CTA's WPIAL & City League Week 7 Player of the Week: Highlands' Chandler Thimons

Highlands quarterback Chandler Thimons stands in the pocket during a football game.

SOURCE: (HUDL, Chandler Thimons)

Chandler Thimons

School: Highlands

Position: QB

Year: Sophomore

Height: 6-3

Weight: 215

Claim To Fame

This past Friday, Highlands quarterback Chandler Thimons completed seven passes out of nine attempts, threw for 311 yards and three touchdowns in a 35-0 win over Greensburg Salem in the team's final game of their 2020 WPIAL & PIAA football season. This season, Thimons completed 58 percent of his passes while throwing for 1,315 yards and 16 touchdowns. The fact that he did not throw an interception in the seven games that Highlands played this season is pretty impressive. Thimons, who is only a sophomore, has now been the starting quarterback for Highlands in the past two seasons and in his high school career, he has thrown for 2,678 yards, 27 touchdowns, zero interceptions, and has completed 53.8% of his passes. His overall record as the team's starting quarterback is 7-10. Keep in mind though, he only won three games as a freshman in 2019 and this season, he won four games in seven games due to the WPIAL shortening the regular season for football.

Questions and Answers

This past Friday, you only completed seven passes out of nine attempts and threw for 311 yards. Looking back at it, are you surprised at that statistic? Especially since you averaged over 44 yards a completion.

I’m definitely surprised looking back. But I wasn’t really worried about that during the game, I was worried about getting the win and making sure the seniors had the best last game they could of have had. The line was doing their job giving me tons of time back there and the receivers were doing their jobs by running the right routes and getting open every play.

Ok, so your team finished 4-3 and two losses were by only one possession against Mars and Hampton. If you guys were able to win those games, do you feel that your team could have made the playoffs?

Yes, I definitely think we could have made playoffs if we beat them. I’m a little upset to look back at those games and see how close we were to winning those games. If we would’ve pulled out the wins, I think we would’ve made the playoffs.

Your team started 1-3 and ended the season winning the last three games. People would think that you guys improved as the season progressed. What do you feel your team did a better job as the season went on?

I think we matured a lot more throughout the season and started to play more as a team in those last three games. We started to trust each other and just put everything we had out there in those last three games.

This season, you passed for 1,315 yards, threw 16 touchdowns and did not throw any interceptions as a sophomore. Now, that the season is over, what did you enjoy?

The whole season, I enjoyed having such a strong team around me. They made it so easy for me with the line doing their job every game; I knew they had my back. The receivers always doing what they had to do also made my job a lot easier. That’s what I enjoyed throughout the season.

You have two more years of playing high school football as you have been the starting quarterback for Highlands for the past two years. You might be soon to be one of the highly recruited quarterbacks in the WPIAL. Do you feel that now is the time to get your name out there and get colleges to recognize you?

I like to take one day at a time, and I'm looking forward to basketball season now. But having two older brothers that play college football, I know how important it is to have your name out there as early as possible in order to get scholarship offers.

You had many people help you receive the honor of being our "Player of the Week". What does it mean to you that your friends and family supported you to make sure you earned this recognition?

It means a lot to me to know that I have such a great community supporting me and doing everything they possibly can so I can get this honor. It really means a lot to me and I appreciate the whole community so much.

So, what have you done to become a better quarterback in your life?

Well, I’ve had a lot of great role models helping me become a better quarterback every day. I have coach Girardi and coach Bouch always helping me to be a better leader for the team and making sure I understand everything about a play, and they are always competing with me in practice to make me a better player. I also have a great role model from my older brother who was also a quarterback at Highlands; he always watches film with me and helps me break down details on teams that I wouldn’t be able to find myself.

Halloween is on Saturday. What do you plan on doing?

I don’t have anything planned; I'm just resting up for basketball.

AND FINALLY

What is something that people would be surprised to know about you?

I was the ball boy for the high school football team while my brother was the quarterback at Highlands. Also, when I was in 7th and 8th grade. I recorded the games on YouTube for football and basketball.

Brentaro Yamane: bkyamane@gmail.com and Twitter/Instagram @BYHilton13