Kings High School Head Coach Jim Shapiro had a lot of questions running through his mind after the departure of QB Thomas Vincent to the University of Washington. Vincent accounted for 1509 rushing yards, on 182 carries, and 25 Tds to go along with 1843 yards threw the air and another 25 scores. Anybody that accounts for 50 Tds with 4.59 speed is going to be missed, but fortunately for Coach Shapiro and Kings the kid next in line is one of the best in the region.
Billy Green (6-1 185 Jr QB) is the real deal, and he will get his shot to start and lead Kings for two full years. He won a variety of camp awards in the off season and will be one of the featured members on the NEI/Barton tour over the spring and summer. He has been working out with QB trainer Lavelle Durant (“one of the best in the business”-Jordan J) and also traveling 5 hours across the mountain to Spokane to work with ex college offensive Coordinator Bill Dietrich.
“Vincent was the best we ever had here at King’s, a true stud”, Shapiro says. “I wasn’t sure how we would replace him, but I had seen Bill play as a JV QB and I knew we could run with him at Quarterback and implement some play action”. Coach Shapiro continued,” By the first game I knew we would be fine with Billy, I’d seen him all spring and summer at team passing leagues, and he really showed us all what off season work can do for a player”.
Green started the season behind center and said, “To be honest with you, I wasn’t nervous. I was more anxious than anything, but after that first snap and throw, the anxiety left”. Green went 19 for 22, for 190 yards through the air and 3 passing touchdowns in a 35-6 victory. He was asked if he felt like he had to play up to Vincent’s level, and replied “Surprisingly no, I didn’t feel that way at all, I just was glad that I had the chance to show King’s fans that we were going to have another great season.”
On the season Green’s stats were as follows (182/ 277, 2397 yards passing , 40 Td passes/8 Ints, 4 rushing TD’s). Kings lost 35-14 on the road in the state semi finals of the Washington1A playoffs. Green didn’t match Vincent running the ball, but doubled his passing total. Not bad for a kid that nobody knew was going to turn out to be the states regular season TD passing leader.
Billy received Offensive Player Of The Year honors in the 1A cascade conference. When asked if he had any individual goals for next season he countered with “my main goal is to win it all, I would love to have another quality season but I want to know what it feels like to play on Thanksgiving weekend!” We will continue to follow Green in the off season as he looks to be one of the top QB’s in the region.
