State passing record-holder Brett Rypien ‘pulling for’ Sam Huard as the Kennedy Catholic quarterback attempts to make history
Brett Rypien, like so many others around Washington, will be tuned in from afar when Sam Huard takes the field this weekend at Highline Memorial Stadium in Burien.
For the past seven years, Rypien, the prolific quarterback from Shadle Park who went on to a record-breaking career at Boise State and now plays for the Denver Broncos, has been the top passer in state history.
During his four seasons leading the Highlanders offense, Rypien broke the state’s mark for most passing yards in a career, throwing for an incredible 13,044 across 39 games between 2011-14. No other player in Washington has ever eclipsed the 13,000-yard mark in their career.
Perhaps until now.
Huard has rapidly closed in on Rypien’s mark during his four seasons at Kennedy Catholic. Entering Saturday afternoon’s meeting with Kentwood, the Lancers quarterback has thrown for 12,712 yards in 34 career games.
Should Huard continue on the pace he’s been on in his first two appearances this season — he’s averaging 483.5 yards per game — Rypien’s record will fall.
“I’ll probably try to stay updated — maybe refresh the Twitter feed every once in a while and see,” Rypien said.
But, the 24-year-old NFL quarterback has learned enough about Huard’s remarkable high school career to know the inevitable is coming.
“I’ve seen some of the stats he’s been putting up this year,” Rypien said. “Unless they’re playing an amazing defense, that should be doable for him.
“I’m pulling for him.”
Much like Huard at Kennedy Catholic, Rypien was at the center of the Air Raid offense at Shadle Park, and spent his high school career lighting up the Greater Spokane League, passing for more than 3,000 yards each of his final three seasons.
Rypien entered his senior year about 4,500 yards shy of the career mark set by Skyline’s Max Browne (12,953 in 52 games between 2009-12), which is when he started to become aware of how realistic his chance was to pass it.
“I was going to have to have another great year,” Rypien said. “Obviously with how much we threw it when I was at Shadle, I knew that it was definitely going to be a possibility, but it wasn’t something that I ever really had on my radar until going into that senior year.”
During the season, he set his focus on connecting with a new group of receivers instead of record-chasing, after all of his veteran pass catchers graduated following his junior year.
Current Shadle Park coach Jim Mace was in his first season with the Highlanders then, after former coach Alan Stanfield departed for a coordinator position at Whitworth University, and the program brought in Rypien’s father, Tim, as their offensive coordinator to pilot the Air Raid.
But, even with the new variables, it ended up being Rypien’s best season. He threw for a career-high 4,552 yards — which ranks second for a single season in state history — and 50 touchdowns.
“They all really seamlessly transitioned into these roles where they were backups and now starters,” Rypien said of his receivers. “And my dad is an unbelievable motivator, and he learned the system very, very well from Alan Stanfield, who was my high school coach before that and our offensive coordinator my first three years.
“We put a lot of work in that offseason. I remember trying to get on the same page, and it was a lot of fun working with him and working with those guys that were in my class.”
The Highlanders advanced to the Class 3A state playoffs, but it wasn’t until what ended up being his final high school game that Rypien started to think about the record being in reach.
He set it on a Saturday afternoon at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane in a 3A quarterfinals showdown with Mount Spokane on Nov. 22, 2014.
He entered the game needing less than 250 yards to pass Browne, and threw for 329, but Mount Spokane advanced with a 35-20 win.
“My whole mindset was we lost the game, so it was kind of bittersweet, but looking back on it now, it was obviously a really cool moment,” Rypien said.
Rypien still holds the record for most completions in a career (1,006) by a wide margin and ranks fifth in career passing touchdowns (140). His 613-yard game as a junior in 2013 tops the all-time list for a single game.
Prosser product Kellen Moore, who also starred at Boise State before playing in the NFL for the Lions and Cowboys, holds the state’s career touchdowns record with 173 in 44 games between 2003-06.
Huard sits at 807-of-1,300 passing for 12,712 yards and 145 touchdowns in his career entering Saturday, and was on pace to shatter all of the state’s career passing records had COVID-19 not shortened the season.
He has often noted his priority is to help guide the Lancers to success, and he is not focused on records, but said at a practice earlier this winter it would be an honor to be recognized among prolific passers like Rypien and Moore.
“It’s definitely awesome,” Huard said. “Those guys are some of the best quarterbacks to ever come out of the state of Washington. … It would definitely be a great honor to be mentioned in the same sentence as those guys.”
Rypien said he was aware of how close Huard was to his mark before the season opened, and is glad Huard got an opportunity to play as a senior, despite the pandemic delay.
“He seems like the type of guy that I was in high school,” Rypien said. “Very cerebral and obviously very, very talented as well — and probably more talented than I was coming out of high school.
“I couldn’t be more happy for him.”
This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
