Daily Journal Athlete of the Week: El Camino’s Emilio Jimenez

The freshman did pretty well there too, going for two goals and two assists in El Camino’s fourth straight win early in the year, a 5-1 victory over San Mateo. Not too bad for someone who wasn’t even sure he wanted to play for the varsity team at the start of the season.

“I honestly thought I wasn’t going to get a lot of playing time on varsity,” Jimenez said, “and at first I wanted to play JV.”

Now, less than two weeks into the start of the season, Jimenez has been named Daily Journal Athlete of the Week, the first soccer player to be honored in 2024-25.

As a freshman, Jimenez is in good company. He is one of four freshmen on the El Camino roster. All four of them are in the starting 11, with Hurett Sheung at defender, and Daniel Figueroa Jr. and Jose Hernandez in the midfield.

With Colts head coach Ken Anderson in his 31st year running the program, it is one of the most freshman-heavy lineups he has ever fielded. He did have a pretty stellar group in 2018-19, which is what has Anderson so hopeful about the current group; that ’18-19 team grew up to reach the Central Coast Section Division IV playoffs as seniors in 2021-22. The difference is, that team went through some growing pains, posting a 5-12-3 overall record as freshmen in 2018-19. This year’s freshman four are off to a 4-1-1 start.

“We have four extremely good freshmen who can play varsity soccer, which is amazing in its own,” Anderson said.

It was something of a pleasant surprise for the El Camino graduate, himself a former standout soccer player on the pitch at Colt Stadium.

“I didn’t know what I was getting,” Anderson said. “I just knew we were going to have a lot of kids. And these boys are soccer players.”

Anderson was aware of Jimenez, though. The first time they met was when Jimenez was a 7-year-old El Camino fan, attending games when his older brother Andrew, a 2020 graduate, played for the Colts. Upon meeting, Jimenez told Anderson he was going to play at El Camino someday.

What neither of them realized was when Jimenez first suited up for his varsity athletics career at El Camino, it would be with the football team. It wasn’t something on Jimenez’s radar at the start of the school year, but his friend, Davian Martinez, a sophomore wide receiver for the football team, was impressed with his leg and told him he should try out as the Colts’ kicker. It proved to be a nice fit, as the left-footed Jimenez was a consistent point-after man. He also put himself on the map with some impressive field goals, including a season-high 37-yarder.

This is where Jimenez got to know Anderson, who serves as the kicking coach for the varsity football team. And Jimenez delivered on a promise he made to Anderson, as he told his coach he wasn’t the only soccer standout ready suit up for El Camino. In fact, the turnout was so dense, Anderson considered adding a freshman team, but ultimately thought otherwise. Still, the talent has made a quick impact on the varsity level.

“One, they play club soccer and, two, they’re able to because of their size,” Anderson said. “Every year we probably have one freshman whose going to make the varsity team, but not four like the ones we have now who are going to impact the varsity game for us.”

Jimenez’s impact was profound last week. The Colts outscored two opponents by a combined total of 9-1. Jimenez recorded points on seven of them. In Friday’s 5-1 win over San Mateo, he helped put El Camino on the board on a corner kick, curling a pass into the box for senior Noah Flores to finish for his third goal of the year, staking the Colts to a 1-0 lead.

Then with the Colts leading 2-1, Jimenez assisted on yet another goal, laying off a pass to junior Andrew Tafolla, who upped the lead to 3-1. All the while, Anderson was quietly rooting for Jimenez to take some chances at scoring himself.

“He’s actually dished out a lot of assists, so we’re always hoping he finds the back of the net,” Anderson said.

Anderson got his wish, though he’s not entirely sure Jimenez meant to score his first goal of the day. The chance came on a free kick from 20 yards off the right side. From Anderson’s vantage point, it seemed Jimenez was sending in a pass in an attempt to connect on a header in front of the goal, but he watched as the goal curled inside the left post for a score.

Jimenez said he was indeed trying to score the goal.

“I went for it and I got it,” Jimenez said. “My coaches don’t believe me. They think I went for the cross.”

Jimenez should be believed. He was perfectly honest in his account of his first varsity goal, Wednesday, Dec. 4, in a 2-0 win over Jefferson. It was a similar play to his free kick against San Mateo, a cross on which he was trying to connect with senior Ryan Bollentini, only to have the would-be pass turn into a shot on goal that converted.

“It was a cross,” Jimenez said. “I really didn’t try to score it. ... I meant to curl it in for the header, but it went in. It was a crazy goal.”

On Jimenez’s only other goal this season, the closer against San Mateo, he was certainly trying to score it. This time it was junior Christopher Gomez taking a free kick, one that found the foot of Jimenez, who was happy to redirect it for the score.

“He placed it perfectly for me,” Jimenez said. “I was there at the perfect time and he placed it right on time. So, I owe that goal to him.”

Now, after being unsure he wanted to be promoted to varsity out of a fear he wouldn’t get much playing time, Jimenez has cracked the starting lineup in all four of El Camino’s games. And, from the looks of things, he’s there to stay.

“I’m very comfortable here (on varsity),” Jimenez said. “I’m very exciting to keep playing with them. It’s a great experience.”