Friday November 16, 2007

Valentine carving out his own place among Nitro receivers

Senior the best all-around, coach says

by Rich Stevens, Daily Mail sportswriter

Perhaps it's unfair, but Nitro quarterback Michael Scott doesn't get the credit that he deserves.

Nitro wide receiver Marcos Valentine is chasing not just a state championship but also the national prep record for touchdown receptions in a single season. ..

Call it the curse of J.R. House, if you will, but nine years after House -- a football star at Nitro and baseball standout at Seabreeze (Fla.) -- set numerous national passing records, Scott isn't receiving the same publicity.

Maybe that's because even though the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Scott broke preliminary playoff round records for passing yards (460) and total yards (463) in Nitro's 52-31 victory at Robert C. Byrd last week, very few would dispute that House was the best quarterback ever at Nitro High.

When it comes to Nitro's best-ever wide receiver, that could go differently.

Nitro Coach Scott Tinsley said it's Marcos Valentine, who set preliminary round records for catches (15), yards (327) and touchdowns (5) against Byrd.

"Marcos is different," said Tinsley, whose mind is behind the offense which faces St. Albans on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Crawford Field in the Class AAA quarterfinals. "Marcos can do things after the catch that Chris Martin couldn't do, Chris Fulmer couldn't do and Jeff Clark couldn't do."

Martin, a 1999 Nitro graduate, was House's favorite receiver, catching 143 passes in his junior and senior regular seasons for 30 touchdowns. The Wildcats won the Class AAA championship his senior year when Martin set the Nitro single-season touchdown reception record with 27.

Jeff Clark, who followed Martin, caught 108 passes during the 1999-2000 seasons at Nitro. Fulmer, who broke most of the Nitro receiving records held by Martin and Clark, caught 293 passes for 39 TDs in four regular seasons (2002-05).

In 20 varsity games -- regular season only -- Valentine has 130 catches for 2,413 yards and 29 scores. Just as a matter of perspective, Martin needed 14 games to catch 27 touchdowns and Valentine needed only 11.

"All of those guys were exceptional receivers in their own right," said Tinsley, whose 2007 team set the 10-game school record for points with 449, edging the 1998 team by seven. "Marcos can make the unbelievable catches like Chris Fulmer could and also run with it like Chris Martin. It's a really neat combination of hand-eye coordination, being able to catch the ball and making people miss.

"Right now, I'd have to rank him first because he has the combination."

That's a surprise to Valentine.

"I can't see coach saying that," Valentine said. "That's crazy because he's seen a lot of players play. But, we don't think about individual stats."

Valentine, who admittedly is helped by the emergence of first-time varsity player Brett McClanahan at the other receiver, had 10 catches for 262 yards and four TDs in Nitro's 58-14 victory over St. Albans on Oct. 5.

Valentine's total of 27 touchdowns is more significant because it puts him in range of the national record. Shayne Boys of New Deal, Texas set the national mark for touchdown catches in a season when he had 33 in 1987.

Martin and Valentine are currenlty tied for eighth on that list.

There's no telling what kind of adjustments St. Albans will make against the Wildcats, but Valentine wouldn't mind seeing the Red Dragons try to jam him at the line.

"I like them up on me," Valentine said. "Almost every time I have a guy up on me, I sense the coach is going to call the deep ball, even if there's a safety over top. When I go out I don't think anybody's going to jam me on the line.

"If I have one-on-one with somebody, Michael's going to throw it in to me."

Scott, who has thrown 40 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions in the regular season and five scores against the Eagles, doesn't only use Valentine. Six different Nitro receivers have caught passes, including McClanahan, who has 58 receptions for 1,284 yards and 11 scores.

"It's really hard for teams to stop us," said Scott, whose team did fail to score 30 points twice this season. "Marcos is breaking records and can do so much stuff after the catch. If they double him, which leaves Brett open on the backside, so it's hard for defenses to contain us."