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Friday, Aug. 29, 2008

Passing the threshold

Clay County's Zach Lewis is poised to overtake Tim Couch as Kentucky's all-time passing yardage leader

MANCHESTER — Zach Lewis remembers how nervous he felt when he first walked into the huddle as Clay County's starting quarterback as a wide-eyed freshman.

"I had an all-senior offensive line, and those guys were towering over me," he said. "It was a rough experience."

His football life smoothed out quickly, though.

In his first varsity start — the Tigers' 2005 season opener — Lewis threw for 250 yards and a touchdown in a loss to Wayne County.

"After that, everything seemed to calm down around me," he said. "All of a sudden I knew what to expect from high school football."

No way did he expect, however, that he would someday have a chance to break Tim Couch's state record for career passing yardage.

Lewis is on the threshold of that achievement as he gets ready to begin his senior season at Clay County.

Couch threw for 12,167 yards in his legendary career at Leslie County before going on to star at the University of Kentucky and become the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft.

Lewis already has amassed 10,584 yards, the third-highest total in state history behind Couch and Elizabethtown's Chris Todd (10,766).

Lewis needs 1,584 yards to eclipse Couch's record. If Lewis plays up to his lofty standards — he has thrown for more than 3,100 yards each of the last three seasons — he could be the state's all-time leader by mid-season.

"To have a chance to break that record doesn't seem real," Lewis said. "Tim Couch is the pinnacle of Kentucky high school quarterbacks. It's an honor just to be mentioned with him."

After Lewis passed for more than 3,500 yards as a sophomore, Couch's record was a distant possibility. Now it's within reach and can't be ignored.

"It's hanging over the whole team; everybody's trying to get Zach the record," Lewis said, referring to himself in the third person.

"The sooner we can get it out of the way, continue with the season and concentrate on the playoffs, the better off we'll be."

The fact that Clay County has changed head coaches shouldn't slow Lewis' pursuit.

(Coincidentally, Leslie County also changed coaches before Couch's senior year, when Mike Whitaker left for Corbin and Joe Beder took over.)

Aaron Stepp, who coached Clay County the last six years, left for Harrison County a few months ago. Clay County native Shannon Arnett, who coached high school ball in Florida the last 11 years, returned home to take over the Tigers' program.

When Arnett was in Florida, he kept in touch with family and friends in Manchester, so he knew about Lewis.

Arnett promises he won't tinker much with Lewis' arm or the Tigers' air attack.

"We're still going to throw the ball around," he said with a smile "We've got a great quarterback and good receivers."

One of those receivers is J.V. Hooker, son of Sean Pennington, Clay County's most accomplished quarterback before Lewis came along.

Playing in a relatively conservative offense compared with today's pass-happy spread attacks, Pennington threw for 6,655 yards and 66 touchdowns in the mid-1980s. For a while, the record books listed him as the state's all-time leader in passing yardage. He has since dropped to No. 40 in this day of air-raid attacks.

Lewis has watched film of Pennington and was impressed. "He had a very live arm and was very quick," Lewis said. "If he played today as a dual-threat quarterback, he'd be the man."

The 6-foot-4 Pennington, who was also a basketball star for Bobby Keith at Clay County, signed to play football at Eastern Kentucky, and also was recruited by UK.

The 6-foot, 210-pound Lewis, who has 78 TD passes, would love to play big-time college football, but he realizes his height will scare off some recruiters. Marshall and Ohio University are the biggest schools showing the most interest. UK is still evaluating Lewis.

"I'd love to play high Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision), but I know some people think I'm undersized," he said. "I don't think it's fair to go strictly by height, though. If you can play, you can play. I think I could play Division I because of my ability and knowledge of the game."

Arnett agreed.

"I think college coaches miss out on a lot of good players when all they look at is a kid's 40 time, how tall he is, what he weighs," Arnett said.

"Zach is like a coach on the field. He can read defenses, he moves pretty well, he's got a great arm, great touch on the deep ball and the strength to force it into a small window.

"But the best thing about him is his work ethic and his attitude. To have all the accolades he has, there's no prima donna in him. He's the first guy here and the last guy to leave when it comes to practice and the weight room."

Lewis also is braced for the media attention that will accompany his pursuit of Couch's record. Clay County assistant Wayne Napier has given him some advice.

"Coach Napier was around when Tim Couch was about to break the record (in 1995)," Lewis said. "He told me there's going to be a lot of press and a lot of stuff going on, but I just need to take it in stride and keep calm.

"Everybody's expecting me to throw for a lot of yards and break the record. I tell them I'll do my best and try to help the team.

"If I break it, I break it. If I don't, I don't. It's like a dream just to have a chance."