Ryder Hernandez cementing his legacy as one of best quarterbacks in Cedar Park history

Ryder Hernandez threw his first touchdown pass as a member of the Cedar Park varsity team on a trick in the late stages of a comeback win in the playoffs as a freshman.

“That’s when I knew Cedar Park was different than anywhere else,” Hernandez said.

Two seasons and many, many touchdowns later, he is quickly establishing himself as one of the best in a long line of talented and state-title-winning quarterbacks to suit up for the Timberwolves.

If Hernandez stays healthy and Cedar Park continues along the trajectory its been on for the last decade, he’ll own most of the quarterback records at the school, including passing yards and touchdowns.

He has 4,240 passing yards this season with 58 touchdowns and just two interceptions. He threw seven touchdown passes in the Timberwolves' state semifinal win over Corpus Christi Veterans Memorial last Friday night.

The big stat is wins. Mak Sexton holds the record with 34 wins as a starter. The only way for Hernandez to equal Sexton in that category is to go finish a perfect 15-0 and win the state title.

Through no fault of his own, Hernandez won't be able to get the all-time wins mark even with winning the state title due to one of the Timberwolves' regular-season games getting canceled due to COVID-19.

Still, anything over 30 wins as a starter is really, really impressive.

“(Going all the way) is the goal anyways because the other part of the equation is winning a state championship,” Cedar Park head coach Carl Abseck said. “We’ve been able to do it twice and have had a third quarterback that played in one.”

Hernandez said he came to high school practices when he was in middle school and see how they did things. He started to take some of the parts of the guys he saw then and implement it to his game.

Abseck knew Hernandez could be a top-tier quarterback when he was in 8th grade.

“He’s got a lot of blessings athletically, he’s a hard worker and he’s smart,” Abseck said. “You put all those different things together and it lends yourself to be pretty successful. It’s been fun to watch him grow and take that next step.”

Abseck always wants his quarterbacks to be a leader. That was a little bit more difficult when Hernandez was the full-time starter sophomore on a team loaded with senior talent in 2018, but he took a big step last season.

Hernandez threw for more than 3,000 yards and 34 touchdowns last season and led the team with 383 rushing yards and another six touchdowns on his way to being named district MVP.

He might be one of the best quarterbacks at Cedar Park, but his story on the football field might end there.

A 1st team All-District shortstop, Hernandez committed to play baseball at Texas State next season. He does, however, still have quite a few offers to continue playing football at the next level.

“I’m super excited to get there and compete and go to (the College World Series in) Omaha with them,” he said. “That’s something I’ve been dreaming of since I was a little kid.”

Growing up in California, he played as many sports as he could. When he eventually moved to Texas in 5th grade and finally got to high school, he started to focus on just baseball and football.

Hernandez said playing baseball helps with focusing on arm angles with the football team while being on the football team helps amp him up from a competitive standpoint on the baseball diamond.

“It’s just the path they choose,” Abseck said. “It’s a better deal for expressing the desire for kids to do multiple sports. We want them to do something else, I pretty much demand that the football kids do something else because I want them to compete.”

Hernandez can etch his name into the Cedar Park football history books if the Timberwolves accomplish what they want to this season.

“It’s state or bust for us,” Hernandez said. “We feel like we have all the tools to do it and good chemistry with all the guys. We’ve just got to put hot all together, and I think it’s something we can do.”

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Originally publish at https://www.hillcountrynews.com/stories/ryder-hernandez-cementing-his-legacy-as-one-of-best-quarterbacks-in-cedar-park-history,83800?