Football, Basketball, Baseball
Favorite athlete: Aaron Rodgers
Favorite team: Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Beating Council Rock North last year.
Music on iPod: Rap, Country
Future plans: Play college sports
Words to live by: Hold nothing back in life.
One goal before turning 30: I want to graduate college and be on the right path to my career.
One thing people don’t know about me: Only some people know this, but I love to fish.
By Mary Jane Souder
Mark Lopez-Shefcyk has played a major role in the rebirth of a Harry S Truman football program that had fallen on hard times. Last year, the then junior quarterback threw for more than a thousand yards and also surpassed the 1,000-yard mark on the ground for a 7-5 squad that just missed out on a district playoff berth.
“You could tell when he walked onto the team as a freshman that this kid was going to be something special,” coach Jon Craig said. “You could see it in the way he conducted himself.
“Obviously, his ability was there. He was almost the way he is now from the get-go – just poised and a leader in the huddle. He was ready to go even as a freshman and sophomore. He could have stepped onto the field and been ready to compete if we needed him.”
Lopez-Shefcyk entered his senior season the cornerstone of a Tigers’ squad that was in the conversation for an SOL Continental Conference crown. The script was going exactly as planned.
In their season opener, the Tigers defeated a West Chester Rustin squad that last year was the third-seeded team in the district tournament. One week later, the Tigers fell to highly regarded Upper Dublin, but more costly than the loss was an injury to Lopez-Shefcyk’s knee.
After several days rest, the senior quarterback was on the field for Truman’s game against Bensalem the following week.
“As I got halfway through the week, I’m running full, I’m practicing full,” Lopez Shefcyk said. “I’m making cut moves. Everything is fine.
“I’m wearing a brace, but I was feeling good. I did everything with 100 percent confidence.”
It was business as usual against Bensalem when – with the Tigers driving – Lopez-Shefcyk made a cut and felt a pop in his right knee.
“I just went down,” he said. “I didn’t know exactly what happened - I didn’t know if my foot got stuck in the grass or I got hit.
“It didn’t hurt when it happened. The thing that scared me was the pop because I didn’t know what happened to my leg.
“I got up on my own and walked to the sidelines myself. I started jogging on the sideline. I made a cut move one way and I was fine, so then my trainer asked me to cut to the other side. When I made the cut, it popped again, and that really scared me. The physician told me she thought I might have torn my ACL.
“Right then and there, that was just the most devastating thing I’ve ever heard because it’s my senior year and we had high hopes for the season. It was just really not what I wanted to hear.”
An MRI on Tuesday confirmed Lopez-Shefcyk’s worst fears – the senior quarterback has a torn ACL as well as a bone bruise.
“When the doctor first told me she thought I tore my ACL, that hurt a lot,” he said. “A couple nights in a row, I was really down about myself, and then I started to tell myself, ‘You’re going to bounce back from this. Things will get better over time.’
“When I went for the MRI, I went in with a good mindset thinking it’s a possibility to be something else and that’s what you’re hoping for. Even though I had a feeling all along that I tore my ACL, when I was told that I officially tore it, it just got to me. Before, it was just thinking what it could be. Now it was knowing that it really is, and it hit me – this can’t be real.’”
It was an equally devastating blow to his teammates and coaches.
“As tough as it’s been for us, I feel for the kid,” Craig said. “He’s worked so hard, it’s his senior year.
“When that happened against Bensalem, there were a lot of eyes looking around, and you could feel that quiet take over our team and our fans. Everyone knows how important he is.”
Tom Monaghan coaches Lopez-Shefcyk on the baseball diamond in the spring but also recognized his value on the gridiron.
“Our football program has come so far over the last couple of years,” the Tigers’ baseball coach said. “What coach Craig is doing there and what he’s building has been great. Mark has been as big a part of that as coach Craig has been.
“I hurt so much for him personally just knowing what it means to him to be able to go out there on Friday night and put that uniform on. Mark’s that kid that has that ‘it.’ It’s a very hard thing to describe, but when you come across kids that have it, you know exactly what you’re talking about.”
If the recent past is any indicator, Lopez-Shefcyk will continue to have a major impact in the team.
“He was on crutches against Bensalem, and he’s helping the offensive coordinator, encouraging guys,” Craig said. “This week getting ready for our game, he’s out at practice right behind our backup (quarterback), telling him this, telling him that.
“He’s a special kid. He’s going to go coach somewhere someday. He’s got such a good head on his shoulders, and he knows that it’s important for him to be there as a captain and to be a leader and encourage the guys.
“Even against (Council Rock) South, when things were going bad, he was trying to rally the troops, talking to the kids, trying to keep them in it, so it was just a credit to his character.”
It is that character as much as his immense talent that made Lopez-Shefcyk such a valued member of the team.
“He’s an All-American kid,” Craig said. “He’s that kind of guy. Around the kids, he gets along with everybody.
“He’s got a positive outlook on everything. He influences everyone around him in a positive way. He’s just a natural athlete who can do a lot of great things in all the sports that he plays.”
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Lopez-Shefcyk has been competing in sports for as long as he can remember. Growing up, his main sport was basketball since that was his father’s sport, and he also played baseball, but while attending one of his cousin’s football practices, Lopez-Shefcyk got the bug.
“Right away, I asked my mom to sign me up, so she signed me up,” he said.
Originally a linebacker and tight end, a friend’s father moved Lopez-Shefcyk to quarterback, and he had found a home.
Inspired initially by Peyton Manning and more recently Aaron Rogers, Lopez-Shefcyk refined his skills.
“I really like his style of play,” he said of Rogers. “Even to this day, I watch his fundamentals to see if I can pick up anything.”
When Lopez-Shefcyk was a freshman, the Tigers were winless in conference play. The following year they won two games in league play and last year, they were 4-3.
“It’s amazing because coming in as a freshman and seeing the team with no wins in league play – it’s not good to see that,” he said. “You don’t really have fans supporting you, no one really talks about you.
“Last year was such a big turnaround, and seeing how much people cared about the football team and supported us – it’s really nice to know you’re not just relying on your teammates, you also have support of the community. There are people I didn’t even know that stop me and say ‘hi’ to me. It’s just a good feeling.”
Ask Lopez-Shefcyk what he enjoys most about playing quarterback – he points to the leadership aspect.
“It’s good to see when my energy is up and I’m staying up and positive – even if a game is going bad, I can pick up the other guys and make them feel good and confident just by staying strong,” he said.
The senior captain’s mental toughness was underscored in last year’s game against Continental Conference champion Quakertown with the Tigers trailing by 10 points.
“We were running a two-minute drill to try and get back to within three points,” Craig said. “He took us right down the field, and he took some big shots.
“He scrambled and took a big shot on their sideline. He popped right up, got to the huddle. We’re going no-huddle, he’s calling out the formation after just getting a monster hit and took us right down and got a touchdown. Now we have a chance to do an on-sides kick and get the ball back. We don’t, but that’s something we didn’t have before. To me, that was the moment I still remember where he had really arrived, and you knew this kid was going to do a lot of great things moving forward.”
A three-year varsity player in both basketball and baseball, Lopez-Shefcyk can’t imagine life without sports.
“It’s fun,” he said. “There are times when you’re tired, you’re sore and you would love a break, but growing up playing three sports – I have to play them.
“It’s something that’s natural to me, and when I’m not playing, it feels like I’m doing something wrong. It keeps me going, and it’s allowed me to make so many new friends throughout the years.”
Lopez-Shefcyk hopes to be back on the diamond by next summer’s American Legion season. Until then, he will be missed.
“Mark’s the kind of kid that other people gravitate towards,” Monaghan said. “It’s not necessarily his leadership. It’s more – he’s one of those types of kids you just want to be around, and you wish you had 15 of them.
“Not just because he’s just a good athlete, but because he buys into what you’re trying to preach to the team. He strives to do the right thing, he always wants to get better, and he just loves to compete. Kids like that are hard to come by these days. You might be lucky to have one of these kids every four or five years. Mark is definitely one of those kids you’re going to remember 10-15 years after you’re done coaching and not necessarily for the things he does athletically on the field.”
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Lopez-Shefcyk – who will undergo surgery to repair his knee this month – is already pointing to a future that most assuredly will include collegiate football.
“My doctor told me that my knee’s going to be stronger than before I hurt it,” he said. “I’m going to hit rehab really hard, and I’m going to bounce back a lot stronger.
“I already made a recovery plan, and the doctor told me I’ll be back and able to play my freshman year in college. Now it’s just finding a place to play in the offseason.
“I’m still in contact with some coaches, I’m still going to visit schools for football. I’m just hoping they see my thought process of how strong I feel I’m going to come back from the injury and how ready I’m going to be to get back on the field. That’s one thing I can’t wait to do – get back on the field.”
In the meantime, the senior captain is at every practice, every game. He is the second key player to go down with a torn ACL, joining teammate Corey McCloud on the sidelines.
“I work with the quarterbacks,” Lopez-Shefcyk said. “Considering we’re on our third quarterback (Lucas Gray) and he wasn’t even a quarterback when we started the year – he was our halfback and was helping us there, but he’s the best one that knows our offense and has the most experience on varsity.
“When we threw him in there against Council Rock South, we couldn’t expect him to tear the roof off the place. He went in there with little knowledge, and what he knew he did.
“This week he’s been working hard, and I’ve been helping him with the reads, making sure he’s ready for this Friday. I’m going to be there right on the sidelines. In the last game, when he would come off with the offense, I would grab him and sit down, and we’d look over stuff. I was helping him the whole way, making sure he was confident in what he was doing and knows he has people supporting him because that’s the main thing.
“(Since the injury,) I’ve gotten messages from the younger quarterbacks that are freshmen and sophomores that I never thought I’d get a day in my life from them, and it touched me personally and made me feel like even though I’m hurt right now I’ve got to still be there for them and show them the support they showed me when I’m out on the field.”
Although he won’t be on the field, Lopez-Shefcyk, who plans to pursue a career in the field of athletic training, will continue to inspire his teammates.
“I’m devastated for the poor kid that he misses his senior year and loses all his things that he doesn’t get to experience for all the work he’s put in during his 3 ½ years,” Monaghan said. “But just knowing Mark the way I do, I know he’s going to embrace any role that he can to help all three of those teams out in any capacity that he can, whether it’s cheering on the sidelines or helping the younger guys at practice just because that’s the type of person Mark is.”
