Oct 26, 2022 3 min read

Name: Phillip McCuen

School: McGuffey

Sport: Football

Class: Senior

McCuen’s week: The 6-0, 190-pound quarterback of the Highlanders had his best game of the season in a 28-6 victory over South Park in a non-conference game.

McCuen completed five of eight passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 14 times for 148 yards and scored a touchdown on a 79-yard run. {span}McCuen threw a 14-yard scoring pass to Ethan Dietrich to open the scoring. Tristan McAdoo was on the other end of a 35-yard pass from McCuen later in the game.

McCuen, who will have at least two more games left in his career, has thrown for 659 yards and rushed for 602 yards heading into McGuffey’s Century Conference contest Friday at Washington.

“It was my best game of the year,” said McCuen, who runs McGuffey’s option offense like a pro.

“A lot of it was teamwork. Everybody did their part and things just happened the right way.”

McCuen won the starting quarterback job last year. Running the Highlanders’ option offense is no easy task.

“He’s really become explosive,” said McGuffey head coach Ed Dalton. “A lot of teams play us cover zero to get an extra man in the box. Typically, what happens is when we get eight (yards), we get 80.”

McCuen said winning the quarterback job put him in a demanding position on the team. Each play, McCuen has to decide whether to pitch the ball, hand off the ball, throw the ball or keep it.

“Some plays, they call (for me to run), sometimes I check at the line, some plays are options,” said McCuen. “It just depends.”

Dalton said that McCuen can check out of a play at the line of scrimmage. It’s the first time he had that responsibility.

“He can get us in a play because we trust him,” said Dalton. “He’s a very smart, determined kid. He’s made something out of nothing a lot. That brings momentum to us and excitement to the crowd if we’re home and other kids feed on him”

Potpourri: It’s easy to find McCuen in a crowd. Just look for the player with bright red hair. He says he gets it from his grandfather, who immigrated from Ireland.

His grandfather originally lived in the Bronx, New York, but settled in Washington County when he met, then married, his grandmothher.

• McCuen watches tapes of old Nebraska-Oklahoma games to pick up pointers on running the option offense.
• McCuen shot an 8-point deer last hunting season.

Compiled by Joe Tuscano