It’s good to have idols when you’re a young kid.
It’s good to have role models, people you look up to and think, “I want to be like THAT someday.”
For Walter Moses, that person was former Perry quarterback Drew Schiano, a 2020 graduate who pretty much owns the record books when it comes to passing at Perry.
Well, scratch that — Schiano OWNED the passing record books at Perry.
With a dynamic senior season that still has a long way to go, Walter Moses has surpassed the guy he grew up watching and in a sense idolizing. His 6,557 career yards and 80 career touchdown passes came at the expense of Schiano, who used to hold those records with 6,054 yards and 79 touchdowns.
So if there’s one thing better than having an idol and role model to look up to, it might be topping the records of that idol and role model.
“It’s definitely surreal,” Moses said. “When I was a kid, I looked up to Drew and Jacob Allen. I loved watching Drew play. He definitely made me fall in love with the position. What he did gave me a lot of motivation to try and do what he did when he was in high school.”
The son of a father (Sean) and a mother (Amy) who played college baseball and softball, respectively, at Hiram College, Walter Moses chose his own path away from the ball diamond, and it has paid amazing dividends.
The 6-foot-4, 190-pound senior helped lead Perry to the 2023 state championship — the only state title in Perry football history — earned first team All-Ohio as a junior and now owns a pair of career passing records.
He’s also earned a full athletic scholarship to the University of Toledo.
And he’s not done yet.
Not by a longshot.
“It was never a goal of mine to set records like that,” Moses said. “It’s nice, but I didn’t come in with personal goals like that. It was more of team goals and playing with my guys.”
Guys like fellow seniors Owen McKoon and Luke Sivon, friends with whom he has played football since — well — as long as he can remember. All the way back to his flag football days in preschool.
“You don’t throw the ball much then,” Moses said with a laugh. “Owen was the center and ran routes from there. Luke was a receiver. You just throw short passes and they run a far distance — kind of like we do today.”
In junior high, Moses didn’t even play quarterback, but rather up-back in the Pirates’ Stack-I offense. The quarterback was Johnny Slaper, who eventually transferred to St. Edward when he got to high school and won a pair of state championships with the Eagles as a ball-hawking defensive player.
Moses again set his eyes on playing quarterback. He attended every Perry game as a junior high player and studied how Drew Schiano went about his trade. The physical aspects, the mental reps, the leadership — Moses studied it all. He even took Schiano Skittles for good luck on game days.
By the time he was a freshman, he was ready for some varsity action.
“I just want to be remembered as a role model to younger kids. I really think that’s important. Jacob Allen and Drew Schiano were so important to me because they made me love football and watch football. … I love that they want to hang out with me or want me to throw a pass to them. That means a lot to me. THAT is what I want to be remembered for — not for the records.”
— Walter Moses
“My first varsity touchdown was at Chagrin Falls,” Moses said. “It was a play-action and Ethan Crum ran a vertical. It went for 60 yards or so. It was pretty cool.”
Moses said one of the “cool” things about being the quarterback is how many different teammates he has thrown touchdown passes to over the years. He can’t count them all, but when you’ve thrown 80 (and counting) touchdown passes, it stands to reason they blend together a little.
His record-breaking touchdown pass came in a Week 10 game against Hawken. He tied Schiano’s record on the first play of the game, and then he broke it with a second-quarter crossing pattern to tight end Trent Taylor.
The career yardage record went down in a Week 7 game against Orange, a 62-0 throttling at the hands of the Pirates.
“I kind of knew the record was coming,” Moses said. “Drew’s dad (Mark) is one of our coaches and we were kind of joking around about it. I was like eight yards away from the record and were joking ‘Drew’s going down.’”
The record-breaker was an 80-yard post pattern to Sivon, one of the “dudes” he grew up playing football with.
“It was awesome to achieve the record that way,” he said of the pass to longtime friend Sivon. “My parents and I were talking about how special that was. It’s not like I was hunting him out to break the record. It just happened, but it was special to break it with him catching that pass.”
Moses quickly pointed out that the records he owns should be classified as team awards.
“I’m not throwing these passes without my line and receivers,” he said. “It’s cool to hold these records, but I got to do it because of and with so many people.”
Moses is excited for the path ahead of him once he graduates. A football scholarship to Toledo, where he plans to major in pre-law awaits him and the 4.25 grade-point average he is currently sporting.
But his job at Perry is far from over. He’d love another state championship ring to go with the one he and the Pirates won last year. Perry is 9-1 heading into a Week 11 home playoff game against Akron Buchtel, and has no plans on stopping there.
There’s also the matter of stacking more numbers on the records that he already holds.
But there’s more that Moses wants to accomplish, and he takes steps in that direction every day in school and after every game he and his teammates play.
Taking time to talk with younger kids — his fans — kids who look up to him the way he looked up to Drew Schiano.
“How do I want to be remembered?” he repeated the question asked of him. “I just want to be remembered as a role model to younger kids. I really think that’s important. Jacob Allen and Drew Schiano were so important to me because they made me love football and watch football.”
During school and after games, it’s not out of the ordinary for young Perry kids to hunt down Moses and buddy-up with him.
“I love that,” Moses said. “A lot of times, kids can be afraid to do that. I love that they want to hang out with me or want me to throw a pass to them. That means a lot to me. THAT is what I want to be remembered for — not for the records.”
This post was originally published on here
