A KICK IN THE GRASS CANOGA PARK HIGH AIMS FOR SOCCER TITLE.Byline: Matthew Kredell Staff Writer CANOGA PARK - The Canoga Park High School Canoga Park High School is a public school located in Canoga Park in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, USA, within the Los Angeles Unified School District. It is located right across the street from the Topanga Plaza shopping center. boys' soccer team got heroes' treatment Friday as 400 students, teachers and administrators rallied at lunchtime to support the team before today's City Section final - the most excitement Canoga Park athletics has created in 17 years. Cheerleaders Notable cheerleaders
Such treatment usually is reserved for football and only when the team is doing well. But a soccer team that was winless on the field last season is generating rare excitement in a school whose last City Section title win in any sport was in 1987. ``Canoga doesn't usually have much spirit,'' defender Daniel Croymans said. ``We never had any fans until we started winning. The seniors started trying to get fans out and slowly more and more started coming. Now the whole school is asking about us and congratulating us. It's something I've never seen here with any team. It's something Canoga really needed.'' Today is a stellar day for San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. prep athletes, with 11 high school teams competing for championships. The Taft boys' basketball team and Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. boys' soccer team will try to earn their first titles in those sports today Sports Today is a long-running radio show on Melbourne, Australia radio station 3AW. It currently airs on Monday to Thursday between 6pm-8pm and is hosted by Gerard Healy and Dwayne Russell. Previously, it was hosted by the late David Hookes and Gerard Healy. . Calabasas and Harvard-Westlake boys' basketball teams will be vying for championships and so will the Palmdale boys' soccer team and the Newbury Park and Hart girls' basketball teams. Chatsworth and El Camino Real El Camino Real (Spanish for The Royal Road or The King's Highway) was the name of a series of pre-automobile highways linking the various New World colonies of Spain:
The most recent Canoga Park team to win a City Section title was the baseball squad in 1987, the year in which many of the current students were born. Adding to the excitement is that the boys' soccer team was perhaps the worst in the City Section last season, finishing with a record of 1-11-1. The one win was by way of forfeit To lose to another person or to the state some privilege, right, or property due to the commission of an error, an offense, or a crime, a breach of contract, or a neglect of duty; to subject property to confiscation; or to become liable for the payment of a penalty, as the result of a . ``We knew we were going to be a lot better,'' said Jake Croymans, Daniel's twin brother who also patrols the backfield. ``But we never thought we'd be here. After last year, we just wanted to do our best.'' When Coach Jake Gwin filled out his questionnaire on the team for the Daily News prior to the season, he optimistically op·ti·mist n. 1. One who usually expects a favorable outcome. 2. A believer in philosophical optimism. op wrote: ``Just like all other years, I see us winning the Sunset Six.'' It's something he always writes, he said, but this time he really believed there was a chance. Canoga Park made it to the quarterfinals two years ago, its best showing. Last year's team was young, and the defense played well but no one emerged as a scorer. The team had 12 goals all season. In addition to more experience, this year's team found a leading scorer in Jorge Paez (22 goals), who transferred in from Cleveland High. Then defender Efren Garcia moved to the goalkeeper position and turned out to be one of the best in the region. Canoga Park's team (18-1-2) gained confidence early in the season with a strong showing at the Hart tournament and began to expect to win as the season progressed. The Hunters, ranked No. 2 by the Daily News, have scored 69 goals and allowed just 12. Their only loss was to No. 1 Thousand Oaks. The turnaround has captured the attention of a campus hungry for athletic success. More than 300 people braved the rain to watch Canoga Park's semifinal game Monday. Multiple buses were scheduled to take fans to see the final today against Jordan High at East Los Angeles College ELAC is a two year college, offering associate degree programs in over 25 fields as well as both academic transfer courses which prepare students for admission to the University of California and California State University system and occupational programs which prepare students for , starting at 7 p.m. Last year, the only people to show up at games were the handful of parents who could bear to watch. Canoga Park, founded in 1915, is the oldest high school in the West Valley and once had a proud athletic tradition. But the addition of Chatsworth, Taft and El Camino Real high schools El Camino Real High School (also known locally as "ECR" and by some more recently as "ELCO") is a public secondary school located in the Woodland Hills district of the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California. in the 1960s and 1970s took away much of its pool for students. With an enrollment of about 2,100, Canoga now is smaller than those newer schools. ``In the 1950s and '60s, Canoga Park was a powerhouse in a lot of athletics,'' said Principal Denny Thompson, a former baseball coach at Sylmar. ``We had more than 3,000 kids. The new schools came and took parts of our area. The area that remained hasn't seen many new homes, shrinking our enrollment. Fewer students gave us a smaller group from which to find athletes.'' Taft High has become a dominant power in football and basketball; El Camino Real in soccer, softball softball, variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, kitten ball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies' , tennis and baseball; and Chatsworth in baseball. With its lack of success, Canoga Park doesn't attract many top athletes from outside its area. Many players who would go to Canoga Park based on their location end up going to other schools. ``Mainly, we do this with homegrown home·grown adj. 1. Raised or grown at home. 2. Originating in or characteristic of a locality: "Rock is homegrown music in the United States, evolved from blues and country and Tin Pan Alley" , neighborhood kids,'' said Joanne Heller, the school's athletic director Athletic director (commonly, "athletics director") is a position at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, which oversees the work of the coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic . ``We don't have the luxury of the bigger, successful programs that draw more. That's why, when success comes, it's very sweet because we've done it on our own, with our own.'' At Taft or Chatsworth or El Camino Real, a championship run in a more minor sport such as soccer would be thrilling to the sport's fan base but go unnoticed by many at the school. Canoga Park's run has grabbed the attention of students, teachers and administrators alike. People who have never kicked a soccer ball are making reservations to take a bus ride to East Los Angeles East Los Angeles, uninc. city (1990 pop. 126,379), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential suburb of Los Angeles, in an industrial area. It has a large Mexican-American population. There is a performing arts center and a cultural center. A junior college is there. today. ``It's almost like a 'Hoosiers' story,'' Thompson said. ``Everyone loves an unlikely contender. I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. much about soccer but I'll be there rooting my butt off (tonight).'' Matthew Kredell, (818)713-3607 matthew.kredell(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) The Canoga Park High School Hunters soccer team does high steps during warm-ups at Thursday's practice. (2) Soccer Coach Jake Gwin supervises stretching exercises as Canoga Park High's team prepares for today's big game. David Sprague/Staff Photographer |
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