Lopez Nears Finish Line
Ask around Huntington High School about Luis Lopez and the most common reply will be “he’s a good guy.” It’s true the senior is widely regarded as an all-around nice person, but he much more than that.
After arriving in the Huntington School District as a fourth grader who could barely speak English, Lopez went right to work in classrooms at Huntington Intermediate School and later at J. Taylor Finley Middle School, where his circle of friends expanded dramatically and where he began to make a name for himself athletically.
It was at Finley that Lopez captained the wrestling and baseball teams and where as an eighth grader he was persuaded to give football a try despite his small size. While he didn’t see much time on the field during games, his interest in football took root.
In the summer of 2006, before his freshman year began, Lopez trained with added zeal, vowing to make the starting JV football team. Long hours of weight lifting, running and keeping his hands on the ball as much as possible, helped prepare Lopez to play key roles with the offensive and defensive units that fall.
“Defensively, he was a corner back and offensively he played receiver,” Huntington football coach Ron Wilson recalled. Lopez so enjoyed the competition and being a part of the team that the following summer he again participated in the football program’s pre-season activities and brought his skills up to another level.
One moment in time provided a particular spark. “He was an underclassmen playing on the varsity team as a corner back in a 7-on-7 tournament at Stony Brook University,” Wilson said. “It was then Louie developed a deeper passion to play defense.”
In 2007, Lopez’s impassioned play helped lift the Blue Devil JV to a fine 7-1 mark as Huntington outscored its opponents 176-73. He went on to win the starting varsity job at cornerback the next two years.
In an effort to boost his strength and speed for football, Lopez decided to join the indoor track team. In the winter of 2008/09, he captured all-league honors in the triple jump and all-league and all-county recognition in the 4 x 200m relay, running the third leg in the fast-paced event. The relay team set a new school record and finished fourth in the Suffolk championships.
This winter Lopez, who has also played high school baseball for three years, again grabbed all-league honors in the tripe jump (39’11) and 4 x 200m relay. “He’s an awesome athlete that possesses some great talents both on the track and on the football field,” Wilson said. “He’s a very coachable kid that doesn’t mind putting in the work. The great thing also about Louie is that he has a sense of humor. He’s well-liked by his peers and coaches. We will definitely miss him here at Huntington High School.”
The senior is planning to attend either Suffolk or Nassau community colleges and enroll in a business oriented curriculum, preparing himself to work in his family’s Huntington Station stores.
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