Not a Luck(y) Day

Stratford High School graduate and valedictorian Andrew Luck endured five sacks and a clear 29-17 defeat Sunday as the on-a-roll Houston Texans gained a second consecutive AFC South title.

For at his family, friends and coaches in Reliant Stadium on Sunday, Texans fever wasn’t the biggest draw, but rather Indianapolis Colts’ rookie quarterback Luck. Sunday’s game was his first visit to Reliant as a professional player, but not his first as a quarterback.

Luck, who graduated from Stratford in 2008 and then threw for Stanford University, first took the field at Reliant against Cy Falls High School as a junior. His four-year quarterback coach, Jeff Green, was in the stadium on Sunday.

“When Andrew plays, I’m an Andrew Luck guy,” he said flatly. In more than two decades as a coach, Green said that Luck remains the best high school athlete and quarterback that he’s ever worked with. “He is the best player I have had the privilege of coaching.”

With Luck, it was not all football, either. “He’s a great individual. He’s goal oriented. He has a great ability to prioritize. He always is working, and he is one of the hardest working people on the football field or in the classroom.”

Luck is the son of former Oilers backup quarterback Oliver Luck, who was also the first president and general manager of the Houston Dynamo major soccer league. The Dynamo won the MLS Cup in 2006 and 2007. Oliver Luck is now athletics director at West Virginia University, his alma mater.

Andrew Luck’s former high school coach, Eliot Allen, was another Stratford High staff member rooting for the Colts quarterback on Sunday.

“It’s fun watching him,” Allen told the Houston Chronicle. “I think everyone was satisfied just watching him play. I think people who were rooting for him wish he had thrown for 400 yards and several touchdowns. I don’t think that he played poorly, but the Texans are a good team.”

In addition to the team loss, Luck completed less than 50 percent of his passes against the hot Texans. He threw two touchdowns, including a 61-yard pass to T.Y. Hilton.

Selected first in the 2012 NFL Draft, Luck today has the most wins by a rookie quarterback who was a No. 1 pick. He was described by many sports analysts as one of the best quarterback signing prospects. He signed a four-year contract with Indianapolis worth an estimated $22 million.

At Stanford, Luck was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy in both 2010 and 2011.