The Newburyport football program has a long history of producing college-ready quarterbacks from Larry Russell (Class of 1967), who starred at Wake Forest, to Bobby Jean (Class of 1984), who starred at the University of New Hampshire.

Mike Rymsha (Class of 1991) brought in the 1990s with a Cape Ann League title. Ryan McCarthy (Class of 1998) captured a Super Bowl title in 1997, and Peter Herzig (Class of 2001) set several career passing records at the turn of the century.

But no former Newburyport quarterback will have the passing resume of current quarterback Joe Clancy when all is said and done. Clancy is taking down Newburyport passing records by the week — particularly the past four when the Clippers have turned an 0-5 record into a 4-5 mark.

In the four wins, Clancy has played the best football of his career, completing 51 of 86 passes for 889 yards and 11 touchdowns. He recently broke the program records for career completions (204), attempts (391), passing yards (3,073) and touchdowns (36).

Clancy, who earned the starting job as a sophomore, has the arm strength and athleticism needed for the quarterback position as is evidenced by his selection as a Daily News All-Star in basketball and baseball. But offensive coordinator Ryan McCarthy, who was the last Clipper quarterback to win a Super Bowl, believes Clancy's ability to read defenses has improved the most in his three years.

"He has a very strong arm, but football-wise, his knowledge of the game is certainly up there," McCarthy said. "He can identify coverages and determine who is going to be the open receiver before the snap. We give him the freedom to check into another play at the line of scrimmage. That's a lot of trust to put on a 17- or 18-year-old kid, but that's an adjustment we can make with Joe at quarterback."

Clancy has essentially logged the bulk of his record-breaking numbers as a junior and senior. By his own measure, his sophomore year was a struggle. The Clippers went 4-7 that season, and the right-handed signal caller completed just 14 of 44 passes for 320 yards and two touchdowns.

"Some people come in and automatically become a good player," Clancy said. "It wasn't like that for me. It took a year of growing pains. But coaches stuck with me through some tough times. It's something I had to get through at the time, but I'm glad I did."

Clancy broke out as a legitimate offensive weapon last fall, passing for 1,237 yards and 17 touchdowns. With two games remaining this season, he has already logged 1,517 yards and 17 touchdowns. He is 274 yards and three touchdowns shy of breaking the single-season records.

"I don't think about records," Clancy said. "Football's the ultimate team sport. We have really good offensive linemen, a really good running game with Dave Freeman, great receivers in Kyle (LeBlanc), Andrew (Sokol) and Derek Freeman. You need to have every aspect of the team clicking to be successful."

McCarthy said he has molded the offense to Clancy's strengths; the Clippers are one of the few teams on the North Shore that will routinely attempt 20 to 25 passes per game. As a result, many of the single-season records for passing and receiving could be eclipsed this season.

With 38 receptions, Sokol is four shy of tying the single-season mark set by Matt Blomberg in 1991. LeBlanc (617 yards) is 124 yards shy of breaking Blomberg's mark for receiving yards.

"I don't think Joe's success rides on having excellent receivers, although he definitely has a lot of talent to work with," McCarthy said. "But LeBlanc's in his first year as a receiver after playing running back his entire life. Because we have a quarterback like Joe, we can move our best athletes to receiver instead of bringing them out of the backfield."

Engineering an offense completely unique to any other in the Cape Ann League for the past two seasons, McCarthy realizes he might have to scale it back after Clancy graduates.

"We had to adapt to what we had with Joe," McCarthy said. "We'll still have athletes to get the ball to, but I don't know if we'll have the same 50-yard completions next season. But Joe when Joe started playing quarterback, he wasn't what he is now. We've been fortunate to have a quarterback who can throw the ball 30 times for two seasons. I don't see a lot of programs with quarterbacks who can do that. But when you're blessed to have it, you have to go with it."

Despite its 0-5 start, Newburyport (4-0 in league play) sits atop the CAL Small standings along with Georgetown (7-0 overall, 4-0 CAL Small). The Clippers will have a bye this week before playing two teams believed to be the top contenders in the league — Georgetown and Amesbury — in back-to-back weeks. Clancy thinks a league title would be the perfect way to end a historic career.

"It has to be," Clancy said. "With the struggles we've had at the end of the season the last couple years, we're trying to close out a good season. We have a big game with Georgetown in two weeks. Then we have Amesbury. We can't win the Small by beating Amesbury if we don't beat Georgetown first. So we still have a lot of play for."

Rewriting the record book

Newburyport senior quarterback Joe Clancy is in the process of claiming many of the program's passing records. His numbers compare favorably to the program's top signal callers.

StatisticRecord-holderNumberPrevious record

Career CompletionsJoe Clancy204189, Peter Herzig (Class of 2001)

Career TouchdownsJoe Clancy3630, Larry Russell (Class of 1967)

Career AttemptsJoe Clancy391362, Herzig

Career Passing YardsJoe Clancy3,0743,071, Herzig