Leading Man Relishes His Role in Prime Time : Curtis Scott Leads Valley Rushers After Riding Bench at Monroe Until Final Game of 1987 Season

Monroe High tailback Curtis Scott wants to forget last season, but some memories are difficult to erase.

The 5-foot, 10-inch, 190-pound senior still remembers the homecoming game against Taft in which he played only 2 downs while his family watched from the stands. He also remembers the Narbonne game--the time he fumbled and was yanked from the contest after only 3 carries.

Scott disliked being Monroe’s No. 2 tailback. “I didn’t understand that,” he said.

Birmingham Coach Chick Epstein had the same trouble. How could the back who ran for 207 yards and scored 3 touchdowns against Epstein’s Birmingham team in the last game of the 1987 season have rated second-string status?

“We gained over 300 yards passing and he himself gained 200-plus yards on the ground,” Epstein said. “It was strange because we never saw him on film. He was like a secret.”

Scott no longer is a secret. Aside from winning the starting tailback job at Monroe, he leads Valley area rushers with 796 yards in 126 carries, including 208 yards in last week’s 14-10 victory over Sylmar.

Last year’s forced idleness weighed heavily on Scott, who hungered for playing time.

“Last year when he was a sub, he would tell me, ‘I can play, I can play, I know I’m better,’ ” senior right guard Reggie Anderson said. “This year, if he’s not getting the right blocking, he’ll tell you. He’s a leader.”

And Scott is finally getting the chance to lead by example.

“I have the same ability as last year, but I have more responsibility,” he said. “It’s a psychological thing knowing that I’m going to play--and that changes my whole attitude.”

Monroe Coach Frank D’Alessandro notices more than a change in attitude.

“Last year he really wasn’t anything special,” D’Alessandro said. “Before the Birmingham game, he had a little trouble hanging onto the ball. And sometimes he didn’t run into the right hole, but as he improved he got all those things ironed out.”

In addition, Scott missed the summer practice schedule last season because he thought he was headed to Alemany. But, he says, he failed to meet the academic requirements and headed back to Monroe, too late for the start of practice at the end of August. He attended his first workout the day before school began, and his late start figured in D’Alessandro’s decision to start senior John Diaz over the less experienced Scott.

But after Diaz broke his arm before the Birmingham game, Scott broke into the starting backfield and has been there since. The strong finish made him the team’s leading rusher with 335 yards and an average of 6.4 yards a carry.

Including the season-ending performance, Scott has averaged 167 yards a game and helped Monroe to a 4-1 start, including a 3-0 record in Valley Pac-8 Conference play.

D’Alessandro, who coached former USC and Raider running back Clarence Davis at Washington High in 1965, shies away from comparisons but argues that Scott is as important to Monroe as Davis was to Washington.

“It’s hard to say where we’d be without him because he’s a big part of our offense. He’s so strong, he has great vision and good balance,” he said.

Actually, Scott carried the entire offense against Sylmar last week, rushing 24 times for a season-high 208 yards. Monroe netted only 6 yards passing, forcing the game into Scott’s hands. He knew what to do with it.

He took the ball at his own 7-yard line midway through the third quarter and broke 5 tackles on a 93-yard sweep to score the winning touchdown. The run showcased his biggest assets as a tailback, according to Sylmar Coach Jeff Engilman.

“He has real good speed and the ability to break tackles--that’s the important thing. Lots of guys in high school go down when one guy tackles them, but with this guy, it takes more than one guy,” Engilman said.

Scott also outgained the City’s second-leading rusher in the game in his long-awaited showdown with Sylmar tailback Jerome Casey, who netted 177 yards in 26 carries. The two played against each other in their youth football days, and Scott often finished second best to Casey.

“I’ve been playing in his shadow since Pop Warner and it felt good to do well against Sylmar,” he said. “I was the most confident before that game than any other and I joked with the linemen about running for 200 yards: ‘Wouldn’t it be a trip if I gained 200 yards?’ ”

Scott’s 208-yard journey against Sylmar was “just average,” according to Anderson, a 5-foot, 10-inch, 235-pound guard. Scott’s 147-yard effort in a 47-6 win over Grant was even better, Anderson said.

“Curtis didn’t play much in the third quarter and didn’t play at all in the fourth,” he said.

Scott runs in a stacked I formation, lining up behind 2 senior fullbacks and an offensive line that averages 225 pounds a man. Francisco Gomez (5-7, 170 pounds) and Samaj Johnson (6-0, 210 pounds) are the blocking backs who double-team linebackers and usher Scott into the secondary.

“They don’t run fancy stuff,” Epstein said. “It’s dive right, dive left and power right over you.”

On a typical Scott run, according to D’Alessandro, “He takes the ball from the quarterback, goes off tackle, breaks one to two tackles and runs for seven to eight yards.” Actually Scott averages 6.3 yards a carry.

Before Scott bagged the big rushing numbers, his sister Tasha, a 4-foot, 9-inch, 65-pound, singer-actress who appears on the NBC television series “Throb,” stood head and shoulders above him in neighborhood popularity. The family moved to Los Angeles from Louisville, Ky., 6 years ago to further his sister’s singing and acting career.

Scott’s mother Joyce has been so busy supervising 16-year-old Tasha in Hollywood, she hasn’t seen Curtis play this season. But she promises to show up soon. “I’m a very proud mother,” she said. “I told him he had to be ready--and when he got the opportunity, he ran with it.”

Others also have noticed Scott, who receives nearly as many letters from college recruiters as does his sister from fans. “Iowa is the heaviest recruiter,” he said. “They send me a letter every week.”

Others showing interest include UCLA, Washington, Washington State, Oregon and Arizona State.

With all the attention he has been getting, Scott doesn’t want to disappoint. “It’s exciting knowing that every week everyone will be looking at you,” he said. “You don’t want to sell them short. You want to do well in the first quarter and let the defenders know it will be a long night.”