SACCO: Scott is a football wizard

By Jim Sacco

Published: October 3, 2008

R.E. Lee’s Dae’ Quan Scott can play football. Heck, Ray Charles could see that.

He’s listed as the quarterback but, heck, they should call him a magician, sans the hokey outfit and scantily clad assistant.

Instead of a stage, this wizard from Staunton does his tricks on 100 yards of grass and chalk.

Yeah, we know all this. Now, please, tell us something we don’t know.

We’ve seen it. We’ve marveled at it. You can hear the “oohs” and “ahs” from the crowd each time he squirts away from a tackler, jumps over a pile and finishes it by walking into the end zone. (Actually, it’s more of a saunter than a walk.)

So, yeah, let’s find out where he ranks among the athletes Lee coach David Tibbs has taken under his wing. Where does Scott, who once again marveled the crowd Friday in Waynesboro, rank, coach?

“He’s up there with the best of them,” Tibbs said, shooting a glance toward Scott, now wearing his football helmet on top of his head, an embarrassed smile exposed and his eyes taking a roll every now and again as his coach talked him up.

And a few of those past Lee greats were along the fence Friday. Watching Scott pull rabbits out of his hat and saw the Little Giants’ defense in half.

None of it fazes Scott.

Not the specter of U.Va. coming to watch him against Stuarts Draft next week.

“Whatever comes to me, comes to me,” he said.

Not his early morning today as he takes his first stab at the SATs after a month of studying up for the test.

“That comes first,” he said of academia.

Not even the fact that his No. 5 might as well be printed in blaze orange so everybody knows where he’s at.

“He’s got a bull’s-eye the size of a big state on his back,” Tibbs said.

None of it gets to him. This soft-spoken, fleet-footed kid from Staunton manages to keep his feet on the ground before and after he takes flight on the football field.

“I’m just having fun,” Scott said.

Fun would be the best way to describe Scott’s night. A 58-yard punt return for a score, 127 yards on the ground and 117 through the air. His sorcerer-like skills showcased on an 11-yard TD saunter that saw Scott jump over a pile of Little Giants and Leemen at the 6-yard line en route to paydirt.

Yes, we would file that under fun.

And the Leemen are having fun with him. Yeah, it’s his team. Tibbs has said it, fellow Leemen have said it. You don’t need an Ovaltine decoder ring to figure it out — R.E. Lee is going as far as Scott can carry them. Lock. The. Thread.

It’s a plan that started his sophomore year, when Tibbs told his soon-to-be wizard that Lee would be running a “West Virginia kind of spread,” Tibbs said.

Where it ends this year?

“We got seven more to go,” Tibbs said, turning toward Scott. “Right?” Scott nodded his head.

“He’ll keep the math for you.”

That’s just Tibbs. Always thinking about the next practice and game as soon as the one at hand is done.

“I don’t celebrate enough,” Tibbs said. “I need to enjoy coaching a guy like him more.”

Get on that, coach, because they don’t come often. They grow up quick and then, poof, they’re gone.

Just like a magician. Just like Dae’ Quan Scott.