Joining the fold

It was around this time last year that Mo Safren was faced with a difficult choice.

He had to decide whether to spend his senior year at Highland — where he had attended class since he was a freshman — or at the new school in town, Eastern View.

“It was cool (being at Highland) when Hannah was there because I always had a sibling around,” Safren said. “I don’t know, maybe I got lonely or something.”

So the 6-foot-2-inch shooting guard opted to leave Highland — where he averaged 15 points a game and led the team to a Pioneer District title as a junior — and became a Cyclone.

“I just wanted something different,” he said. “It was a new school and that excited me.”

But after Safren starred on Eastern View’s football, basketball and tennis teams as a senior, he was faced with an even tougher predicament: Accept a division-II basketball scholarship or take a chance and chase his off-the-court passion — music.

“It was tough because I needed to find that perfect fit,” Safren said. “I had to find the school that offered everything I wanted and would be the best fit for me.”

Safren had been tossing around both possibilities since making it rain 3-pointers all the way into the second round of the regional tournament, but he’s probably getting better sleep these days because he has decided to dazzle Shenandoah University’s fans with his buzzer-beaters and his ability to make a fast-paced jazz medley look like child’s play on the piano.

“They (Shenandoah) are the perfect fit for me,” Safren said. “I feel like my choice will pay off in the long run. It was tough, but I guess I just got lucky.”

Safren auditioned for Shenandoah’s Music Conservatory and James Madison University’s music school.

He chose to head to Winchester instead of Harrisonburg because Hornets’ basketball coach Robert Harris had no qualms about him joining the team as a walk-on — mainly because he had been recruiting Safren all season.

“He and I were talking before I took any of my visits,” Safren said. “He even came to one of our games against Courtland. I knew he really wanted me because he never stopped recruiting me.”

Safren certainly gave Harris plenty of opportunities to scout him this year. If he wasn’t leading the Cyclones’ football team in interceptions, he was hitting clutch shots as a captain on the basketball squad or teaming up with his brother Ben and making it all the way to the Battlefield District’s doubles tennis tournament.

“It was fun playing with Ben because no one expected us to go that far,” he said. “Football made me tougher, tennis helped me with my quickness and lateral movement and basketball, well, that’s self explanatory.”

As the Cyclones’ go-to guy all season, Safren certainly wasn’t shy about bouncing off a pick and sinking a 3-pointer from just about anywhere behind the arc. In his only season at the new school, he averaged 18.5 points game to go along with five rebounds and four assists.

“He (Safren) brings great leadership to the team and plays with tremendous heart and reckless abandon,” EVHS coach Walter Wright said. “He’s the type of kid anyone would want on their team. He’s mentally tough, respectful, disciplined and talented.”

After receiving first-team All-Battlefield and second-team All-Region honors in the Cyclones’ inaugural season, Safren even got to spend a weekend in Winchester with his future teammates.

“That was really cool because they’re like my future,” he said. “And it’s nice because it’s close to home. I’ll probably be home every weekend.”

Safren turned down scholarships from Seton Hill University (Pa.) and Ohio Valley University for the opportunity to explore his dreams on and off the court, and he knows it isn’t going to be easy.

“I’m going in expecting the worst, and we’ll see what happens in a year,” he said. “Music is a really demanding major. It’s basically like another sport because the workload is way more than any other major.”

Whether as a 10-year-old playing Johann Sebastian Bach or an 18-year-old senior hitting the winning shot to beat Caroline and keep the Cyclones in the playoffs, Mo Safren has been anything but average for a long time, and Wright said the Hornets should be thanking their lucky stars right now.

“He (Safren) is going to bring great enthusiasm and leadership to their team,” he said. “They are really getting a great asset.”