Following the graduation of Luke Hostetler, 5’11” 185-pound junior Harry McLaughlin has taken over the quarterback position in River Hill Varsity Football’s explosive offense. This change marks the end of an era for River Hill football. For 9 out of 14 seasons, River Hill’s varsity squad has been quarterbacked by members of the Hostetler family. McLaughlin’s start is the first time River Hill’s starting quarterback has not had the name “Hostetler” printed on the back of his jersey since 2002, when Chris Martin was the starter. Indeed, the name Hostetler has become synonymous with the success of River Hill’s quarterbacks and football program.     
      When asked about the standard the Hostetlers left behind for River Hill quarterbacks, Head Coach Brian Van Deusen said, “All four of the Hostetler quarterbacks were hard-working and had good football knowledge. That allowed us to run a complex offense. While these are important qualities in a quarterback McLaughlin has shown strong points of his own.” Van Deusen cited McLaughlin’s size, strength, experience in the system (McLaughlin has played two seasons on Junior Varsity, leading last year’s team to a county championship), and powerful running style as his strengths. Senior left tackle Max Coale agrees that McLaughlin is a different kind of quarterback compared to Luke Hostetler, whom he played with during the previous three football seasons. “Luke was more of a shifty quarterback, whereas Harry is more of an ‘in-the-pocket’ quarterback.”     
     When asked how it feels to be the starting quarterback, McLaughlin replies, “It’s an honor.”
     However, McLaughlin admits that he sometimes feels pressured to succeed, especially due to River Hill’s appearances in the past three state championship games and victories in the past two. How does he cope? “I just go out and play,” he says, “after the first play, my jitters are gone.”
      Although he feels pressured by others to win, McLaughlin still holds high expectations of himself this season, saying that he  wants to  “take it game by game and hopefully go to states.”
      In his first varsity start, River Hill’s home-opening defeat of Hammond (41-6), McLaughlin completed three out of four passes for three touchdowns to three different receivers. Senior split end Jeremy Ogorzalek, who caught the first of the touchdowns and consequently scored River Hill’s first points this season, described his relationship with his quarterback, saying “I’m sure that as we practice more, we’ll  definitely establish a rhythm together.” In his second game, a 27-0 victory at rival Wilde Lake, it would seem scoring is coming relatively easy to McLaughlin. As he becomes more comfortable with the offense, the team may take more chances. However, Van Deusen does not plan on making any radical changes to the game plan.
     “We are going to remain a run-oriented team. That way, we can let Harry get his feet wet and work the play-action,” the coach said.
      McLaughlin leads a well-rounded life. Academically, he maintains a 3.0 GPA, and during the spring also plays baseball. This has sometimes affected his football play. Van Deusen says that McLaughlin sometimes throws the football with a baseball motion, something that McLaughlin has worked on improving this offseason. During the offseason, Harry also represented River Hill in Under Armour’s new football commercial. McLaughlin describes the experience as “kind of weird seeing myself on TV, but it’s pretty exciting because our team gets national exposure.”