MOSES LAKE — Wes Harrington has the unflappable confidence needed in a starting quarterback.

After throwing a late interception in a 7-on-7 drill during Thursday’s practice, Harrington later quipped that his animal comparison would be a goat. Or perhaps a G.O.A.T. — Greatest of All Time?

Harrington conceded that his comment was in jest, but all jokes aside, Harrington and the Chiefs have the potential for greatness this season. Moses Lake is the reigning Columbia Basin Big Nine (CBBN) champion and Harrington is entering his third year at quarterback.

“I think we’re a lot more dynamic as an offense,” he said. “I think we’ve improved across the board. We’ve gotten a lot bigger on the O-line. We’ve got a returning quarterback, returning running back, returning receivers. We’ve got guys that have played a lot of time last year and I think that’s going to help us a lot, just having that extra experience.”

For Harrington, that experience has been built over the past two seasons. Whether it was a frustrating, rain-soaked night in Wenatchee as a sophomore or an exhilarating playoff victory against Bellarmine Prep as a junior, there isn’t much Harrington hasn’t seen.

“There’s nothing that we have thrown at him right now that he doesn’t know,” head coach Todd Griffith said. “He’s got to work a little bit on his footwork. Pre-snap he’s been pretty good knowing where to throw the ball, where things are by what the defense is generating.”

Harrington was the third-most efficient passer in the CBBN in 2015, narrowly trailing Davis signal callers Isaiah Walter and Jose Negrete. More, Harrington’s three interceptions were the fewest of any quarterback that attempted more than 100 passes.

Continuity has helped keep the turnovers down and the touchdowns up.

“I’m real comfortable,” said Harrington, who threw for 1,014 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. “It’s the same plays I’ve been running for the last four years. Everybody knows what their assignments are for the most part. It’s just a little bit younger guys got to know the ins and outs a little bit more. In our offense there’s a lot of things that can change depending on how the defense lines up, what we want to do for the week so there’s a lot of little things, but as a whole everybody knows what they’re doing.”

The major difference in Moses Lake’s offense this season will be the receiving core. Isaiah Thomas, Ridge Montgomery and Henry Russaw III all graduated, leaving plenty of opportunities for other pass catchers to make their presence felt.

“We’ve gotten a lot faster at receiver from last year,” Harrington said. “We’ve got guys running sub 4.8s (in the forty-yard dash) across the board for the most part so that’s definitely going to help stretch the field, make guys miss. Last year we really only had one guy that was going to make people miss in Isaiah, but this year we have two, three guys that are all real shifty like that and other guys that can stretch the field, which we had last year but not as well as we do this year.”

Harrington and the Chiefs’ offense will get a chance to prove themselves early, hosting Chiawana in the season opener Sept. 2. The Riverhawks won the 4A state championship in 2013 and returned to the title game in 2014.

“We’ve never shied away from playing teams that were tougher,” Griffith said. “Last year we started out 1-2, we had a couple tough league games last year and I think it helped us at the end of the season. Some guys have different philosophies, it’s not mine. Mine is to play tough early and hopefully you can figure out the things that you’re good at, things you need to improve on and what you’re going to have to do to be a top tier team.

“I don’t think you can do that playing guys who aren’t very good.”