Week 1 takeaways: State’s top QBs impress, Huard throws for record-tying 10 TDs
Kennedy Catholic High School quarterback Sam Huard made a pregame call to his father in Atlanta before he started his sophomore campaign Friday night in Seattle.
Damon Huard, the former UW standout signal caller, traveled south with the Huskies to commentate for their season opener against Auburn on the radio.
He remarked to his son that, because he had to miss the Lancers’ opener against Chief Sealth, the younger Huard would likely end up throwing for 10 touchdowns.
Sam Huard took that comment quite literally.
“I’m setting bigger goals for the team this year and for myself,” he said. “I felt like, why not go out there and throw 10 touchdowns tonight?”
And that’s exactly what he did. Huard tied the state’s single-game passing record with the 10 passing touchdowns, completing 19 of 31 passes for 552 yards, as the Lancers routed Chief Sealth, 72-20.
“It was fun,” Huard said. “We got out there and it was a great day for football. We had a great crowd there from our school.
“The first play I threw a touchdown to my receiver Junior Alexander, and from there were all locked in. Our team was playing with great energy.”
Huard tallied five touchdown passes by the end of the first half, and piled up 520 yards and nine scores by the break. His evening was done after the third quarter.
“I wasn’t really focusing on it that much, but my teammates were counting, telling me six more to go, five more, four more, three more — counting all the way down,” Huard said.
The 10 touchdowns ties the record set by Puyallup quarterback Nathanial Holcomb in 2016.
Huard, who was dubbed the MaxPreps National Freshman of the Year a season ago, becomes just the 18th high school player in national history to throw for 10 or more touchdowns in a single game, according to MaxPreps. Arthur Smith of Nebraska set the all-time record (15) in 1921.
“It’s definitely a great honor, because the guys up there who have done that — it’s hard to do,” Huard said. “But, it’s also a reflection on my teammates and my coach.”
MORRIS ROLLS THE DICE
Huard wasn’t the only prolific passer in Washington to post a big night in his season opener.
Down in Eugene, Ore., Graham-Kapowsin senior quarterback Dylan Morris, who has been committed to UW since before his junior season, led the Eagles to a thrilling 51-50 overtime win on national television.
The game was set to feature Morris — the top quarterback recruit in the state in the 2019 class — and Sheldon senior quarterback Michael Johnson Jr., who recently committed to Penn State.
Johnson was ruled out with an injury prior to kickoff, but Morris still gave ESPNU viewers a show worth watching.
He finished 18 of 29 passing for 313 yards and four touchdowns, and made a gusty throw to Jonas Waugh on a two-point conversion attempt in overtime to lift the Eagles to a win.
“We just wanted to win,” Morris told The News Tribune following the game. “We had faith in our dudes that we could execute and we did.
“We went over there and were going to go PAT, and then we all just said, ‘Let’s do it. Let’s go for the win.’ It’s a nonleague game and you’ve got nothing to lose, so you might as well roll the dice.”
Elsewhere, Mount Si quarterback Cale Millen, an Oregon commit, threw for five touchdowns to lead the Wildcats to a 52-0 win over Wenatchee.
PASSING THE BATON
Thursday night was just the third time Gordy Elliott has ever stepped foot in the press box at Auburn Memorial Stadium.
After coaching the Trojans the past 16 years, Elliott takes over as the defensive coordinator this season, with son-in-law Aaron Chantler taking the head coaching job.
When Elliott — who has made stops at Camas, Columbia River and the University of Puget Sound — first started coaching as an assistant, he had the bird’s eye view often.
But, since he started coaching at Auburn, he’s only trekked up the stairs to the press box three times — once to get something, once for a scrimmage and Thursday night for the Trojans’ season-opener against Tahoma.
“It’s going to take me time to get used to that view again,” he said. “For 35 years I’ve been right in the middle of everything, so it will take me a couple weeks.”
Chantler takes over after previously coaching at Gig Harbor. Curtis coach Chris Paulson is also Elliott’s son-in-law.
“One of the two son-in-laws, I was hoping one of them would want to (take over),” Elliott said. “And I was lucky one of them did.”
Another longtime coach in the South Sound also made a switch this year. Randy Davis, who coached for 14 years at Cascade Christian, is now in his first season at Orting.
He matched up against the Cougars and former assistant, Devin Snyder, who took over the program this season, on Friday night in Orting. The Cougars won, 28-7.
EAGLES HONOR HARRIS
Federal Way players, coaches and cheerleaders formed the No. 88 on the field before Friday’s win over Thomas Jefferson to honor fallen teammate Allen Harris.
Harris, who was 16, died of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy after collapsing at a team workout in July. The heart condition is common among young athletes, and can go undetected because it does not always produce symptoms.
The Eagles decided to dedicate their season to Harris, and won their opener, 38-21, at Federal Way Memorial Stadium.
“We can’t play for ourselves this season,” senior Poet Grayson told The News Tribune in July. “We have to dedicate it to him, go out 110 percent every play, and know that he’s watching us.”
This story was originally published September 1, 2018 at 6:53 PM.