BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Some of the biggest stars Los Angeles has to offer were on hand for the 9th Annual LA Sports Awards Wednesday night at the Beverly Hilton.
Clippers guard Chris Paul, Dodgers President and CEO Stan Kasten, and UCLA Heisman hopeful Brett Hundley Jr. were among those in attendance.
And so was Jason Negro. The St. John Bosco head coach accepted the award for High School Moment of the Year on behalf of his 16-0 Braves. 2013 saw the Braves win a CIF Southern Section PAC-5 Division crown, a CIF State Open Division bowl, and a mythical national championship, being crowned the No. 1 team in the nation at season's end.
Check out photos of the 2014 LA Sports Awards Wednesday in Beverly Hills.
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As a result, Negro and the Braves were honored alongside some of the biggest names in all of LA sports.
"It was awesome," Negro said. "I'm kind of speechless when it comes to the whole enormity of the whole event. I just couldn't be more proud of my kids and my program and coaches and administration. It's a collective effort."
Before he received the award, Negro was interviewed by FOX Sports West/Prime Ticket's John Jackson on stage in front of the Beverly Hilton crowd. That was an experience that was a lot more nerve-wracking than any decision he had to make on Friday nights last fall.
"I didn't want to slip up and mispronounce a word or something like that," Negro said. "There's a lot of people looking at you."
St. John Bosco's CIF Southern Section title was the first in program history. Their appearance in the title game was the first for the program since 1986.
It's been a magical ride for Negro, who returned to his alma mater four years ago as head coach and led them to territories never before seen.
High School moment of the Year @boscofootball coach Jason Negro discusses his team's success #LASportsAwards pic.twitter.com/LgayZsjQ5j
— LA Sports Council (@LASportsAwards) March 6, 2014
"We're going to celebrate this until they crown the next one," Negro joked.
He says his team has already kicked off offseason training for the 2014 season and is gearing up for spring practice, which starts in May.
Still, they have not lost sight on how special 2013 was for the school.
"You're never going to forget it," Negro said. "Simply, nights like this or anytime they talk about the great teams in high school history in California, we're going to be mentioned. And that's going to be cool. So no matter how old I am or whenever I'm done with this they're always going to mention the 2013 St. John Bosco Braves in the breath of the best teams ever to play in the state of California and that's going to be really cool. It's going to be hard to debate that because of the schedule we played, the team's that we had to beat, and winning 16 games in a row is tough (at) any level."
