West Rowan’s Lucas Graham is The Charlotte Observer HS football offensive player of the week

West Rowan QB Lucas Graham, The Charlotte Observer high school offensive player of the week, didn’t know just how good a game he was having against Davie County last week.

Graham, 17, is a baseball player at heart. He thought he may have had about 250 yards passing in a 35-34 win.

Turns out that receiver Evan Kennedy finished with a second record 227 yards receiving on seven catches. Graham? He completed 15-of-25 passes for a school-record 388 yards and three touchdowns.

For his effort, he won the region’s offensive player of the week after nearly 30,000 votes were cast. He finished ahead of West Caldwell’s Jaylen Patterson and Butler’s Zach Lawrence for the honor.

“Baseball is my first love,” Graham said. “I started playing football in eighth grade and I didn’t play jayvee my freshman year.”

During the first game of his sophomore year, Graham was rolling out to pass when Georgia-bound Salisbury High star Jalen Walker hit him hard. By the time Graham got to the sideline and the adrenaline wore off a little, Graham said he felt some pretty intense pain below his neck. A broken collarbone would cost him his football season and left him in a limited role in baseball.

In football last year, Graham played behind a senior but had a wonderful baseball season, with his .370 batting average placing him among the conference leaders.

But after a summer playing more baseball, Graham wasn’t expecting to start football season this well. He’s thrown five touchdown passes in two weeks as West Rowan (2-0) is off to a hot start. West plays at rival Mooresville (1-1) Friday night.

And Graham hopes he can have another performance like he did last week.

“I didn’t go to a single football camp all summer,” Graham said. “I played summer baseball, so I did surprise myself. When my receiver told me how many yards he had, I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, how many did I have?’”

Enough to make the record books -- and be the player of the week.

This story was originally published August 27, 2022 at 6:17 PM.

Langston Wertz Jr.

The Charlotte Observer

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Langston Wertz Jr. is an award-winning sports journalist who has worked at the Observer since 1988. He’s covered everything from Final Fours and NFL to video games and Britney Spears. Wertz -- a West Charlotte High and UNC grad -- is the rare person who can answer “Charlotte,” when you ask, “What city are you from.” Support my work with a digital subscription