It was Oct. 22, 2020; a Thursday night. And Hopewell Valley Central High sophomore Tim McKeown couldn’t fall asleep.
The Bulldogs starting quarterback, CJ Szafranski, had been injured the previous week, and McKeown was about to get his first varsity start on Friday against Steinert.
“I grew up watching Hopewell Valley High School football, and I had the nerves, like, ‘My God, my time has finally come,’” McKeown said. “I remember laying in bed that night before the Steinert game, thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’m about to go play my first varsity game for the team I’ve been watching the last 10, 11 years.’”
Unfortunately for Hopewell, it wasn’t a fairy tale story where the lifelong fan guides the hometown team to victory. McKeown wasn’t terrible: he completed 10 of 19 passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception. But Hopewell lost 31-18.
In fact, the Bulldogs dropped all four games that McKeown started, although he showed his mettle in a season-ending, 54-48 loss to Allentown. In that game, he completed 14 of 22 for 304 yards and four touchdowns, with two picks.
Still, it was all a sign of things to come, except for the interceptions.
Since that sophomore year, McKeown has gotten progressively better. As a junior, he completed 59 percent of his passes for 13 touchdowns and just one interception.
Through eight games this year, the senior had completed 51 percent of his passes for 1,493 yards and 19 TDs. He had just two interceptions in leading Hopewell to a 8-0 record, which exceeded the 2013 team’s record for best start to a season.
“I’m always gonna critique everything,” McKeown said prior to an Oct. 14 win over Hightstown. “I’m pretty hard on myself. But so far I’m very happy with how the season’s been.”
And what’s not to like? On Oct. 1, McKeown became the Bulldogs all-time leader in touchdown passes, when he threw four against Nottingham to surpass 2014 graduate Austin Fellows, who had 29. Fellows quarterbacked the Bulldogs only state championship team in 2013, and was the weekly pre-game speaker the day before the Northstars game.
For a guy who grew up watching Bulldogs football, it was a surreal two days.
“Just seeing him was like ‘Oh my God, that’s Austin Fellows. He was the guy,’” McKeown said. “That’s another guy I’ve watched since I was little. So just watching him (in the past), I’m thinking ‘Oh my God, I just broke his record!’ It’s like; insane to me.”
Bulldogs coach Dave Caldwell has known about McKeown forever. As a Hopewell Pop Warner coach, Caldwell had him in second, fourth, sixth and seventh grade. He has watched him consistently grow as an athlete.
“I think he was always a kid that loves football, he’s always a competitor,” Caldwell said. “He’s a great baseball player, he’s a great wrestler (MCT finalist last year) and he always said his favorite is football. He’s just a natural leader. He’s a two-time captain in wrestling and football. He has a personality, kids want to be around him, and kids want to perform for him.
“He always had a great arm, even as a young kid. Being a little smaller than the average quarterback (5-foot-9), I think he’d often get overlooked. People would say he’s not a quarterback, he’s not big enough to be a quarterback. Listen, he can throw the ball, he’s been able to throw the ball since he was a young kid. He’s not the prototypical sized quarterback, but he’s built tough.”
Having been with Caldwell for so long gave McKeown an advantage when he arrived at Hopewell. After playing on the freshman team, he moved up to varsity. Other than the size and talent of the other players, it was a familiar situation.
“It made life so much easier, because at Pop Warner we ran the same exact offense,” McKeown said. “I got in and I already was a step ahead of some kids.”
Caldwell felt that McKeown’s interceptions as a sophomore were due to inexperience; the fact Hopewell often trailed and was forced to throw a lot; some porous pass protection; and some misreads.
“I’m sure some were on him,” the coach said. “But there were a lot of reasons.”
McKeown’s self-assessment is a bit tougher than his coach’s, as he felt he became predictable by targeting senior receiver Devin Higgins too often.
“I didn’t really understand coverages,” he said. “I was kind of like, ‘Oh, Devin’s gonna be there, the ball’s gonna go to Devin.’ All spring and summer I was working out with Devin, so me and Devin were kind of on the same page. Teams started picking up on that and I was forcing balls that I shouldn’t have been forcing.”
McKeown was a quick learner, however, and with the help of offensive coordinator Chase Vena and quarterbacks coach EJ Nemeth, he had thrown just three interceptions in 305 attempts over the past two seasons.
“He’s on the same page with those guys, and I think he just understands the offense,” Caldwell said. “He’s got a good group around him, guys he feels comfortable throwing the ball to. Guys that run great routes. And they do a lot of work on their own in the off-season. It’s a close group.”
McKeown is humble when discussing his progress, including his decreased interceptions.
“Some of it was luck, to be honest,” he said. “But just working with coach Vena and coach EJ on my reads and taking each game a little easier helped. It’s just slowing the game down a little bit, figuring if (this defender) is here, you can go there.’”
That doesn’t mean he does not have a favorite target, however. Sophomore Justin Klotz had 40 catches for 755 yards and nine touchdowns through eight games this year. Against Hamilton, the two hooked up for a school-record 11 completions and 300 yards for six touchdowns. Klotz was the team’s leading receiver as a freshman with 26 grabs for 354 yards and six touchdowns.
Klotz also played under Caldwell with McKeown in Pop Warner, although he was a tailback then.
“I’ve been playing with Klotz since sixth grade,” McKeown said. “It’s been coach Caldwell, me and Klotz being able to work together and just kind of building off that every year. I love my Klotzy! But Wyatt (Hartman), John Michael (Vlassac) and Kyle (Machusak) all can catch the ball too.”
Aside from his receivers, McKeown also lauds the other offensive components that allow him to set records. He’s quick to praise the offensive line of Henry Garnich, Nathan Tewell, Gavin Lewis, John Trainor, Andrew Rowan and Luke Reilly, who Caldwell considers the top lineman in Mercer County. The unit not only protects McKeown, but provides a goal line push that allowed him to score seven rushing TDs this year.
They also help open holes for running backs Derek Van Brunt (1,028 yards, 8 touchdowns) and Landon Schafer (200 yards, 8 TDs).
“They’ve gotta respect our whole offense, how balanced we are,” he said. “That makes my life so much easier when they have to worry about the run game.”
After beating Notre Dame 53-21 on Oct. 21 to go to 8-0, McKeown and Hopewell were hoping to complete an undefeated season and follow with a strong state playoff run. Then it’s off to college, with McKeown’s top choice being East Stroudsburg.
Wherever he lands, that school will get a quarterback who has a nice ceiling.
“He’s still progressing, I think he’s getting better and better every week; even every half,” Caldwell said. “Sometimes you’ll look up and for whatever reason, we’re not syncing on offense, and I think he sort of has the ability to take that under control and really change the game with his arm and his ability to read defenses and get the ball to the guys that are open.”
Senior quarterback Tim McKeown became Hopewell Valley's all-time leading touchdown passer this season.,
