It was a hot August night, much like last Friday, back in 2019 when a 7th-grade Kade Heaton was in the stands watching Hawks standout QB Gabe Stumbo electrifying the crowd at Victory Field with his left arm on his way to establishing an all-time passing yardage record at 1,351. Heaton, now a junior taking snaps under center himself, etched his name in the annals of Hawks Football history this past Friday, surpassing Stumbo and setting a new career passing record at GCS.
“I’ve been coming (to Greenwood Christian School) since K-4 so I grew up watching football here on Friday nights,” Heaton said. “I used to be a kid on the sideline wanting to be like (Stumbo) someday.”
Heaton entered last Friday’s contest against Northwood Academy needing just 128 yards to break the record. An early interception and a sluggish first half offense cast doubt over whether Heaton would get the necessary yards. But a resurgence in the second half that included three touchdown passes of 30 yards or more to senior wideout Owen Whittington erased that doubt. Heaton finished with 179 yards passing through the air, establishing a record for touchdown passes in a game at GCS along the way to setting the new record for career passing yards.
“(Heaton) threw an interception early on a missed read,” Hawks head coach Will Rooney said of his junior signal caller. “I think it says a lot about the kid and his maturation as a quarterback to be able to bounce back from that and throw three touchdown passes in the second half. It really says a lot about his growth from since last year.”
Heaton certainly faced his share of adversity in 2022, throwing 14 interceptions to just six touchdowns and finishing the season with a 49.6 passer rating. But that failure, according to Heaton, is what propelled him into his junior season.
“I didn’t have a great year last year,” Heaton readily acknowledged. “I threw way too many interceptions, but I think all that failure helped me get to where I am today. I still have a long way to go, but having to play through such a tough year has really helped me grow as a person and as a quarterback.”
Having a leader on the field he can trust is something Rooney values as a coach, but pointed to his quarterback’s character off the field as his greatest asset.
“(Heaton) is a great kid and he works hard,” Rooney said. “He’s an easygoing, friends-with-everybody kind of person. He’s everything you could want in a teammate, in a friend, in a young man and I am really proud of him.”
