons’ first three games, all wins.

While Botkiss has his brother’s genes, they’re different players.

“Beau is way more gifted,” said Torrey Pines coach Jono Zissi. “Everything came very easy. Miles, he’s the hardest worker we’ve had in the program the last couple of years. He’s driven, obsessive with lacrosse, almost to a fault. We’ve had to calm him down.”

Miles has been on the varsity since he was a freshman and a starter since his sophomore year.

Asked what draws him to the sport, he said, “The ability for people to be great, not so much by natural athletic ability but because of their creativity and willingness to work at it.”

Egan is blessed with a rare combination to muscle and finesse his way through defenders.

“He has a shake. He can break you down with a crossover,” said Zissi. “I’ve been doing this for 17 years and his physical attributes, between his sheer strength and physical ability to move laterally, I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

Egan brings something else to the team, a carefree style, characterized by being comfortable in his skin. Despite missing one of his front teeth, he hasn’t worn a fake tooth since his freshman year.

“Everyone else seemed to be loving it (not wearing the fake tooth),” said Egan. “My brother (Evan) was on the team, loved the look and encouraged it. Everyone embraced it and I went with it.”

The look comes across as a tough-guy hockey player.

“I mean, how many Torrey Pines kids are actually toothless?” said Zissi.

“It fits Dewey’s personality 100 percent,” said Botkiss. “It completes him. Dewey, honestly, does what he wants and everyone respects him for it.”

As the two-time reigning Open Division champ, Torrey is the team everyone would love to knock off, and the Falcons like it that way.

“We’ve always been the hunted,” said Botkiss. “Coming to watch the lacrosse players when we were young was a dream. I idolized them so much. Now we’re in their shoes. It’s our part to give back and build this culture up, to continue that legacy.”

Norcross is a freelance writer.

Originally Published: March 24, 2020 at 7:10 PM PDT