It’s been nearly 18 years since Scott Faries was a standout senior quarterback for the Arlington Eagles. He led them to a Wesco 3A North championship, but his football career was far from over after high school
Faries completed 110 passes for more than 2,000 yards and 24 touchdowns during his 1997 senior season and earned All-Area offensive player of the year honors, while also being named an all-league safety. After considering several colleges, Faries chose to attend Pacific Lutheran University because of the opportunity to play both football and baseball. After red-shirting as a freshman, Faries transferred to Washington State University as a walk-on to focus on football.
As it turned out, Faries picked a good time to become a Cougar. Led by head coach Mike Price, WSU was on the verge of becoming a power in what was then the Pac-10 Conference. The Cougars finished with a sub-.500 record in 1999 and 2000 — Faries’ first two years in Pullman –- before breaking out in 2001, finishing with a 10-2 record and a Sun Bowl victory over Purdue.
The following season the Cougars finished 10-3, making an appearance in the Rose Bowl, where they lost to Oklahoma.
After playing quarterback in high school, Faries transferred to WSU with the intention of being a QB, but Jason Gesser had a firm grasp on the position.
So in order to utilize Faries, Price improvised.
“Mike Price came to me and said, ‘Hey, Scotty, come into my office. Quarterbacks come to college in NCAA Division 1 and play different positions, how would like be slot wide receiver’ So I played slot wide receiver,” Faries said.
Faries quickly realized college football was a different game than he was accustomed to in Arlington.
“It was a complete shift in talent,” he said. “Everybody was so much better than in high school, and everybody hit so much harder. Everybody was so much faster. It was just a whole different game, but it was a lot of fun.”
After the Cougars’ Rose Bowl season of 2002, Faries joined the Army and went into Special Forces. He spent nine years in the military before being injured in an accident in 2011. Faries said several surgeries were required for him to walk again and as of April 27 of this year he was medically retired from the Army.
Faries works as the supervisor of operations for Con-Way freight in Mount Vernon and resides once again in Arlington.
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
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