Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Back on track
Berryville’s Heithold’s rise to starting QB role unusual —
BERRYVILLE — Richard Heithold was nowhere to be found on Berryville’s football roster when coach Doug Shott held his first preseason practice with the Bearcats last summer.
One year later, the junior is in the place he feels he belongs — as the team’s starting quarterback.
“It’s what I wanted to do my whole life: to play quarterback,” he said. “I think it’s the coolest spot on the field.”
Heithold started football as a tight end in seventh grade, and he admitted he was “a little shorter and stubby” and wasn’t the most athletic person at that time. However, he was a taller, slimmer person in the eighth grade and was moved to a backup quarterback position.
He was poised to be Berryville’s starting junior high quarterback his freshman year. However, he suddenly made the decision to step away from football.
“I quit football for basketball,” Heithold said. “I thought I was going to be a basketball player. My family didn’t like the idea because they were football people.”
The hiatus from football lasted just one year. Heithold realized he missed the sport so much that he decided to give it another chance, so he went to Shott’s office on the first day of school and asked to join the team.
Shott, who was named Berryville’s head coach in April 2017, not only welcomed Heithold to the team, but he allowed him to compete for the backup quarterback role. Within two weeks, Heithold had already worked his way to the second-string quarterback spot.
“He asked if he could play, and I said ‘Sure. Let’s go get some equipment,’” Shott said. “He started coming out every day and working with the quarterbacks. We had three or four that were working it, and we began to watch him. He was picking up on our scheme and throwing the ball pretty decent.
“We watched him run. Again, we just didn’t throw him into our drills. He had good footwork and had decent speed. He’s sort of a loper, which is deceiving in how quick he can be. He sort of hung around, and we were happy to have him. He really didn’t know what he was going into at the time.”
Heithold (5-foot-11, 175 pounds) started off playing scout-team quarterback early in the season and was happy with the role, even though he had been addressed about possibly playing receiver. Everything, though, began to change during the eighth week of the regular season as Berryville began to prepare to play Pea Ridge.
It was during that week that Shott had to make a late disciplinary decision and kicked the starting quarterback off the team. He then told Heithold he would draw the start against the Blackhawks.
“I showed up for practice that Thursday, and they put me in that role,” Heithold said. “I had no clue, then they told me in the Friday practice before the game I would be the starter. It hit me at that point, and I was really shocked.
“I got really nervous because I had never been a starting quarterback, and I began to ask what happened if I messed up. I didn’t know the plays as well as everyone else. By the time the game started, I shook off the nerves. I called my dad, and he settled me down. That helped a lot.”
Shott simplified the offense some in order to help Heithold settle into his new role, and Heithold remained the starter for the rest of the season. He finished the season completing 9 of 32 passes for 167 yards, and he added 26 carries for 106 yards and a touchdown.
However, it proved to be the springboard Heithold needed as he retained the starting quarterback role this season.
“The other kids supported him, and he played so well that first game,” Shott said. “By the end of the year, he could do everything we asked him to do.
“He’s now the guy for the job. I think, at first, he felt pressure because there were these expectations on him. During the preseason, he was a little slow, but he has since corrected that. He’s got a pretty good grasp on the playbook now, and he’s accepted the role he has. Each day he continues to get better and feels more confident in what he is doing.”