Westlake Village (Calif.) Oaks Christian quarterback Richie Harrington had a dream ending to his senior year, one that started off rough.
After Trevor Gretzky won the starting quarterback spot for the Lions, the Lions sputtered out of the gate. Then Gretzky was hurt, and Harrington was entrenched as the starter for Oaks.
His first start was against Westlake, and it was a rough one. But he got redemption in the CIF-SS Northern Division finals, driving Oaks down in the final minute to earn a 1-point win and earn the CIF title.
Now Harrington is hoping to parlay his strong finish to the 2010 season into some more college interest.
“Right now, Oregon State is looking at me as a recruited walk-on, because of my lack of experience,” said Harrington. “Boise State and Cal are the same. Those are the main three I’m looking at.”
Harrington said he’d love to land an offer, but he’s also realistic.
“That’s fine with me to go in as a walk-on, I just want a chance,” said Harrington. “I just want an opportunity. If a school sees me more as a walk-on now, I’d be fine with that. I just want a chance.”
Harrington is sending out his senior film, with the help of his offensive coordinator Casey Clausen, a former Tennessee quarterback.
“We’re sending out my film and it’s out to a bunch of schools, so we’ll see what happens with it,” said Harrington.
As the year progressed, Harrington got more and more comfortable as the starter.
“The more the season went on, I got better and better each game because I was getting more experience. From the first Westlake game to the second Westlake game, I felt a lot more comfortable, I wasn’t nervous and it paid off,” said Harrington.
On the year, Harrington threw for over 2,600 yards, 34 touchdowns and 11 picks and had two rushing touchdowns.
Academically, he has a 3.0 and scored a 1750 on the SAT.