Guess what, Washington State Cougars football fans?
Expected class-of-2027 quarterback signee Ryan Harrington, out of Anacortes (Wash.) High School, isn't just an elite dual-threat prospect.
Now, he's accomplished something only a handful of high school quarterbacks nationally have ever done - crack 700 passing yards in a single game.
The 6-foot-1, 200-pounder obliterated the Washington high school single-game record for passing yards Friday night in Anacortes’ 68-20 victory over Sehome at Rice Field.
Harrington completed 26 of 38 passes for a whopping 704 yards and 10 touchdowns in the game.
Ryan Harrington breaks Brett Rypien's Washington passing record
That career-best outing emphatically erased Brett Rypien’s 13-year-old state record of 613 yards for Shadle Park, set in a Greater Spokane League game against Mount Spokane in 2013. Rypien starred at Boise State and currently plays in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Harrington’s 10 touchdown passes also tied a WIAA single-game mark shared by Puyallup’s Nathanial Holcomb (2016) and Kennedy Catholic’s Sam Huard (2018), the son of former NFL quarterback Damon Huard.
How Ryan Harrington's record-breaking night unfolded
In fact, as the game wore on - and passing touchdowns began piling up - somebody on the sideline notified Harrington of that record first. And that is the mark he wanted.
“I don’t like to play selfish,” Harrington said, “but this is the one time I wanted to be selfish.”
With 20 seconds remaining, Harrington connected with fellow senior Dre Quintino on a catch-and-run 49-yard touchdown pass to tie Holcomb and Huard for the record.
That was cool, Harrington admitted.
But what was revealed to him through a text message from coach Justin Portz a few hours later Friday night was downright mind-blowing.
Harrington had also passed for 704 yards in the victory, the most yards by a high school quarterback in the country since 2024.
“It didn’t feel real,” Harrington said.
Not since Louisiana prep standout Peyton Houston racked up 817 yards for Evangel Christian Academy in a 77-76 loss to Captain Shreveport in 2024 had somebody amassed so much yardage in a high school football game.
Will Grier holds the national record for single-game passing when he totaled 837 yards for Davidson Day in North Carolina in 2012.
It’s been estimated that anywhere from 12 to 14 high school quarterbacks nationally have ever eclipsed the 700-yard mark - with David Koral, of Palisades (California), being the first to do it with a 764-yard game in 2000.
Harrington is now one of them.
“I was thinking last night, in the moment, that maybe there was a coach out there who really feels the right thing to do is take a knee,” Portz said. “I was thinking, ‘You do not get this opportunity very often to let one of your kids break a record, so let’s go for it!’
“We didn’t go into the game thinking it, but it was presented to us (by how Sehome was blitzing so often on defense) - so why not put this exclamation point on his career at Anacortes."
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