In his four years at Scarborough High School, 2007 grad Jason Quirk played both hockey and football. At 15, though – as a sophomore – he also took up boxing, and he’s been knocking down opponents ever since. He recently claimed the New England middleweight Golden Gloves, for instance, and he hopes to turn pro “within the next few years.”

“It just happened to be one of the two beginners’ nights they have every year,” Quirk says of the fateful evening he first walked into Portland Boxing Club, unwittingly skipping the gym’s two-year waiting list.

The mistake proved fortuitous, as Quirk fell in love with the sport – and began winning almost immediately, taking two Northeastern titles while still in high school. “I love how it’s a team atmosphere at the gym while we’re training,” he says. “But once it comes down to fight night, it’s just you in your corner, that’s about it.”

A year after graduating, he joined the Coast Guard, which required a bit of a hiatus from boxing. He landed at Boatswain’s Mate “A” School in Yorktown, Va., where top performers get their pick of future assignments. Chuckling, Quirk calls it “the only time in my life I ever studied for class.”

He really wanted to return northward, after all. He wanted to settle down here, and to fight here (pro boxing recently returned to Maine). So he dedicated himself to his studies and – much like he has done with his boxing – came out on top, finishing fourth in his class and choosing to be stationed at Portsmouth Harbor.

“I fought in the Golden Gloves a couple times, made it to New Englands,” Quirk says of his boxing trajectory during his time in the service. In his first trip to the tournament, he lost early, but in his second, he reached the finals. Perhaps victory wasn’t far off.

He found it hard to keep on fighting while maintaining his Coast Guard qualifications, however, and opted for a break from the ring. When he left active duty after six years and joined the reserves instead, he strapped his gloves back on.

Which is when he finally captured New Englands. “It felt great,” he says; “it was the best feeling ever. Such a close fight, I didn’t know what was going to happen.” Quirk defeated Rhode Island’s Adam Paolino – to whom he’d lost earlier this year – in a 3-2 split decision for the crown.

On the first night of the tournament, Quirk actually fought a member of the Coast Guard Academy, a future officer. Incidentally, that sort of bout represents a particularly sweet opportunity for an enlisted man to get his licks in. “It’s every enlisted guy’s dream to punch an officer,” Quirk laughs.

Quirk calls that fight “back and forth” and adds, “He was putting me on the ropes the whole night…it just didn’t look good.” Even though Quirk landed “more cleaner shots” and ultimately won the match, he wanted more control over his movement for the final, and a more elegant aesthetic.

He might’ve gotten the former, but the latter seems to have escaped him. He calls the final a “brawl,” and says, “We were pretty much going shot for shot. There wasn’t much boxing going on – we were boxing, but it was mostly inside fighting.”

After three three-minute rounds, a trio of the five judges awarded Quirk the win, which affords him the opportunity to travel to Las Vegas for Nationals, and Nationals are just one step away from Olympic training camp.

He faces a potential conflict, though, with drill school for firefighting. He graduates in May with a fire science degree from Southern Maine Community College and recently accepted a job offer from the Portland Fire Department. His training for that looks to overlap with Las Vegas – but nothing is set in stone quite yet. Firefighting is his dream job, but of course missing Nationals would be a disappointment. “I’m just going to train hard and hope it happens,” he says optimistically.

Interestingly, Quirk got the call conditionally offering him the job just before he stepped through the ropes to face Paolino. “I was jumping rope, warming up, and I saw a Portland number I didn’t recognize…it ended up being one of the chiefs from the department.”

“It affected my boxing,” Quirk says. “Because I was not really thinking about the fight, I was so concerned about ‘Holy crap, I just got my dream job.’ I was thinking about what’s ahead of me in my career, not really thinking about my opponent.”

The distraction forced Quirk to box more on instinct than he would have preferred. “I still won the fight, but my mind wasn’t where it should be. Stuff happens so fast, so you’re kind of fighting on instinct anyway, but it’s nice, thinking about…where your foot placement is, what your opponent’s doing wrong, things in the match.”

Even if he misses Las Vegas this year, he can try for the chance again next year. It’s hardly unheard of for someone to win the New England Golden Gloves multiple years running – “The guy in my weight class before me won it like five years in a row,” Quirk says – and many boxers continue to compete into early middle-age. So as long as his body holds out, Quirk can keep going. “That’s my plan,” he says, “just keep going as long as I can.”

The sport, though intensely physical, does not appear to have taken much toll on Quirk so far. He’s never been diagnosed with a concussion, for instance. He admits that doesn’t mean he’s never had one, but he remains reasonably confident in his safety. “It’s been years…I’ve never broken my nose, never broken a rib. The worst injury I’ve ever had was a dislocated shoulder, and that happened in hockey.”

Quirk has averaged around seven or eight fights a year since he threw those first punches, and he has compiled a 28-12 record. Despite his success, his head hasn’t swelled. “He’s pretty humble,” says his father, Jeff Quirk, proudly. “He’s a squared-away kid. As a boxing guy, it’s nice to hear about squared-away kids rather than dirtbags.”

An official declares Jason Quirk, right, the victor in a bout.Quirk, left, raises his arms after a win.