For most high school football teams, the loss of a starting quarterback, especially a three-year starter, would likely spell doom for the rest of the season.

Things are a little different in Blooming Prairie.

As the Awesome Blossoms were in the midst of their first loss of the season four weeks ago, the worst case scenario struck when senior quarterback Luc Zellmer, who is just nine touchdown passes from tying the Minnesota career record, went down with a hand injury.

Zellmer’s replacement was fellow senior Isaiah Toquam, who hadn’t played quarterback in two years.

“He was told he was coming into that LeCenter game and his eyes got a little wide,” BP head coach Chad Gimbel said. “Then he said okay and went out there. He’s a pretty easy going kid.”

BP fell to LeCenter, but Toquam has led the Awesome Blossoms (6-1 overall) to three straight wins since that loss. He threw for five touchdowns last week and he has completed 32-of-57 passes for 631 yards, 10 touchdowns and four interceptions since taking over as the starter.

Since the Blossoms rely so much on the pass, Toquam has helped keep the team in flow.

“He’s been more than we could hope for,” Gimbel said. “He had a whale of a game last week and he keeps getting better and better.”

Before lining up behind the center, Toquam was lining up as a wide receiver and that has helped him in the passing game. It took a little longer for him to learn all of the reads in BP’s rushing attack, but those are coming along too.

While Toquam is enjoying his time at quarterback, he wouldn’t mind catching passes from Zellmer again.

Zellmer recently had a second cast put on his hand and his timetable for a possible return is still uncertain for the near future.

“We’ll have to wait and see when and if Luc can come back,” Gimbel said.

If Zellmer comes back, he’ll be a boost to the Awesome Blossoms. If not, Toquam has proven he won’t back down and he’ll give his team a fighting chance in the postseason.