His Prized Possession Is Life in U.S. : Football: Memories of gold baptism chain and family’s struggles en route from El Salvador remain for Dana Hills’ Peraza.

Julio Peraza might as well have been asked to rip out his heart. But the gold chain--given to him by his parents--had to go.

Fear of standing out. Fear of theft. Fear of his mother and sister being raped. Fear of being sent back to El Salvador.

Peraza, a sophomore running back at Dana Hills, no longer has to be afraid. But the memory remains.

Wherever Peraza went, he carried his mother’s love and care around his neck. The baptism chain represented that. Then Maribel Peraza told her son to drop the chain. It was the hardest part of a difficult journey from Sonsonate, El Salvador to Dana Point.

“That chain had been with me my whole life and I had to lose it,” Peraza said. “We couldn’t risk having it seen. It would make us stand out. There could be problems.”

Peraza, his mother, Maribel, and his older sister, Nuvia, spent a month traveling, by bus and by foot, to get to the United States. His father, Julio, was employed in this country and had begun the paperwork that would allow him and his family to stay.

Nearly five years ago, Julio Peraza left his country, his grandparents and, along the way, his gold chain. All for a better life.

“My dad came here first, just to visit,” Peraza said. “But he saw a future for us here. He called my mother and told her to come. My sister and I didn’t want to leave, but my mom said the future will be better.”

Peraza wants to return to El Salvador someday to visit. Home, now, is Dana Point.

Here he is a standout running back for the Dolphins.

Peraza has gained 502 yards rushing, caught nine passes for 127 yards and scored 10 touchdowns. He is definitely the high point in a 2-5 season.

Dolphin Coach Trace Deneke could see this coming. Peraza impressed Dolphin coaches immediately and gained 1,467 yards for a 6-4 freshman team.

“Every year, we have a scrimmage between the freshman and sophomore teams and none of the sophomores could stop Julio,” Deneke said. “We knew right then that Julio was going to make us look like smart coaches.”

He did last Friday in a 27-0 victory over Mission Viejo.

Peraza scored on an 18-yard run on the Dolphins’ first play. In the second quarter, he caught a shovel pass from quarterback John Morgan and ran 14 yards for a touchdown. In the second half, he took a handoff, then threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Chris Weber.

Peraza finished with 101 yards rushing in 10 carries. It was an exceptional performance. But Deneke has come to expect nothing less.

“When he gets hit hard, he almost takes it like a personal insult,” Deneke said. “He doesn’t say anything, but you can tell it’s a personal challenge to be the toughest.”

Just how tough, Deneke learned this summer.

Deneke was working in his office after the Dolphins had finished their daily workout. Peraza knocked on the door and asked if he could do a little extra work.

On Deneke’s desk were two bagels.

“I asked him if he wanted a bagel,” Deneke said. “He was so grateful for it. I mean, if you give some kids $25 to fill up their car with gas and they wouldn’t think anything about it. Kids have so much in this area. But Julio really appreciated a little thing like a bagel.

“Then he started telling me about coming here. It was real clear I wasn’t talking to your average 15-year-old kid.”

Julio Peraza Sr. was a low-level government official in El Salvador when he came to the United States five years ago. He didn’t come to look for work, but it soon became clear that life for his family would be better in the United States.

Sonsonate, in southern El Salvador, was not a dangerous place. Much of the rebel fighting and government atrocities happened on the other side of the country, according to Peraza. But his mother still feared for her two children.

So when Maribel Peraza was asked by her husband to bring the family north, there was no discussion.

But it meant Julio had to leave his grandfather, Vicente, who had raised him when his parents had separated years before. Even after they reconciled, his grandfather remained a role model.

“He taught me how to fish and how to cook and showed me all the little things I needed to know,” Peraza said. “The day we left, he was crying. I said, ‘No matter where I go, I will carry you in my heart.’ ”

The journey lasted a month, a week of which was spent walking. They crossed three borders--Guatemala, Mexico and the United States--illegally, knowing they would be sent home if caught. That, at times, was the least of their problems.

Peraza, who carried only a small backpack with clothes, realized how dangerous the journey was when his mother told him to drop the baptismal chain by the road.

“We couldn’t bring any attention to ourselves,” Peraza said. “Women on the road were being raped in the area we were in. I prayed every day for my mother and sister.”

Bus rides were no better.

Peraza remembered one night when the bus they were on hugged the road next to a cliff during a rainstorm. He thought how easily they could be washed over the edge.

After a month, they slipped across the U.S. border.

“It was dark and I was praying,” Peraza said. “We were lucky. Everything went fine.”

And has ever since.

The family has been granted legal status to remain in the United States. His father works in construction and his mother as a housekeeper. The future does look better.

Peraza, 5 feet 10, 190 pounds, would like it to include football. He began playing in the eighth grade and improved rapidly.

Last year, he scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns against the Trabuco Hills freshman to turn a 20-0 deficit into a 21-20 victory.

This year, he set the school’s sophomore record by dead lifting 475 pounds, four days after suffering a separated shoulder.

“I think that shows how tough he is,” Deneke said.

But not too tough.

Last spring, his grandfather--still in El Salvador--suffered a stroke. He has improved but is confined to a wheelchair. The family talks by phone often, but for Peraza those conversations are painful.

“When we left, my grandfather said he couldn’t come because he was too old,” Peraza said. “Now he barely talks. I will go back someday to visit him. I have a good future here, but I will see him again.”