Backup quarterbacks playing bigger roles in Arizona high school football

Video: C.J. Fowler's highlights vs. Chandler High School
Fowler is one of three Desert Ridge quarterbacks the coach plans to play.

There may only be one quarterback on the field at a time, but it is becoming more important to have more than one ready to play on Friday nights.

This has long been the case at higher levels of football, as NFL and college coaches' tenure often depends on the level of play at the quarterback position.

The need for two quarterbacks at the high school level has become evident in the first month of the season, as several teams have had to turn to the backup — or even play two quarterbacks — because they both deserve time on the field.

Take for example the matchup between Liberty (Peoria) and Desert Ridge (Mesa) during the second week of the season.

Both teams lost their starting quarterback during the course of the game in a 48-45 Desert Ridge victory.

Desert Ridge coach Jeremy Hathcock had planned on playing three quarterbacks in the opener just to see what each offered. Then Tate Shumway sustained a high ankle sprain in the game and Christian Krcilek hurt his shoulder in practice leading up to the second game of the year, so C.J. Fowler got the start the last two weeks as the only healthy signal caller.

Eventually all three will be available again.

"We are trying to figure out what kind of offense we are going to be," Hathcock said before last week's game. "Spread, spread option, option. It's something we have to get into it."

Liberty, in the same game, lost starter Kaden Kubaiko in the first quarter to a shoulder injury and turned to Andrew Magri, who brought the Lions back from a 42-21 deficit to tie the game at 45. He threw for 356 yards on 15-of-22 passing in his first varsity action. Queen Creek has played both senior Kaleb Honea, who will start this week at Williams Field, and senior transfer Tyler Bloom, who came in with 2,700-yards, 27-touchdown season on his resume, but has only completed 29 percent of his passes.

Bloom got hurt last year at Higley (Gilbert) after being touted as one of the top quarterbacks in the 2016 class. His then-backup and current starter for Higley, Mason Crossland, stepped in and threw for 2,928 with 34 touchdowns including the remarkable single-game effort of 641 yards with nine touchdowns.

Desert Vista (Phoenix) also has a quarterback with college offers in Alex Farina, but the senior has been replaced by junior Nick Thomas.

"We have two very good quarterbacks," said Thunder coach Dan Hinds, who also serves as the offensive coordinator, heading into Thomas' second start. "It was important that we won that game [against La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad, Calif.)] and going into that game we knew we had to do everything we could.

"Nick has a lot of great intangibles. He is a great competitor and brings some excitement. He runs the ball really well, and he made a few people miss and ran over some guys to get some first downs."

Desert Vista is 3-0 with Thomas under center after winning just a total of seven games the last two years with Farina, who has a career completion percentage of 46 in 308 attempts. He started 13 of those games and the opener in 2015.

Most of those moves were made out of necessity, whereas 4-0 Perry (Gilbert) is playing two quarterbacks, alternating every two drives, and it is working just fine.

Senior Gabe Tomaszewski and sophomore Brock Purdy are both completing over 60 percent of their passes and have combined for 10 touchdowns and four interceptions.

"It's simply because we have two really talented guys," Perry coach Preston Jones said. "Gabe is a senior, has been in the program for years and has done everything right to become a leader, while Purdy is talented enough to play as a sophomore and they've both done a good job of accepting their role."

It's usually not the case in transfer-happy Arizona. A player, and his family, sees a roadblock and finds a new place in order to get playing time.

"These days everyone transfers when it looks like they won't start until they are seniors," Jones said. "We had three quarterbacks when they were freshmen — one moved to California, another to Snowflake and Gabe was the last one standing."

He might be the last one, but as it is being proven over and over again, he can't be the only one.

"Quarterback is like any other position," Jones said. "You rotate at running back, use different receivers based on package, substitute defensive linemen. Quarterbacks are no different. Using one all year isn't always realistic, so you need to make sure both are ready."

Jason P. Skoda, a former Arizona Republic sports writer and current Prep Sports Director for 1013 Communications, is a 20-year sports writing veteran. Contact him at jskoda1024@aol.com.