It wasn’t a perfect performance, but it was close.
In Walden Grove’s 72-27 win over Sahuaro last week, Red Wolves junior quarterback Kaleb Layton completed 22 of 26 passes (84.6%) for 452 yards and a school-record six touchdowns. Layton also had a 39-yard punt that pinned Sahuaro at its 1-yard line.
Layton started the game completing his first 14 passes. As for his four incompletions, “Just trying to get the ball to my receivers in open space and sometimes it doesn’t work,” he said.
Walden Grove’s Kaleb Layton (4) hops out a collapsing pocket and escape the Sahuaro rush in the first quarter of their teams’ matchup at Sahuaro High School on Oct. 11.
Layton is our high school football player of the week following Week 7 — the second WGHS player to earn this honor, joining linebacker Carlos Montoya Jr. Layton doubled his season touchdown total (12) in just one game.
Ahead of Walden Grove’s road matchup with Pueblo on Friday, Layton joined ESPN Tucson’s “Spears and Ali” this week to talk about his performance
What led to your breakout performance?
A: “Just reading the defense and finding my receivers in open space, taking advantages of the one-on-one coverages of the backside and throwing it up to my receivers to make a play.”
When you’re at the line of scrimmage, what are your keys, linebacker or safety?
A: “I’m mostly looking at the safety and then switching over to the corner to see if the safety is going to play on the other side of the field. If he’s not, I’m going to take advantage of it and throw it to my receiver.”
How much have your wide receivers impacted the offense this season?
A: “I have some really good receivers. They know where to go when it’s third-and-long. They’re really smart with their routes, and I’ve worked with them for a while. Our connection has gotten pretty good this year.”
After dropping the first two games of the season, what’s been key to Walden Grove’s four-game winning streak?
A: “Just the mix-up of plays. We’re always keeping the defense on their toes, whether it’s with our run game with our two running backs or our pass game with our dominant receivers, and march down the field to show them what’s up.”
What’s the mindset for Walden Grove heading into the Pueblo game?
A: “It all starts in practice. I always tell my boys, ‘No matter what happened last week, we gotta figure out what we can do this week to make the same outcome happen. We’ve been watching a lot of film on this new team, going hard in practice. I just feel like we have to go 100% in practice all week and have it happen again this week.”
Walden Grove’s Kaleb Layton (4) gets off the pass over the rush form Sahuaro’s Bryan Williams (99) in the third quarter of their teams’ matchup at Sahuaro High School on Oct. 11.
Who’s your favorite football team?
A: “The Dallas Cowboys.”
Do you study Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott?
A: “I am a Dak Prescott guy, but I looked up to Tony Romo all my life though.”
Who’s a quarterback that you emulate your game after?
A: “I would say Patrick Mahomes, but I’m more of a pocket-passer and can get out of the pocket when I need to.”
What do you like to do outside of football?
A: “My life is basically football, but when I’m outside of football, probably being with family or school.”
Have you thought about careers outside of football?
A: “I want to get into engineering.”
Why engineering?
A: “My mom. ... She’s an engineer at Raytheon.”
Do you have any siblings?
A: “I have a twin sister. She goes to Walden Grove with me. It’s pretty fun. ... We do have that connection, twin telepathy or whatever it’s called.”
Walden Grove’s Kaleb Layton (4 ) gets run down by a Sahuaro defender in the first quarter of their teams’ matchup at Sahuaro High School on Oct. 11.
Do you both dislike the same food?
A: “Probably mac and cheese. We both think it’s really nasty.”
Do you ever argue about who’s older?
A: “I’m older by 12 minutes and she knows that.”
To wrap it up, looking at your game last week, was that your best performance as a quarterback?
A: “It is actually. My freshman and sophomore year, I was on (junior varsity) and this was my first year starting, so I had to show them that I could do it. I feel like I did that last week. It was a big game for me.”
