David Garrard left his imprint

They may not have been the greatest high school football games ever played in North Carolina, but David Garrard helped provide two of the most memorable.

Garrard was a long-flinging quarterback at Southern Durham High before he matriculated to East Carolina and later to the NFL, where he is the Jacksonville Jaguars' starting quarterback.

Where other coaches might have seen a great tight end or a hard-hitting linebacker, Southern Durham coach Chip Gill saw an incredibly talented quarterback. Gill once asked Garrard to throw a 60- to 70-yard pass. No problem.

The problem, Gill said, was that it would take too long for a receiver to run a 60-yard route.

And Garrard could beat you with his feet as well as his arm.

Former Garner coach Hal Stewart was dumfounded in 1996 on the night Garrard rallied Southern from a 34-15 fourth-quarter deficit to a 44-34 victory.

"I want it written on my tombstone, 'Hal Stewart, the coach that allowed Southern Durham and David Garrard to score 29 straight points in the fourth quarter,' " Stewart said.

Garrard ran through, over and around the Garner defense.

The comeback was startling, but the most remarkable Garrard moment may have come in a loss, an 83-58 loss to Fuquay-Varina in 1995.

The 141 total points remain the record for points in a competitive game, although teams intent of rolling up points against lesser opponents have scored more.

A touchdown was scored on average every 2 minutes, 24 seconds. One point was registered for every 20.4 seconds.

In a span of 62 seconds in the second quarter, Garrard helped cut a 35-14 Fuquay lead to a 35-28 deficit. Fuquay-Varina responded by scoring two touchdowns in the final 48 seconds of the half for a 49-28 halftime lead.

The scoring didn't slow down in the second half, and Fuquay-Varina led 62-36 entering the fourth quarter.

Right when Fuquay-Varina coach Phillip Howard thought he could make wholesale substitutions, Southern came roaring back with two quick touchdowns.

Fuquay-Varina piled up 729 yards total offense, rushing for a then-state record 671 yards.

Southern had 526 total yards, 263 rushing and 263 yards passing by Garrard, who had a 65-yard TD run.

After the game, Gill said it was a remarkable offensive game.

"I don't attribute it to no defense," Gill said. "I attribute it to the fact that you've got two teams with outstanding skill people. Outstanding skill people made things happen tonight."

Southern had played Garner in a game that had been rained out on the Monday before the onslaught. Garner won 35-14.

"We gave up 118 points in five days," said Pete Shankle, then the Southern Durham defensive coordinator and now the Northern Durham baseball coach. "We gave up 96 for the entire season last year."

Howard, the Fuquay-Varina coach, got back to earth pretty quickly after the game-long celebration of offense.

"Defensively, I'm disappointed," he said.

Garrard's offensive exploits didn't end in high school.

He is the career passing leader at ECU with 9,029 yards, and he continues to lead the Jaguars in the NFL.

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