Soccer is just one pursuit for Canoga Park's Quijano
By Lauren Peterson, Times Staff Writer
January 12, 2007
Key player
Alter ego
There aren't many teenage boys who take up knitting. Fewer still would ever admit it if they did.
As the nationally recognized Canoga Park boys' soccer team has learned, however, senior
midfielder Jeffrey Quijano is often an exception to the rules.
"I call it the 'Jeff Factor.' I wasn't afraid," Quijano said. "Regardless of what other people think, I'm
going to do what I want — what I like."
If that means joining a lunchtime knitting circle once a week, well, then so be it.
"He's not afraid to go there," said William Velasquez, a fellow midfielder and childhood friend of
Quijano. "I don't think I'd do it. I'd be kind of embarrassed, but Jeffrey isn't."
And no one, least of all his teammates, would presume to tell their team captain and the school's
senior-class vice president, homecoming king and self-styled mascot what he can or cannot do.
"I'm pretty much the only guy there," Quijano said of his knitting circle. "I take it in stride. And if
people hassle me about it, I just ask them if they want to learn."
Quijano's fortitude and maturity mix well with a zest for school life and a willingness to work hard
for his 3.9 grade-point average and his sport, making him one of the most recognizable, popular
and successful students on the Canoga Park campus.
"It makes you feel good when someone like him is an overachiever," Coach Jake Gwin said.
"He's coachable, talented, and he's got an incredible IQ. I never have to worry about him. He's
the piston in our engine."
Quijano has certainly helped make the Hunters go.
The Hunters (10-0-1) have garnered recognition unlike any other team in City Section soccer in
recent years by rising to No. 2 in the National Soccer Coaches' Assn. of America/Adidas national
rankings and No. 4 in Student Sports' Fab 50 national poll.
They are coming off a winter break during which Canoga Park won the prestigious West Coast
High School Classic and a Sunset Six League opener Wednesday in which Sun Valley Poly was
beaten, 6-1.
"I knew we had a good team, but I didn't really know how good," said Quijano, who had a goal
and two assists in Wednesday's game and has four goals and six assists on the year. "We're
looking like a solid squad."
Outside of school, Quijano plays for the Real So Cal club team, along with Canoga Park
teammates Velasquez and Camilo Rojas. The team was beaten in a national club tournament last
summer by an Arsenal team that included Canoga Park senior center halfback Rafael Garcia, the
Hunters' other team captain.
The players' familiarity with each other has been a key factor in the high school team's success.
"It's always a treat to play with these people," Garcia said. "Everybody plays together and works
really hard for each other. It's easy when you've known each other for as long and as well as we
do."
The team's close bonds also allow other players to shrug off Quijano's penchant for knitting. They
see it as a concerted attempt to be open to new ideas and to join in school activities, whatever
they may be.
"We don't mind," Garcia said. "That's so Jeffrey. It's so Jeff, you wouldn't even think that wasn't
normal. He likes to express himself, he likes to be involved, and he does it very well. I think he
likes the attention, and he likes to have fun."
Quijano is known around campus as the man behind the "Canoga Man" mask at school rallies
and sports activities. As a self-styled mascot that he invented himself, he does his best to spread
school spirit and support other sports teams by acting as a sort of super fan while dressed in
school-colored green clothes, a cape and a mask.
"It's me just clowning around, trying to get the crowd into it," he said.
Quijano, who plans to play at Michigan next season, has gained even more recognition recently
for his heady play on the soccer field.
He is part of an all-senior midfield led by Garcia in the middle but also including Velasquez and
Salvador Hernandez on the outsides. The foursome controlled the ball and the tempo throughout
the West Coast Classic as the Hunters posted a 6-0-1 mark in the 32-team event last month.
Playing a defensive midfielder role after switching from the pure sweeper position he played in
Canoga Park's first three games of the season, the speedy Quijano had more room to roam, and
it made a marked difference in the 6-foot-1, 180-pound senior's impact. He became the Hunters'
most active player, making defensive switches and keeping pace with opponents' fastest players,
despite his size.
"That's where I think most players don't know me, but truthfully, I'm like, one of the fastest guys
on the team," Quijano said. "I'm not as involved in the attack as I was last year, but with people
like Willy and Rafa in there this year, I really don't need to see the attack that much. I'm happy
with the defender role. It's like a rush for me, the contact, making steals, stopping the plays."
His savvy play in one game even caught the eye of a linesman, who looked at Quijano's rangy
build and soccer skills and was reminded of Socrates, a World Cup team captain for Brazil in
1982 and 1986.
"It's a reach," Gwin said, "but when somebody gives you a compliment like that, you must be
doing something right."