Mater Dei placekicker Nick Lopez earns pre-season honor

Mater Dei kicker Nick Lopez earned a big pre-season honor.

Mater Dei placekicker Nick Lopez, a resident of Huntington Beach, received a prestigious honor from CalHiSports.

The senior was selected to the second team offense of the pre-season all-state team recently. He is one of seven players from Mater Dei’s top ranked football team to earn the pre-season honor.

“I’m really excited about making the preseason All-State team because I’ve put in a lot of work this off-season,” Lopez told OC Sports Zone. “I was sort of overlooked last year because our national championship team was so stacked with stars, so this definitely is a motivator to keep working hard.”

Lopez was a dual sport athlete who also played soccer as a freshman. He has a 4.5A GPA.

“I decided to focus solely on football after my sophomore year,” Lopez said.

He has a younger brother (RJ Lopez) who is a junior and is also a varsity kicker for Mission Viejo’s football team.

“My dad was a professional soccer player (played in Argentina, Spain, and the U.S.) and my mom was a competitive bodybuilder (Ms. California, Ms. Huntington Beach, and Ms. Golds Gym),” Lopez said. “They own a gym in Huntington Beach and are personal trainers.”

Lopez said he has options for the future.

“I have an offer from Army and interest from a few Pac 12 (Cal and Stanford) and Ivy League schools (UPenn and Harvard) as well as Air Force and Navy,” he said. “Hopefully some offers start to develop this season, so I’m not committed yet,” he said.

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