Carson Holds an Ace in Defensive Back Canales

There are doctors, lawyers, engineers, even scientists who couldn’t duplicate the high school record of Jacob Canales, an all-league defensive back for the Carson High football team.

In every class he has taken, from trigonometry to chemistry, from Spanish 3 to Advanced Placement English, he has earned the same grade: A.

Ever since he can remember receiving grades, Canales said he has never been given a final grade other than A.

Call it perfection. Call it genius. Call it never having a bad test day.

Whatever the explanation for his extraordinary academic performance, Canales, a senior, has used his smarts to benefit Carson’s unbeaten football team.

In two of the Colts’ most important games, against rival Banning last season, Canales had 10 and 11 tackles, respectively. This season, he’s playing free safety and is the Colts’ third-leading tackler.

“He gives us a lot of brain power,” Coach John Aguirre said. “He’s one of those kids who absorbs everything. I tell him, ‘Someday, you’re going to be the president of a corporation, making big bucks, and you better hire me.’ ”

To Canales, there are no excuses for not fulfilling one’s potential.

“I look at anything under an A as a fail,” he said.

Success in school is a Canales family tradition. Jacob’s mother, Ritha, was a high school valedictorian in Ohio. His father, Isaac, received a doctorate in divinity from Harvard. Oldest brother Josh had a 4.18 GPA at Carson, played shortstop at UCLA and is in the Dodger organization. Brother David had a 3.95 GPA at Carson and is a receiver at Azusa Pacific.

But Jacob is setting standards even his brothers find hard to imagine.

“Jacob is one of the most well-rounded kids I’ve ever seen,” Josh said. “He juggles this and that. He amazes me.”

Not that the brothers will admit to being inferior to one another. Jacob, like any little brother, faced their wrath.

“The middle brother just pounded him to the ground and made him the tough rascal he is,” Josh said. “As a family, if we weren’t hitting the books, we were throwing the ball around. Anything to do with sports, you could find the Canales brothers participating. There were food fights, and they’re still going on.”

Jacob soon could be a threat to his brothers, considering how quickly his body is changing. He entered Carson as a 5-foot-2, 95-pound freshman.

“He looked like a fourth-grader,” assistant principal Jeff Davis said.

In the past year, Jacob has gone from 5-7 and 135 pounds to 5-11, 165 pounds. At that rate, he could be over 6 feet tall by spring, when he’ll be the starting center fielder for the baseball team.

As the son of a pastor, Jacob understands there are responsibilities he must assume. People are constantly watching and evaluating him. Not that he’s perfect.

“My room’s dirty,” he said. “I need to always be reminded on my chores.”

And there was the time he showed up to a church sermon with bleached hair, causing his father to remark, “He looks like a dirty Q-tip.”

That’s about it in the naughty department. He doesn’t drink or smoke and enjoys reading the Bible.

“If you cause another brother to stumble, then you’re sinning yourself,” he said, quoting from a passage.

He remembers one difficult period early in middle school that helped provide a clear path to the future.

“Before seventh grade, I always felt I had to get straight A’s because that’s what my dad expected,” he said. “In seventh grade, I got real stressed. I missed some school and had the flu for two weeks. Finally, my mom told me I should want to get good grades for myself. I feel more relaxed now.”

As important as school has been in preparing Jacob for the future, the value of sports can’t be overlooked either.

“By playing sports, I’ve learned to be a leader,” he said.

With his academic credentials, Jacob has many options, but he’s happiest designing and building skateboard ramps for his friends, which could lead to a career as an architectural engineer.

Then again, he hasn’t forgotten what his parents told him as a child.

“My parents said I could do anything I wanted to,” he said.

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com