GROWING PAINS

Joe Lopez says no one could make chicken enchiladas quite like his mother, Bambi Auger.

“That was her best dish,” he said.

Her tacos weren’t bad, either.

One night last season, she made more than 200 of them for Lopez and his Quartz Hill High football teammates.

“You should have seen all the meat,” quarterback Jeff Williams said.

Teammate Justin Waasdorp ate 13 tacos.

Quartz Hill still has team meals the night before each game. At other homes.

“It’s just not the same anymore,” Williams said.

Auger died of a heart attack on April 22. She was 43.

It was the biggest in a string of tragedies to befall Lopez, 18, a two-way starter for the Rebels.

The second of three children, Lopez never really knew his father.

For guidance, he looked to his brother Thomas Morales, a former football player at Highland High.

Morales was shot in the back of the head and killed at a party on July 4, 1993.

At 12, Lopez was suddenly the man of the family.

It’s a role he maintains, looking after his younger sister, Melody Sanchez, attending school full-time, playing football and working part-time at Lancaster City Park.

“He’s learned a lot more about life than a lot of us who are much older,” said Coach Pat Degnan of Quartz Hill. “This kid has had to grow up in a fraction of the time most of us get to grow up.”

And the life lessons continue to come in waves.

Lopez and his sister lived with their grandmother and aunt after the death of their mother.

One night last spring, Lopez returned from work to find Melody seriously ill. He called an ambulance.

She soon fell into a diabetic coma.

“The doctor told me that if I had waited another hour, she might have died,” Lopez said. “She’s all the family I’ve got left. I have to make sure nothing happens to her.”

Melody, a sophomore, recovered and attends Quartz Hill.

And an extended family is developing around Lopez.

Williams’ family took him into their home last summer, giving Lopez a supportive environment in which to prosper during his senior season.

“They’ve treated me great,” Lopez said. “And I can lean on Jeff, which helps.”

Lopez continues to be Quartz Hill’s emotional leader.

Last week, he played a spirited game in a 35-14 victory over Canyon.

Moments before the game, he was in tears after his teammates appeared with helmet stickers with the initials “BLA” to honor Bambi Lynn Auger.

“I’m not afraid to admit it,” Lopez said. “I cried. It meant a lot to me.”

The resilient Lopez has been the perfect poster boy for a Quartz Hill program that is attempting to recover from a series of tough setbacks.

The Rebels, who haven’t had a winning season since 1995 and are winless in the Golden League since 1996, are 2-1 after consecutive victories over Crespi and Canyon.

Quartz Hill plays Saugus (2-1) on Friday night at College of the Canyons.

The senior defensive end and fullback has played a significant role, on and off the field.

“He’s the sparkplug, the heart and soul of this team,” said Degnan, in his first year as Rebel coach. “He’s the man among the boys around here.”

Junior running back Derrick Teal has gained much of the attention, rushing for 477 yards and six touchdowns in three games. Many of the holes Teal runs through have been created by Lopez, his 6-foot-1, 230-pound fullback.

Lopez’s scrappy defensive play has helped Quartz Hill limit opponents to fewer than 120 yards rushing per game, best in the league.

“Joe just comes to fight,” Waasdorp said of Lopez’s playing style. “He doesn’t care who you are or how big you are. He’s ready for that fight.”

Of course he is. His whole life has been a battle.

“It’s not my style to stay down,” he said. “I have to keep going.”