It was especially important to King’s Fork High School’s No. 4-seeded football team that it deliver a win Nov. 14 in its first round Region 4A South playoff game, its first postseason home game ever.

Quarterback Ryan Kluck, a junior, helped the team deliver, starring in a 38-3 win over No. 13 Grafton High School. His performance led to his becoming the Duke Automotive-Suffolk News-Herald Player of the Week.

Of his clutch playoff play, Kluck said, “It felt real good knowing that the team was behind my back and knowing that I could do it.”

He helped his team go up 14-0 in the first quarter, first with a shuffle pass to senior slotback Duke Santora that turned into a 70-yard touchdown connection and second with his own 51-yard scoring run, the first rushing touchdown of his varsity career.

In the second quarter, Kluck set up a 12-yard touchdown run by senior feature back D’Angelo Dillard with a 46-yard pass to senior wide receiver Camryn Little.

Kluck commented on what it was like having to perform in the first home playoff game in school history.

“I don’t know if I felt a whole bunch of pressure,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I underestimated (the Clippers), but we went into that game with our heads held high, and we were ready to play football that night.”

Kluck entered this season with the task of replacing Uriah Adams, the speedy, established Bulldogs quarterback who graduated last year.

KF coach Joe Jones said he and his staff made it clear to Kluck that they did not expect him to be identical to Adams, with the same exact skill-set. But there are things every quarterback must do.

“I said, ‘The big thing you have to do is make your teammates believe that you can lead us on offense,’” Jones said. “I feel the guys believe in him, and he’s done a good job back there.”

Becoming one of the team leaders — someone his teammates can count on — was a goal Kluck said he set for himself.

“Ryan’s come a long way from when we first started working with him in seventh grade as a middle-school quarterback, and he’s matured a lot, and he’s put a lot of time and effort into it,” Jones said. “He goes to about every quarterback camp you can think of.”

Kluck originally wanted to be a receiver, inspired by his uncle who played college football. But his destiny changed shortly after his mom signed him up to play for his first team, the Suffolk Titans, when he was in sixth grade.

When his coaches saw him throwing, Kluck said, they told him, “’You can’t play receiver,’ and I was like, ‘Why?’ and they said, ‘You’re playing quarterback.’”

He has a clear idea of what he wants to do moving forward.

“I would really love to play Division I football,” he said, noting a dream school of his is Louisiana State University. “Hopefully I can have a really good breakout season next year and go to offseason camps and get some looks and offers.”