He is the wide-eyed, freckle-faced backup QB straight out of central casting.

Ryan Riordan is a sophomore — a talented sophomore blessed with a strong right arm, but a sophomore nonetheless.

Saturday was his first varsity start. Besides being the biggest game of his life, which every varsity first is, it also happened to be the Lisbon Greyhounds’ biggest game of the year.

Riordan had the luxury and the curse of finding out a week ago last Friday that his first start would be in the semifinals, provided the second-seeded Greyhounds got by Jay last Saturday. Lisbon learned that senior starter Luke Caron would be academically ineligible starting the week after the quarterfinals, and, fortunately for the Greyhounds, Riordan had been groomed for half of the season to step in if anything happened to the quarterback.

A minor ankle injury to Caron at midseason gave Lisbon’s coaching staff the idea to have Riordan take half the snaps in practice with the starters from that point on as a precaution. On Saturday, they saw the fruits of their foresight.

“We knew when Luke was finished that our timing would still be there in the runs. We weren’t really sure about the passing (timing),” Lisbon head coach Dick Mynahan said. “We have confidence in his passing. He throws down field well. He throws it deep well.”

“He has all the talents and the skills to be a pretty good QB,” offensive coordinator Stacen Doucette said. “He works hard, shows up for practice every day, does his part in the practices, just like we ask of every player.”

The coaching staff had confidence in Riordan, but they still wanted to get him as many reps as they could this week in practice. With bad weather in the forecast, they worked him hard on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but it seemed to be having the opposite affect. 

Whenever a young player steps in for a veteran, he is placed in a very difficult position. Upperclassmen can be hard on the newbie, especially when what could be the last game of their high school career is placed in his hands. Even when they’re trying to help by providing guidance, they can add to the pressure.

Mynahan sensed this by mid-week and told the rest of the team it would be best for Riordan to only hear one voice until Saturday.

“On Wednesday, I told the other seniors, ‘Listen, I don’t want anyone else talking to him, because too many people are talking and he has too many things on his mind. From now on, let me holler at him, and you guys be quiet,'” Mynahan said.

Mynahan didn’t have many reasons to yell during the first half Saturday. Riordan completed three out of five pass attempts, including a beautiful 14-yard touchdown lofted over a Winthrop defender on a fade to Brandon Hovey with 27 seconds left in the half. He also ran in both of Lisbon’s two-point conversion attempts to make it a 16-0 game at intermission.

 “I was nervous. I was definitely nervous,” Riordan said. “After a few snaps, it went down a little bit.”

Riordan and the Greyhounds made their fans nervous in the second half. He threw two interceptions, one of which Winthrop eventually converted into a touchdown.

Riordan’s teammates knew it was time to stop being quiet.

“He gets frustrated with himself, so everyone stepped up as a team and kind of helped him out through the game, just kept him confident and positive,” senior running back/linebacker Mike McNamara said.

The Ramblers eventually rallied to tie the game and sent it into overtime. Lisbon got the ball first in the extra session. Facing  3rd-and-goal at the 10 after its first two running plays went nowhere, Riordan picked the perfect spot for his only completion of the second half. On play-action, Riordan rolled right and fired to Cameron Graf, who turned and dove for the pylon. Touchdown.

“It was great blocking. The line did great,” Riordan said. “Cam made a nice catch, beautiful catch.”

Another beautiful catch in the end zone by Josh Pomerleau on the two-point conversion made it 24-16.

“He stepped up huge, stepped up for the seniors, threw two nice balls in overtime, perfect passes,” McNamara said. “I couldn’t ask anything more of him. I’m so proud of Riordan. He’s my hero right now, honestly.”

He wasn’t the only hero. The Greyhounds had two seniors academically ineligible and their best player, senior running back/safety Tobey Harrington, was once again limited by an ankle sprain.

In stepped freshman running back Jordon Torres, who had some big runs, as did junior Zack Splude, who also had a blocked punt for a touchdown and a key interception. Hovey, a sophomore, did an excellent job covering Joey Brennan, Winthrop’s fleet-footed wide receiver.

“It’s like (assistant coach) Jon Tefft always says, ‘Next man in,'” Doucette said.

And Lisbon’s seniors, John Crafts, Nick Dingley, Pomerleau and McNamara, in particular, did what Lisbon seniors always do — set the physical tone early and somehow find a way to negate the damage on virtually every mistake, whether it was made by themselves, their younger teammates or even their coaches (a fake punt on 4th-and-18 from their own 6 early in the second quarter).

Riordan was most appreciative.

“We’re a team, and everybody helps each other. I just wanted to step up for the seniors,” he said. “The seniors wanted this game so bad. Winthrop’s ended our season before many times. We wanted to end theirs.”

With a little help from central casting.