Kennedy Catholic’s Sam Huard on cusp of state history after throwing for 400-plus yards against Decatur
Sam Huard is on the cusp of state history.
Following another impressive performance Friday night at Federal Way Memorial Field, Kennedy Catholic’s senior quarterback appears poised to rewrite the state record for most passing yards in a career next week.
Former Shadle Park quarterback Brett Rypien, who went on to star for Boise State and now plays for the Broncos, set the mark to beat between 2011-14, when he threw for 13,044 yards across 39 games.
Huard, a Washington signee, entered the season having completed 746-of-1,218 passes for 11,745 yards and 132 touchdowns in 32 games, and was sitting in fourth place on the all-time list when his season opened last week.
He threw for 515 yards and seven touchdowns, completing 28-of-37 passes in a 49-14 rout of Tahoma last week as he inched ever closer to the career record.
Friday night against the Gators, he finished 30-of-42 for 444 yards and six touchdowns — he threw for more than 400 yards and all of his scores in the first half — as the Lancers rolled to a 53-6 win.
“It’s just been good to come out here and play the game we love after such a long wait,” Huard said. “It’s been crazy how much time it’s been, but I think we’re getting the hang of it. We did a great job of just being focused from the start and being able to get off to some great starts in both games so far.
“We played a team with a lot of talent tonight, and I think we just came out and did our thing from the start. When we get off to such a fast start like that, and our defense is playing good and getting stops and we’re getting the ball back, that’s when we can really do our thing.”
Huard passed DeSales’ Brian Lindgren (12,575 yards in 39 games from 1996-98) in career yardage in the win over Decatur, and now sits behind only Skyline’s Max Browne (12,953 yards in 52 games from 2009-12) and Rypien.
Through his 34 career games, Huard is now 804-of-1,297 passing for 12,704 yards and 145 touchdowns.
“It’s a thing of beauty,” Kennedy coach Sheldon Cross said. “He’s the best. It’s privilege to be able to coach him and watch him play.”
Huard needs less than 400 yards to eclipse Rypien’s mark when the Lancers host Kentwood in their home opener next week in Burien.
But, as he has often noted throughout his career, records are not what is on his mind heading into this Class 4A North Puget Sound League showdown.
“Just being locked in and just being focused on executing and doing our job,” Huard said. “Let’s enjoy this one and then get back to work this week and get ready to go for Kentwood, which is a great team.
“We’ve definitely had some great matchups with them in the past couple years. That’s definitely always a fun matchup to look forward to, and just got to put in the work and keep doing what we’re doing.”
The Lancers wasted no time in marching to their second consecutive win, returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown.
Huard got to work the following drive, connecting with Junior Alexander, an Arizona State signee, for a 2-yard touchdown on his fourth pass of the game. He threw two more scoring passes of 13 and 33 yards to Alexander on Kennedy’s next two drives.
Each of Alexander’s first three catches went for touchdowns. The senior wideout finished with a game-high 137 yards and the three scores on five catches.
“He just throws it up and he tells us just get to our destination, and the ball will be in our basket,” Alexander said. “It’s honestly a blessing to play with him.”
Huard threw three more touchdown passes of 24, 14 and 25 yards before the half was over, and the Lancers added a 23-yard interception return for a touchdown by Kieran Collins to make it 53-0 at the break.
With the running clock active in the second half, Huard came out for a final offensive drive in the third quarter, but it stalled just outside of the red zone.
He connected with nine different receivers in the win.
“I have confidence in every single one of these receivers on the roster that they can go in and do their job,” he said.
Huard has also moved into fourth all-time on the career touchdowns list, passing Rypien (140) this week. He is one touchdown behind Browne (146) Prosser’s Kellen Moore (173 in 44 games between 2003-06) still holds the record.
He is now third all-time in career completions, passing Lindgren (779) and Moore (787) this week. He trails only Brown (882) and Rypien (1,006), who has the record.
This story was originally published March 19, 2021 at 11:41 PM.
