GROVE CITY — Most of the time in junior high, the extent of Kam Patterson's quarterbacking involved turning to hand the ball off to a running back.

Entering his sophomore season on the high school football team at Grove City, Patterson had resigned himself to life as a wide receiver.

Then, things changed. Quickly.

First-year Eagles' football coach Sam Mowrey called Patterson into his office, sat him down and told him something Patterson never thought he would hear.

“He said, 'you're the starting quarterback,'” Patterson said.

Grove City was set to play at Corry in Week 2 and suddenly Patterson had the keys to the offense.

Patterson was stunned.

“Jared (Graham) was a three-year starter at quarterback,” Patterson said. “I thought I was going to play wide receiver and then coach called me in. I was pretty surprised.”

But Patterson seized the opportunity. He was 11 of 13 for 149 yards and three touchdowns against Corry, nearly leading the Eagles to a come-from-behind victory in a game that was suspended Friday night by lightning and resumed Saturday afternoon.

As the season went on, Patterson got even better. He had more than one TD pass in seven of his nine starts and finished the season with 1,777 yards passing and 22 touchdowns to earn a spot on the Butler Eagle Sweet 16 Offense team.

Patterson, though, focuses most of his attention on two other numbers: two and 11.

As in two wins for the Eagles and 11 interceptions thrown by him.

“I can't make stupid mistakes,” Patterson said. “I need to cut down on some of those interceptions so we can be in a better position to win some of the games we lost.”

Grove City lost three games by a touchdown or less. The Eagles did win their final two games of the season, which gives Patterson and his teammates plenty of optimism going forward.

“Hopefully we can start the Grove City tradition of making the playoffs up again,” Patterson said.

Patterson may be the perfect man for that job in Mowrey's offense.

Mowrey, a former quarterback himself, scrapped the conservative, run-centric Wing-T that former coach Jeff Bell ran for more than a decade and went to a more wide-open, spread passing attack.

Patterson quickly found a home in the offense.

“I can't say enough positive things about Kam,” Mowrey said. “We had a nice talk as we turned in equipment about how you never know how events are going to unfold. Kam's goal this year was to letter, but he was ready to step up when the opportunity came his way and he never looked back.”

Mowrey said he was also impressed with Patterson's maturation as the season progressed.

“Watching his first start against Corry and watching him at the end of the year, it was awesome to see his growth as a player and a leader,” Mowrey said.

The physical tools are there. Patterson is 6-foot-2, 175 pounds and has a strong arm.

It's the mental approach to the game that Patterson said he wants to continue to hone.

Patterson wants to be a better leader going forward.

“I don't think I was as vocal a leader as I should have been,” said Patterson, who admitted at times he felt awkward being vocal with a senior. “I just always try to have the mind-set to be a good leader. I try to never get too rattled after an interception or when something goes wrong.”

Patterson said his confidence grew as the season went on. With a lot of young talent surrounding him, he said he hopes to keep growing with them.

“We were really young and we knew, even when we were losing, that our time would come,” Patterson said. “Things will get brighter.”

Kannon-armed Kam

---

Grove City High sophomore Kam Patterson took over the reigns of the Eagles' offense in Week 2 and put up exceptional numbers. Here is a week-by-week breakdown of his performances under center:

Opp. C-Att Yrds TD-Int

Corry 11-13 149 3-0

Slippery Rock 12-22 199 2-1

Greenville 10-20 83 0-2

Titusville 12-28 317 5-3

Sharon 18-31 206 1-0

Farrell 20-35 246 2-0

Hickory 11-28 77 2-2

Warren 11-21 252 4-2

Northgate 20-26 248 3-1

Totals 125-224 1,777 22-11