DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK:

As a running back, Carlos Mendez has been conditioned to absorb hard hits, to keep his feet on the ground and his body moving forward.

If rolling around a defender will gain an extra yard, it’s done.

And so Mendez has become the Eagles’ workhorse, and that’s exactly how he’d like it, because it makes his football life congruent to everything he already knows.

At 16, Mendez worries about the sort of problems even adults twice his age don’t always know how to handle.

He works during weekends at the Office Depot in Irvine to help out his mother, Nory Quevedo. He uses the money to pay for the expenses that come with school and football, and that’s pretty standard stuff.

But he also thinks about the condominium where he lives. It’s been on the market for three months, and Mendez worries about the uncertainty surrounding when or if the house will sell, given the soft state of the current housing market.

He thinks about his mother, who works two jobs as a nurse to afford the family’s $3,000 mortgage payment.

Mendez worries about being a good example for his two younger sisters.

He broods over the sadness he saw in his mother’s eyes when she told him he was going to have a new little brother or sister. The new baby was an unexpected surprise.

Soon, Mendez expects Quevedo to quit her job at an area nursing home and only work as a nurse at Fashion Island while she’s pregnant.

“My mom is the only person right now in my life — and my sisters,” Mendez said. “I want to be able to give them more when I grow up.”

Mendez hasn’t seen or heard from his father since he was 4 years old.

“I heard that he lived by Lake Perris,” Mendez said.

He doesn’t really remember his father.

“He’s never been there,” Mendez said. “I’ve never talked to him.”

It motivates me because I see that my mom works hard as a single parent. That’s what motivates me more, having her and seeing her and not having my dad around. I feel like I’m the man of the house or something.”

In a few short months since he started coaching at Estancia, Mike Bargas has become a father figure for Mendez. He and the rest of the team put their trust in Bargas, and Mendez sees Bargas during football season more than he sees his mother.

She came to Mendez’ first two games, but missed his breakout performance in Buena Park, where Mendez had 211 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries in the Eagles’ first win of the season.

“I want to thank my o-linemen so much,” Mendez demurred. “Without them, without feeding off of them, I don’t know that I would have been able to do what I did on Friday.”

He didn’t play last season because he was academically ineligible. Mendez struggled with algebra as a freshman, and failed the class, so he had to re-take it last year. He took health in summer school to catch up, and he was one of nine boys on the football team who was in summer school during football camp this year.

“I was really upset,” Mendez said. “I was disappointed in myself because my Mom wasn’t able to see me play varsity. I had to pick it up. I wanted to play, and I knew I could do something for the team.”

Mendez was quick to mention that he’s not a lazy jock. He did his algebra homework; he studied for tests. He just didn’t always understand what was going on.

“I think the greatest thing that could have happened to him was that he didn’t get to play last year,” Bargas said. “Now he’s hungry. He’s the epitome of what you want from a player. He looks you in the eye. He asks questions. He wants to learn.”

The Eagles’ ironman has dreams of becoming an architect or engineer, to be able to point to a real, physical structure and say, “that’s mine. I did that.”

His worries can loom large, and at times, it seems like too much to put on the shoulders of a boy not yet 17. But he takes everything in stride.

“I don’t really see it as a responsibility,” Mendez said. “I see it as a job that I like. I don’t know why, I’m just like that. I like being active. I like being with everybody.”

SORAYA NADIA McDONALD may be reached at (714) 966-4613 or at soraya.mcdonald@latimes.com.