A judge cited Demarco Whitley’s strong family support and lack of a criminal history in imposing the minimum penalty on the former Glenbard West High School football player Tuesday for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in a church parking lot.

Still, Whitley, who was 17 at the time of the January 2010 crime, was ordered to serve 16 years in prison for the crime and to register as a sex offender.

“I want you to know I’m not that type of person,” Whitley told the judge before breaking down in sobs. “I’m sorry to the family and to anyone who was hurt. I would do anything to change this.”

Now 19, Whitley could have faced a sentence of up to 60 years for assaulting the girl, who testified that Whitley’s friend and former teammate, Pierre Washington-Steel, had held her down in his car while Whitley assaulted her in a Rolling Meadows parking lot.

Washington-Steel crashed the car later that night and died days later of his injuries. Whitley, who was seriously hurt in the crash, was arrested on his way to school more than a year later and charged in the sexual assault.

Whitley had maintained during his October trial that the girl had consented to the sex, but Judge Thomas Fecarotta Jr., who convicted Whitley in a bench trial, said he had “no doubt” that it happened the way the girl described. The judge noted that Whitley, who had never met the girl before, never exchanged words with her before or after the sex.

“There was not one piece of conversation between (the girl) and the defendant during this incident,” Fecarotta said. “I don’t think I even heard a hello.”

Cook County prosecutor Maria McCarthy had sought a “lengthy” sentence that was higher than the minimum, describing Whitley as a predator who “apparently was headed for a life of crime.”

The victim also spoke to the court, saying she has struggled with nightmares and has sought counseling since the rape. “I’m not that bubbly, happy person that I was,” she said.

Whitley’s attorney, Donna Rotunno, called him a teenager who made a bad decision, but “you can be a good person and make bad decisions.”

Still, after the sentencing, Rotunno again asserted that the facts of the case “did not show any injury of use of force against this victim.”

Rotunno said Whitley’s family, who wrote letters to the judge seeking leniency, “will continue to pray for their son.” Whitley, since his arrest, received his diploma and had been attending College of DuPage. He was jailed after his conviction last month.