Charleston Gazette
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September 07, 2007 |
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Nitro set to tackle unbeaten GW |
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By Rick Ryan |
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Don’t count Nitro coach Scott
Tinsley among those surprised by George Washington’s 2-0 start. “I’ve heard a lot of people say
they might be 0-2, that they might pull an upset,’’ Tinsley said. “We played
GW a lot 7-on-7 this year [in the summer practice period]. We knew they were
going to be really good so, no, it doesn’t surprise me at all that they’re
2-0.’’ The Patriots and Wildcats (1-0)
tangle tonight in a Mountain State Athletic Conference matchup at Laidley Field with a 7:30 kickoff. While GW has managed its perfect
start with strong defense — holding the shotgun spread offenses of Capital
and South Charleston to a combined three touchdowns — Nitro has again flashed
a powerful offense built around quarterback Michael Scott, a third-year
starter. Scott threw for 426 yards and
three TDs in his team’s 48-33 opening win against Poca
two weeks ago. His top targets are a pair of tall, talented receivers in
Marcos Valentine and Brett McClanahan, the latter an all-state basketball
player out for his first year of football. “Michael Scott is as good as there
is,’’ said GW coach Steve Edwards Jr., “and those two receivers . . . we’re
definitely going to have to slow them down a little bit. I hope we can, and
score some points ourselves.’’ George Washington’s attack was
heavy on the pass against Capital and leaned more on the run versus SC. Drew
Kinder has completed 17-of-37 passes for 267 yards and two TDs, while
Christian Perkins has run for 146 yards and three scores. “Their quarterback has put them in
the position to win the game,’’ Tinsley said of Kinder. “He did that this
summer, too. He didn’t throw it into coverage, he didn’t put them in bad
spots.’’ Tinsley was so concerned with his
defense after giving up 331 yards rushing to Poca
that the Wildcats practiced exclusively on defense during their open week. “We didn’t take an offensive snap
last week,’’ he said. “We concentrated strictly on defense. We went back to
fundamentals, form tackling, getting people on the ball, defensive pursuit.
We think we might be able to score some points, but if we don’t start tackling,
we’re not going to win any more games.’’ For those who recall a certain
1998 Nitro state championship team that often managed to outscore opponents,
Tinsley offered little hope of an instant replay. “This conference has gotten so
tough,’’ he said, “a lot tougher than it was in 1998 before Beckley and some
of those other schools came in. We’re not going to be able to outscore
everybody every Friday night. We’ve got to get some stops.’’ If Edwards had his druthers, he
would like to keep the momentum of the Patriots’ running game going after
Perkins gained 126 yards last week on South Charleston. “It feels good when you can run
the football and control the clock,’’ Edwards said, “and it opens up other
things, and maybe you feel like you can pass a little bit better. It made a
big difference for us. We’re still not real good at it yet. We’ve still got
some work to do. “These kids have been a pretty
confident group all along since I’ve had them, and certainly with the first
two wins that’s what we were striving to do and we
reached a couple goals. The kids still feel pretty good about themselves, but
they’re smart enough to realize that we still have a lot of work to be done.
We’ve done a pretty good job preparing to this point, and I hope we continue
to do so. I hope they don’t forget what got us where we’re at.’’ To contact assistant sports editor
Rick Ryan, use e-mail or call 348-5175. |