The beginning could have ended him.

First varsity start. Last varsity start?

“I remember thinking, ‘It can’t get worse than that,’ ” Woodstock quarterback Caden Thompson said of the first pass he ever threw in a varsity football game, Aug. 25, 2023, at home against Rochelle in a Kishwaukee River Conference crossover to start the season.

Thompson’s get-the-confidence-going, welcome-to-varsity, simple screen was caught by a Rochelle Hub, who ran the other way with the ball and raced into the end zone.

“They pressed their corners, so I tried to check down to my tight end,” Thompson said. “I didn’t see one of their linebackers – who had started on the line – drop off. He stepped in front of it, and it was a pick-six.”

It can’t get any worse than that.

Well ...

On Woodstock’s next possession, the Blue Streaks were moving the ball. The coaches trusted their sophomore rookie to throw another pass. Thompson dropped back, forced a throw, he said, and the safety picked it off.

Two first-quarter drives. Two passes. Two interceptions.

Does the frosh-soph team need a QB?

“The first [pass],” Woodstock coach Mike Brasile said, “was real bad.”

But it’s not how you start, as sports fans know. It’s how you finish, how you respond, how you find the resolve after life punches your chinstrap up into your nose and bloodies it.

Guess who threw two touchdown passes and ran for another in Woodstock’s 46-6, season-opening win over North Lawndale on Friday at Knute Rockne Stadium in Chicago?

Yep, the same kid whose first varsity game two years ago ended in a 40-0 loss to Rochelle en route to a 3-6 season for the Blue Streaks.

“He’s really come a long way in the last three years,” Brasile said of Thompson, his 6-foot, 185-pound senior. “We’re going to put a lot on his shoulders with the offense this year.”

That’s fine by Thompson. Older and wiser than he was two years ago as a varsity pup, when he was still learning the quarterback position, he is eager for his final season. He’s still standing, after all, chinstrap tightened under his chin.

Moreover, Woodstock, which went 3-6 again last season, has tweaked its offense. More of a “ground-and-pound type of team” the past two years, as Brasile described it, the Blue Streaks plan to be more balanced. They want to spread their receivers, attack vertically and give Thompson more run-pass options.

“We got some really good athletes this year,” Thompson said. “I just want to be the best I can and play like a ‘point guard,’ where if I see space, I can give a hand signal, get my receiver out, get him the ball, and let him go.”

Take Friday against North Lawndale. Thompson delivered TD passes of 37 yards to senior wide receiver Matthew Cress and 42 yards to sophomore wide receiver Cash White, while also scoring on a 20-yard run.

Thompson’s growth isn’t surprising considering his ability to process – he carries a weighted 4.2 GPA – and his work ethic. He had never played QB until his freshman year, when he split time with Charlie Walrod, who’s a grade older. The next year, the two players competed for the starting QB job on varsity.

“When we were having that quarterback competition, I told them, ‘One of you is going to be the quarterback of the offense, and the other one is going to be the quarterback of the defense,’ ” Brasile said.

Brasile anointed Thompson as his starter at QB and placed Walrod at safety. Walrod developed into an All-KRC player (he played wide receiver, too), and this summer he was named a defensive MVP of the 51st annual all-star Shrine Game in Bloomington.

“It was one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” Brasile said of his 2023 QB competition.

While Walrod is playing football for Augustana College this fall, Thompson is planning on making the most of his final season under center as a Blue Streak.

“You can’t even really measure how much I’ve grown,” Thompson said. “The amount of experience that I’ve had the last three years has been incredible. My entire life playing football [since about third grade], I never really got to play quarterback a lot. I always wanted to. It’s just an honor to get to play as much as I’ve gotten to play.”

He thinks back to his sophomore year. The two interceptions on his first two passes weren’t going to define him. He saw Zach Canaday, a senior linebacker at the time, running the hill next to the stadium and joined him.

“It was just finding ways to push myself even harder and to push myself to win,” Thompson said. “It came down to trusting the process of it. Every time I failed, every time I threw an interception, every missed throw that I had, it was all just learning and building.”

He’s still learning, still building, still growing.

“He’s an excellent kid who does things right and works his tail off,” Brasile said. “He’s deserving of any success that he has because of the work he’s put in.”

Thompson remains motivated. A win over North Lawndale was a great start, much better than the 2023 season opener, but there’s the home opener Friday night against 1-0 Ridgewood, and then KRC play begins.

“I’ve come so far, but as a team we haven’t accomplished much,” Thompson said. “I’m 6-12 as a starter. There are guys who are hungry to get back to the winning ways that we’ve had in the past.”

The QB understands it’s about the finish.