Fitzgerald Peaks at Valley : Confused at Idaho State, He Has Proven He’s a Quarterback

VAN NUYS — Sean Fitzgerald is a guy who can dissect a football playbook and enemy defenses, so it wasn’t much of a brainer to realize what was in store for him at Idaho State.

The writing on the wall didn’t spell what he wanted to read.

“They wanted me to switch positions again this season,” Fitzgerald said. “I decided to pack up and leave.”

Three positions in three seasons were enough for Fitzgerald. Especially when he first went to Pocatello with the idea--and anticipation--of playing quarterback.

He never threw a pass for the Bengals, a Division I-AA team that competes in the Big Sky Conference, but he has made up for lost time this season at Valley College.

Fitzgerald, a former Agoura High quarterback, ranks among the state junior college passing leaders with 1,376 yards and nine touchdowns, and is second in the Western State Conference behind Santa Barbara City’s Jarrod DeGeorgia, who has thrown for 1,556 yards and 12 touchdowns. He is also third in the conference in punting with a 37.1 average.

His arm and leadership have helped the Monarchs (6-0, 5-0 in conference play) to their best record at this stage of the season since 1987, when they didn’t lose until the eighth game. Valley, ranked seventh in the state, will put that record on the line tonight at 7 when No. 3 Bakersfield (6-0, 5-0) comes to town for a Southern Division showdown that has potential bowl ramifications.

“He is competitive and has great work habits that permeate to the other players,” Coach Jim Fenwick said. “He makes good decisions and is not afraid to pull the trigger on a play.”

Fitzgerald, 6 feet 5 and 211 pounds, has been uncorking the ball for big numbers all season. He started by passing for 195 yards and two touchdowns in a 28-23 nonconference victory over Antelope Valley in the season opener and has passed for 200 or more yards three times--against Glendale (244) and Compton (300) in back-to-back games and Ventura (285) in only one half of work.

Against Ventura, Fitzgerald threw two touchdown passes in the first quarter, when the Monarchs scored a school single-quarter record 35 points on their way to a 38-7 victory. His performance showed Pirate Coach George Rosales more than he wanted to know about the quarterback.

“I didn’t think he was as mobile as he was,” Rosales said. “He does exactly what he needs to do for their offensive scheme. He is very good.”

The kind of action Fitzgerald has found at Valley is what he was looking for when he signed with Idaho State, where he believed his future was after an outstanding senior season at Agoura during which he completed 99 of 197 passes for 1,266 yards and was an All-Marmonte League first-team selection as a punter.

“Just being able to get a chance to throw the ball has been great,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m having a lot more fun here.”

It wasn’t all laughs at Idaho State for Fitzgerald.

He redshirted his freshman season in 1991 and thought he had a shot at quarterback the next season, but Coach Garth Hall, who recruited him, was fired and his replacement, Brian McNeely, installed a power-I offense. That pretty much took Fitzgerald, primarily a drop-back passer, out of the offensive equation and thrust him into the defensive mix. They would turn him, the coaches said, into a free safety.

“I threw an interception in spring ball and I hit the guy (who picked off the pass) pretty hard (on the tackle) and for some reason that made (the coaches) think I could switch to safety,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald went along with the plan and was a backup free safety and punter for the Bengals last season. After the season, however, the coaches wanted him to try becoming a tight end. That’s when he bailed out.

“I had a lot of sleepless nights there (Idaho State),” Fitzgerald said. “I liked the school and I liked the atmosphere, but I was really skeptical whether to stay up there. My heart wasn’t into it but I was on a scholarship and I really didn’t want to let it go.”

He did, though, and landed at Valley partly because Fenwick recruited him out of high school and because his brother Pat was the starting tight end. Before they could work together, however, Pat received a scholarship to Texas and is playing for the Longhorns. Their younger brother, Eric, is a junior quarterback at Agoura.

The success at Valley has pushed Fitzgerald to the limelight, a role he would happily relinquish. He is soft-spoken and measures his comments so as to not offend others, even when talking about Idaho State, and prefers to let his right arm send the messages. So far, it has spoken volumes.

Wide receiver Brian Bernier, a sophomore from Hart High who last season caught 17 passes from Joe Mauldin, the WSC Southern Division offensive player of the year, says Fitzgerald offers the complete package.

“As far as being a pure passer, Sean’s reads are much better than Joe’s,” Bernier said. “He can put the zip on the ball if he wants to or he can touch it. . . . The ball has been on time all the time. That goes with his knowledge of the offense.”

His size and ability have aroused the interest of several Division I schools and Fitzgerald hopes to transfer to one of those programs next season. Before then, however, there’s the business of trying to derail powerful Bakersfield tonight in the most significant game of the season for both teams.

“They are a good team at every position,” Fitzgerald said of the Renegades. “We are going to have to play solid football.”