In his first varsity start, unheralded senior quarterback
Eric Van Swol set a state record with seven touchdown passes in the first half as
NorthPointe Christian (Grand Rapids, Mich.) routed Bridgman (Mich.), 61-13. He completed a near-perfect 19 of 21 passes for 348 yards and did not play in the second half.
Eric Van Swol tied the Michiganrecord with seven touchdown passesin the first half.
Photo courtesy of Robert Pearson
The national record is eight touchdown passes in one half, which is shared by two players. Five others have thrown seven.
Despite having played football most of his life, and having a father and grandfather who had coached the sport, Van Swol was ready to give it up following his junior year. After all, he had played in just four of his team's nine games and sparingly at that.
"Over the winter I had a long talk (with head coach Tim Swore)," Van Swol told MaxPreps. "Most of my life basketball had been my main sport. Before that talk there was no way I was going to play. I spent five or six days thinking about it. I was going to focus on basketball (He was the No. 1 rebounder at eight per game and No. 3 scorer at 9.3). My dad said I only had one chance and I might regret it."
Swore, who had started the program three years earlier, wasn't about to give up on Van Swol because of his intelligence (3.6 GPA) and size (6-foot-5, 205 pounds).
"He's so smart about the game of football," Swore pointed out. "You ask him anything about the history of football and he knows it. I told his parents I believe he can be a good college quarterback and one of the best (preps) in western Michigan. We spent a lot of time (working out) in the offseason."
So why didn't he see more action as a junior?
"Our offensive coordinator saw things differently," Swore replied. "He's no longer here."
Van Swol conceded that the former coordinator thought he was too slow to run the team's spread offense. Asked what his 40-yard dash time is, he replied, "I really didn't ask my coach what it was because I didn't want to hear it."
Ironically, however, this year's offense is at least 85 percent the same as last year and he obviously handled it flawlessly. Van Swol fired a 27-yard scoring strike on the second play and his game escalated from there.
"He threw some absolutely perfect passes," Swore praised. "I was going to actually pull him out after the sixth touchdown, but someone said the state record was seven."
Van Swol isn't sure what he's going to do for an encore, but he did concede, "I don't think we'll be surprising anybody else."
