Robert Parker quarterbacked the Atlantic City High School football team to a win in his first varsity start last Friday.
The sophomore led the Vikings on a fourth-quarter drive for the winning touchdown.
Ahmaad Williams scored on a 7-yard run with 5 minutes, 7 seconds left as the Vikings beat St. Augustine Prep 13-9. Parker's 35-yard completion to Radi Tolbert set up the touchdown. Parker completed 8-of-14 passes for 107 yards during the game.
Atlantic City (1-0) will try to build on that win when it hosts Ocean City (0-1) at 7 p.m. today.
In a telephone interview Thursday morning, Parker answered a few questions, including about the emotions of his first varsity start and how he became a quarterback.
On his emotions before Friday's game: I had the jitters. I was nervous. I had a lot of butterflies.
On how he started playing quarterback: I played the line growing up. The freshman coaches in high school thought I had potential at quarterback and that was it. I wanted to play wideout.
On the winning touchdown drive: I was just trying to keep the tempo up. Keep everybody (focused) and come back and win the game.
On his favorite NFL player: Michael Vick. He plays for the Eagles and that's my team. I've been rooting for them for a long time.
On the toughest thing about playing quarterback: Keeping everybody up and being a leader on the field. I'm not one of those guys who goes "hoorah."
On what last Friday's win did for the Vikings: It gave us a lot of confidence, and I think it made us a better team, too. You can feel there's more confidence now.
As told to Michael McGarry
