NITRO GETS 'SLOPPY'WIN
Publication:
Published: 08/31/2002
Page: 1B
Headline: NITRO GETS 'SLOPPY'WIN
Byline: JASON MARTIN
DAILY MAIL SPORTSWRITER
Nitro High's pass-heavy
offense has produced an all-state receiver each of the past seven years.
Lance Ervin took a huge step toward making it eight straight with his
performance in Friday's 39-36 season-opening win at Herbert Hoover.
Ervin caught 11 passes for 112 yards and a touchdown, and also snatched two
interceptions.
"We always seem to have that go-to guy," said Wildcat Coach Scott
Tinsley. "We might have one again."
Tinsley said Nitro rarely hands out individual game balls, but it did Friday to
Ervin, a 5-foot-8, 145-pound junior, much to his teammates' celebration.
"He's not the biggest, not the fastest, but he concentrates more than
anyone else," said senior QB Derek Midkiff.
"And once he has the ball, he has a knack for making people miss."
Nitro still needed more than Ervin's breakout performance to get past the
Huskies, who dropped to Class AA this year and entered ranked fifth in that
class in the Daily Mail Poll.
On a humid night in front of about 2,000 fans in Falling Rock, neither team
ever led by more than eight points, thanks in large part because both were busy
giving away the ball.
Nitro committed six turnovers (four fumbles, two interceptions) to
"Sloppy, sloppy," said Husky Coach Steve Stoffel
Sr. "Whether it was penalties or bad snaps or turnovers, we just couldn't
put them away. And you can't let Nitro have field position and allow them to
make plays."
Damian Meadows, a junior transfer from
Senior QB Jamie Prowse passed for 168 yards and ran for 24 more, including a
10-yard score on a bootleg, freed by Meadows' crush block,
that put
But that proved too much time for Midkiff, a
four-year starter who hit on 23-of-37 passes for 271 yards and two TDs - one to Ervin and a 28-yarder just before halftime to
Marshall Casto that tied the game at 21-all.
Senior back Chris McGhee carried 19 times for 117 yards and three TDs, and added an 86-yard kickoff return near the end of
the third quarter. His final ground score, a 1-yard plunge with 1:50 left, put
Nitro in the lead for good.
Along with Ervin's air assault, Casto finished with
six catches for 97 yards, and had a 29-yard fumble return after plucking the
ball from mid-air that set up his own TD catch.
"We tried to get
Tinsley points to a cast that also includes Casto,
cramp-slowed Ryan Meadows and freshman Chris Fulmer.
"We're as deep as we've ever been at that position," he said.
Ervin, though, stood out against the Huskies for his durability even when Nitro
broadcasted its desire to find him on the slip-screens that produced most of
his receptions.
His first TD put Nitro on the board, and his first interception set up its next
score. Seven of his catches came in the first half, and a 39-yard gainer in the
third quarter set up McGhee's second rushing TD.
A backup quarterback to start last season, Ervin shifted to receiver when Casto suffered both ankle and knee injuries during the
third week and missed five games.
Ervin caught 15 passes for 240 yards and a TD last year, with 13 of those
catches coming in the season's final half.
"He started making the third- and fourth-down plays we needed," Midkiff said. "And as a cornerback, he stood out as a
sure tackler - he was one of the few."
Keep catching 11 passes a game, and Ervin is going to
go from a minority to the majority - the latest in a long line of stellar
Wildcat receivers.