Volunteer Qb Does Job
Brett Wideman obviously is the poster player for Shadle Park’s first win on the football field in more than a year.
A tight end on Wednesday, Wideman was the quarterback when the Highlanders faced North Central on Friday.
But credit for the 31-13 win goes to more than Wideman.
The defense figured it had to be stingy. Special teams knew any mistakes could be disastrous. The running backs had to shoulder the offensive load without threat of a passing game, which put the pressure on the line.
Then the Highlanders, like Wideman, came through with flying colors.
“I was probably more concerned than the kids,” Shadle coach Mark Hester said. “That’s probably an adult reaction right there.”
Maybe the real heroes are the Shadle Park faculty.
“The hardest part was just learning the plays,” Wideman said. “I only had a day to do it. I had to learn all the steps. I put in a lot of hours. I don’t have much (homework) yet, so I spent a lot of time doing the football.”
The idea of taking snaps came early in fall camp when the potential No. 3 QB didn’t turn out. Hester planted the seed, but of course, in preparing for the season, never got around to getting any repetitions at QB for his tight end.
Wideman wasn’t too keen on the idea.
“I was a lineman in eighth grade,” Wideman said, dispelling rumors he played quarterback then. But when Chad Egger came down with mononucleosis and his backup was unavailable, Wideman marched into Hester’s classroom and volunteered.
“He’s a good athlete, we knew that,” Hester said. It was almost a no-brainer. We went down to the locker room and worked on quarterback steps. Our offense was a little limited in what we could do. We didn’t throw much.”
Hester was most pleased that there were no fumbled exchanges, considering Brad Hart had been center for all of two weeks.
“Brett didn’t really worry about a lot of things,” Hester said. “The offensive line assured him they’d block for him and they called the plays.”
Enter Steve Gabriel. Behind Hart, guards Mike Rice and George Bell, tackles Justin Garrett and Matt Doyle and tight end Jeremy Johnson, Gabriel rushed for 212 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries. Kenny Towner and Sean Clark split time at Wideman’s tight end spot.
“There was a little bit of (apprehension),” Gabriel said. “I knew Brett wouldn’t mess up very much. Brett was confident. He wanted the position as soon as he found out.”
Gabriel scored on a 71-yard run on Shadle’s second snap. The defense held and special teams blocked a punt, recovering on the NC 2.
“When you score like that, you confidence goes up pretty big,” said Gabriel, who scored on a 65-yard run on the first snap of the third quarter.
So everyone came through. The defense limited NC to 47 yards rushing on 27 attempts and led by Gabriel, the Highlanders churned out 328 yards despite NC’s nine-man front. And Wideman connected on all three of his passes.
The 10-game losing streak was over.
“This is a special group,” Hester said. “They’ve been through some hard times… . The kids had a lot to prove. We talked a lot about respect.
“We have a saying on our practice shirts: `The strongest steel goes through the hottest fire.’ Last year was a hot fire for us. Hopefully we got stronger.”
Gabriel said, “I couldn’t wait to go to school and talk to everybody, tell everybody this year is going to be different.”
Wideman will quarterback Friday night when the Highlanders play East Valley at Albi at 8:30.
“Brett did a marvelous job, but I think we’d be a better football team if Brett got to go back to his end position,” Hester said. “The scary thing is now everybody will expect it out of us and I’m going to expect it out of the kids.”
This sidebar appeared with the story: Big games The teams picked third and fourth in the GSL match up when defending champion Lewis and Clark plays at University on Friday at 7 p.m. There is a matchup of league powers on Friday when 3A Cheney goes to 2A Medical Lake.