Scott Leads St. Paul Over Former Team

He stood in the back of the pregame stretching lines, mixed in with the third-string offensive tackles and the wide-eyed sophomores, evidence of how much life had changed for one of the top running backs in the state.

De’Andre Scott is low on the totem pole of tenure at his new school, St. Paul High, where he doesn’t start and isn’t quite the star he was for three years at Alemany High.

But you get the feeling that given time, he’ll be fine. In his second game with St. Paul, Scott rushed for 115 yards and three touchdowns in 16 carries against his former team in a 52-14 Del Rey League victory Friday night at St. Paul.

For better or for worse, Scott legally transferred from Alemany to St. Paul about two weeks ago.

For better: St. Paul (6-3, 2-0 in league play), mired in mediocrity before his arrival, isn’t complaining about a 2-0 record since Scott started suiting up.

For worse: The transfer has been universally criticized by anybody not wearing the red, white and blue of the Swordsmen.

For the record: Scott isn’t overly concerned with what people think.

Scott, who rushed for only 503 yards in five games at Alemany after rushing for 1,747 last season, said he has meshed well with his new surroundings.

“Some of them were bitter [at Alemany]” said Scott, who rushed for 185 yards and a touchdown in his St. Paul debut last week against Bishop Amat. ‘But they didn’t understand that I did the best thing for me and my family.”

Alemany (2-7, 0-2 in league play) mustered only 136 yards without Scott, who scored on second-quarter runs of 14 and 12 yards and on a third-quarter run of 44 yards. He did not carry the ball again.

Scott was the name of the game, but Alemany Coach Craig Schuler said Scott’s name was rarely mentioned at practice this week.

Still, Schuler wondered aloud about St. Paul’s decision to accept Scott’s transfer in the seventh week of the season.

“I don’t think there’s any way you should be able to change teams in the middle of the season,” he said. “I wonder if St. Paul would take anybody from their student body in the seventh week of the season.”

Alemany quarterback A.J. Anthony, who completed five of 15 passes for 52 yards, said it was no different playing against Scott tonight.

“We played against him as if he was any other guy,” said Anthony, adding that most of his teammates didn’t find fault with Scott. “Maybe some guys, but not the people that actually care.”