Nick Rightnowar's high school football career officially ended on Nov. 5, but the Toledo Christian senior quarterback still has plans to continue playing at the next level.

The problem is, when you're six feet tall and 165 pounds soaking wet, big-time universities aren't exactly knocking down your front door.

“Anyone that's 6-4, 220 is going to get looked at a lot closer,” Rightnowar said. “I can't really control that. I just do what I can do and try to be successful with what I've got.”

Rightnowar's ability under center as a three-year starter made a lot of fans take notice and made lots of opposing coaches lose sleep. Toledo Christian coach John Miller said that despite his lack of size, Rightnowar can make any downfield pass known to man.

“We have every throw and pass route in our playbook, from the screen to the 'go' route,” said Miller, who switched from a run-oriented offense to a spread offense prior to Rightnowar's sophomore year. “He's able to make those throws. He's got a strong arm. He's pretty accurate from 40-50 yards. His numbers are great, and he makes great reads.”

Rightnowar, who lives in Oregon, has attended Toledo Christian Schools since kindergarten. This season, the two-time Toledo Area Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year completed 155 of 248 passes during the regular season, and ended the season throwing for 3,033 yards, 38 touchdowns and only five interceptions. Because he lives on this side of town, he is listed as the top passer in the Eastern Maumee Bay region in The Press’s stat leader board this week (only includes regular season

Toledo Christian's Nick Rightnowar attempt a pass as Northwood's Corey Jones defends.(Press photo by Don Thompson/picasaweb.google.com/donrachael)

stats).

In three years, Rightnowar completed 447 of 723 passes (62 percent) for 7,071 yards and 83 touchdowns, with 27 interceptions. His career TD total is the eighth-best all-time in Ohio, and his career passing yards rank 17th on the all-time list. His 35 scoring passes this season tied for 24th on the all-time list.

Rightnowar said one accomplishment in particular stands out during his time at TC – the Eagles' 20-16 win over Northwood on Oct. 22. The following week, Toledo Christian beat Ottawa Hills to claim its first outright TAAC championship and end Northwood's three-year reign.

“Beating Northwood was huge,” said Rightnowar, who passed for 254 yards and a touchdown against the Rangers. “That was something we've been wanting to do for four years now. That moment when we won, it was chaos and really fun. Beating them and winning the TAAC, that was pretty cool.”

Rightnowar extended his own state record for consecutive completions (30) when he completed his first three passes against Northwood. He connected on his last 15 throws against Edon in Week 7 and he was 12-for-12 in a Week 8 win over Danbury. The previous record for consecutive completions was 17, set by Cincinnati St. Xavier’s Luke Massa in 2007.

“Nick's a smart kid,” Miller said. “He really puts the work in with his position coach (Romie Brown). He's been under his tutelage the last three years, and Romie's instilled in him some core values and he's worked with him in reading defenses and putting in the time to throw all the routes.

“He's got some really good receivers (David Westmeyer and Zach Brumbaugh) who have been right there with him the last three years. Those guys are good route runners and they know each other very well. They've been playing football together since the seventh grade, and with all the 7-on-7 camps the last two summers, that gave them a lot of opportunities to refine our passing game.”

Rightnowar said Brown “taught me pretty much everything I know.”

“He's awesome,” Rightnowar said. “This is his offense he designed. I look up to him and I respect him. We know what each other is thinking.”

Eleven of the 26 players on this year's Toledo Christian roster were seniors, and that group led the Eagles to their second playoff appearance (Division VI) in four years. The Eagles lost in the first round last Friday, 27-24 at Mohawk (10-1), to finish the season with an 8-3 record.

Rightnowar, who threw for 226 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score in the loss to Mohawk, said it was “a ton of fun” to direct the Eagles' spread offense.

“Not many programs around the area give their quarterback or the offense the ability to just fling it all over the place,” he said. “I'm grateful that our head coach lets us do it and grateful for our coaches who designed the offense. My receivers and I went out there and had fun. They definitely made me look pretty good.”

Rightnowar said a few colleges have shown interest, and he's now playing the waiting game.

“Now that the season's over and the college season is coming closer to an end, that's when they start looking at you more closely,” he said. “I have had contact with some schools and they said wait until January or February. I definitely want to play.”

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