Scott Chedester, 16, of Lemoore and some friends who like to surf knew they were in for an adventurous weekend at the beach -- but they had no idea how adventurous.

Scott plays on the Lemoore High School junior varsity water polo team, which went undefeated this season. The JV team members and two varsity players decided to travel to the annual Winterfest tournament in Long Beach over Presidents Day weekend, where they finished third.

For fun, four of the boys went surfing.

"I like it a lot, but I'm not really good at surfing," Scott said.

He's good enough.

The surf was high that Sunday, and when teammate Cameron Weas urged everyone to go out one last time, Scott was game. After catching a few waves but getting separated, he paddled to shore.

That's when "I heard some people screaming," Scott said.

He saw a pair of feet and shins sticking out of the water 30 feet away. He wondered if someone was goofing around.

"I saw his head come up and this guy yell 'Help!,' " Scott said. "I said to myself, 'Man, this is really serious!' I started running through the water. I threw my surfboard down and started swimming. I started kicking my legs really hard."

The undertow was sweeping the man away.

"I got 10 feet away and he went under. It really scared me," Scott said. "He popped up for one last breath and he went back under. I reached down and grabbed him by his T-shirt and I pulled him up on the board. I said, 'Are you OK? My name is Scott and I'm a certified lifeguard.' "

Scott worked as a lifeguard last summer and was trained to say that.

"He kind of nodded," Scott recalled. "He coughed. I told him to keep coughing. I asked him if he could breathe and he nodded."

The man, 19 or 20 but no swimmer, shook his head when Scott asked if he could move to the middle of the surfboard -- to make it easier to paddle in.

Suddenly, a big wave threw them both off the surfboard.

"I grabbed him in a lifeguard hold," Scott said. "I got him more onto the middle of the board." Scott paddled to shore, where the victim's friends got their pal onto the beach.

"He was throwing up and a lot of water was coming out of his nose and mouth," Scott said.

Scott and teammate Jarred Cotta ran to a beach patrol officer, who radioed for help. Paramedics gave the man oxygen and moved him by pickup truck to a parking lot for more medical attention.

He was still being treated when the water polo friends had to leave.

"God bless you man. Thank you so much," the victim's friends told the rescuer.