The bond between Whiting seniors Berner Garcia and Demetrio Lopez is a powerful one.
Both latecomers to football, Garcia and Lopez suffered season-ending broken collarbones within a week of each other last year. Now they have a burning desire to return the Oilers to glory.
“Ever since I met Metro, I’ve always felt a connection,” Garcia said. “He shares the same interests as me, and I just like being around him. When we’re on the field, there’s always a connection there. He’s not just a friend, he’s a brother.
“Honestly, I look up to him. He inspires me to go all out every time. I’ll do anything for him or the team.”
Lopez feels the same way about Garcia.
“He helps pick me up when I’m down, and I help pick him up when he’s down,” Lopez said.
Both down late last season, Lopez and Garcia are back with a flourish for the Oilers (1-2).
Lopez, a 5-foot-7, 165-pound running back/linebacker, ran for a program-record 332 yards and four touchdowns on 36 carries against Bishop Noll last week in Whiting’s first win under new coach Thomas Knight. Garcia, a 5-9, 175-pound wide receiver/defensive back, had an interception a week after making a 38-yard TD catch against Highland.
Lopez broke the single-game mark set by 1999 graduate Paul Strabavy, a renowned figure in program lore who rushed for 327 yards on 41 carries in 1997, on a night when Whiting named its stadium for iconic coach Jeff Cain and honored its 2015 Class 2A state runner-up team.
“I was very proud of him breaking the record,” Garcia said of Lopez. “I know he’s going to do way more. He’s going to be a star.”
Lopez’s beginnings were more humble, however.
“Freshman year was my first ever playing football, so I was nervous to do things,” he said. “I knew I was athletic, but I didn’t know a lot of things about football.”
Lopez, who has traveled around the country to compete in taekwondo tournaments, said he started “learning the standards and getting into the groove” of football during his sophomore season.
Lopez earned a starting spot on both sides of the ball last season. He ran for 287 yards and five TDs and recorded 15 tackles before he suffered the collarbone injury against West Side in Week 5.
Lopez worked in the offseason, including with a personal trainer, to enhance his strength, footwork, speed and agility.
“It’s going pretty good,” he said. “This year, it’s my last year, so I know what the expectations are, and I want to make a big move on setting the standards and having my buddies back me up on what we want out of this season.”
Lopez has impressed Knight, a 2019 Whiting graduate who was a freshman on the 2015 team and was the offensive line coach last season.
“Metro, last year, he didn’t play scary, but he put himself in situations where he would hurt himself,” Knight said. “So now when he runs, he runs like he’s 6-foot-3 instead of 5-foot-5. There’s been a huge improvement in his game, just running hard. He’s not stopping his feet. He runs through contact, which is big progress for him.
“Trio’s knowledge has increased tremendously. He’s learning to see cutback lanes. He’s learning to trust his blocks.”
Garcia has had to learn largely on the fly. He grew up playing soccer and said he was “surrounded by people who played soccer.”
“I fell in love with soccer,” he said. “Before football, that’s all I knew. That’s all I liked. It’s the only thing that made me happy.”
Whiting, though, doesn’t have a soccer program. Garcia discovered football when he was a sophomore — as a kicker.
“I didn’t join freshman year because, if I’m being honest, I was scared,” he said. “Everyone made it like a big deal, and I was just scared.
“I’m the first-ever player in my family to play football, so it was kind of hard in the beginning. I was trying to get them to understand the rules and everything.”
Garcia earned a starting spot on defense last season, first as a safety and then as a linebacker.
“Junior year came along, and that’s when I fell deep in love with this sport,” he said. “I wanted to do it. I want to go big in football. I want this to be my future.
“I was just so excited because I finally had my chance. I wasn’t really a first option before, and I wanted to show the coaches, everyone, my potential. But I was still stuck in my head, and I wasn’t able to perform like I wanted to.”
Just as Garcia was turning a corner, he suffered a broken collarbone against Griffith in Week 4.
“Even though I wasn’t playing my best, I just wished I was out there with my guys,” he said. “I was there for the game he (Lopez) got injured. I just felt so bad because he was doing so good that season. Seeing him go out like that affected me into taking care of other people.
“I was depressed because my season went away like that. From that day, I told myself it wasn’t going to happen again. I wanted to prove to everyone that I wanted it bad.”
Garcia has taken those steps this season.
“This year, I was just happy because I was a starting receiver too,” he said. “I was working the whole summer just to get this opportunity. Every time I’m on the field, I think of my collarbone. I’m not going to let that happen again. Any time I’m on the field, I just try to go all out and pick other people up because you don’t know what they’re going through.
“I’m the first-ever football player in my family, so it was hard to tell them what I was going through because they don’t like the sport. I struggled with support. Some of my friends, like Metro, they always pushed me. I love him — I love all of my teammates — for being there for me. Now I’m excited. The season has started, and all my work is starting to show. I’m going to ball out this season.”
Garcia has made a believer of Knight.
“We would consider Berner last year pretty scary — he played scary,” Knight said. “Him playing scary and breaking a bone, to see that change from him last year to this year is a complete ‘wow.’ He’s making really big hits that I wouldn’t have expected from him. Now I have higher expectations for him from this point on.
“Berner has stepped up on the offensive side. Last year, he couldn’t catch the ball to save his life. This year, he’s catching the football. It’s a huge improvement for both of these guys, and I’m just really proud of them for it.”
Lopez and Garcia want to lead a team turnaround too. The Oilers haven’t finished above .500 since going 12-1 and winning a sectional title in 2018, Cain’s final season at the helm.
“I’m going to be honest, since 2019, it started to go down,” Lopez said. “This year, me and my buddies, especially Berner, we want to change this program into something else. Whiting is meant for winning. Everybody knows that Whiting is meant for winning. So we’re trying to change the culture. We just want to give 100% effort.”
Garcia agreed that change is underway.
“We’ve been at it a very long time, in the weight room, on the field, and it’s starting to show now,” he said. “I like the effort. Our goal is to always give 100% each play until the very end. We’re getting that mindset that our team can be the best.
“For the seniors, this is our last year, and we want to change the culture. We want to give the discipline to the upcoming teams, the upcoming freshmen, and influence them to bring back what Whiting used to be — a winning program.”
Since Cain stepped down, Whiting has had six coaches. Two of them didn’t even coach a game for the Oilers. Lopez and Garcia were at McDonald’s when they heard about the latest coaching change over the summer.
“We just told each other it’s going to be different this year,” Garcia said. “No matter the odds against us, we’re going to push each other.
“Even though we’ve had multiple coaches, me and him have always been pushing — not just us, the whole team. I really respect and love him because he’s a really good leader and a good athlete.”